"What do you mean you're changing?" Lorraine asks.

Marlo's hand continues to mutate into a slimy, hairy claw. The mutation seems to be travelling upwards along her arm. She gives her ghost friend an awkward look, "I'm changing! Duh!"

"Well, why in the hell is it happening so slow?" Lorraine observes. "Those other people transformed into giant bugs in an instant."

Suddenly, the transformation stops in Marlo, leaving her left arm and left side of her face insect-like. "Okayyy...," Marlo says, stunned. The spectrograph-like bug vision in her left eye is a little disorienting.

"That's a neat look for you. Really," Lorraine jokes. "You could kick Jeff Goldblum's ass."

"What?" Marlo asks, trying to peer around the corner to see if there were any drones chasing her.

Lorraine takes a drag of her cigarette, "He was in The Fly."

"Oh," Marlo says. "Well, looks like they aren't chasing us anymore."

"Chasing you, you mean?" Lorraine asks with a smile.

Marlo shakes her head, "Whatever."

"Any ideas on why it took two transmuto blasts to get you looking like that?" Lorraine asks.

Marlo sighs, "I don't know...what?"

"I'm just saying, they blasted you twice...and you're not even half-bugged out," Lorraine says.

"Oh...well, I did hang out with Mr. Fixit a lot when I was in Vegas," Marlo explains.

"Who whozit?" Lorraine asks, blowing smoke out of her nostrils.

"The Hulk's gray look. I imagine standing next to him is like standing too close to a microwave for too long. Maybe that's why this transformation thing isn't working on me," Marlo deduces.

"Um, duck," Lorraine warns.

"Wha--? OOOF!" Marlo grunts as she is punched in the chops by a fist that felt like steel.

Moonstone stands in front of Marlo with a smile, "You're not infecting anyone else, queenie."

"I think she thinks you're the Mig-Na'cha queen," Lorraine says.

"Shut up," Marlo mutters, checking to see if her teeth were still intact.

Behind her stands the rest of the Thunderbolts: She-Hulk, Charcoal, Mach-1, Citizen V, Atlas, Living Lightning, and Songbird. Many on this team were once hardened criminals. Others were well-respected Avengers. Either way, they're still heroes...more or less.

"Wait!" She-Hulk shouts. Her teammates obey. "Marlo?" Jennifer asks.

Marlo continues to rub her jaw, "Yeah?"

"You're Marlo? Christ, Genis has been looking all over for you!" Songbird informs.

"Genis?" Mach-1 asks.

"Oh, I mean Captain Marvel," Songbird shrugs. Mach-1 gives her a jealous look.

"I, I've been too busy running," Marlo confesses.

"So, she's not the insect queen?" Moonstone asks.

"I guess not, fearless leader. Or should I say Natasha?" Atlas quips.

"Stuff it, Josten!" Moonstone shouts.

"What's up with her, anyway? She's all half-transformed," Charcoal observes.

"We just need to get a handle on the situation," Citizen V says.

"I'm hungry," Living Lightning states, his ionic form sparkling.

"Everyone shut up!" Captain Marvel shouts, hovering above them all. Moondragon is hovering along side him. He descends to the ground and walks up to Marlo. She falls into Genis' arms. She clasps her arms around his shoulders, squeezing a good hug out of him.

"Are you okay?" he asks Marlo. She simply nods as a tear roams down her face. Genis wipes the tear away.

"Ugh, this is stupid, Marvel!" Moonstone shouts. "We've already gotten Songbird seriously injured. Why did you call us here?!"

"I don't know. For some reason, something inside of me told me not to get the Avengers involved. And now they're protecting Washington. If they were on the other side of the country here, helping me, Washington would have fallen," Genis explains.

"What are you saying? You some sorta psychic?" Mach-1 asks.

"He has cosmic awareness," Moondragon declares. "A very tricky ability that's often times hard to understand or experience."

"So," Moonstone begins, "why don't you use your clairvoyance to determine what we should do next?"

"It doesn't work that way!" Moondragon shouts.

Genis raises his hand in front of Heather, "Can I handle this, please?" He turns to Moonstone, clearing his throat, shouting, "It doesn't work that way! And it's not clairvoyance...not really."

"This is stupid," Charcoal says, "we can't do anything against them without hurting them."

"Actually, there is something," a voice says. Everyone turns around to see Cable standing in full battle gear. "But we need Rick Jones. Where is he?"

Padcros.

"What are we going to do?" Rick asks the purple-skinned Microverse alien, Zang.

Zang replies, trying not to open his mouth, "Just stand still."

Dozens of laser guns have targeted Rick and Zang for termination for violating Professor Bloph's vault of advanced inventions. Rick has become fed up with the Microverse and wanted to return to Los Angeles.

"Guns, retract," a voice commands. The guns retreat back into their respective compartments in the ceiling. Bloph hobbles over to his son and backs him against the wall. "You've really done it this time, Zang!" he shouts. "I am taking away your battle armor for good this time!"

"But, Father!" Zang pleads.

"And no neuro-compu-link after consumption of mass quantities!" Bloph shouts.

"But...the new Frolahof program will be uploading this week," Zang pleads. "Please, Father! It's the new season!"

Bloph sighs, "Why don't you get a designated job assignment and acquire your own habitat? Then you can plug your brain waves to the neuro-compu-link all you want!"

Zang crosses his arms, "You never require Rohk or Khru to do anything!"

Bloph shakes his head, "Your siblings are still one-hundred and twenty huros young. You're one-hundred and forty-two!"

"Um," Rick interrupts with a finger in the air, "I'm to blame, Prof. I just wanted to get out of this dump. Don't get me wrong, I love your fully interactive holograms and intercourse drinks, but...I miss my wife. So, don't take it out on Zang by banning him from the neuro...thingie."

Bloph crosses his arms, "I never knew you felt so strongly about returning home to your primitive world."

"Hey now, it might be primitive, but Hooters has the best wings around," Rick states.

Bloph sighs as he punches in the correct code to his vault of inventions. The door slides open. Bloph walks in, motioning for Rick to join him.

"Where should I go?" Zang asks.

"Go...go save the world or something, son," Bloph says. Rick walks into the vault as the door closes behind him. Bloph touches his shoulder and walks towards the back of the room. On the wall was a large, circular object.

Bloph presses a button on the object and it hums to life, creating a strange whirlpool effect inside of the circle. "Look into it," Bloph says. "It registers your thoughts and opens a portal, allowing you to see whatever you want."

"I want to see Marlo," Rick says as he peers into the whirlpool of energy. The energy condenses and forms the image of Marlo in her current situation. Rick staggers to the ground, still looking at his wife. "Oh God," he says, "she's...transformed?" His brow furrows, "The Mig-Na'cha. Those bastards...they're gonna pay."

Rick attempts to jump into the whirlpool energies, but Bloph stops him, "No! You mustn't! The frequency of your universe is vibrating too quickly for you to appear in Marlo's exact vicinity."

"I don't care," Rick says as he dives through the portal.

Washington, D.C.

"I think we've got them on the run, Avengers," Captain America says through his radio-link. He deactivates the link by pressing a button on his glove. He sighs for a moment, looking up at Congress, his eyes wandering towards the Supreme Court.

Suddenly, the comm-link beeps to life. {{"My sensors are picking up a second wave of drones approaching in one of their ships!"}} Iron Man says through the link.

Cap slips his shield off of his back and gets into attack position. Scarlet Witch walks up behind him, she has her hands cackling with pink mystical energy. "I don't like this," she reveals.

Hawkeye descends in the arms of Warbird. Wonder Man flies in with his eyes blazing with red energy. Dr. Pym walks a couple steps in his giant-form and waits. Wasp shrinks into her miniature self and hovers, charging up her stingers. The sound of jet-propulsion whooshes across the skyline as Iron Man swoops in to join his teammates in the anticipation.

The alien pod appears out of nowhere. It must have been the size of a small city. Before the Avengers know it, a blue ray is fired at them, rendering them frozen in place. Iron Man's propulsion system shuts down and he falls to the ground like a ton of bricks. The other Avengers, as if they were statues, fall over as well.

The Mig-Na'cha pod remains in stationary position as a yellow ray teleports a team of drones to the surface. The drones click in delight as they walk past the incapacitated Avengers. The drones then activate their transmuto guns and begin marching towards the White House.

"Rick is stuck in the Microverse," Captain Marvel explains to Cable and the rest of the heroes, who are currently using Marlo's comic book shop, Golden Orange Comics, as a makeshift headquarters.

"Great, the one thing we need to stopping the Mig-Na'cha and we can't get to him," Moonstone shouts.

"I thought you two were molecularly joined?" Cable asks.

"We had to separate the bond for Rick to get rid of the virus the Mig-Na'cha inflicted him with," Genis says.

"Of course," Moondragon says. "They used Rick as a test subject to transform humans into drones!"

"And now that Rick has been cured of the virus, the antibodies in his system should be able to turn everyone back to normal," Cable confirms.

"Hello?" Moonstone asks. "Is anyone listening to me? We can't get to Rick! We're screwed, remember?"

"Cool it, Karla," She-Hulk says as she consoles Marlo.

"Anyone see Al?" Marlo asks. Al was the manager of the store. Suddenly, there is a rustle of some bookshelves as Al reveals himself no worse for wear.

"Oh crap, the store!" Al exclaims. He looks around, "Oh cool, superheroes!" He runs up to Marlo and immediately jumps back when he sees her mutated face and arm.

"Don't worry, I'm fine. Stupid ass Mig-Na'cha transformed me," Marlo says.

"Oh. So...you guys the West Coast Avengers or something? The Champions revival?" Al asks.

Captain Marvel, Moondragon, Cable, and the Thunderbolts give each other an awkward stare.

A collective "Hell no!" is uttered.

Suddenly, the star field in Genis' face starts to move. Before, it had always remained stationary, which is why it was always difficult for Genis (as well as Rick) to control. Genis would always have trouble perceiving multiple universes at once. Now, that problem has ceased. Genis presses his fingers against his temples and smiles, "Rick's back."

Moondragon is ecstatic, especially since she has been trying to help Genis with his cosmic awareness...only somehow Genis got control by himself. Heather's happiness fades slightly, but is glad Rick is back.

"Where is he?" Marlo asks.

Genis' smile fades, "Oh, grozit...he's in our universe, but he's--"

"I'm on the Kree Homeworld?" Rick asks as he stands in a large room, facing a large green head with tentacles connecting to its head in a large cylindrical tube.

"Correct, Rick Jones," the Supreme Intelligence utters. "What gave it away?"

"Oh, I don't know...the fact that you're the repository of all Kree knowledge and technology or...I've been here before?" Rick asks.

The Supremor appears to analyze Rick where he stands, "Your Destiny powers...they are gone. Good, just as I calculated."

"You planned them to burn out?" Rick asks.

Supremor glances at Rick, "The human race has become a danger to itself and the cosmos. I don't need your race to evolve any further. Hopefully, you'll all destroy yourselves before anything can happen where the Kree have to worry."

Ronan the Accuser walks in, with his green armor and battle hammer. Una-Rogg, a Kree woman is close behind him. Una-Rogg was the daughter of the Yon-Rogg, one of Mar-Vell's arch-rivals. "Supremor, there is a problem on Earth."

"I know, the Avengers have been defeated by the Mig-Na'cha in Washington, DC, and the remaining heroes are trying to handle things in Los Angeles, aren't they?" the Supreme Intelligence explains.

"The Mig-Na'cha are duplicating too rapidly," Ronan explains. "As soon as they consume Earth's resources, they'll continue to infest other planets."

"I am well aware of that, Accuser. Leave Jones and I alone," Supremor bellows. Una and Ronan exit the room. "What to do, what to do? Send you back to Earth so the Mig-Na'cha can be stopped and your race be saved so they can eventually destroy and infest everything? Or allow the Mig-Na'cha to turn your race into their own drones so they can eventually destroy and infest everything?"

"What are you talking about? What can I do? I'm just a regular guy without my psionic potential," Rick says.

The Supremor smiles, "Either way, I will have to deal with your race's rapid evolution eventually. You are granted permission to return to Earth, Rick Jones. No more favors you will get out of me."

"But--" Rick says as his body is dematerialized in a flash of blue light.

The Mothership.

One-quarter the size of Earth's moon and housing millions of Mig-Na'cha drones. Drax has been in this prison for a couple weeks now, being subjected to torturous mind-probes. Drax has long since adopted a more civilized persona, closely resembling what Arthur Douglas used to be.

The Mig-Na'cha queen is a larger version of the brown-skinned, six-legged monstrosity. Her eyes have a luring green glow to them. The Queen slithers her way into Drax's cylindrical prison. The tube is lifted and Drax falls to his knees. The tube had been draining his energy. There was no chance his powers would work now.

The Queen appears to smile as she uses one of her claws to prop up Drax's chin, "Why so weak, my love?"

"I know your plans," Drax mutters. "Saw it in...the mind-probes. The ground forces on Earth are just phase one. You're gathering data with each human you mutate, collecting it to form a generalized DNA pattern of the human genome, so you can transform many humans at once with one blast..."

The Queen smiles, "Actually, the entire race in one blast, using your own cosmic energies we've been siphoning from you." The Queen flicks her claw under Drax's chin. Drax grips the wound as he gurgles blood, slumping to the warm, slimy floor of the spaceship.

With his last ounce of strength, Drax projects his thoughts...

Moondragon sits on the stoop to Golden Orange Comics, looking up at the stars. She's had a certain infatuation with Genis that can't be explained. She's also had a liking for Mar-Vell, Genis' father. Perhaps it was Heather's chance at becoming closer to the cosmos since they were both cosmically aware? Was it all her own selfishness?

"Heather?" Genis asks, sitting down beside her.

Moondragon appears fixated on the swirling star fields in Genis' face and blue areas of his costume.

"Something wrong?" Marvel asks.

"I don't know, Genis," Moondragon responds. "Everything is too tense. With Jones on Hala...it's too nerve-wracking. It's hard to keep the optimism. The Supreme Intelligence has no love for the human race, for fear that they'll continually expand and conquer everything."

"It's in their nature, I guess," Genis says. "But they're no different from the Skrulls, Shi'ar, or the Kree. And I don't think the Supremor will do anything to harm Rick. He helped stop the Skrull-Kree War."

"The Kree aren't what they once were. They were taken over by the Shi'ar," Moondragon says. "They were at their best when they were at war with the Skrulls, as bad as it sounds."

Suddenly, Moondragon's psionic abilities activate, creating a surge of energy that knocks Genis into a mailbox. Heather screams as veins bulge out of her forehead.

Cable rushes outside, "What was that? I got telepathic whiplash!" Cable helps Heather up, "Are you all right?"

Genis flies over to Moondragon, who's still gripping her temples. She says shakily, "I know what the Mig-Na'cha are going to do..."

NEXT: Sparks fly as the Mig-Na'cha's final phase is initiated! Be prepared for the final two installments of "The Return of the Mig-Na'cha" storyline!

SHARING SPACE
Empower me with your cosmic waves at Bradmon84@aol.com, so I can kick Silver Surfer's ass!

Our bunch of letters this month comes from Mike Exner III. Mike was gracious to review Captain Marvel #3-6 for me, so I'll be responding to those letters here. By the by, Mike writes Amazing Spider-Man among other stuff:

I decided to do a whole slew of reviews for Brad Horton's Captain Marvel series. This covers Cap Marv #3

Wahoo!!

Captain Marvel #3 deals mainly with Rick. The guy has just been infected with a deadly plague or something from the Mig-Na'cha (love that name) and is really depressed. He goes to a coffee shop and flips out and then plays a rousing game of tennis against, er... Carrot Top?

Yeah...those first few issues, I was playing around with my style. I wasn't sure whether to be goofy or not.

Even though this issue was plenty silly. I'm glad Brad gave the majority of the focus to Rick. Genis is such an interesting and powerful character that Rick sometimes gets left behind as far as characterization goes.

Yep, especially since Rick is the comic relief. Everyone loves when the comic relief suddenly gets stricken by something serious.

The coffee shop scene was funny and the tennis match was too. Rick even got laid! The banter between Marlo and Lorraine seemed to be just thrown in for a little balance. There was really no point to either o them being there except Marlo was trying to cheer up Rick and Lorraine was just there to talk to Marlo when Rick wasn't around. That's ok though because like I said this issue was about Rick.

Mmhm.

Genis finds a planet in the Microverse that can possibly help Rick at the end and I'm intrigued by that. A bunch of midgit Reed Richards? That's gotta be comedy!

Oh, yeah.

I decided to do a whole slew of reviews for Brad Horton's Captain Marvel series. This is a review of #4.

Wahoo!!

Buildings reach for the stars and beyond on Padcros (the planet Rick is visiting for the cure to his ailment). That's a long way for a building to reach.

Yeah. I thought that was a hyperbole? I actually had to go back and check that ish out to see what I meant by that. It's a hyperbole. I bet they're only 100 feet taller than the tallest building on Earth.

"Son of a gulpod!" These aliens are some real dorks. But Brad keeps the dialogue fresh and funny as we travel through their world. We visit a street-fight settled with holographic fighters (nerds don't fight), a taxi driver who gets you wherever you want to go in five seconds... fun stuff. That's what makes it all the funnier when one of the aliens can't use a disposable camera. That Horton, he kills me.

I really like writing the Padcros scenes. Gives me a chance to pull stuff out of my ass without being criticized for it. I get to do all that alien humor that they're afraid to do on Star Trek.

We flash to Lorraine and Marlo again as they have a weird discussion about Marlo possibly being pregnant. I loved the line about Marlo starring in Planet Boobula 33. I may remember it forever, frightening as that sounds. Eventually the scene moves to a pretty serious topic. Lorraine, the ghost chick, lost a child at some point in her life and feels a lot of regret over it. Marlo tries to comfort her but it doesn't do much good. I'm curious to see where Brad will go with this because it has a lot of potential, especially if Marlo really is pregnant.

Um...I hope you read on.

Ok, even though Brad writes this book in a style that is refreshingly goofy, another refreshing thing about the book is that Brad really seems to be going places with the characters. Rick and Genis trust these Padcros aliens, and Brad writes them so charmingly that I trusted them totally too, but then out of nowhere the scientist asked to cure Rick swipes his nega bands... hmmm, the plot thickens.

Yep. (I'm surprised no one has noticed the homage to two creators, Peter David and Chriscross yet. PAD is Peter's initials and CROS is part of Chriscross' "name".)

Anyway, we have a nice funny throwaway scene with Marlo and Genis. Is Marlo really PREGGERS? We find out next issue... and we're also promised action with Genis... kick ass.

Yeah, similar to the Padcros aliens, I like playing around with the alien on Earth. For all their intelligence, they just don't get us.

I decided to do a whole slew of reviews for Brad Horton's Captain Marvel series. This is a review of #5

Wahoo...!!!

We start off with a scene where Marlo is running through the woods away from some monster. It is gradually revealed that we're on the set of a movie Marlo is making. After the scene, Marlo retreats to her trailer and we learn that she is, in fact, PREGGERS! Marlo also has a weird convo with Lorraine about shows where she would talk to ghosts. That's Horton, ladies and germs.

*concentrates* I'm getting an "M" sound. Is your name...Mike? They're coming to me with the "M" sound. Is this ringing a bell?

We also have a really weird NASA-type scene where controllers disover asteroids are hurtling towards Earth. Maybe this is Genis' time to shine! The Avengers are contacted and Captain America asks Jarvis to contact Genis. Only prob I had with that was that Jarvis was the one doing the calling. I would have rather seen a convo between Cap and Cap, but whatever.

Meh...I was too afraid to use Rogers. I don't know too much on the character. Sorry.

In a throwaway scene with Marlo and Lorraine, we witness that Lorraine can touch and move things if she really tries. This could make for an interesting plot point eventually as well.

I got the idea from Ghost. I figured since ghosts are energy, they can solidify or create some sort of magnetic thingie to touch stuff.

The next scenes with Genis trying to stop the asteroids were very well scripted. Brad brings his usual exhuberant flair to the scene, and it shows in the dialogue and the action. I also liked that Cable was able to help Genis out. Brad uses his guest-stars well in these scenes. Fury and Uatu the Watcher both have fun parts to play in the story. Although you've got to question the characterization of Uatu just a bit. :)

That blasted goofiness snuck into Uatu's dialogue. Oopsies.

Next issue promises Drax the Destroyer and more from the Mig-Na'cha who were apparently behind the asteroid attack. These aliens are turning out to be as good an enemy for Genis and Rick as the Brood or Dire Wraiths are for the X-Men.

Yep. Hm...I built up another villain in my first twelve issues of Cable, too! Damnation! My secret formula has been discovered!!

I decided to do a whole slew of reviews for Brad Horton's Captain Marvel series. This is a review of #6.

Wahoo! Last one!! I mean...wahoo!!

This issue starts off with a retrospective from Drax the Destroyer that was really well written. The only thing the scene was missing would have to be little notes to let us know when these events happened to poor old Drax in case somebody wants to check them out. Anyway, Drax wants to destroy the Earth for a whole crap load a' reasons.

I wasn't sure of these specific issues where the instances took place, I just looked them up on a website. *shrugs*

Moonstone senses the foul play from Drax and sends out a distress call to Genis. Hopefully the two Avengers can stop Drax from wiping out Earth. Only prob I had with this was why Moonie didn't try to get other Eternals to help out.

MoonDRAGON (heh, sorry) felt a certain obligation to deal with Drax on her own. Also, not all Eternals are amped up like Moondragon, Mentor, Thanos, Sersi, etc.

Then we finally get back to Rick. He didn't show up last issue and I missed the big lug.

Yep. One thing I like about the Marvel Proper Captain Marvel title is that the supporting cast is just as cool as the main character, Genis.

"Say what, mother flognugger?" It's funny because even in this technological world of geniuses, there are still criminals. But the Terrific Troika, Padcros super-team, are there to save the day from the mugger trying to mug the woman that Rck tries to help. What's also funny is that Brad has even the criminals threaten intelligently... funny stuff. Then the woman offers Rick Intercourse... no, not that... it's a popular Padcrosian drink.

The criminals threatening intelligently reminded me of that one Simpsons episode where Snake downloaded Homer's savings. Heh.

Genis and Drax have a rumble next and Brad writes the action scene well. Moondragon gathers that the Mig-Na'cha gave Drax the big gun he's going to use to wipe out Earth. Those Mig-Na'cha are pesky little devils.

The Mig-Na'cha remind me of those aliens that appear on the Simpsons Halloween Specials. Heh.

Drax makes the mistake of telling Genis he gave the Mig-Na'cha the asteroids to attack Earth. Even though Genis hides it with his banter, I think Genis really has a problem with the bug-aliens. Perhaps because of what they did to Rick. The mention of them really made Captain Marvel take his game up a notch. Hopefully we'll see more of that in future issues and I'm not talking out of my ass here.

Yeah, I think you'll see it. The current arc is "The Return of the Mig-Na'cha" after all.

We have another silly scene with Marlo on the Conan O'Brien show. She announces formally that she's PREGGERS... but nobody watches Conan, duh.

I watch Conan...awww...

Finally Drax pulls himself away from the massive gravity of Jupiter where Genis sent him. The Mig-Na'cha grab him up and the queen shares her thoughts with him. It seems the Mig-Na'cha are only after Earth as stage one of their plan... it seems the entire galaxy is next! Silly aliens, when will they learn Earth never gets conquered. You gotta conquer all those other races first.

Yeah, well, it's fun watchin' 'em try!