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Appearing in "Vicious Cycle (Part I of IV)"

Reprint of the 1st story from
Ghost Rider (Vol. 6) #1

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Synopsis for "Vicious Cycle (Part I of IV)"

Reprint of the 1st story from
Ghost Rider (Vol. 6) #1

Ghost Rider is trapped in Hell. He is being tormented by Lucifer, with the hope of escape from Hell. When he finally starts to lose his nerve he starts pounding on the ground and uncovers the demon, Greexix. He believes that Greexix is a spy of Lucifer when a group of Lucifer's soldiers ride towards them, Ghost Rider prepares to battle but they grab Greexix with a whip and flee. As they ride off Greexix yells to Ghost Rider that he knows the way out of Hell. At Lucifer's castle, Greexix is brought before Lucifer and is sentenced to punishment for leaving "the pit", Greexix tells him working in the pit has caused him blindness but Lucifer decides to have him tortured, one of his men informs Lucifer of Greexix's conversation with Ghost Rider. A little later, Ghost Rider bursts in, with no plan, and picks up Greexix with his chain. He jumps over the pit on his bike as the army of Lucifer goes around. They run into a cave in a mountain where they discover water, Ghost Rider makes a deal with Greexix saying that they will escape Hell together, but Johnny really plans to leave the demon behind. As they shake hands, Greexix reveals himself to be Lucifer in disguise and Ghost Rider sinks into the water. Back on Earth an army of souls rises from the sea, amongst them is Ghost Rider.

Appearing in "Eggs Got Legs"

Reprint of the 1st story from
Fantastic Four #349

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Synopsis for "Eggs Got Legs"

Reprint of the 1st story from
Fantastic Four #349

The only thing standing between the Skrull renegade known as De'Lila and the various forces against her (which include Skrull soldiers hunting her, the New Fantastic Four, and the Mole Man and his legions) is Reed Richards, who is under her telepathic control. Before a fight can break out De'Lila calls a halt to hostilities and reveals her true form. She then begins to appeal to the Earthlings and ask them to kill the Skrulls that are after her. De'Lila's telepathic influence begins to affect the Mole Man, who empathizes with her role as an outcast and orders his minions to kill the other Skrulls. The only one unaffected by De'Lila is the Ghost Rider who decides that the Skrulls should not die by her thralls and erects a Hell-Fire barrier around the aliens. This interruption also causes the rest of the New Fantastic Four and the Mole Man to snap out of it. Realizing her plan is a bust, De'Lila then orders Reed Richards to take her out of the area and they flee on his Sky-Cycle. The Hulk tries to stop them by tossing a boulder at them, but misses. In the aftermath of the battle Spider-Man realizes that they have been duped by De'Lila the whole time and that the Fantastic Four have been alive the whole time, and their group has been nothing more than her pawns.

The New Fantastic Four then head after them with the Mole Man and his armies in tow. Spider-Man uses his Spider-Sense to help lead his comrades through the tunnels after their foe. However down a ways they trigger off an explosive and are almost buried alive if not for the Hulk holding up the cave with his immense strength.

Further down the tunnel, De'Lila has Reed land the Sky-Cycle and she shape-shifts into the form of Susan Richards in order to reassert her control over Reed. Apparently falling in love with De'Lila, Reed kisses her. Feeling attracted to Richards herself, De'Lila explains what the Inorganic Technotroid is: an incubated defense robot that is used to defend Skrull rulers, that is hatched from an egg. The Technotroid then imprints and becomes loyal to whomever it sees first, thus making their need to find it important lest it imprints itself on something else. Still trapped under the rubble, Hulk tells his teammates to get a move on so they can get out of the cave alive. Ghost Rider offers up a solution, by spinning his bike chain around at incredible speeds he is able to bore through the rock and dig them a tunnel to freedom.

Meanwhile back at the Four Freedoms Plaza, Sue, Sharon, Ben, Alicia and Johnny awaken to find themselves bound up in the elevator. With the series of knots set up to choke them if they try to escape and Johnny having an asbestos lined bag on his head, it seems like they are stuck until they are rescued. No sooner are they awake that the elevator kicks into gear again, and they are discovered by Franklin. Franklin frees them and the Fantastic Four rush into the control room where they find their robotic receptionist Roberta. She explains that Reed left with a woman who appeared to be Sue, but used the code "Tell all my friends in the Navy" suggesting that something was up, leading to her discovering the rest of the team and getting Franklin to assist in rescuing them. Learning that Reed is somewhere below Monster Island, the Fantastic Four rush off to get to him, leaving Franklin in the care of Alicia.

Back below the tunnels, De'Lila and Reed are continuing to search for the Technotroid. Along the way Reed discovers strange hieroglyphics on the walls from centuries ago. Reed is curious, but De'Lila forces him to continue on their trek. They soon find a female Giganto sleeping with a Skrull saucer in her grasp. Reed tosses a rock far off and the noise causes the Giganto to go to investigate. As they approach the Skrull saucer they are stopped by the New Fantastic Four who have finally caught up with them. De'Lila then takes Reed hostage and threatens to kill him if they do not free the egg from the Skrull Saucer. She explains that she selected the four heroes to be the "new" Fantastic Four because their unique powers would allow her to free the Technotroid egg from its protective casing. The Hulk uses his strength to smash into the ship and remove the egg, while the Ghost Rider's Hell-Fire strips away a defensive coating, that only a mystical instrument can remove. With a spinning ream of lasers blocking the shut-off switch, Wolverine disables their mechanisms with his Adamantium claws. Finally Spider-Man fires his webbing to activate the release mechanism freeing the egg from within.

However before De'Lila can grab the egg, the Hulk stands in her way. To make matters worse the Mole Man and his armies have arrived to claim the egg for themselves. Before a full on battle can erupt, the real Fantastic Four arrive on the scene. Mere moments later the monsters also return after being called back by the Skrulls. While most of the heroes fight back the hordes of the Mole Man, Spider-Man races to stop De'Lila from getting the egg. In order to throw the hero off, she changes her form into that of his wife Mary Jane, causing Spider-Man to pause long enough to be blasted away. Spider-man quickly recovers, he webs the egg and tries to throw it as far as possible from De'Lila. The egg ends up landing in the female Giganto's hands. The Mole-man orders his armies to seize the egg from her. Suddenly the fight is interrupted by the return of the male Giganto. The Skrull captain reveals that the egg was stolen in order to become the perfect assassin and slay the Empress. Their orders are to either reclaim the Technotroid or destroy it to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands. This will also destroy the great cave and everything in it. During this stand-off, the egg hatches in the hands of the female Giganto and the Technotroid imprints itself on the Giganto. She then orders her "child" to destroy the Skrull commanding officer, which it does. With the Skrulls leverage destroyed, De'Lila tries to make a break for freedom by changing back into the form of Sue Richards and trying to enthrall Reed once again. Reed seemingly falls for it by embracing her in a kiss, but this is all a ploy to steal her weapon. Reed then knocks her out and runs to his wife and kisses her.

Meanwhile, De'Lila has recovered from the punch and is left to the mercies of the Ghost Rider who forces her to gaze into his Penance Stare, causing her to go mad, he then turns her over to the Skrulls and suggests they leave. Having had enough the Mole Man demands that they all leave his domain or prepare to die, but Spider-Man manages to talk him down as they all seem to have accomplished what they set out to do and will leave willingly, pointing out that a battle would only cause more damage to the Mole Man's domain.

Meanwhile, above the surface, the Punisher is following the Tricephalous in an Apache helicopter as it flies back to Monster Island, intent on bringing his personal war against crime down on the mysterious island. However as he passes through the clouds and is able to see the island he spots the Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, Wolverine, Ghost Rider, and the Hulk on the island surface. Believing that they have the situation well under control, the Punisher turns around to check the next thing on his list.

Appearing in "Engagement Ring"

Reprint of the 1st story from
She-Hulk #8

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Synopsis for "Engagement Ring"

Reprint of the 1st story from
She-Hulk #8

The She-Hulk has been selected by the Magistrati of the Living Tribunal to be a judge in the court of the universe. Taken to the Star Chambers with the delinquent known as Southpaw, Jennifer Walters is taken to an infinite closet to get the appropriate attire for her next case on the planet Skardon. There Recorder Zeta-9 finds what she needs: a boxing outfit and gloves. He explains to the two women that the planet Skardon settles disputes through combat. Soon, Pip the Troll is sent to teleport Jennifer and Southpaw back to Skardon.

When She-Hulk arrives on the alien world she is told who her opponent will be: the Elder of the Universe known as the Champion. Jennifer recalls this Elder as he once came to Earth and battled many of Earth's strongest heroes, including her friend the Thing. She-Hulk doesn't like her chances as everyone previously chosen to battle the Champion was defeated. Pip explains how he and his comrades heard that the Champion was about to enslave the planet Skardon, and got involved, recruiting the universe's most powerful warriors to fight him, but to no avail. She-Hulk is shocked to see that among the injured include Gladiator, Beta Ray Bill, the Silver Surfer, and Drax the Destroyer. She is then brought to the last fighter, Adam Warlock, who is just barely hanging on. Warlock warns She-Hulk about the Power Gem that the Champion uses to augment his strength, making him an unbeatable foe. When Jennifer asks how she can beat someone like that, Warlock believes that as a member of the Magistrati, She-Hulk will find a way. With that, Adam Warlock dies and his body wraps itself in a regenerative cocoon that will ultimately bring him back to life.

Soon, She-Hulk is brought to the arena to battle the Champion and he is insulted that they have brought a woman to fight him. The Magistrati point out that gender is not one of the terms of the matches and reminds him that if he refuses to battle the She-Hulk, he forfeits the match. Soon the fight begins, and She-Hulk is beaten so badly the Magistrati stops the fight as she will surely die if she continues. She-Hulk objects to the fight, saying that it isn't fair. The Magistrati agrees and organizes a rematch within three months time, much to the protests of the Champion. When he learns that he has no choice in the matter, lest he feel the wrath of the Living Tribunal, the Champion concedes but vows to utterly destroy the She-Hulk. As She-Hulk is carried away, she thinks back and recalls a moment sometime earlier when Pug pointed out that She-Hulk's strength is exponential to that of Jennifer Walters and realizes that she has the key to defeating the Champion. While back on Earth, Pug and Holden Holliway appease the authorities regarding Southpaw's release to make sure she is still maintaining the conditions allowing her freedom. To this end, they have Ditto pose as Southpaw for some Guardsmen who come for a surprise inspection. Appeased, the Guardsmen leave. It upsets Ditto, however, to break the law in this way, but Holliway assures Ditto and Pug to have faith that She-Hulk and Southpaw will return soon.

Back on Skardon, She-Hulk has reverted back to human form to train, realizing that if she gets in peak physical condition as Walters, it will exponentially increase her strength as the She-Hulk. While they are training, Southpaw decides to go out and explore the planet. When she violently takes some fruit to eat, she comes to like the might-means-right attitude of this world. However, she is soon confronted by the Champion. When he mocks She-Hulk, Southpaw vows to fight him if Jennifer loses the match. The Champion points out that since Southpaw cannot remove her gauntlet, she will not be allowed to fight in the match as no outside weapons are allowed. Southpaw goes back to the gym to sulk and when Jennifer hears about the girl's encounter with the Champion comes up with yet another way of tipping things in her favor. When it finally comes time for the match, the She-Hulk reminds the Champion about the rules regarding outside weapons and refuses to fight him unless he removes the Power Gem. They also make a wager: If She-Hulk wins, the Champion must promise never to wear the Power Gem again. The Champion agrees, but only if She-Hulk agrees to become his wife should she lose.

In the ring, the She-Hulk's training pays off as her exponential strength allows her to easily overpower and defeat the Champion. With the Elder of the Universe defeated, She-Hulk is crowned the new champion of Skardon. The Magistrati then inform her that she has completed her work for them, for now, and that she is to return to Earth. Before leaving, She-Hulk tells the people of Skardon that they will no longer resolve things with violence, but with their brains. She then leaves Adam Warlock and his allies to sort things out from there. However, after Pip teleports Jennifer and Southpaw away, the people of Skardon begin fighting over who has the biggest brain, leaving Warlock and his allies with a much larger job than they had anticipated.

Notes

This is a UK title that features reprints of American titles.

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