All-New, Overworked Avengers #44 – ‘I Hang My Head and Cry’

In the office of the warden of The Vault (per the location caption), Shatterstar kneels on the floor in exhaustion. The warden stands in the foreground, only his leg visible. The title of this comic strip, “All-New, Overworked Avengers Presents… ‘I Hang My Head and Cry’,” is visible at the bottom of the image.

In another reverse-angle shot, we see the face of the warden, as he personally greets Shatterstar. His name is Edwin Cord (and he’s “played” by an action figure of Richard Attenborough’s character from Jurassic Park, John Hammond).

Shatterstar asks Cord if he used to be a peer of Tony Stark’s, and Cord explains that, when Stark took over his company, he negotiated for this job at The Vault as one of the conditions.

Cord looks wistfully off through his office window, at the prison yard below, and when Shatterstar tries to call him on his tale of woe, ever so slightly, Cord spins around aggressively and points his walking stick at him.

Cord reveals his massive inferiority complex, vis-a-vis Stark, and Shatterstar is nonplussed.

Shatterstar declares that he’s not too concerned about being able to do his time in The Vault, and Cord ominously replies that Shatterstar will pay for the mistake that brought him to The Vault.

Cord strikes Shatterstar’s chest with the glowing amber jewel in his walking stick. Shatterstar cries out in pain.

As Shatterstar shudders, Cord explains that his company didn’t turn over all its secrets to Stark when it was subsumed. Right now, in fact, the most advanced nanites in the world are making Shatterstar susceptible to Cord’s mind control techniques.

As Shatterstar falls under Cord’s spell, Cord declares his intention to get his company back from Stark, and to take control of the world, writ large!

The credits for the comic strip, citing the Unsplash users whose photographs were the background art, the ownership of Marvel by Disney, the creation of Marvel characters by actual human beings, and the figure photography/script/lettering by me, Phil Wrede.

Given what I wrote for the comic strip where Justin Hammer (as played by Dr. Ian Malcolm) was introduced, it’s probably no surprise that Jurassic Park was a formative movie for me, and remains one of my all-time favorites. If it wasn’t obvious before, it has got to be, now, with the late Sir Richard Attenborough’s Mr. Hammond “playing” the part of longtime Tony Stark rival Edwin Cord. The second I saw that action figure on the shelves at Target, I knew I had a part for him in the Phil Wrede Marvel Action Figure Comic Universe, and when it became clear that I needed a warden for The Vault, it was obvious what role Edwin Cord needed to play.

I had a heck of a good time writing his dialogue; I dearly hope it was also fun to read!

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