Argonauts Assemble (Vol. 1)

Publisher: Age of Marvels 
Line: Archive 
Status: Limited Series - Concluded 
 
==Details==
 
Note: This title was set in the original AOM continuity, prior to the reset of the CBR forums in April of 2014 and the AOM reboot. 
== Issues ==
ARGONAUTS ASSEMBLE #0 ***Prelude to the Greek Epic Limited Series***
 Written by FRANK MILLER (Sin City, Daredevil: Born Again, 300) & GREG PAK (Incredible Hercules, World War Hulk)
 Art by SEAN MURPHY (The Wake, Punk Rock Jesus)
“This Beautiful Death, this Horrible Death”
It was a time of lore and legend, when the ancient gods of Olympus held sway over Greece. Yet, in their panicked wisdom, these gods knew that there were other pantheons which would compete for the hearts and minds of humanity. In fear that one day they would be forgotten, at the height of their power the Greek gods seeded their own world with transplants from Earth. This world would come to be known as Crete, named after the island where Zeus himself was raised while hiding from the wrath of his father, Cronus. A microcosm of ancient Greece, the inhabitants of Crete were the stuff of legend: Centaur. Harpies. Minotaur. And the men… Spartans! The greatest warriors the world has ever known. 
For thousands of years, Crete evolved with only minimal intervention from its Olympian creators… until now! Discontent with his own sphere of influence, Pluto, god of the underworld, has returned to conquer the realm with an army of the dead. Without any Avengers or Defenders to stop him, the responsibility falls upon King Aegis of New Sparta and his cadre of exceptional warriors to wage war against Hell itself! This is the story of that war, a war where a king would lose everything and gain an unquenchable thirst for vengeance upon the gods of Olympus… a thirst that would eventually threaten to drown not just the heavens but two worlds in blood. 
“The gods are on the side of the stronger.” - Caius Cornelius Tacitus, Historioe (IV, 17)
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$2.99
ARGONAUTS ASSEMBLE #1 (of 6) *** Epic Limited Series***
 Written by FRANK MILLER & GREG PAK 
 Art by SEAN MURPHY
“King of the Mountain”
He is King Aegis of New Sparta, the greatest warrior his world has ever known. His sons are dead. His wife is dead. Many of his loyal soldiers are dead. Their deaths came because an Olympian returned to the world known as Crete, and with him rode an army of darkness. But King Aegis would not yield. He defeated Pluto, god of the underworld, though he did not slay him. Instead, he destroyed his army and took the god captive. Through ruthless experimentation, Aegis discovered how to harness and twist Pluto’s divine power in order to grant his Spartans the ability to cheat death. They would need that ability, for King Aegis’ thirst for revenge could only be sated by deicide. The Olympians who created their world only to abandon it and allow Pluto to run amok would pay in blood for their negligence. But how does one storm heaven itself? One would need the only known stable interdimensional nexus leading to the Olympian realm in the universe… Mt. Olympus, on the mythical world of Earth! 
Now, a fleet of pirated space vessels descends over Greece. Their make: Kree; Spartoi; Rigellian; and more. King Aegis’ Spartans have been busy. He plans to take Mt. Olympus by force. His harpies will dominate the air, his Kraken will control the sea, and his centaur and minotaur will lend ground support to his peerless warriors. Earth’s heroes scramble to respond. U.S.Agent, Century, and Man-Wolf are the first to arrive on the scene. Their attempt to defend the mountain against the unkillable Spartans goes poorly, but mankind’s defenders are not the only interested parties. The gods themselves are aware of Aegis’ plan and send their foremost combatant to repel him. Enter Ares, god of war! Also drawn into the conflict, Warrior Woman and her Amazons! Blood will be shed when Warrior Woman and King Aegis meet at the base of the mountain. But can even the arrival of the Prince of Power, Hercules, keep the Spartans from their goal?
“All men’s souls are immortal, but the souls of the righteous are immortal and divine.” – Socrates
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$2.99
ARGONAUTS ASSEMBLE #2 (of 6) *** Epic Limited Series***
 Written by FRANK MILLER & GREG PAK 
 Art by SEAN MURPHY
“Olympus Has Fallen”
Mount Olympus has been stolen. King Aegis and his army of deathless Spartan warriors and mythological monsters have taken the mountain and retreated with it to the planet Crete, a planet once seeded by the Olympians themselves but left to the untender mercies of Pluto, god of the underworld. Now, Aegis will use the mountain – the only stable interdimensional nexus connecting our universe and the realm of the gods – to launch a retaliatory invasion. Heaven shall fall at the tip of a Spartan spear! Yet, unbeknownst to the King, the mount holds two vengeful stowaways – John Jameson, the Man-Wolf, and Delphyne Gorgon, the snake-haired Amazon!
On Earth, the assembled defenders tend their wounds after failing to turn back the Spartan’s assault. Zeus and Athena recall Ares to their divine domain, where the God of War intends to rally the realm’s warriors and drown the Spartans in an ocean of blood! Only Gaea, Mother Earth herself, seeks to end the conflict and spare both sides the horror of war. To that end, she requires heroes like unto those of old. She tasks her great-grandson Hercules with leading a new iteration of the world’s first super team: the Argonauts! As the original Argonauts travelled to Colchis to reclaim the Golden Fleece, so too must this team travel to the planet Crete, liberate the captive Pluto to halt the Spartan’s continued theft of his power, and either reclaim or destroy the great Mount Olympus, placing a wall of impassible space forever between the warring parties. From around the world and beyond, Gaea summons fighting spirits of epic stature that, in her wisdom, she deemed worthy to fulfill the role of “Argonaut”: the warrior, Hippolyta; the rogue, Deadpool; the mage, Dr. Strange; the shaman, Talisman; the barbarian, Red Sonja; the specter, Ghost; the giant, Red Ronin; the beastmaster, Moon-Boy; the beast, Devil Dinosaur; and captain of their modern Argo, the starship Skuttlebutt, Beta Ray Bill! The Argonauts are finally assembled, but will they even make it to Crete when Aegis shouts his fearful command, “Release the space Kraken!”? Let the Odyssey begin!
“There's nothing certain in man's life except this: That he must lose it.” – Aeschylus
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$2.99
ARGONAUTS ASSEMBLE #3 (of 6) *** Epic Limited Series***
 Written by FRANK MILLER & GREG PAK 
 Art by SEAN MURPHY
“A Question of Honor”
The planet Crete is a world mired in Greek lore but evolved beyond antiquity; a harsh land where myth crashes upon the shores of modernity. Governed by rigid and unforgiving Spartan law, the weak are weeded out from the cradle and only the strong survive and thrive. The Argonauts have traversed the great dark emptiness of space to reach this world, to recapture the stolen Mount Olympus and to liberate the captive Pluto, god of death. In response, the Spartans say only, “Come and take them!” 
Separated upon the crash-landing of their ship, the hostile world will test the mettle of every Argonaut. While Dr. Strange and Talisman attempt to traverse an impossible-to-navigate mystical labyrinth, Red Ronin and Devil Dinosaur engage in battle against gigantic, animated bronze statues of ancient kings! Red Sonja and Warrior Woman are attacked by a deviant cadre of lethal Amazons; Beta Ray Bill and Ghost are confronted by seductive yet murderous sirens; and Deadpool teaches Moon-Boy how to shoot centaurs with automatic weapons! 
However, it is when Hercules presumes to give the gift of battle to the Spartan warriors that the truly unexpected happens: their King Aegis arrives… and salutes him! Of all the gods, the Spartans continue to revere only the Prince of Power. They trace their lineage from Hercules himself, descendants of his fifty unnamed sons by the fifty daughters of King Thespius – the legendary sexual feat often described as Hercules’ thirteenth labor. In the past, Aegis and Hercules both lost children to the callous whims of Olympian deities, and instead of fighting against him, Aegis implores Hercules to join with his Spartan sons and daughters! Tear down Olympus! Stop the gods from ever again taking the life of a single mortal child! Faced with this unexpected moral quandary, will Hercules waiver in his mission? Has he been on the wrong side all along? And whatever he chooses, will all his teammates feel the same way once they understand the Spartan’s motivations? 
"It's not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters." – Epictetus 
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$2.99
ARGONAUTS ASSEMBLE #4 (of 6) *** Epic Limited Series***
 Written by FRANK MILLER & GREG PAK 
 Art by SEAN MURPHY
“Blasphemy AND MADNESS”
“The God of War.” “The Goddess of Just Warfare.” Hah. Their names will be put to the test... Having absconded to their home planet with Mount Olympus, King Ageis’ Spartans finally use the mountain’s inter-dimensional nexus to open a portal to the Olympian realm. With a lust for deicide, their army storms the heavens! There to meet them on the other side: Ares, Athena, and their Olympian host! Prepare for a battle of EPIC proportions! Make no mistake, the Spartans are the underdogs. Yet, driven by vengeance and wielding a deathlessness stolen from Pluto, god of the underworld, it is the Spartans who begin to best the very gods themselves! Such is their fury. Such is their prowess. They will return to Planet Crete with their shields, or on them… in pieces! Can John “Man-Wolf” Jameson and Delphyne Gorgon turn the tide?
Meanwhile, upon learning that the Spartans are his blood descendants, Hercules cannot bring himself to fight against them. Nor can he fight against his kin on Olympus, despite how they have wronged him in the past. King Aegis understands, and with reluctance, he has the Prince of Power bound in enchanted chains until their campaign to conquer Olympus is over. But Argonauts never say die! Dr. Strange, Deadpool, Moon-Boy, Devil Dinosaur, Red Ronin, Red Sonja, and Beta Ray Bill storm the stolen mountain, forcing the Spartans to fight a battle on two fronts! However, not all the gods amongst the Argonauts share Hercules’ family values. Allying herself with the Spartans… Warrior Woman?!? 
Meanwhile, Ghost and Talisman have snuck into the prison chamber of Pluto. What surprises can they expect when they attempt to liberate him?
“Pay attention to your enemies, for they are the first to discover your mistakes.” - Antisthenes
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$2.99
ARGONAUTS ASSEMBLE #5 (of 6) *** Epic Limited Series***
 Written by FRANK MILLER & GREG PAK 
 Art by SEAN MURPHY
“MAY YOU LIVE FOREVER”
War wages. Mortals and gods alike spill blood and have their blood spilt in return. When Skurge the Executioner crosses axes with Ares, god of war, the Spartans not only hold the portal they have opened into the Asgardian realm but they push into the very heart of Olympus: the Pantheon’s Hall! Man-Wolf and Delphyne Gorgon look on as the Spartans confront Zeus himself, thinking they are surely mad to seek battle with a Sky-Father. Yet there is clearly a method to their madness: Athena unexpectedly turns on her father! Has Olympus truly fallen?
On the other side of the portal, the Argonauts Assemble! It’s Dr. Strange, Moon-Boy, Devil Dinosaur, Red Ronin, and Beta Ray Bill against the greatest warriors the Spartan planet has to offer! It’s also Red Sonja versus the turncoat Warrior Woman in single combat while amongst the chaos Deadpool squares off with King Aegis!
Meanwhile, when Ghost and Talisman attempt to rescue Pluto from the Spartan’s dungeon, they face unexpected resistance… from Pluto! As he swats them away, it becomes apparent that Pluto was allowing himself to be captured! His death-denying power was not being stolen by the Spartans - he was deliberately channeling it into them so he could use them as instruments of deicide! With plausible deniability firmly established, he would withdraw his power after the Spartans slew enough gods, leaving them again mortal and vulnerable. After sweeping the Spartans off the board, he would ascend to the throne of a decimated Olympus and rebuild the pantheon in his own image with his own loyalists – like his ally, Athena! Can Ghost and Talisman escape to warn the other Argonauts before they too are claimed by the god of the underworld? No chance in Hades… unless they get help from an adjacent dungeon occupant: the prince of Power, Hercules! 
Courage is of no value unless accompanied by justice; yet if all men became just, there would be no need for courage. - Agesilaus the Second
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$2.99
== Gallery ==
AA0.jpg|Argonauts Assemble #0
AA1.jpg|Argonauts Assemble #1
AA2 (2).jpg|Argonauts Assemble #2
AA3.jpg|Argonauts Assemble #3
AA4.jpg|Argonauts Assemble #4
AAx (2).jpg|Argonauts Assemble Promo Art
Category:Titles
Category:Age of Marvels Title