Lightning Storms (Vol. 1)

Line: Archive 
Status: 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. 
LIGHTNING STORMS
Writer: Paul Cornell
Artist: Amanda Conner
Location: New York City (HQ)
Concept: S.H.I.E.L.D. has always had an air of PULP around it. But with its sub-team THE LIGHTNING STORMS the action has been turned up to the MAX! Led by Carol Danvers, the superheroine known as Captain Marvel, Operation: Lightning Storm is an international taskforce dedicated to protecting the planet from any type of threat!
Cast:
 1. Captain Marvel (Carol Danvers)
 2. Hawkeye (Kate Bishop)
 3. Jocasta
 4. She-Hulk
 5. Songbird
 6. Spider-Woman (Jessica Drew)
 7. Warbird (Ava'Dara Naganandini)
Supporting: Jake Oh, Blonde Phantom, De'Lila, Rapture
Antagonists: Lucia Von Bardas, Crimson Cowl, Enchantress (Sylvie Lushton), Fabien Cortez, Mandrill, U-Foes (Vector, Ironclad, Vapor, X-Ray)
==Issues==
LIGHTNING STORMS #6
 Written by JEFF PARKER
 Plot by EXCITER
 Art by AMANDA CONNER
“War Games”
Lucia Von Bardas has set her sinister plan for world domination into motion, and it starts with further destabilizing the already unstable Middle Eastern nation of Aqiria! Von Bardas will covertly supply the regime’s tyrannical leader, Farouk Al-Fasaud, with weapons to use against the Aqiri rebels, including lethal android troopers – thinking machines capable of delivering large-scale damage and banned by international law. While the war weary powers of the world debate the necessity of intervention, Latveria will invade under the guise of humanitarian disarmament and Von Bardas will have seized control of her first country! Devising this plan from Rapture’s reconnaissance but unable to prove it, Captain Marvel secretly brings Operation: Lightning Storm to Aqiria in defiance of the U.N.’s mandate, hoping to destroy the androids before they completely slaughter the rebels! But will the fundamentalist rebels even accept the help of immodest women in skin-tight uniforms, or will Captain Marvel, Spider-Woman, Songbird, Warbird, and Hawkeye have to beat the help into them? 
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$2.99
LIGHTNING STORMS #7
 Written by PAUL CORNELL
 Plot by EXCITER
 Art by AMANDA CONNER
“Quagmire”
Operation: Lightning Storm has taken apart the illegal android troopers that Lucia Von Bardas supplied to Farouk Al-Fasaud’s regime in Aqiria, but that doesn’t mean Von Bardas’ plan has failed! Doctors are in short supply amongst Aqiri rebel forces, and Von Bardas has covertly smuggled her personal physician, Doctor Sun, into the Middle Eastern nation in order to “help.” Rebel wounded are augmented with parts from the dismantled androids, resulting in an insurgent army of fundamentalist cyborgs that aren’t afraid of collateral damage! Captain Marvel laments her lack of an exit strategy as she leads her team of Spider-Woman, Songbird, Warbird, and Hawkeye against the same rebels she so recently saved from slaughter, but can they stop the cyborgs before Latverian “peacekeepers” invade? Meanwhile, Jocasta tries desperately to keep the Lightning Storm’s unsanctioned mission out of the headlines, but how far will she go to protect her team’s secret?
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$2.99
LIGHTNING STORMS #8
 Written by PAUL CORNELL
 Plot by EXCITER
 Art by AMANDA CONNER
“Shrooms of Doom”
Guest starring Blackheath, the Plant-Man!
The chess match between Captain Marvel and Lucia Von Bardas continues to play out on an international level, with Von Bardas seizing the upper hand. Latverian “peacekeepers” have deposed Aqiria’s dictator Farouk Al-Fasaud, imprisoned him and inserted a puppet in his place – all under the guise of humanitarian intervention! Desperate for a win, the Captain receives intelligence from her inside-woman Rapture about Von Bardas’ next target for conquest: the drought-ravaged African nation of Mbangawi! A Big Biotech corporation, secretly a front for Latveria, has begun using Mbangawi to cultivate a crop of genetically modified drought-resistant mushrooms. Ostensibly, these nutritional fungi are a boon to the starving populous and a potential solution to easing hunger across sub-Saharan Africa. But something about these shrooms is very wrong… as Blackheath the Plant-Man discovered first hand! In addition to B vitamins, riboflavin, and essential minerals, the mushrooms also contain a subtle mind-controlling agent. Now it’s up to Captain Marvel, Spider-Woman, Songbird, Warbird, and Hawkeye to halt production on these Franken-fungi before Mbangawi is irreversibly contaminated and Von Bardas acquires more territory along with an army of thralls – but to do it, they’ll have to go through a Plant-Man that has been genetically modified in his own horrific way! Operation: Lightning Storm is about to find out just how bad for you GMOs can be! Meanwhile, Jocasta imprisons a would-be whistleblower before he can leak information about the team’s activities in Aqiria to the internet. Is she working as intended, or is something desperately wrong with her ethical subroutines? 
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$2.99
LIGHTNING STORMS #9
 Written by PAUL CORNELL
 Plot by EXCITER
 Art by AMANDA CONNER
“Hide and Seek”
The Lightning Storms’ victory in Mbangawi last issue has caused some serious blowback! Lucia Von Bardas knows that a mole has been leaking her plans, and Latveria is on lockdown. Now, Captain Marvel’s inside woman Rapture is playing a high stakes game of cat and mouse within the nation’s borders, but in Latveria the cat commands an army of lethal robots! Will she be found out, or can she slip through Von Bardas’ fearsome metal fingers?
Meanwhile, Captain Marvel and Spider-Woman find out that Jocasta has been making whistle-blowers disappear in order to cover up the team’s unsuccessful clandestine operations in Aqiria. When they confront the robot, it goes badly… and it turns out that the higher ups in S.H.I.E.L.D., the Lightning Storms’ parent organization, approve of Jocasta’s methods! Not only that, but so does team member Warbird! Can the Lightning Storms overcome this seemingly impassible ideological divide, or is the indefinite detention of a hacktivist in order to cover up actions taken on her orders too much for Carol Danvers to stomach? 
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$2.99
LIGHTNING STORMS #10
 Written by PAUL CORNELL
 Plot by EXCITER
 Art by AMANDA CONNER
“Girl Fight”
The ideological divide within Operation: Lightning Storm has reached its boiling point. Rapture, Captain Marvel’s spy inside Latveria, has been captured and convicted of espionage. Lucia Von Bardas has already scheduled her execution, and the international community has deemed such action legal given that Rapture’s presence in the country was unsanctioned and in violation of multiple treaties. International law be damned, Captain Marvel, Spider-Woman, and Hawkeye intend to mount a rescue mission. For the good of the Operation, Jocasta can’t let that happen. The robot has Warbird on her side, and for support brings in a reserve member of the team, the hellspawn-hunting warrior from the High Heavens, Angela. Its hero vs. hero as all the conflict within the group finally explodes, but is this exactly what Lucia Von Bardas wanted? 
Meanwhile, were there two spies inside Latveria the whole time? What does the shape-shifting Skrull De'Lila have planned within the Western European Nation’s borders, and is she friend or foe?
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$2.99
LIGHTNING STORMS #11
 Written by PAUL CORNELL
 Plot by EXCITER
 Art by AMANDA CONNER
“Unsettling Differences”
Captain Marvel, Spider-Woman, and Hawkeye against Jocasta, Warbird, and Angela! Operation: Lightning Storm was violently split down the middle, so it was left to Songbird to recruit the one person strong and sensible enough to mediate the dispute… Jennifer Walters, the sensational She-Hulk! With Angela quitting the team, intent on a Darker path, She-Hulk is otherwise able facilitate the cooling of heads. Though Captain Marvel’s spy, Rapture, was still in Latverian custody and awaiting a lawful execution for espionage, the gamma-powered attorney-at-law convinced the Captain to let her try a more diplomatic approach before launching a rescue mission that could be the impetus for destabilizing Europe. In no time, Jen Walters is sitting down with Lucia Von Bardas’ appointed negotiator – Justine Hammer, the Crimson Cowl! What does Hammer want in exchange for Rapture’s life? Why, it’s a mission to be carried out by Operation: Lightning Storm! 
The Central Asian nation of Sing-Cong is ruled by a brutal dictator named Major Hoy Bao, ostensibly a very bad guy who deserves to be ousted from power. But what ulterior motives do Von Bardas and Hammer have in requesting the Lightning Storms take him down? And can they even do the job, given that Major Hoy has hired the U-Foes as his personal guard?
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$2.99
LIGHTNING STORMS #12
 Written by PAUL CORNELL
 Plot by EXCITER
 Art by AMANDA CONNER
“Run for the Border”
Aqiria. Mbangawi. Most recently, Sing-Cong. Lucia Von Bardas has been systematically toppling small countries like dominos so she can instill puppet governments loyal only to her. Although the spy Rapture was ousted from Latveria, the Skrull De’Lila remained within the nation’s borders and was able to pass along intelligence on Von Bardas’ most ambitious plan yet. Run for the border, Von Bardas wants Mexico and it may already be too late! 
Mandrill, the primate-like mutant, has the ability secrete pheromones that make women submissive to his suggestions. Fabian Cortez has the ability to amplify the mutant powers of others. A warm northerly wind blows over Mexico. Combined, this is how Lucia Von Bardas gained control over the “Land of the Hot Sun” months ago. Now, Mexico’s first female President, newly elected to the position, has withdrawn her nation from the international treaty that permits S.H.I.E.L.D. to operate within its borders. Meanwhile, the populace cheers as government-sanctioned “superheroes” Cósmico, Miasma, Rayos, and Metálico (actually rebranded “U-Foes” Vector, Vapor, X-Ray, and Ironclad) systematically liberate the land from domineering drug cartels. Not only is Operation: Lightning Storm, a subsidiary of S.H.I.E.L.D., banned from the country, and not only would the Storms have to target popular national heroes to liberate the nation and look like terrorists in the process, but even breathing the Mexican air will put our heroes at risk of becoming thralls to the Mandrill! ¿Puede el Capitán Marvel, Mujer Araña, Hulk-Femenino, y el resto de Operación: Tormenta de Relámpagos salve el día, o es esto imposible?
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$2.99
LIGHTNING STORMS #13
 Written by PAUL CORNELL
 Plot by EXCITER
 Art by AMANDA CONNER
“HOW TO PREVENT LIGHTNING DAMAGE” Part One: “ONCE UPON A MIND-CRIME, IN MEXICO”
Operation: Lightning Storm’s mission to Mexico was a disaster. The team failed to liberate the women of the nation from the mental control of the heinous Mandrill, whose female mind-controlling pheromones have been considerably enhanced by the living power-amplifier, Fabian Cortez. Worse still, Captain Marvel, She-Hulk, Spider-Woman, Songbird, and Warbird were all exposed to the pheromones during their battle with Mandrill allies the U-Foes, and they have become the Mandrill’s thralls! Only Jocasta and Kate Bishop, the ever-steady archer Hawkeye, were immune thanks to being a robot and being severely congested, respectively. Now trapped and hiding south of the border, it’s up to Kate, Jocasta, and the incredible weapons Jocasta manages to scrape together from broken-down El Caminos to escape the country – a feat that won’t be so easy when both their friends and enemies are searching for them! Can they get back to America and regroup, or will Lucia Von Bardas’ pawns bury them in Mexico?
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$2.99
LIGHTNING STORMS #14
 Written by PAUL CORNELL
 Plot by EXCITER
 Art by AMANDA CONNER
“HOW TO PREVENT LIGHTNING DAMAGE” Part Two: “GIRLS WITH GUNS”
Operation: Lightning Storm sought to liberate the women of Mexico from the mind control of the Mandrill. They failed. The majority of the team fell victim to the primal mutant’s pheromones, enhanced as they were by power-amplifier, Fabian Cortez. Kate “Hawkeye” Bishop and Jocasta escaped, and with the help of S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Jake Oh, return to Mexico and manage to inject their teammates with a solution Jocasta invented that would temporarily shut down their olfactory systems, rendering them immune from the Mandrill’s control. Yet, lingering effects remain. Although the Mandrill can no longer actively dominate their minds, he had already implanted a mental block: Captain Marvel, She-Hulk, Songbird, and Spider-Woman can’t use their powers without the Mandrill’s permission! Now nothing more than normal S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, can Captain Marvel possibly lead her team to take on the criminals that have occupied America’s southernmost neighbor? You bet she can! Gear up and bring extra ammunition, because plain-old Carol Danvers, Jennifer Walters, Jessica Drew, and Melissa Gold, alongside Jocasta and already-unpowered Kate Bishop and Warbird, are storming Mexico’s White House, the Palacio Nacional in the heart of Mexico City, and they aren’t leaving until the Mandrill and Cortez are resoundingly ousted! Easier said than done, considering that they’ve been labelled terrorists! And what’s up with Jocasta and Jake Oh, do they have a thing going on? 
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$2.99
==Gallery==
LS vol.1 6-13.jpg|Lightning Storms Vol. 1 6-13
LS6.jpg|Lightning Storms #6
LS7a.png|Lightning Storms #7
LS8.jpg|Lightning Storms #8
LS9.jpg|Lightning Storms #9
LS10.jpg|Lightning Storms #10
LS11.png|Lightning Storms #11
LS12.png|Lightning Storms #12
LS13.jpg|Lightning Storms #13
LS14.jpg|Lightning Storms #14
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Category:Age of Marvels Title