Dave's ASH Archive - Academy of Super-Heroes: #1-60
Last Updated: 2/16/06
#43-60 added.
From left to right, top row: Solar Max, Comet, Peregryn, Essay, Contact,
Green Knight, Scorch, Beacon, Lightfoot, Breaker, Fury and Peter the Satyr.
Bottom row: Meteor, Gawain, Channel, old Scorch. Bottom row is old costumes
or identities.
Academy of Super-Heroes by Dave Van Domelen - The current ongoing series
starring the bulk of the Academy team in 2023-5. The Academy of Super-Heroes
is the premiere hero team of the North American Combine. Now with arc
titles!
- #1 - "Cross": The mysterious Cross seeks help for his
family and runs across ASH in their Mexico City base.
- #2 - "Rose": ASH journeys to the Brazilian basin where
Cross's clan lives, only to be tricked into a pocket-dimension trap.
- #3 - "Monsters Under the Bed": ASH fights the Svartalfen
and escapes just as Cross frees his clan from the genetic mind control they
were under, joining all their spirits together into a form of gestalt before
leaving Earth.
- #4 - "Minor Tom - Coming Home": Lightfoot, a member of the
original ASH in the 1990s, reappears after a relativistic trip vaulted him into
the future.
- #5 - "Past Shock": Lightfoot deals with this strange new
world, and is attacked by an old foe from the 20th Century...Devastator!
- #6 - "Blast From The Past": Devastator launches an attack
on ASH, and is killed at terrible cost...but his plan continues without him.
- #7 - "Vault of the Heavens": ASH barely stops Devastator's
plan to crack the Barrier that protected Earth from the gods, but then someone
else starts it again.
- #8 - "The Rest Of The Story": As the gods start to trickle
back in, the effects are felt worldwide...especially since the Anchor Effect
that kept all of China non-superhuman is now gone. The person behind most of
the manipulations of both this series and the Academy series is revealed.
- #9 - "HUNGER": The Arcanovore, a construct capable of
ravaging worlds, has been imprisoned on Earth since the 1990s. Now alien
powers seek to use it as a weapon in interstellar power struggles, and at least
one hero will fall trying to stop them! Conclusion of the major plot thread
that drove the action from behind the scenes since Academy #0.
- FOREBODING - #10-12, #14-16
- #10 - "Contact": In the wake of their merging in #9,
Aaron Zander and Paul Mahler look for answers to why they aren't following in
the footsteps of other gestalted metahumans, and the quest takes them to the
Oracle at Delphi.
- #11 - "A Kick In The Teeth": During a fairly quiet time
in late 2023, Solar Max agrees to be on an interview/news program, where he
meets a rather colorful character named Thom O'Ryan, and learns something
about the world he lives in.
- #12 - "Christmas At Ground Zero": While various members
of ASH fight the holiday blues, someone else intends to give them a real
fight. Ties in with Conclave of Super-Villains #3.
- #13 - "DEEP ARMAGEDDON Part 2: A Bomb In Nation": Part
of the CSV/ASH/Warden/STRAFE crossover. ASH, with the help of the LNH 2023
students, races around the world to stop an international bomb threat!
Extra large special issue!
- #14 - "Academic Year": In the aftermath of DEEP
ARMAGEDDON, Lightfoot heads off to the Academy while the rest of the team
discusses what to do about the growing problem of New York City.
- #15 - "Nothing From Nothing": The New York City problem
is taken out of ASH's hands, but then one of their own presents a greater
menace than any villain to date....
- #16 - "Wheel of Fortune": While Peregryn travels around
the globe in search of the Eye of Horus, several other members of ASH deal
with relationship matters in this Valentine's Day story.
- #17 - "Search and Seizure": Contact suffers the
consequences of his actions in #16, and Arin Kelsey returns to action...but
not in any way she'd like to return.
- #18 - "Manhunt": ASH mobilizes to try and find Josh
Cole and Arin Kelsey. Meanwhile, Contact arrives at MetaPsych, and General
Kasca finds out something rather important about the Papacy.
- #19 - "Mexican Standoff": The search for Cole
continues, and after Solar Max has a run-in with Labyrinthe of the Conclave
of Super-Villains, Channel and Gawain find Cole...but this might not have
been a good thing.
- #20 - "Winter's Tail": Cole has gone to ground, leaving
ASH to stew and wait and try to deal with their personal demons.
- #21 - "The Bell Tolls": It's Easter Sunday, and Pope
Pius XIII is in Mexico City...and so are a large number of people seeking his
death, including Josh Cole.
- #22 - "Cardinal Sins": The fallout of last issue's
events starts to be felt while the mystery surrounding it is investigated.
Meanwhile, Sal comes to terms with his personal demons, and Arin wakes from
her nightmare.
- A PLAN FOR REVENGE - #23-25
- #23 - "Martyrs": While Sal and Arin continue to deal
with personal issues, Contact and Grind work on the riddle Rebus left in
Agent Ridley's brain, and a team goes to investigate reports of a new
paragang in "Lost Angeles."
- #24 - "Process of Elimination": The Los Angeles team is
recovered, but is badly beaten. And Gawain is forced into single combat with
perhaps the most dangerous member of the Revanche...Nomad!
- #25 - "Shadows Over Wichita": Final battle between ASH
and the Revanche!
- #26 - "Channel Crossing": A special issue seen from the
perspective of George "Channel" Sylvester.
- #27 - "Eulogies": Interspersed with the goings-on of a
funeral are scenes from the investigation of the death being commemorated. A
member of ASH is no more.
- SHADOW OF THE PYRAMID - #28-33
- #28 - "Solar Flare": In the wake of Channel's death, we
catch up on events happening in Khadam...and then Solar Max makes a choice
that could mean the death of thousands.
- #29 - "PYRAMID SCHEME STEP 1: Sensation": The
repercussions of Solar Max's actions ripple across the globe. Meanwhile,
Peregryn finds a potential cure for Essay's injuries...but can he bring
himself to use it?
- #30 - "PYRAMID SCHEME STEP 2: Polar Glare": The Battle
of Montreal, started in CSV #15, ends here with a bang!
- #31 - "PYRAMID SCHEME STEP 3: Time's Error": In the
wake of recent tragedies, Solar Max decides that the only way to fix things
is to go to the root of the problem....
- #32 - "PYRAMID SCHEME STEP 4: In Darkness Bound": All
the pieces of the puzzle come together, and it's a race to stop Rebus from
attaining his ultimate goals! Leads directly into Capstone
#1.
- #33 - "New Beginnings": In the wake of the horrible
events surrounding Rebus's apotheosis plot, members of ASH pick up the pieces
and try to get on with their lives...and afterlives.
- POINT OF THE SPEAR - #34-36
- #34 - "Cold Comfort": Channel finds out that the
afterlife (or apres vie, at least) can be pretty dangerous. Meanwhile,
TerraStar decides where to go with her life, and the Taylors get news about
Sarah's new condition.
- #35 - "Giants Among the Stars": The hunt for
Doublecross heats up, and Channel's adventures continue, as he holds the
secret to saving the galaxy!
- #36 - "Cross of Gold": An entire issue devoted to
Channel as he struggles to save the future from the mystic Weregild!
- CITY OF LIGHTS - #37-41 - Winner of the 2002 RACCie for "Favorite Arc"
- #37 - "I: Candlelight": Back in 2024,
Doublecross's plans (so rudely interrupted by first Triton and then Rebus)
start to come to fruition while ASH desperately tries to find him!
- #38 - "II: Searchlight": As the search
for Doublecross gets going in earnest, Scorch is distracted by fallout from
events in CSV #23!
- #39 - "III: Starlight": The first open
clashes between ASH and the Light Brigade take place as the magnitude of
Doublecross's plan unfolds!
- #40 - "IV: Equal Light": It's a fight to
the finish in space and on the ground with the lives of millions in the
balance...and one life becomes the balance point around which everything
swings!
- #41 - "Epilogue: Afterglow": Counting
the cost and figuring out what had been won. Plus a talk about the
future....
The Q'Nos Chronicles - #42-50
- UNFINISHED BUSINESS - #42-44
- #42 - "1: The Legacy": A few months
have passed, and an important figure in the lives of the ASH heroes has
died. But his last will and testament seems to be more test than testament.
- #43 - "2: Bull Market": Things
become clearer as Solar Max chases down the mystery left to him by...Solar
Max!
- #44 - "3: Inauspicious Return": The
arc concludes as a threat from the past comes bursting into the present!
Also: special outline section, showing the working outline for this issue.
- #45 - "Monster Hunters": A pause between major sections
of the Q'Nos Chronicles. Several characters figure out where they fit in the
scheme of things, and there's rumblings on the geopolitical horizon.
- SHATTERING HELLAS - #46-48 (parts alpha through gamma)
- #46 - "A: The Minos Touch": Those rumblings turn to
eruptions as Q'Nos, the Minotaur, makes his move! And the Moslem
Confederation isn't about to ignore this move....
- #47 - "B: The Valley of Death": Diplomacy has done what
it can, which wasn't enough to keep the army of the Moslem Confederation from
marching into Greece!
- #48 - "G: Storm of the Eye": The invasion of Hellas
reaches its climax and much is revealed before the final conflict!
- #49 - "Island Hopping": The battle for Hellas may be
over, but the plots of the mad minotaur certainly are not!
- #50 - "World On A String": Q'Nos's big plan is put into
motion, forcing a battle that rages around the world! Not everyone's coming
home from this one, folks! With Color Cover by
Joe Singleton!
The Romance of Three Republics - #51-60
This is a pretty ambitious arc, the first time I've plotted out ASH for 10
issues in a single storyline. Not the first time I've planned an arc of that
size, of course (Century Pact was 12 issues in Dvandom Force, and A Season In
Crimson in Exarch was 24), but the biggest chunk I've planned out in advance
for ASH. Of course, since it deals with China, a lurking dragon for the past
decade, I think ten installments is appropriate. (Originally planned to be
12, but I decided that making it go that extra two issues would be padding.)
- Central Asian Confederacy - #51-54
- #51 - "From Serpent To Dragon": In the aftermath of
Q'Nos's big push for power, attention shifts to the orient. The Bamboo
Curtain is starting to rise, and the first act takes place in the breakaway
western provinces....
- #52 - "Journey To The East": The United World
diplomatic team arrives in Tibet, but finds that as powerful as words can be,
they're not the only weapons in use. Meanwhile, other matters of
international import continue to unfold.
- #53 - "Angolmois Energy": Events unfolding in the
Central Asian Confederation are stranger than they appear on the surface, but
digging deeper is just resulting in death!
- #54 - "Going To Kathmandu": Old questions are answered
and new ones come up regarding the attacks on the Western Dragon. But things
are amiss in the heavens and on Earth....
- #55 - "Some Assembly Required": Tina moves on to the
SouthEast Asian Treaty Organization to help them with a little merlion
problem. At least, that's what they say they want her for.
- #56 - "Eager To Please": Things go pretty well for
Tina, so of course there's another shoe to drop, right?
- #57 - "Bigger Problems": The other shoe drops, and how!
Plus, strange things are happening on Venus....
- #58 - "Big Break": The truth (or is it?) starts to come
out at last, suggesting that things are stranger than anyone suspected in the
Three Republics!
- The People's Republic of China - #59-60
- #59 - "Ox Body Technique": Tina and Grind each get to
the center of the mystery, but will they be able to get back out?
- #60 - "The Truth Comes Out": What the title says. And
things rev up on Venus!
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