And then there was that time the Absorbing Man turned into cancer.

§ March 8th, 2010 § Filed under Uncategorized § 6 Comments

So young Jeffrey, distraught over his father’s bout with cancer, heads over to the Avengers Mansion to ask Thor for help. After getting the brush-off from the Avengers’ butler, Jarvis (which, I don’t know…I have a hard time with Jarvis not at least inquiring as to why the kid was so upset), Jeffrey manages to sneak in, and, one thing leads to another, and he gets in the middle of a battle between Thor and the Absorbing Man.

It’s at this point that Jeffrey’s pop shows up, looking for his son, and sees that his boy is in the thick of things. I mean, really, check this out:


That kid’s totally dead. But no, he’s just concussed.

Anyway, Pops charges in to defend Jeffrey, and Absorbing Man pulls not one of his brightest moves:


“Say, I’m in battle with a super-strong Norse god…lemme take the risk of trying to absorb an unknown superpower from this totally ordinary-looking guy and possibly leaving myself defenseless.”


Absorbing Man quickly learns his mistake, with a spectacular comic book facial expressions:


Luckily for him he had that fresh, clean New York air he could “absorb” and undo the previous transformation. And you’ll be glad to know Jeffrey’s dad’s cancer went into remission, which neither Thor nor the Absorbing Man had anything to do with, and the kid recovered from his apparent concussion, so everything worked out in the end.

That was a lot to say, considering all I intended to do was show you that panel and say “whoa, he turned into cancer,” but for once I thought I’d give you some context. I must be getting soft-hearted in my old age.

images from Avengers Annual #20 (1991) by Michael Higgins, Ed Murr & Mike Bair

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