Today’s Lunchtime Reading West Coast Avengers 29 Dead Run!

 West Coast Avengers 29 Dead Run!

Published: February 10th, 1988

Writer: Steve Englehart Penciler: Al Milgrom

Cover Artist: Al Milgrom and Mike Machlan

In a warehouse in Los Angeles, Taurus tries to recruit The Shroud as his new Pisces, but for various reasons, Shroud isn't interested. Besides that, the meeting is interrupted by the arrival of Moon Knight, who has been hunting Van Lunt down in vengeance for breaking his vow to the Moon.

As Moon Knight fights and chases Taurus through the streets of Los Angeles, he occasionally hears an encouraging voice in his head purporting to be Khonshu, speaking to him directly for the first time. This has a discomforting effect on Moon Knight, who has been trying to get over his multiple personality disorder and he can't be sure if this is actually the voice of a god or just another new product of his own splintered mind. The fleeing Taurus eventually reaches an airfield and commandeers a small plane, but once it's in the air, the pilot reveals himself as Moon Knight and they begin their final battle.

Moon Knight doesn't expect Taurus to act recklessly while they're precariously flying in a fairly fragile plane, but Taurus is desperate and in his attempts to kill his pursuer at any cost lead the plane to spin out of control and crash. The last thing Taurus sees out the window of the plane is Moon Knight's gliding silhouette against the Full Moon.Though victorious, Moon Knight's cape doesn't allow him to glide for long at such a high altitude. Before he can fall, he's caught from the air by Iron Man, the rest of the Avengers having been informed of his location by Shroud.

The Avengers are mostly livid at Moon Knight for going off on his own and his actions leading to the death of Van Lunt. The issue of breaching the Avengers's no-killing rule leads to Mockingbird sticking up for him. Tigra chimes in that the crueler modern world could stand for a more relaxed approach to that policy, leading to a debate between them and the more hardline older Avengers. They plan to discuss it more at length later, but Moon Knight wonders why Mockingbird of all people would be on his side. As their Quinjet flies away, the spectre of Phantom Rider watches from atop a desert bluff.