RAVENSTARR PRISON GALAXYRAVENSTARR PRISON GALAXY
Classification: Extraterrestrial (Shi'ar) maximum security prison
Creator: The Shi'ar Imperium
User/Possessors: Badoon, Brood (Prisoner Zeta 987-349, others), Dire Wraiths, Suzanne Selby, Shi'ar (Gladiator/Kallark, others), Warskrulls, eight quadrillion alien prisoners
First Appearance: Free Comic Book Day 2019:
Avengers/Savage Avengers (July, 2019)
Powers/Abilities/Functions: The Ravenstarr
Prison Galaxy is a series of interstellar prisons composed of 110
million artificial stars and 40 million prefabricated planets orbiting
an artificial red sun powered by plasma generators. Once the Prison
Galaxy had been breached and taken over by its prisoners, they set up
magnetic webs between many of the artificial planets to entrap passing
spaceships.
History:
(Avengers VII#27 (fb) - BTS) - The Ravenstarr Prison Galaxy was an
artificial galaxy designed and managed by the Shi'ar Imperium that
housed eight quadrillion prisoners.
(Avengers VII#30 (fb)) - Pregnant Earth woman Suzanne
Selby was recruited by the Space Coyotes, ex-S.H.I.E.L.D. agents who
utilized extraterrestrial immigrant workers for farm labor. When the
Shi'ar border patrol swept the Reigarrt System, Selby was detained as
an illegal alien and swiftly sentenced to three years at the Shi'ar
Imperium's Ravenstarr Prison Galaxy. During her transport to
Ravenstarr, Selby manifested the Starbrand when she went into labor.
(Avengers VII#27 (fb) - BTS) - The manifestation sent an explosion through the Ravenstarr Prison Galaxy, prompting the Shi'ar to send a Dreadnought Fleet ship to investigate, but the ship lost communication with the Imperium upon arriving at Ravenstarr. A duo of Fleet soldiers managed to escape Ravenstarr in an escape pod (with an unknown Brood prisoner stowaway) but upon arriving back in Shi'ar space, the survivors did nothing but scream at their health failed them. The Imperium soldiers present then contacted Shi'ar Majestor Gladiator.
(Avengers VII#30 (fb)) - While the Shi'ar contacted
Gladiator, Suzanne Selby flew through Ravenstarr, inadvertently leaving
a path of Starbrand-burned destruction in her wake.
(Avengers VII#27 (fb)) - Unconcerned with what he considered to be a prisoner-made bomb going off, Gladiator asked why the incident had warranted his summoning and the reporting Shi'ar soldier explained that a Dreadnought Fleet ship had been sent to investigate, only to lose communication upon arrival at Ravenstarr. The soldier also revealed to Gladiator that an escape pod had returned to the Ravenstarr gate but had not communicated any information other than screams. Mercy-killing the surviving Fleet soldiers, Gladiator ordered the reporting soldier to find the source of the explosion at Ravenstarr and the soldier responded by explaining that they thought the explosion had originated from a transport ship ferrying new prisoners. When Gladiator asked for a manifest of the prisoners aboard the transport ship, the reporting soldier revealed that a Brood prisoner had been captured aboard the escape pod. Interrogating and killing the Brood, Gladiator demanded the reporting soldier download the Dreadnought Fleet's last known location into his cortex before flying off towards the Ravenstarr Prison Galaxy, ordering the soldier to summon specific others if he did not return in seventeen starsecs. The Avengers were soon summoned to assist Gladiator in the Ravenstarr Prison Galaxy and the team boarded a Quinjet, using Celestial teleportation technology to transport to Shi'ar space.
(Free Comic Book Day 2019: Avengers/Savage Avengers) - Shortly after the Avengers' arrival, the Shi'ar Empire's Dreadnought Fleet watched with doubts from afar as the Avengers ventured light years away into the heart of the Ravenstarr Maximum Security Prison Galaxy. The Fleet soon sent the Avengers a communication but the Avengers ignored the communication, feeling as if the Shi'ar couldn't be trusted and that they wouldn't be able to help them anyway. Knowing they were trapped in Ravenstarr, Captain America ordered Captain Marvel to continue their travels towards an artificial Ravenstarr planet with a giant Starbrand burned into it.
(Avengers VII#27 (fb) - BTS) - At some point, a
breach occurred in the Ravenstarr Prison Galaxy and the Avengers fought
to quell the prison escape attempt, only to lose several of their
members in space during the fight. During the time, Thor was also
infected by a Brood. Eventually, the Avengers Quinjet was shipwrecked
when it was captured by magnetic webs set up to capture passing ships
by the escaped Ravenstarr prisoners. The Quinjet then came under attack
by various previously imprisoned aliens including Warskrulls, Dire
Wraiths and Badoon.
(Avengers
VII#27) - Five days following their initial transport to Ravenstarr and
three days since their Quinjet's shipwreck within Ravenstarr, Captain
America noted that the Quinjet had become caught up in magnetic webs
set up by Ravenstarr's escaped prisoners to entrap passing ships. Still
trapped within the Ravenstarr Prison Galaxy, Cap further noted that
several Avengers had went missing, either due to searching space for
other ships or being lost during the prison breach, and that the team
had not yet located Gladiator or the new Starbrand despite seeing the
Starbrand's effects. Outside the Quinjet, She-Hulk fought off Brood
aliens attempting to breach the Quinjet's hull until Captain Marvel
returned with a new ship that once belonged to the space pirate
Starjammers. Blasting the Brood off of the Quinjet, Captain Marvel
readied the new ship as Thor found himself taken over by the Brood
infection.
Still lost within the Ravenstarr Galaxy, Ghost Rider, Boy-Thing, Blade and Black Widow passed several artificial Ravenstarr planets affected by the Starbrand as they tried to find their way back to regroup with the other Avengers. When Blade's skin began burning due to the artificial red sun, Ghost Rider drove away at high speed, unaware that they were being followed by the Silver Surfer.
(Avengers VII#28) - Having been summoned to
Ravenstarr to stop the new Starbrand, former Galactus Heralds Silver
Surfer, Terrax and Firelord stopped at one of the Starbrand-affected
Ravenstarr planets to discuss how best to handle the Starbrand as
Captain America fought the Brood-infected Thor inside the Avengers
Quinjet. By the time Thor had regained consciousness, Captain America
had changed costumes into one he found aboard the former Starjammers'
ship and both Captains convinced Thor he was still worthy, allowing
Thor to regain some of his senses. She-Hulk soon boarded the new ship
and Captain Marvel had She-Hulk destroyed their damaged Quinjet to
prevent Ravenstarr prisoners from salvaging anything from it. Captain
America, Captain Marvel and She-Hulk then flew off further into
Ravenstarr as Terrax and Firelord arrived. Silver Surfer continued in
pursuit of Ghost Rider, Boy-Thing, Black Widow and the injured Blade,
ultimately catching up to and battling Ghost Rider. Silver Surfer soon
sent Ghost Rider's Hell-Charger careening onto the surface of one of
the Ravenstarr planets, where the lost Avengers received a partial
communication from Gladiator before armed former prisoners attacked the
Hell-Charger. Donning her War Widow armor, Black Widow fought back
against the prisoners.
(Avengers VII#29) - Black Widow defeated the prisoners as the Silver Surfer caught up to the lost Avengers but the Avengers and the Surfer eventually halted hostilities to focus on the newborn Starbrand as Captain America's squad of Avengers battled Terrax and Firelord until all present noticed a large, Starbrand-shaped energy flash. Gladiator made it to the Ravenstarr planet housing the new Starbrand first, where he confronted the new Starbrand energy wielder, Earth woman Suzanne Selby. Gladiator ultimately sentenced the Selby to death despite pleas that the wielder and her unborn daughter be spared.
(Avengers VII#30 (fb)) - The Avengers and the former
Heralds of Galactus followed the Starbrand energy to the battle between
Gladiator and Suzanne Selby on an unidentified Ravenstarr planet. The
Avengers came to Selby's defense, battling Gladiator and the Heralds
until Silver Surfer turned on the other Heralds. As Captain America
delivered Selby's baby, however, Selby herself died in childbirth. Upon
Selby's death, Starbrand radiation levels subsided and the Shi'ar were
able to get a communication through to Gladiator, who grimly had the
Shi'ar send a medical frigate instead of more Dreadnought ships.
Gladiator then ordered the Avengers to get Selby's child out of Shi'ar
space and, after briefly arguing amongst themselves, the former
Galactus Heralds decided to each bestow the child a gift.
Comments: Created by Jason Aaron and Stefano Caselli.
The Free Comic Book Day 2019 Avengers issues seems to
take place story-wise in between the flashback and the main story of
Avengers VII#27 but the main story of Avengers VII#27 shows Captain
America is his normal costume whereas the FCBD issue shows him in a
Corsair-like space costume he adopted later in Avengers VII#28.
Therefore, either his Corsair-like costume seen in FCBD or the normal
costume in Avengers VII#27 is an artistic error. My vote is the FCBD
issue is the art error since Cap in Avengers VII#27 mentions having
seen the effects of the Starbrand & in FCBD, the Avengers seen a
Starbrand-shaped burn in one of Ravenstarr's planets.
Profile by Proto-Man.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Ravenstarr Prison Galaxy has no known connections to:
Prisoner Zeta 987-349 was an alien Brood prisoner of the Ravenstarr Prison Galaxy, convicted of being a Brood and sentenced to life imprisonment. When the Shi'ar Dreadnought Fleet sent an escape pod back to Shi'ar space, Prisoner Zeta 987-349 stowed away on the escape pod and ate the faces off of three guards when the Shi'ar soldiers discovered him in the pod. Placed in chains, Prisoner Zeta 987-349 was soon met by Shi'ar Majestor Gladiator, who killed Prisoner Zeta after adjusting Prisoner Zeta's sentence from life imprisonment to death.
--Avengers VII#27d
images: (without ads)
Free Comic Book Day 2019: Avengers/Savage Avengers, p7, pan3 (Ravenstarr Prison Galaxy, main image)
Avengers VII#27, p1, pan1 (Ravenstarr Prison Galaxy, outskirts)
Avengers VII#27, p12, pan1 (Avengers Quinjet entrapped in Ravenstarr magnetic webs)
Avengers VII#27, p3, pan1 (Prisoner Zeta 987-349)
Appearances:
Free Comic Book Day 2019:
Avengers/Savage Avengers (July, 2019) - "Make Mine Avengers" story -
Jason Aaron (writer), Stefano Caselli (art), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Avengers VII#27 (January, 2020) - Jason Aaron (writer), Ed McGuinness (pencils), Mark Morales (inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Avengers VII#28 (February, 2020) - Jason Aaron (writer), Ed McGuinness (pencils), Mark Morales (inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Avengers
VII#29 (March, 2020) - Jason Aaron (writer), Ed McGuinness, Paco Medina
(pencils, inks), Mark Morales (inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Avengers VII#30 (March, 2020) - Jason Aaron (writer), Ed McGuinness
(pencils), Francesco Manna (pencils, inks), Mark Morales (inks), Tom
Brevoort (editor)
First Posted: 04/22/2020
Last updated: 04/22/2020
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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