{"product_id":"avengers-123-1974-mid-grade","title":"Avengers #123 (1974) (Mid Grade)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eContinued from the last issue, the Avengers have just defeated the Zodiac Cartel when Zodiac member Libra reveals that he is the actual father of Mantis. His real name is Gustav Brandt, he admits. (He does not add that he was calling himself by the alias of Lloyd Willoughby while in pursuit of a career as a criminal.) He explains further that he was a US soldier who fought in Vietnam; there, he ended up falling in love with a Vietnamese woman who was the sister of a crime boss called Monsieur Khruul and they had a child together.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhen the evil, xenophobic Khruul, who hated \"Europeans,\" learned of this, being enraged by his sister's marriage, he had them all burned alive, and Libra's wife Lua died. However, Libra himself, though blinded, managed to escape with his child and found the ancient city of the Priests of Pama, who took them in and trained his daughter in their ways; they isolated her from him because he was a soldier. They tried to teach him their philosophy as well, but eventually, he left. All he gained from them was the ability to \"see,\" presumably psychically, despite his physical blindness.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Avengers end up having to rush to Vietnam when they learn that Jacques Duquesne, the Swordsman, in an effort to prove himself worthy of Mantis's affections, flew there to take down Monsieur Khruul. Upon their arrival, they find that the Swordsman was captured and tortured instead until he revealed the location of the temple of the Priests of Pama.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eArriving there too late, the Avengers find that the evil Khruul and his henchmen have all slaughtered the Priests, but also that Khruul himself has ended his own life by freeing a creature known as the Star Stalker, which was the Priests' captive.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Marvel Comics","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52032531366208,"sku":null,"price":8.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0734\/7237\/7152\/files\/large-6271335.jpg?v=1779388802","url":"https:\/\/www.southsidecomicspgh.com\/products\/avengers-123-1974-mid-grade","provider":"South Side Comics","version":"1.0","type":"link"}