Note:
The cover says the title is Amazing Adventures, but the indicia is in the singular, so that is what I have followed, especially since the indicia also say that this is volume 1, not volume 3 (or whatever it would be) if it was in the plural.
First Story:
By Chris Claremont
Appearances:
Cody, Mryanthe, Shavrin, Sam Donovan, Jesse, Russ
Flashback:
Sam Donovan and Cody are friends sharing drinks at a bar. Sam asks her back to his place, but she politely refuses. Jesse and his brothers overhear and follow her outside, attacking her. Sam hears the commotion and follows, then, hurt and angry over the rejection, joins in.
Synopsis:
Cody, after being gang-raped and beaten nearly to death, is dropped by the side of the road to die. Right before she can die, a "wanderer" named Shavrin arrives on the back of her flying dragon-like beast named Mryanthe. She offers Cody the power to right wrongs, which transforms her into a valkyrie-type figure. She rides Mryanthe back to the bar and sets it afire. Sam, wracked with guilt, says he deserves to die for what he did to her, but she senses that he can repent and reform, so she transforms Jesse and his brothers into baby girls and gives them to Sam to raise properly. Afterwards, Shavrin arrives and tells her that she acted properly rather than succumbing to vengeance, and then the two fly off into the night.
Note:
This is an interesting, if very dark, story. I would like to see Shavrin and Cody show up again someday. Frustratingly, we are only given Cody's first name.
Second Story:
By Bill Mantlo
Appearances:
German soldiers, Jews living in the Warsaw ghetto, Godel Benish, Rechele, Captain Karl Jurgens, Major Strasser
Synopsis:
Godel Benish is a pacifist Jewish musician who lives in the Warsaw Ghetto. One day he accidentally bumps into Captain Karl Jurgens of the German occupying forces. Jurgens, himself a peaceful musician drafted into the army, sees Benish's sheet music and is so intrigued that he waves off the offense and allows Benish to leave unharmed. Later, Benish meets the beautiful Rechele, who says that she admires his music. They hit it off, but she asks him if he really won't fight for anything or anyone. Later, Jurgens is horrified when the order to liquidate the ghetto is received. He protests, but Major Strasser insists that Jurgens accompany him for the massacre. When the people resist, Strasser orders the army to fire on them. When Strasser sees that Jurgens is not helping, he orders him to fire on the civilians. Jurgens wrestles with the decision, but ultimately agrees and shoots a young woman, whom he doesn't realize is Rechele. Benish sees her die and is devastated. He picks up a pistol and follows Jurgens, who races into a Catholic church confessional and confesses to being a murderer. Benish overhears and shoots him in revenge. Benish is now a fighter, and he will die in the liquidation.
Note:
An excellent, but very sad, story.
Third Story:
By Mike Vosberg
Appearances:
Anna, Sidney Reilly, Basil Zaharov, Geisler, Margaretha Zelle/Mata Hari
Flashback:
Sidney Reilly's Rolls Royce has had its brakes tampered with and it goes off a ledge. Sidney grabs Anna and jumps out, barely reaching the ledge, but Anna's dress tears in his grip and she falls to her death.
Synopsis:
1906: Sidney Reilly is a spy for the British government. He is ordered to get the details of an arms agreement between Germany and Russia being brokered by Basil Zaharov and Mata Hari. He seduces the French spy and learns where all of the info will be kept. He waits until an evening in which she will be dancing for the Russians and Germans, stealing the plans. He is discovered by Geisler, one of Zaharov's guards, and thrown off a walkway, but he manages to get a handhold. While dangling, Geisler tells him that he was responsible for the earlier, failed assassination attempt that killed Anna. Enraged, Reilly gets a handhold on Geisler's tie, pulling him over and to his death. Reilly then escapes back to the UK. Three months later, Zaharov tries to hire Reilly, but is rebuffed. Instead, Reilly hands him a bill for the Rolls Royce that was sabotaged and destroyed.
Note:
Mata Hari is called by her maiden name, Zelle, rather than her married name. I don't know if she was going by that name in 1906 or not in the real world, but apparently she was in 616. Zaharov was a real person, also his name is spelled Zaharoff on Wikipedia.
Fourth Story:
By J.M. DeMatteis
Appearances:
Polish Jews, Polish gentile peasants, horses, crows, Jewish boy, gentile Pole
Synopsis:
1600s Poland: In his 13th year, a Jewish boy watches as Polish peasants massacre his Jewish town. He survives only by hiding under a pile of corpses. At one point he sees a blonde Polish man calmly walking through the rubble, cutting off the fingers of dead Jews as trophies to collect. The boy is outraged and carefully memorizes the face of the man. Later, once alone, the boy climbs out and visits the ashes of the synagogue. There he rages against God and announces that he is no longer a Jew. Later, in his 30th year, the boy is now a man and a successful businessman. He has no family or friends, only associates who do not know of his Jewish heritage. He walks into an inn and is stunned to see the man who kept finger trophies, older, fatter, and surrounded by his children or grandchildren. Caught staring, he is asked by the Pole if they know each other. The man says that the Pole doesn't know him, but he knows the Pole. He contemplates revenge, but instead realizes that only God should seek revenge, so he cuts off his own finger to add to the Pole's collection, explaining that this will allow him to always remember what was done to his family. Many years later, the man has re-embraced his Jewish heritage.
Note:
None of the characters in this story are named, so I can't give any of them chronologies. It's an excellent story, though.
Fifth Story:
By Mike Baron
Appearances:
British armed forces, David Bushnell, Mr. Peebles, horses, American volunteers, Sergeant Ezra Lee, Mr. Wilson, Percy
Synopsis:
1776: David Bushnell has invented the first submarine. He asks for American volunteers to pilot it and eventually Sergeant Ezra Lee is chosen. His target: the H.M.S. Eagle, flagship of the British fleet blockading the Americans. He takes it out under cover of darkness and succeeds in planting a bomb in the hull. While attempting to flee, British sailors nearly catch him, but then the bomb finally explodes, sinking the ship and allowing Ezra to escape. Naval warfare will forever be changed.
Note:
A depiction of a real historical event during the Revolutionary War.
Sixth Story:
By J.M. DeMatteis
Appearances:
horse, cow, peasants, priest, angel, knight, dark knight
Flashback:
An angel appears to a knight in the form of a woman. She tells him he has been chosen to find the holy grail. Then they have carnal relations (so is she a demon? a succubus?).
Synopsis:
The knight continues his search for the holy grail, passing by many peasants near death (from the black plague?). He meets a friar who claims to have had a vision of an angel with the grail, and she is waiting in a nearby cave. The knight is excited and leaves the next morning. Before the cave is a dark knight who challenges any who wish to enter in order to prove their worth. The knight defeats the dark knight and enters the cave, only to find the friar, a dying boy, and a beat up old brass cup. The friar says that the man can claim that the grail is authentic and the people will believe him, which will give them hope in such dark days. The knight spends the rest of his life traveling around with the "grail" and tending to the sick and poor.
Note:
An interesting story, but once again there are no names given, so I can't provide any chronologies.
Seventh Story:
By Steve Perry
Appearances:
Scott Foster, Connie, Alexander Primrose, bus passengers, Marilyn Monroe statue (in Scott's imagination), diner patrons
Synopsis:
Connie invites Scott Foster to come home with her for Christmas to meet her parents. He declines, saying that he prefers to be by himself for Christmas. He isn't entirely confident of his decision, though, and "talks" to his favorite statue (of Marilyn Monroe) about whether or not he should go. He is startled by a phone call from a man identifying himself as Alexander Primrose who has recently married Scott's mother whom he hasn't seen in ten years. He invites Scott to come home and see his mother, since she has mostly beaten her alcoholism and would love to see him. Scott wrestles with the idea but finally agrees to come by bus. Alexander agrees to pick him up from a diner near the bus stop and surprise his mom. Scott is surprised to find himself excited by the idea of going home after so long and anxiously awaits Alexander at the diner. However, no one shows, and there is no one under that name in the phone book. Eventually the diner closes and Scott spends the night at the local YMCA. Burned, Scott returns home and over the course of several years forgets about the whole incident.
Chronologies:
For the key:
AMADV = Amazing Adventure
BENISH, GODEL
AMADV 1/2
BUSHNELL, DAVID
AMADV 1/5
CODY
AMADV 1-FB
AMADV 1
DONOVAN, SAM
AMADV 1-FB
AMADV 1
FOSTER, SCOTT
AMADV 1/7
HARI, MATA/MARGARETHA GEERTRUIDA MACLEOD
*AMADV 1/3 (add)
*{RRAVENC 1/6} (add brackets)
JURGENS, CAPTAIN KARL
AMADV 1/2
LEE, SERGEANT EZRA
AMADV 1/5
MRYANTHE
AMADV 1
PRIMROSE, ALEXANDER
AMADV 1/7
REILLY, SIDNEY
AMADV 1/3-FB
AMADV 1/3
SHAVRIN
AMADV 1
STRASSER, MAJOR
AMADV 1/2
ZAHAROV, BASIL
AMADV 1/3