Star Brand Annual #1 (of 1)
Intimate Enemies
October 1st, 1987
Is the power of the Star Brand too much for Ken Connell to handle? It could spell death for someone he loves!
One of Ken's childhood friends, Tony, whom he hasn't seen in years, invites him to Europe to hang out. Tony is now an Olympic skiing champion. Ken flies out and they go off to Tony's girlfriend's chalet. Everything is picture perfect, including the girlfriend, Ariane, who Ken is immediately attracted to. For once, he tries to have some self control and not hit on her, which is a good thing because it turns out that Tony is paranoid and has had her followed in the past to find out if she was having an affair. Tony keeps bouncing back and forth between being friendly and being a jerk to both of them for no reason. This behavior actually drives Ken and Ariane together, and they smooch.
Tony is once again having men spy on her, and finds out. He asks them men to kill them both. First they try to shoot him with arrows, but they bounce off. Now the men know he has powers, and plan to sell the information to terrorists. They try again in a faked skiing accident, but Ken uses his power to start an avalanche, killing the men and putting Tony in a coma. Ariane didn't see exactly what happened, but knows it was something weird.
She and Ken run off to avoid the killers, but now she doesn't trust Ken. He finally admits he has powers, and they try to escape together. More men attack, and Ken refuses to kill them. Ariane thinks he's a coward, and leaves on her own. Ken goes back to Pittsburgh, where he hears that Ariane was killed by some assassins.