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Provide a full summary of the comic book.

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Creel… and Inhuman Treatment!
Dazzler has just filled the Absorbing Man with so much light-power that he not only now stands at fifteen feet tall, but he appears to be composed entirely of deadly, living light. He now has power to destroy both Dazzler and the Avengers. First, he intends to get rid of the pesky, modified radio he wears around his neck. He rips it off and vaporizes it before the astonished Dazzler’s eyes. He doesn’t need it any more than he needs her as a hostage; in fact, he has not felt this powerful since he absorbed one of Odin’s cosmic bolts. “See ya around, lady,” the Absorbing Man tells Dazzler as he glides away on a ray of light. “I got me a date to kill some Avengers!”
Alison watches in horror as the Absorbing Man leaves. He seemingly propels himself through the air using nothing but raw light energy. If the way he effortlessly vaporized her weapon is any indication, he could easily be the most dangerous person on the planet! She realizes she must call the Avengers immediately.
Unfortunately, her attempt to take responsibility fails, because the person who answers the phone at the Avengers Mansion is the butler Jarvis, who assumes Alison’s call to be nothing but a childish prank. He hangs up the phone after some terse words. Dazzler, still dressed in her performance makeup, sulks in the phone booth for a moment. She needs to gather her thoughts before making another call; her frantic tone must be why Jarvis thought she was kidding. She decides to call the Fantastic Four instead, this time remembering to stay calm. Unfortunately, they don’t answer the phone either, and she has to listen to their answering machine. Alison refuses to give up. The Baxter Building is nearby, and oftentimes, people neglect to answer the phone while at home. She breaks into a sprint and heads to the Baxter Building, hoping to find someone who can help.
Meanwhile, Warren Worthington III broods in the Plaza Hotel’s presidential suite. His investigation into the whereabouts of Dazzler’s estranged mother has not been as easy as he imagined. He recalls how he went to Judge Carter Blaire’s home to speak with him directly, but instead found Carter’s mother, Bella. After explaining to her his intentions – as well as his status as a mutant – Bella revealed she knew Alison was a mutant. She has always known, in fact, and so has Alison’s father. They never said anything to Alison, however, so as to respect her privacy, but it was quite hard on Carter, who only wanted for his daughter to become a lawyer. “He denied the real Alison – tried to make her in his image. That – and other things – opened the rift between them,” Bella said. At that point, she told Warren to say more would be disrespectful to her son, and asked him to leave. He did. He continued the investigation on his own, but has yet to find a single clue regarding the disappearance of Alison’s mother. Dealing with real people and their real emotions is more difficult than he imagined. Now, slouching in his hotel room, Warren wonders exactly for whom, exactly, he is making this effort.
At the Baxter Building, Dazzler enters the lobby just as the guard answers a call. She manages to slip past without him noticing. After arriving at the elevator, she remembers the Fantastic Four have a security signature required to activate the lift. Fortunately for Dazzler, not only has she seen them perform the security procedure, but the security code is light-based. All she has to do is turn her radio on to its softer setting, and emit a beam of light at the required frequency. She shuffles through the light spectrum, pinpoints the correct frequency, and gains access to the lift.
Unbeknownst to Alison, the building’s security systems monitor and track her every move. The building’s genetic scanner identifies Alison’s DNA and, after matching it up with Mr. Fantastic’s files, deems her a non-threat. Lucky for Alison; were her genetic record not on file, she would have to deal with the building’s formidable security. She wanders through the lab in search of the Fantastic Four, but finds it completely vacant.
Alison, refusing to give up, spots a machine that appears to be a communication device. She turns it on and it reactivates its last transmission, giving her a live picture of two unfamiliar humanoids. They must be friends of the Fantastic Four, she assumes. Coyly, she begins speaking into the machine and asks if they know where the Fantastic Four went. The two figures turn around. The woman, who boasts a head of eerie, floating red hair, speaks, while the man, dressed in a black suit adorned with a strange antenna on his forehead, stands silently. She introduces herself as Medusa of the Inhumans, and the man with her as her cousin, Black Bolt. However, she has a few questions of her own for Alison: who is she? How did she get into the Fantastic Four’s headquarters? Why would she disturb them at their sanctuary on the moon?
The moon? Alison gasps. She never would have guessed! Cutting to the chase, she explains why she called: she accidentally super-charged the Absorbing Man, and unless the Fantastic Four stop him, he will kill the Avengers! After Medusa orders her to calm down, Alison finally takes a breather and introduces herself. Fortunately, Medusa recognizes her name. “The Fantastic Four has often spoke of you – and your remarkable powers,” Medusa says. “You are a friend.” Medusa tells Dazzler to hang tight for a moment; Black Bolt will arrive to help her momentarily. Dazzler begins to ask how, since they live on the moon, but before she can finish her question, Black Bolt appears in a bright flash of light with Lockjaw, the Inhuman teleporter dog.
Lockjaw departs after a gesture from Black Bolt, leaving Alison alone with the Inhuman King. Relieved to finally have some company to help her through this mess, Alison explains the whole situation – the Absorbing Man and his kidnapping attempt, his vendetta against the Avengers, how she accidentally super-powered him, her interaction with the dismissive butler at the Avengers mansion, her break-in at the Baxter Building – before she realizes Black Bolt hasn’t spoken a word. “Am I being lucid, or am I still hysterical?” she asks him. He remains silent. “Answer me, blast you! Can’t you talk?” Black Bolt shakes his head from side to side. Alison instantly feels guilty and apologizes for her insensitivity. Nevertheless, she still needs his help to stop the Absorbing Man.
Suddenly, Black Bolt scoops Alison up into his arms and flies out of the top of the Baxter Building. Although she is certainly thankful he came to help, Alison hoped he would save the day without dragging her along. Her powers, after all, only enhanced those of the Absorbing Man. What use can she possibly be against him in battle? Nevertheless, she resigns herself to the situation, and serves as an extra set of eyes for Black Bolt as they fly over the city. Dazzler spots the Absorbing Man in the streets below. As Black Bolt lands, she requests he set her down before tackling the villain; fighting just isn’t her thing. She promises to do all she can to help from the sidelines, though. Acknowledging her wishes, Black Bolt sets her down before flying away to deal with the Absorbing Man.
Crusher Creel laughs at the sight of his new challenger. Does this jerk in long underwear really think he can stop him, Creel asks? What chance does he have against the power of living light? He blasts Black Bolt with a concentrated energy beam. Black Bolt weathers the attack, and counters it with a full-force electron blast of his own. Again, Creel just laughs. Anything his foes use against him, he can absorb and make a part of himself! He takes a swing at Black Bolt, who is surprised to find his opponent physically solid in addition to being composed of light. Nevertheless, Black Bolt realizes a solid form must be capable of being struck. He flies toward the Absorbing Man’s head and punches him across his face. Although the blow carries much power, Creel merely absorbs it and channels it back toward Black Bolt in the form of raw-light feedback. It puts Black Bolt in unspeakable pain and knocks him to the ground. Crusher Creel prepares to deliver the coup de grâce.
Before the Absorbing Man can smash Black Bolt, however, Dazzler, having finally summoned the courage, rolls onto the scene in her skates and hits the villain with a blast of light. Go ahead, he tells her! Her attacks will only provide him with more power! Alison knows this. However, she could not in good conscience sit idly by while the Absorbing Man killed the person who came to help her. Black Bolt, meanwhile, slowly picks himself up off the ground.
At that same moment, Ken Barnett returns from a long day at the office and switches on the TV to unwind. To his utter surprise, he sees Alison on the news fighting a monster made of light. Similarly, Warren Worthington III catches the same broadcast in his hotel room. Ignoring the newscaster’s order for citizens to stay away from the area, he dons his Angel costume and flies out the suite’s window. Ken does the same thing, but travels on foot. He may not have any super-powers, but sitting in his room watching the broadcast would surely drive him crazy. He needs to be near Alison.
Back at the scene of the battle, the police watch in horror as Black Bolt carries Dazzler away from the fight. If the two superheroes are quitting, what chance does anyone else have, they wonder? Appearances, however, are deceiving. Black Bolt merely carries Dazzler over to a nearby sidewalk and tries to form a plan of attack, a difficult task without the aid of words. He constructs a shield to protect them from the Absorbing Man’s attacks and gestures to Dazzler that he has a plan, and needs her help. At this point, she has nothing to lose – if they fail, the Avengers might die, after all. She agrees to help out. The Absorbing Man arrives and begins pounding away at Black Bolt’s energy shield.
 Inside, through a painfully long series of gestures, Black Bolt explains to Alison that he needs her to create a beam of light more powerful than Creel can absorb. It’s possible, Alison sighs, but for that, she would need a super-powerful sound source! Where can she find something like that? Black Bolt gestures toward himself. Finally, Dazzler understands; Black Bolt doesn’t speak not because he is mute, but because of the sheer power of his voice. He will speak; she will convert it into light and channel it toward the Absorbing Man. It just might work, she says… if it doesn’t kill her first.
The Absorbing Man finally breaks through Black Bolt’s shield. The two heroes run for their lives. Alison cannot help but compare the ruthlessness of the Absorbing Man to that of Klaw, the villain whom she inadvertently killed by absorption while at Project Pegasus. Her actions in that moment have haunted her ever since, and she vowed to never take another life. Despite her best efforts to avoid such a scenario, she may have to do so again tonight.
Once Dazzler positions herself between Black Bolt and the Absorbing Man, the villain scoffs at Black Bolt’s apparent cowardice; is he sending the lady out to do the fighting, he asks? No matter; he intends to kill both of them anyway. As he lifts his arms to attack, Alison turns and gives the signal to Black Bolt. The Inhuman opens his mouth as if to speak, and unleashes a mighty shout. The earth-shattering sound of his voice, which he releases only in desperate times, travels into Dazzler, who struggles to contain every iota of its power. If she lets any of it go astray, she realizes, it might level the entire city.
Using the absolute totality of her concentration, she manages to absorb all of the sound-waves. Their power flows through her body and fills her with energy, almost overwhelming her. I feel so good – like I’m not Alison Blaire – like I can do… anything, she thinks. This must be how the Absorbing Man feels, she realizes. However, she is not Creel. She is not evil. She still intends to stop him.
Alison, arching her back and holding her arms skyward, lifts off the ground. The Absorbing Man stares at her in astonishment. What is happening, he asks? First, the man in black opens his mouth, and now Dazzler is floating? She explains to him she is levitating to get out of his reach. She now has more power than even him, power enough to do what needs to be done. “Power enough,” she says, hitting him with a barrage of light, “…to put you OUT!” A light of unimaginable intensity flares up, and the Absorbing Man, his powers neutralized, collapses. Her power drained, Alison collapses too, but unfortunately for her, she happens to be high in the air. She plummets toward the hard asphalt of New York City’s streets.
Black Bolt watches helplessly as she falls to what might be her death. He tries to break her fall, but is simply too far away. Before she hits the ground, however, Angel swoops in and catches her, saving her life. Talk about a guardian angel, one of the police officers laughs! Alison, barely conscious, sees the face of Warren Worthington III and realizes he saved her life. She thanks him. He brings her down to the ground.
Ken Barnett breaks through the crowd and rushes to the side of his girlfriend. He tells Alison he has never seen anything so magnificent in his life, and asks how she feels. Sure, feeling great, she stutters. I don’t know which is worse, she asks herself while looking at both Warren and Ken, …fighting Creel or having to deal with the two men in my life at once! She asks them to get reacquainted while she finishes up her hero business. While they awkwardly shake hands, Alison runs over to Black Bolt and congratulates him on their victory. Her mood, however, remains solemn. Did they kill Creel, she asks? The two slowly walk over to his body and are relieved to find him still breathing. “Thank God,” Alison sighs.
Warren approaches and tells Alison he contacted the guards at Ryker’s Island. They are already en route to apprehend Creel. She thanks him for his help, and turns to Black Bolt, whom she gives a big hug. “I’ll never forget how you came through for me,” she tells her silent guardian. Suddenly, Lockjaw reappears out of nowhere, and a moment later, returns to the moon with Black Bolt. Alison waves goodbye.
“And they just disappear,” Ken Barnett says. “But after what I’ve seen tonight, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.”
Although Alison Blaire’s ordeal is now over, Carter Blaire’s continues. The following morning, he sits in a lounge chair in his living room, still muttering nonsensically. His mother Bella has summoned a psychiatrist, who sits opposite Carter, but the doctor is clueless. In all his years of practice, never has he encountered a patient like this one. None of his methods have broken through Carter’s befuddlement. He only wishes he could understand what was happening in his patient’s mind. Meanwhile, Bella watches from the kitchen, also at a loss. She wishes Alison were here to possibly shed some light on his catatonia. Unfortunately, she has not been able to reach her all night, and, no longer having any other options, places a call to Warren Worthington III at the Plaza Hotel.
Later that morning, Alison Blaire relaxes with her friend Vanessa Tooks over coffee and breakfast at a hip café in Greenwich Village. Vanessa takes the opportunity to ask Ali about the heart-shaped brooch she wears on her shoulder. This brooch has a story, Alison says. She confides in Vanessa the story of her mother’s disappearance when she was a little girl, and how her father would never tell her anything about it. To this day, she hasn’t the faintest idea where her mother is, or even whether or not she is alive. The last time she was at her father’s house, however, she came across a trunk filled with her mother’s old stuff while rummaging through the attic. She found this brooch and decided to keep it, because it gives her a feeling of connection to her mother. Vanessa is touched by the story. She cannot imagine what it must be like to go through life without knowing one’s mother.
Suddenly, Vanessa realizes she needs to get to her singing lesson on the Upper West Side. Her new voice instructor works wonders, she tells Alison, and in the competitive field of singing, a gifted vocal coach can mean all the difference between fame and obscurity. Ten minutes later, Vanessa arrives at the home of her teacher, Barbara London, and sings her heart out. She knows how good her teacher is and works extra hard to please her for that very reason.
After reaching a break in the lesson, Vanessa asks Barbara if she can get a glass of water before they continue. Sure, Barbara tells her. She tells her where to find the kitchen. Vanessa walks down the hallway but, forgetting her teacher’s directions, opens the wrong door and beholds a room not intended for her eyes. It can’t be, she says, as her jaw drops in amazement at the sight she sees.


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Provide a full summary of the comic book.

[Assistant]
Out of the Past!
Dazzler, walking with an evil swagger and a sinister gleam in her eye, speaks to her father in a venom-laced voice. “You,” she says. “You must pay for what you’ve done to me! You will pay!”
 Her father, Carter Blaire, cowers at the sight of his vindictive daughter. He insists he always did what was best for her. “For me,” Alison asks, “—or for the little girl you always wanted me to stay?!” As she speaks, she seemingly transforms into a younger version of herself. This must be madness, Carter gasps!  Not madness, Dazzler says while changing back into her adult form, but vengeance! Vengeance for robbing her of the mother she never knew. Vengeance for robbing her of the right to live a normal childhood. Vengeance for trying to rob her of her only passion in life – singing. She refuses to let him take any more from her, and intends to do whatever is necessary to ensure it.
 Carter screams, tells his daughter to stay away, and even calls her a freak. Alison merely sneers at his insults. She knew he always thought of her that way. She knew he never considered her good enough to be his daughter. “Well, that’s all about to end, old man,” Dazzler says. She charges up her mutant power and begins crackling with bright white light. “For you… everything is about to end!”
Carter falls to the floor and screams. While he pleads for his life, in the background, a woman bathed in shadows smiles in approval. Dazzler’s body suddenly flares up as she unleashes the totality of her stored light energy on her helpless father. The burst of energy completely incinerates him, leaving nothing but smoke and ashes. Dazzler stares at the remnants triumphantly. “He’s gone, mother,” she says to the mysterious, silent woman. “Gone. We’ve destroyed him.”
reality:
“They’ve destroyed me,” Carter Blaire mutters repeatedly. “The two who hate me the most in the world…destroyed me.” He unconsciously clutches the armrests of his chair. Trapped in his own mind, he cannot even hear the psychiatrist calling his name.
Eventually, the doctor gives up, and confesses to Carter’s mother, Bella, that he has exhausted every known psycho-therapeutic method for drawing someone out of a trance. At this point, the only remaining option is hospitalization.
 Bella does not know how to respond. If she could only reach Alison, perhaps she could end this nonsense once and for all. The doctor agrees Alison’s presence might help, but reminds Bella that Alison also seems to be the source of Carter’s withdrawal. Bella just doesn’t understand. Alison and Carter love each other so much; if only they weren’t both so darn stubborn!
While Carter continues mumbling about betrayal and destruction, the other man in the room, Warren Worthington III, comforts Bella Blaire with a hug. He regrets he cannot do anything to help, even with his vast financial resources. Bella sighs and thanks him for providing so much comfort to her. Warren, also known as the superhero Angel, may have entered into this mess only to win over Alison Blaire’s heart, but now that he has seen the tragedy of this family’s personal lives up close, he refuses to abandon them.
Venting, Bella states this situation was inevitable. Carter always hid his true feelings, and stored them alongside his rage and confusion. It was only a matter of time before he reached a breaking point. The word “confusion” lingers in Warren’s ears for a moment. It certainly must have been confusing for Carter to have a daughter with such different goals than his own. Plus, Carter never accepted the fact of her mutant nature. That, coupled with his problems with his wife, most likely saddled him with a deep sense of failure. No wonder it finally caught up with him, Warren thinks to himself.
Despite the severity of her son’s condition, Bella asks the psychiatrist if they can refrain from doing anything too drastic for a while, at least until she can find Alison.
Meanwhile, Alison, deep in thought, strolls through New York City’s Central Park along a shade-covered path running by the river. She doubts she will accomplish much of anything today; she had such a late breakfast with Vanessa Tooks, and now, it is almost time for the luncheon at Hunch’s loft. She realizes taking a bus would be much quicker, but she wants to at least work off the day’s first heavy meal before indulging in another.
She walks under the shadow of a bridge. To her shock, a man emerges from the shadows and grabs her from behind. If she doesn’t give him a hard time, he says, he won’t have to kill her! All he wants in the gold brooch she wears on her chest. The mugger rips it off forcefully. Alison, however, refuses to let her cherished memento go so easily. Switching on her radio, she realizes she should feel grateful to still have her life, but gratitude never came easily to her. She transduces the sound waves from the radio into a blinding light and dazzles her mugger senseless. He falls to the ground, unconscious.
Alison approaches his motionless body to retrieve her brooch. When she sees her attacker up close, however, she discovers he is only a kid, no older than fifteen. Is this what her life has come to, she asks? Using her powers to take down bad little boys? Well, if so, then that’s it! It’s like I’ve always said. I’m not a hero – and I won’t take the moral responsibility for using my powers the same way they do, she vows. Right then, Alison makes a pledge to herself. I don’t care if the whole blamed world’s about to blow up, I’m never gonna use my powers to do anything but entertain!
She leans down to pick her brooch up off the ground, and notices it opened up during the fall. She never noticed its hidden latch. Looking inside, she sees two tiny photographs. One of the pictures is of her father, albeit at a much younger age. The other photo, however, is a man she doesn’t recognize at all! Who is this man, she asks? A revelation hits her hard; this could be another man with whom her mother involved herself. Boy, Alison says, some pleasant stroll through the park this turned out to be.
Elsewhere, Dazzler’s friend and fellow singer Vanessa Tooks has just made a startling discovery after wandering into the wrong room in her voice instructor’s home. This certainly isn’t the kitchen, she thinks as she beholds a room filled entirely with posters, promotional materials, magazines, and scrapbooks all about Alison Blaire, the Dazzler. How bizarre, Vanessa thinks as she rummages through the memorabilia. Barbara London happens to walk by and catches Vanessa in the act. How dare she snoop around in her house like this, Barbara shouts! Vanessa tries to explain what happened, but Barbara kicks her out of her home before she has the chance.
Meanwhile, at a spacious loft rented by Dazzler’s bassist Hunch in downtown Manhattan, Beefer, Marx, and Hunch’s girlfriend Dora hang out eating the remnants of the afternoon’s luncheon. Beefer, flipping through a copy of Franz Kafka’s The Castle, compliments the hosts on their nifty apartment. Hunch admits they could never afford such a nice place if they weren’t sub-letting. He sits on the floor playing with his infant son. Marx asks Hunch to turn the child around so he can get some good footage of him playing with his father on his new camcorder. Dora reminds Marx to please not twist her son’s head off.
The buzzer suddenly rings, indicating the arrival of Dazzler. Dora greets her at the door, says they saved her plenty of food, and asks what kept her so long. Alison tells her she suddenly had a lot of things to ponder. She walks over to Hunch and admires his beautiful baby. He looks more like his father every day, she says. Too bad, Hunch answers; he was hoping the baby would be good-looking! Dora then leads Dazzler into the kitchen, but she stops for a moment and asks if she can make a quick phone call to her manager, Harry S. Osgood. No problem, Dora says.
Alison’s timing is fortunate. While she makes her phone call from the bedroom, everyone else in the loft begins to hear an unsettling, earsplitting noise emanating from outside the loft. Suddenly, the locks on the door begin vibrating uncontrollably and then completely falling off. To everyone’s amazement, the entire door explodes inward. Two men, both bearing musical instruments, enter the loft, and Beefer recognizes them both immediately; it’s none other than Doctor Sax, and Johnny Guitar! Sneering, Johnny Guitar expresses how delighted he is to hear they didn’t forget about them. He and Doctor Sax didn’t forget about Marx, Hunch or Beefer, either. The members of Dazzler’s both parties suddenly remember the fateful night, years earlier, when they crossed paths.
flashback
Beefer, Hunch, and Marx – just starting out their careers as rock musicians – play a sold-out show in the Midwest with two other musicians, guitarist Johnny Logan and saxophonist Jack Dulouz. After the show, Beefer, Hunch, and Marx stroll through the basement of the venue in search of the manager’s office, hoping to ask for better microphones for their next performance.
They enter the manager’s office, but to their surprise, find him bound and gagged in the corner of the room. His captors appear to be their fellow band members, Jack and Johnny. Johnny tells them to shut up and remain quiet; Jack needs absolute silence in order to hear the tumblers fall into place while he cracks the manager’s safe. They intend to take this theater for everything it has, Johnny declares, and no one, including a bunch of meddling musicians, can stop them!
 The imposing Jack stands up and points his acetylene torch at the three intruders. Johnny, meanwhile, lunges at them and cracks Marx over the head with a crowbar. Beefer takes a swing at Jack, but misses and falls to the floor
. Jack kneels over him and, with a malicious smile on his face, slowly draws the acetylene torch closer to Beefer’s head. Seeing his friend in mortal danger, Hunch kicks the torch away from Beefer and directly into Jack’s eyes. He screams as the torch seers him blind.
 Beefer takes advantage of this rescue and, intending to repay the favor in-kind, runs over to help Marx. Thankfully, Marx flips Johnny over his back and throws him toward the door. Johnny gets up, unsuccessfully hurls the crowbar at the three men, and takes off running down the hallway. Beefer and Marx give chase. Johnny begs them to leave him alone, even offering a cut of the loot, but the heroic musicians refuse, and tackle their former associate. Security arrives shortly thereafter and arrests the two crooks.
end flashback
He and Jack did some hard time after that incident, Johnny Guitar now tells the captive band members. They spent a lot of time in prison contemplating exactly how they planned on repaying the men who foiled their plans, especially for what they did to Jack’s eyes. After they were released, they met up with a man named the Techmaster who equipped them with some exciting new technology, which they have since used to pull off a few more heists. The time has now come, however, to finally get their revenge.
Fortunately, neither Johnny Guitar nor the sharp-dressed Doctor Sax has any idea someone else is in the loft. Dazzler overhears the threats these two men make to her friends, but she also remembers her pledge from earlier in the day. She swore she would only use her powers to entertain! She never dreamed fate would test her so soon.
Meanwhile, Johnny Guitar begins his act of vengeance. He strums a chord on his stringed instrument. The sound shatters a nearby vase of flowers. He strums another chord; Marx’s camcorder falls apart. He strums yet another chord, and an amplifier in the corner explodes. Now, he turns to his hostages, and tells them the Techmaster warned him to never use his amplified instrument on a human being, as it could turn them into a pile of human jelly.
 Instead of using it on them just yet, however, he turns the floor over to his associate Doctor Sax and gives him a turn to shine. Doctor Sax, wearing a visor over his eyes, lifts his saxophone to his lips and begins playing an eerie note. Techmaster rigged the horn to affect the moods of its listeners however Doctor Sax wants, Johnny informs them. He can make them feel happy and serene, or, just as easily, desperate and crazy. At this point, Doctor Sax chooses the latter, and plays a note that sends everyone in the room reeling. Everyone in the room, including the toddler Justin and the nearby Alison Blaire, suddenly plunges into feelings of despair and terror. These feelings only cease when Doctor Sax decides to stop playing.
Ugh, the nightmare is finally over, Hunch says once the dissonant melody ends. Wrong, Johnny Guitar tells him; his nightmare is just beginning. The diminutive guitarist walks over to Dora, strokes her chin, and asks how she thinks they should take care of the rest of these rats. Dora, frozen in fear, stutters for a few moments before Johnny pulls her in and plants a kiss on her lips. She tries to pull away, but his grip holds her close. Hey, Hunch shouts! He lunges toward the guitarist and tells him to leave the lady alone. Unflinching, Johnny Guitar orders Doctor Sax to take care of the angry Hunch. My pleasure, Doctor Sax says, as he grabs Hunch by the neck and hurls him into the wall.
Hunch recovers from the impact and asks a pressing question: how did Doctor Sax manage to find him without having the ability to see? Isn’t he blind? “As the proverbial bat, Hunch,” Doctor Sax says. However, Techmaster created a special pair of glasses just for him that allows him, via radar, to get a general sense of his surroundings. Johnny Guitar thanks his associate for the science lesson and then orders his hostages to form a circle… or else.
Alison, meanwhile, looks on with a feeling of conflicted horror. If she uses her powers to save her friends, she will betray her oath. If she does nothing, however, her friends will die!
Meanwhile, at the London residence, Barbara apologizes to Vanessa for snapping at her. She values her privacy very much and swore Vanessa was snooping. Vanessa tells her everything is okay; it’s just that Alison Blaire is a good friend of hers, and when she found a room devoted entirely to her career, she could not help but take a peek. Barbara explains the memorabilia all belongs to her daughter who recently left for college. Clearly, Barbara says, her daughter idolizes the singer. She finds a picture of her and shows it to Vanessa. She’s pretty, Vanessa says while looking at the photograph of the cheery young woman. She asks about the man standing beside her in the photo. That, Barbara says, is her daughter’s father, and her own ex-husband.
Downtown, meanwhile, Harry S. Osgood waves goodbye to Angel as he flies out his office window. He searched for Dazzler all over town; her home, her office, and now, he can think of only one place she might be, and he would prefer to not go there. Reluctantly, he flies to Ken Barnett’s office and raps on the window. Boy, has he got some nerve, Ken thinks to himself at the sight of the potential cuckold. Reluctantly, he opens his window and speaks to the winged superhero. What is it, he asks?
“Look, Ken. I know you don’t think much of how I’ve been chasing Alison while she’s been dating you,” Warren begins, “…but that’s unimportant now. Her dad’s in a bad way, and he needs her. Any idea where she is?” Ken tells Warren that Alison did, in fact, mention a party at Hunch’s loft… but he doesn’t know where to find it. Harry Osgood might know the address, though. Angel leaves, thanking Ken for the lead.
Meanwhile, Johnny Guitar positions his hostages in a tight ring on the floor. He carefully situates them so that once he plays the appropriate chord on his guitar, the entire ceiling will cave in! Before he proceeds with the execution, he asks Doctor Sax if he would like to have a little fun first. Of course, Doctor Sax says. Johnny scoops up the toddler Justin, despite the pleas of his parents, and holds him still while the cruel saxophonist begins to play. He creates a melody even more horrifying than before and directs it right at the innocent child. Justin screams and cries.
Dazzler, still eavesdropping, cannot remain ambivalent any longer. She steps out from around the corner and stares at the two villains, commanding them to stop. With her roller skates on and her radio blaring, she leaps forward, snatches the frightened baby from Johnny Guitar’s arms, and heads for the door. The two wicked musicians, noticing how brightly she glows, realize she must be the famous singer the Dazzler! Doctor Sax refuses to let her seeming stage tricks fool him, however. They chase after her as she flees the loft.
Unfortunately, her attempted escape route leads her into the kitchen, which offers no other exits. Johnny Guitar and Doctor Sax enter behind her, and thinking they have her trapped, begin to attack. Johnny plays a note on his guitar that shatters both Alison’s portable radio and her magnetic roller skates. She stumbles to the floor and slides across its slick surface. She refuses to admit defeat, however, especially when the life of the child in her arms depends entirely on her actions.
Johnny Guitar begins playing his next note, which he declares will make Dazzler and the child look like refugees from Scanners. Alison feels as if the music might rip her apart. However, she is the wrong person to attack with sound. Turning toward the guitarist, she transduces the sound energy into light and deflects it back into Johnny’s face. Blinded, he screams and falls to the floor.
 With him out of the way, Doctor Sax steps up and tells Dazzler her parlor tricks will not work on him! He begins crooning a note with his saxophone. With dread, Alison realizes her dazzle attack will not work on a blind man, even one with radar vision. Doctor Sax plays a series of notes more horrible than ever; she and the child, he says, will die slowly and maddeningly. The dreadful song overpowers Alison, and she soon wonders if it might not be better to just die.
The thought of all the people who need her help – Hunch, Marx, Beefer, Dora, and poor, innocent Justin most of all – gives her the strength she needs to fight. Urging herself to stay strong, Dazzler whips around and destroys the twisted musical instrument with a small-scale laser blast. Surprised, Alison asks? Hasn’t he ever met a sound-transducer before?
Enraged, Doctor Sax declares that even without his saxophone, he can best Alison in physical combat. He is bigger and stronger, after all. Alison, realizing she may be sunk, asks the imposing criminal if they can’t talk out their conflict. He reminds her he and his accomplice didn’t come there to talk. Desperate, Alison spots a food-processor on the counter and hits its “on” switch. It whirrs to life, creating an obnoxious amount of noise. As she prepares to transfer the sound energy into light, however, Dazzler realizes that attacking in her current, frazzled state of mind might be disastrous. She might not have control over the intensity, or the trajectory, of such an attack; she might kill Doctor Sax. She cannot risk it; she must find another way.
Taking advantage of her hesitation, Doctor Sax springs forward and grabs Dazzler by the forearm. Let go, she shouts! He’ll let her go, he says, only after he wrings the life out of her body! Desperate, Alison reaches for the closest thing she can find – a pot of cold coffee. “Here’s mud in your eye, doc!” she says as she splashes him in the face. Lucky for her, the water in the coffee causes Doctor Sax’s visor to short-circuit.
She rejoices in her victory a moment too soon; Doctor Sax might now be blind, but he can still be deadly. He thrashes about the room, hoping to connect at least one blow with Alison in the process. Good luck, she tells him; after all, she is a dancer, and can therefore dodge his blows with ease! Using the kitchen counter as a springboard, she lifts her self off the ground and swings her legs into his chin. He stumbles; she kicks him again. He finally falls to the floor, defeated. “Understand, Doc?” Dazzler asks while catching her breath. “I couldn’t let you do it… I couldn’t let you destroy these people, their dreams, their hopes, their lives…”
Oh, what am I raving about, she asks herself. He’s out cold.
A short tine later, the authorities arrive and, once again, arrest Johnny Logan and Jack Dulouz. In the aftermath, Dazzler’s grateful friends and associates thank her endlessly for saving their lives – but admit they had no idea she was a mutant. They honestly believed her light-shows were nothing more than fancy stage effects! They even call her a super-hero. Alison adamantly rejects such a title. She begins to insist she is only a performer, just like them. However, she trails off and gives up on the assertion mid-sentence. “I don’t know what I am any more,” she says, shutting her eyes. “Maybe there is some kind of responsibility that comes with this power, like my friends have been trying to tell me. Maybe I found that out today.” Her friends tell her they do not care what title she adopts. They will love and cherish her no matter what! Sincerely grateful, Alison thanks them for their support, adding they have no idea how much their kind words mean to her.
Just then, Angel arrives, elated to have finally found Alison. What does he want, she asks? Is this another one of his pranks? If only, Warren tells her. Unfortunately, the situation is quite grave. Her father has withdrawn into his own psyche, and her grandmother thinks she might hold the key to releasing him. He picks Alison up in his arms and carries her out the window, en route to the Carter Blaire residence. Alison just sighs. When is this going to end?
Meanwhile, at the London residence, Vanessa Tooks continues her voice lesson. As she finishes singing “Somewhere over the Rainbow”, she notices tears streaming down the face of Barbara, her instructor. What is it, Vanessa asks? Is her singing that awful? Of course not, Barbara tells her, sobbing. She just cannot keep her secret to herself any longer. She admits to Vanessa the collection of Dazzler memorabilia is not her daughter’s but her own. Of course, that should not come as a surprise, because after all, she is Dazzler’s mother!
Vanessa gasps. Can it be true? Barbara collapses in her arms, and through her sobs, confirms it is the truth. She kept it a secret for years, but now, after meeting one of her daughter’s friends, with whom Alison sings, and laughs, and works, the gravity of her secret hit home. It’s alright, Vanessa says to the bawling woman. She wonders, then, if the girl in the photo is not Barbara’s daughter. She is, Barbara confirms, and so is Alison. Vanessa assumes the man in the photo must therefore be Carter Blaire. Barbara corrects her. “That man is many things,” she says, “…but he is most definitely not Carter Blaire.”


[User]
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Provide a full summary of the comic book.

[Assistant]
Alison Blaire, This Is Your Life!
High above the streets of Manhattan, Warren Worthington III, the winged mutant hero called the Angel, soars eastward toward Long Island. In his arms, he carries Alison Blaire, the singer known as Dazzler, who possesses the mutant ability to transform sound into light. As they glide through the maze of New York City high-rise towers on their way to a rendezvous with tragedy, the two recall the events that led to this moment.
Warren remembers the day he found the letter from private investigator Jessica Drew in Alison’s apartment. From this, he learned Alison sought her estranged mother, and seeking a way to win over Alison’s heart, vowed to find her. Meanwhile, Alison’s father Carter finally succumbed to the accumulated betrayal he felt both from estranged wife Katherine and his defiant daughter Alison. He retreated into a state of catatonia. Bella, Carter’s mother, called Warren for help. She could not reach Alison, as Alison found herself occupied battling the pesky villains Doctor Sax and Johnny Guitar. Warren finally caught up with Alison afterward and informed her she needed to return to her father’s house, which brings them to where they are now. Hopefully, Alison’s presence will draw Carter’s psyche back from the void. Realistically, the outcome is uncertain.
So lost are the two heroes in their own thoughts, they fail to see their friend Spider-Man adhering to the side of a nearby skyscraper. Spider-Man even swings out into the open air to greet them, but they don’t even notice when he swings right across their line of sight. Those two have must something heavy on their minds, he thinks.
At last, Angel and Dazzler arrive back at Carter Blaire’s house on Long Island, signifying the beginning of the latest of Alison Blaire’s ordeals. She walks inside and gives her grandmother a big hug. Bella tells her she is so glad she came; Carter’s condition continues to worsen, and she hopes Alison can reach him. The on-call psychiatrist interrupts, reiterating his distrust of this plan. As far as he can tell, most of Carter Blaire’s psychiatric decay seems centered on his daughter. Her intervention might worsen his stupor and drive him further into his dream-world! He advises they immediately get Carter professional help in a professional setting. He may be right, Alison says, but he may just as easily be wrong. She has to try something. A battle rages on in her father’s head, a battle between love and hate, bitterness and hope, and Alison must try to tip the odds back in favor of the good side! She holds her head up high and walks into her father’s study.
“Dad? It’s me, Alison,” she says. Carter, sitting in his armchair, remains motionless. Alison anxiously waits for a response, but she can barely hear over the sound of her own fluttering heart. She notices Carter’s face redden, and his grips tighten. Unbeknownst to his daughter, a tidal wave rages within Carter’s soul that engulfs his very being and drives him closer to his breaking point. Will her presence bring him out of his stupor, or send him even further into the depths of insanity?
Alison asks once more if her father can hear her. Miraculously, Carter speaks. “I… hear you, Alison,” he says. Although initially relieved to hear her father speak, what Carter says next makes her feel worse than ever. He says he can hear her, but has yet to hear the words he wants to hear, the words for which he has waited for years! Where are they, he asks? Has Alison returned to beg his forgiveness, or simply to taunt him again, as she always has? Alison tries to cut it and stop him, but he speaks over her while rising out of his chair. If Alison is not ready to ask for his forgiveness, then the living hell he experienced will all have been for nothing!
Alison, turning her head to hide her wounded expression, realizes that although her father has returned, he is the same as ever. He still wants to control his daughter’s life and overwhelm her with guilt! She turns toward him and asks him to listen to himself. Why does he insist on acting like Alison did something to awful to him, when all she ever tried to do was be a loving daughter? Maybe he should apologize for trying to remake his daughter in his own image. Maybe he should apologize for concealing the truth about her mother! Can he fathom how life feels without knowing one’s own mother, Alison asks? Fine, Carter says. If she wants to know about her mother, he will tell her, although it means exposing her to the harsh truth from which he has spend years protecting her. “In the beginning,” he tells Alison, “…your mother and I were very much in love.”
Our courtship and the early years of our marriage were the happiest days I’d ever known, Carter narrates. A jazz singer, Katherine performed all over New York City, from Greenwich Village to Harlem. After she and Carter married, she continued her singing career, while he attended law school. He intended to become the world’s best lawyer, and thanks to the financial support of his talented wife, he managed to graduate magna cum laude from Empire State University’s law school. His wife and mother were both proud. A year later, Katherine gave birth to little Alison Blaire. Carter hoped, with the birth of their child, as well as his stable income, that Katherine would finally put her music career to a rest. He never fully approved of her singing; he merely viewed as a means to his own ends. Katherine, however, refused to drop her passion. Carter tried to convince her seedy bars were no place for a wife and a mother. He asked her to pursue an honest career instead. Katherine insisted she was a singer at heart. Not a teacher, not a nurse, but a singer.
The newly married couple fought often, and bitterly, and neither party ever truly emerged victorious. As her domestic life turned into a nightmare, Katherine began spending more and more time at bars and clubs with her showbiz friends. Amidst all the heavy drinking, she fell in love with a man named Nick Brown, who epitomized everything Carter hated about that lifestyle. Nick had neither musical talent nor a job – in fact, no one knew what he did for a living – but he always had an ample supply of cash, booze, drugs, and charm. He swept Katherine off her feet. Whether she truly loved him, or simply wished to hurt her husband, Carter doesn’t know to this day. He regrets not stepping in and doing something about it; had he been less passive, maybe she would still be his wife.
Nevertheless, because Katherine betrayed him, Carter refuses to forgive her. He recalls that she always kept a brooch with two pictures in it: one of her husband, and one of Nick Brown. To Carter, that brooch always symbolized the failure of their marriage. To now see his very own daughter wearing it, Carter feels as if Alison is rubbing his nose in that failure!
He continues his story. As time wore on, he saw his life less and less, until one afternoon, while Carter took Alison to the playground, Katherine deserted her family. In her goodbye note, Katherine said she left more for Alison’s sake than anything, as she refused to allow her daughter to grow up in an environment like the one she and Carter had created. So she showed her love for you, Carter now says to Alison, …by walking out.
Although Katherine occasionally returned his calls, she refused to meet in person. Carter did the best he could to raise his daughter the right way. With the help of his mother Bella, they made sure Alison studied so she could enter into the honest and honorable profession of law. “Instead, you, too were seduced by the fool’s gold glitter of show business,” he says, “and asked for my blessing for your chosen path! Asked me to condone your wasting your mind… your life… the way your mother did!”
 Enraged, Alison gets out of her chair and walks away, all the while yelling for her father to stop. He has twisted the story into a sick version of itself, Alison says, as tears stream down her face. It could not have happened that way! She turns, runs out of the house, and throws herself against a nearby tree for support. Warren chases after her. Sobbing, Alison says her father told her such vile things about her mother. The things he said cannot be true, she cries! They simply cannot!
Meanwhile…
“It’s true, Vanessa. It’s true. I… am the Dazzler’s mother,” Barbara London says, also crying. “I am Katherine Blaire.” The only noise that breaks the thick silence in Barbara London’s Upper West Side apartment is the sound of her own sobbing. She looks at the framed photo resting on her piano, of her daughter, and her former lover, Nick. The picture almost seems to taunt her. Barbara buries her face in her arms and sobs. Vanessa comforts her. Barbara, still sobbing, admits she could no longer hold back her tears. Once she learned Vanessa was a friend of Alison’s, she had to admit she was Alison’s mother. But Barbara, this is such exciting news, Vanessa says! She suggests they call Alison right away and tell her. Barbara vehemently refuses. Alison must never know this secret. Vanessa apologizes; she should have realized. However, she asks if it might not help if Barbara told the story, just to get if off her chest. “Maybe it’s time I told somebody,” Barbara says in agreement.
She explains that while she lived with Carter, she was not the best wife. Not to say Carter was the best husband, either; they fought constantly, eventually forcing Katherine to leave. She shacked up with Nick Brown, a fellow showbiz parasite, who introduced her to every seedy element of the business. However, they loved each other. Once she finalized her divorce with Carter, she immediately married Nick. Before long, however, she realized he loved other women just as much. She arrived at a party once, unexpectedly, and spotted Nick making out with another lady. Katherine left before Nick saw her. However, she refused to give up on another marriage. She loved him, after all. They soon had a child. Katherine thought a child might improve things between her and Nick, but it only exacerbated things.
As his drinking worsened, Nick turned violent, and resorted to hitting his wife. Barbara recalls one such occasion, when he struck her in front of their daughter, Lois. The confused Lois, trying to comfort her mother, asked why daddy always hits her. Katherine told her daughter not to worry; she would be fine once she found her “happy powder”. Realizing her life had reached a new low, the drug-addled Katherine decided to do something before she delved beyond a point of no return. She left Nick, just as she had left Carter, only this time, she knew another man would not solve her problems. Additionally, this time, she took her child with her.
“I started my life over from scratch, got myself cleaned up, straightened out,” Barbara London tells Vanessa. “I changed my name and pursued a music career, but only as a teacher. I never wanted to face an audience again.” She explains she built herself a secure, isolated world, one that held together for a long time… until Vanessa came along. However, she cannot add a meeting with her daughter to the mix. She has caused her enough pain already. At the very least, if Alison never meets her mother, she can always cling to the belief that she was a decent, honorable woman, and a good mother. Vanessa can only imagine how Barbara must feel, but adds Barbara might carry her burden of guilt farther than she needs to. “That’s for me to decide,” Barbara says.
Vanessa asks if Barbara has ever seen Alison perform. No, Barbara says; she always worried she would do something foolish, like run to Alison after the show. If that’s the case, Vanessa says, then she will just have to blackmail her! If Barbara comes with her to see one of Dazzler’s concerts, then Vanessa promises to keep her secret. She owes it to herself to see her daughter perform at least once. Although Barbara doesn’t believe the blackmail threat at all, she agrees to think about the proposition. Good, Vanessa says, before asking if they can finally resume her singing lesson.
The next day, Dazzler, sitting in her apartment clothed only in a bathrobe, ponders the previous day’s revelations. Can what her father said be true, she asks? Did he leave anything out, or make anything up? How will she ever learn the truth? Where, she asks, is her mother these days? She doubts even her father knows.
Suddenly, the phone rings, graciously interrupting Alison’s tormented train of thought. It’s Harry S. Osgood, her manager, calling with a gig. After accepting the job, Alison gets dressed and heads to his office downtown. Osgood’s catty assistant Cassandra makes her usual negative remark as Alison enters the office, but Alison, feeling surprisingly confident, ignores the insult and walks directly into her manager’s office.
Inside his office, Alison finds Osgood chatting with a sleazy concert promoter named Les Mitchell. Les, dressed in a garish pin-striped suit, an unbuttoned undershirt, and oversized sunglasses, introduces himself to Alison while chomping on a stinky cigarillo. Osgood begins relaying the promoter’s idea for a career-making concert for Alison, but the greasy Les interrupts and gives the pitch himself. It’s like this, he says. Everyone knows the Dazzler pals around with a lot of superheroes, so all they need to do is headline a charity concert for something like a hospital and invite all of Alison’s superhero friends to attend. The heroes show up to see the Dazzler, the public shows up to see the heroes, the show sells out, Dazzler does some good for the needy, and suddenly, she’s a household name! Of course, Les intends to take a small percentage of the revenue before it gets to the hospital, but he needs to get paid for his brilliant ideas.
Alison rolls her eyes in disgust. She doesn’t like this guy; he’s too slick and talks too fast. She would hate to exploit her friends like this; what does her manager think of the idea? Osgood loves it; he doesn’t care about exploiting superheroes at all. If, for some Earth-threatening reason, they cannot attend the night of the show, they can send a congratulatory telegram to ensure publicity. “Harry’s right, doll-face,” Les says to Alison. He then informs her where they plan to have this concert. “A famous coloratura cancelled a prestigious gig a week from tonight. That left an opening in the schedule at… Carnegie Hall!” Alison gasps; performing at Carnegie Hall is any singer’s dream. “Yeah,” Les says. “So I know you’re gonna wanna do the gig now, right?” He sidles closer to Alison and slips his hand onto her butt. Alison gasps and asks what he is doing. Unperturbed, Les tells Alison and her manager they can discuss the details later, and leaves. Osgood waves goodbye.
After counting to three, Alison turns to her manager and explodes! That slime, she shouts! He pinched her! He put his filthy paw on her and pinched her! Who gave him that right, she asks?! Harry asks her to calm down; that’s just how Les is. Surely he meant no harm. Enraged, Alison asks why that matters. Les would not have done that to her if she were a man! Osgood calls her oversensitive, but Alison calls him under-sensitive! How can he stick up for that sleaze-ball over a client who has twice now saved his life? Of course he has not forgotten his debts, Osgood says. However, he reminds her they both chose to pursue careers in showbiz, a career that encompasses both glory and sleaze. He understands her misgivings, but asks her to trust him; this concert will work wonders for her career. Alison begrudgingly agrees to do the job, but only for Osgood’s sake.
The next day, Dazzler begins her intensive rehearsal in preparation for her upcoming Carnegie Hall extravaganza. While Beefer, Hunch, and Marx blare away on their instruments, Alison puts all she’s got into the rehearsal – but today, all she’s got is the wrong stuff. While running through the intro of “Blue Suede Shoes”, Alison trips over her own microphone cord and goes falling to the ground on her magnetic roller-skates. This is no time to get lead feet, her band’s assistant manager Lance says. And can she also sing on-key next time? Alison takes a deep breath and tells him to stuff it; she’s trying her best. Admittedly, her “best” is not all that great at the moment, because she cannot stop thinking about the things her father said. She gives it another try, this time forgetting the lyrics before the song’s intro even ends. Alison berates herself. On top of things, as if she were not distracted enough, she has to deal with that creep Les Mitchell observing the rehearsal. Alison wishes he would just crawl back into his hole. She tries once more to nail the rehearsal, this time taking a suggestion of Lance’s and providing her usual, accompanying light show. Even this, she botches.
The band takes a break. Her band mates ask Alison if something is wrong. Personal problems, she tells them. They begin to ask if they can help her with anything, but Les sidles up on Alison unexpectedly and tries to reassure her. This kind of thing happens to all the greats, he says, rattling off the names of Bruce Springsteen, Elton John, and Diana Ross as examples. Alison thanks him. He leans in and whispers in her ear. If there’s anything else he can help her with – cash, companionship, happy pills, etc. – she only need ask. Dazzler recoils in disgust; she doesn’t want to hear that kind of thing! If Les has something he wants to say to her, he can go through her manager! Understand, she firmly asks? Les backs off, insisting he only meant to help. When she needs his help, Alison says, she’ll yell. The break ends, and another disastrous rehearsal begins.
The next day, Alison and Vanessa go discount-shopping at the factory outlet stores in Astoria, Queens. The outlet mall may lack class, Vanessa says… but she never cared much for class anyway. While trying on a string of cute outfits, Alison asks Vanessa how things have been with her; any interesting news? Vanessa hesitantly says no. Alison then asks how her voice lessons with her new teacher are going. Real good, Vanessa says unconvincingly. Alison mentions her most recent, dismal rehearsal, and states maybe she could use a voice lesson or two of her own. Is Vanessa’s new teacher available? Vanessa tells her that her teacher is booked solid for a while. Alison, finally sensing the awkwardness in her friend’s voice, asks if anything is wrong. No, nothing is wrong, Vanessa says, obviously lying. She promised to keep the revelation of Alison’s mother a secret, but the secrecy is killing her! Coincidentally, Alison now tells Vanessa what her father told her yesterday about her estranged mother. She finds the whole situation confusing, and vows to somehow find her mother and hear her side of the story. “Uh, Ali,” Vanessa says, “I’m getting bored here. Let’s pay and go.”
Later that night, while on a date in Chinatown, Alison relays the details of her ordeal to her boyfriend, Ken Barnett. After the revelation, she tells Ken, she left the house screaming, and Warren had to chase after her and settle her nerves. “Warren?” Ken asks. “Oh. The Angel. What’s the story with that clown, anyway?” Somewhat defensively, Alison tells Ken that Warren turned out to be quite a good friend, both to her and her grandmother. “How about us, lady?” Ken asks. “Are we good friends?” He pulls Alison in tight, and they kiss.
Ken drops Alison off at home later that night. Angel, meanwhile, waits until Ken leave, and then raps on Alison’s window. Alison excitedly opens the window and asks to what she owes the pleasure of seeing Mr. Worthington. He merely wanted to wish her luck with her upcoming concert, he says… and maybe talk. He confesses that he feels like a jerk; it’s one thing to try seducing Alison into liking him, but another entirely to pry around in her family life. Don’t worry, Alison says; Warren did not cause any of the drama, and besides, he has been quite comforting to Bella… and admittedly, to herself as well. Maybe when things level out, she and Warren could get to know each other better, she says. She leans closer. Warren tells her that would be nice. They share a kiss over Alison’s windowsill. After Warren pulls away, he tells her to take care and that he will see her at the concert with his date: Bella! “Well, don’t you get fresh with her, young man,” Alison jokes as Warren flies away.
The evening of the big concert soon arrives. To Carter Blaire, however, the night is not a cause for merriment. Although he resumed his connection with the world, the world has in turn slapped him in the face. He peruses the pamphlet advertising his daughter’s star-studded benefit concert. Finally, after reaching a decision, he grabs his things, gets in his car, and heads into the beckoning darkness of the night.
Downtown, the night is much less dark. Outside of Carnegie Hall, the lights shine brighter than anywhere else in the city, as the superhero celebrities begin arriving for the show. The Fantastic Four arrive first, dressed in their finest black-tie outfits. Soon after them, the Avengers Hawkeye, Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Wasp, and She-Hulk all arrive, dressed in their superhero uniforms. Hawkeye, basking in the adulation of the crowd, thanks his luck for deciding to return to the Avengers when he did. She-Hulk pumps her fist in support of her friend the Dazzler. Meanwhile, up above and out of sight, Daredevil swings over to Carnegie Hall’s roof using his billy-club. As much as he wants to support the concert’s cause, he feels uncomfortable exploiting his superhero identity for any reason. He changes into his civilian clothes on the rooftop before heading down to the ground; there is no reason he cannot attend the concert as blind lawyer Matt Murdock. It’s just too bad he will never get to see one of Dazzler’s infamous light shows.
Power Man and Iron Fist arrive next with their dates, Misty Knight and Harmony Lane. Quasar arrives shortly thereafter, followed by Wonder Man and Beast, the latter of whom cannot seem to contain his bountiful exuberance. Warren Worthington III arrives with his escort for the evening, Bella Blaire. All of the celebrity arrivals are photographed by none other than Peter Parker, who, after finishing his work, sneaks away and changes into his amazing Spider-Man costume before arriving.
The excited crowd outside the concert hall scoffs at the arrival of relative nobody Ken Barnett. Ken hears their dismissive remarks, and promises to remember them should any of them ever need a lawyer. Across the street, meanwhile, Barbara London asks her student Vanessa if she truly thinks attending the concert is such a good idea; Barbara no longer thinks it is. Vanessa tells her to keep her promise. Okay, Barbara says, before reminding Vanessa she intends to leave as soon as it ends. She doesn’t want to leave any chance of accidentally bumping into her daughter! Again, Vanessa tells her not to worry; she knows how she feels. “Do you?” Barbara asks. “Then that makes one of us.” As they approach the entrance, Barbara feigns a headache, but the persistent Vanessa refuses to let her get away that easily.
Backstage, Dazzler’s agitated assistant manager Lance barks orders at his stagehands. If their laziness ruins Dazzler’s career, he will put and end to theirs, he says! In her nearby dressing room, Alison hears Lance yelling at the stagehands and ponders the absurdity of show business. “It’s as ludicrous as Lance’s shirt,” she tells herself. She suddenly realizes her manager Harry has been speaking to her the entire time, yet she has not heard a word he said. After she tunes in, he reminds her to pull herself together for tonight’s show. She may be having some personal problems, but she cannot let it interfere with her job. Of course, Ali says, brushing her hair. Osgood continues, reminding her of her many error-strewn rehearsals in recent days. He trusts she has exhausted her goof quota. “Harry,” Dazzler says, “…go sit on it.” Harry, gasping, asks who Alison thinks she is – the Queen of Sheba? He leaves the dressing room and slams the door. Alison may love that man, but right now, she just cannot deal with him.
Mere moments after Harry leaves, another enters Alison’s dressing room uninvited. He introduces himself as Lucky Louie, from the warm-up band, the Tyco Brahes. Ostensibly there to provide friendship, he immediately offers Dazzler a “pick-me-up”, from which he has plenty of options to choose. Revolted, Alison stands up and tells him she is doing just fine by herself! Lucky Louie fails to get the message and asks if she might want to party after the show. Alison, grabbing a bottle of perfume from her vanity, shouts for her unwelcome visitor to get out. She throws the bottle at the door as he leaves. It shatters. What nerve, Alison thinks! Who did that guy think he was, barging in her room like that! Suddenly, Alison has a horrible thought: what if Osgood asked the man to offer Alison mood-altering drugs? No; he couldn’t have, she tells herself. Harry is like a father to her… but that isn’t saying much. She grabs Osgood’s framed photo off her desk and hurls it to the floor. Like the perfume, it shatters. Go to blazes, Harry, she says, and take the whole blamed ‘entertainment industry’ with you! She sits at her desk and sobs.
Alison hears yet another series of knocks at her door. Go away, she shouts at her visitor! He enters anyway. Does she really want him to leave, the man asks? Alison feels an upwelling of positive emotion at the sound of her father’s voice. She turns around, gets out of her chair, and runs over to him. He grabs her in his arms and hugs her tight. He begins justifying his weird actions as of late, but Alison tells him he need not. No, he insists; he must.
Carter Blaire sits down with Alison, and slowly, begins to open up. He always wanted the best for his daughter, he explains. He tried to protect her, and prevent her from making the same mistakes as her mother. “But your words – and my own recent bout with madness – made me see what was before my eyes all along: That I can advise you all I want, but you’re no longer a little girl.” Of course, she is still his daughter, but she is also a grown woman. If he continues to boss her around, he may lose her forever, the same way he lost Katherine. He could not bear going through that again. Maybe Katherine’s leaving was indeed his fault, but nevertheless, she betrayed him, and that betrayal has controlled his behavior ever since. Alison consoles her father as he begins to cry. Continuing, he tells Alison he must accept her on her own terms, even if they are not the terms for which he hoped.
Alison thanks her father for his kind words. She likes having the man back who made her childhood so joyful. However, she has not completely blocked out his sage advice over the years; lately, his warnings seem more pertinent now than ever. She has seen a new side of show business that makes her ashamed of the entire community. Not that she doesn’t still love singing and performing, but she wants to do it her way from now on, instead of shoehorning herself into someone else’s version of her career. Carter notices Alison putting on her jacket; is she chilly, he asks? No, Alison says; she’s just getting ready to leave. What does she mean, Carter asks? Alison tells him she will not be performing tonight. She would much rather go home with her father and talk. She has a whole lifetime to think about her career. Her father and her have a lot of catching up to do, however. Carter’s pride in his daughter overwhelms him. She has made him so happy already, and now, seeing her courage firsthand, he cannot help but admire her willingness to make tough decisions and change.
“Alison!” someone shouts in the hallway. Alison turns and finds herself caught in the embrace of her friend, Vanessa Tooks. Vanessa knows she is busy, but just had to come backstage and wish her the best of luck! She notices Alison wearing her overcoat; is she leaving or something, she asks? Yes, Alison says; she will not be performing tonight. Shocked, Vanessa tells her she must perform! “I promised her I wouldn’t tell you…but I have no choice,” Vanessa stutters. “I’ve found your mother, Alison – and she’s in the audience tonight!” This news catches both Alison and Carter totally off-guard. Alison can barely speak. Her mother, she asks?  Is Vanessa joking? Vanessa tells her she barely managed to convince Ali’s mother to attend; if she suspects Vanessa told Alison, she will leave the venue immediately. Alison needs time to decide what to do. Unfortunately, a voice on the intercom announces she has one minute until showtime.
Alison’s choice will not be easy. A moment ago, she saw everything so clearly. She finally reconciled with her father, and wants nothing more than to return home with him. Out there in the concert hall, however, are her friends, her audience, and most importantly, her mother. This could be her only chance for a reunion.
Carter grabs Alison by the hand. The technical crew tells Dazzler to hurry; her band just began playing the intro to her first number. She hears her name announced to the excited audience. She hears the audience cheering and applauding. In the audience, her mother wonders where Vanessa went, and considers leaving before things get out of hand. Vanessa, meanwhile, wonders if she has let down both of her friends. Backstage, Harry S. Osgood wonders why Alison hasn’t taken the stage yet; she’s making him look bad! Alison, meanwhile, stands frozen, caught between the opposing forces in her life. She grimaces; a decision must be made. Suddenly it feels as if a weight has been lifted from her shoulders. “I love you, dad,” Dazzler says as she removes her coat. “And I’m sorry.”
For a moment, the Dazzler had died. But now, as she skates onto the stage with the mic in hand, she lives again! For this show, Dazzler forgoes her usual witty banter, and her interaction with the audience. Instead, she does what she does best, and sings, putting her heart and soul into the show. Tonight, the world will learn what Alison’s friends and family already know – that she is truly a dazzler.
Her performance continues for two entire hours without a break. Dazzler has never sung so well. Finally, she takes a break. Realizing she has not yet thanked her audience for showing up, for being such a terrific crowd, and for supporting both her and the Riverside Hospital, she thanks them, over and over again. She explains why she feels so energetic tonight. It seems there is someone in the audience whom she loves dearly, but has never met. So, with that in mind, she dedicates her next song to her mother. She wrote the song herself. It’s called “A Little Girl’s Dream”. She hopes her mother likes it.
Dazzler pours herself into the beautiful melody that follows. The song – a touching memoir about a young girl who grows up slowly comes to face the reality of her parents’ imperfect marriage – she performs without any frills. Once she finishes moving her audience with the lyrics, however, she lets her band take over with the instrumental crescendo. They combine their talents into a bittersweet symphony of sounds, which Dazzler transduces into a glowing, expressive, transcendent show of light. It finally ends with a flourish of cascading colors. She bows, and the audience applauds thunderously. Alison certainly appreciates their enthusiasm, but she will not truly feel satisfied until she hears the approval of the most valued audience member of all – her mother.
After the show, Alison greets an endless stream of friends and fans in her backstage dressing room. They all want her to come out to the Spearmint Lounge, but she has to decline, claiming to have important things to do. Hank McCoy says he can see that; she even has Ken Barnett on-hand to keep her company! Ken wishes that were the case, but unfortunately, Alison wants him out too. Apparently, she wants time alone with her thoughts, and as long as her “thoughts” don’t have wings, Ken is more than willing to accommodate her. Alison thanks Johnny Storm for coming, after which her manager apologizes for acting so callously before the show. He may have been under pressure, but that is never an excuse to take his anxiety out on his clients. Alison accepts his apology. She’s also been on a short fuse.
Once everyone clears out, Dazzler washes her blue performance makeup off of her face. She would have loved to go with everyone, she says, but needs to stick around to see if her mother shows up. If she left and missed her one chance at meeting her mother, she could never forgive herself.
Time passes. Alison begins to think her mother won’t be coming at all. Suddenly, she hears a set of footsteps in the otherwise silent hallway. She opens to door, but sees no one. It must have come from the stage, she realizes, and takes off running through the darkened hallways. She races through the wings of Carnegie Hall and finally arrives at the stage, where just earlier she held her most triumphant concert ever. Standing in the shadows is a well-dressed woman, seemingly waiting for something. Mom, Alison mutters? Alison, the woman replies? Alison asks if it is really her. “Yes, Alison,” Barbara London says, removing her hat and revealing her face, “…it’s me.”
The two grown women stare at one another through tear-fogged eyes, both noticing their uncanny physical resemblance. Alison breaks the moment of tension by running to her mother and gripping her in a long-overdue embrace. Barbara finally pulls away and tells Alison that while she realizes how she must feel, they must proceed slowly; surely the process will prove difficult for them both. “But I’ve got so many questions,” Alison sobs, “…so many things I need you to tell me!” They will have to wait, Barbara says. She still doesn’t know if this is the right thing to do; Alison deserves a life free from the shadow of her mother’s mistakes. “Mom, I don’t care what you’ve done. You’re my mother. I love you. That’s all that matters.”
Carter Blaire suddenly arrives and tells Katherine their daughter is right; she should listen to her. Alison and Katherine are both surprised to see him. He approaches, non-confrontationally, and takes Katherine hands. Hello, he softly says to his ex-wife. Their daughter performed very well tonight, didn’t she? Katherine agrees; Carter has made her into a remarkable woman. Suddenly, she feels compelled to leave. She needs time to think. After saying goodbye to Alison, and promising to stay in touch, she walks offstage, secretly crying tears of joy. Now alone with his daughter, Carter tells Alison he understands why she made the decision she did tonight. Whatever she decides to do with her life, he promises to support her. Alison tells him she experienced enough changes in one night to last a lifetime! In some ways, she feels more confused than ever. However, she doesn’t think she is ready to give up showbiz quite yet. With her father’s support, she knows her life will be much better no matter what she does. They hug once more, and a long night finally comes to an end.
Dazzler finally returns home to her apartment at three in the morning. Time for a good night’s sleep, she thinks as she fits her key into the lock. When she switches on the lights, however, she discovers quite the surprise. Her friends have thrown her a surprise party; since she couldn’t come out to the party, they brought the party to her! She looks around the room and sees the Thing, Iron Man, Johnny Storm, Warren, her grandmother Bella, Luke Cage and Misty Knight, Harmony Lane and Iron Fist, Spider-Man, Thor, Quasar, Beast, Wonder Man, Hawkeye, Matt Murdock, the members of her band, and her boyfriend, Ken Barnett. “Boy, you people have some nerve,” Alison says as she removes her coat, “…throwing a party without onion dip!” Iron Man tells her not to worry; he put it in the fridge so it would not spoil. While Hank puts on a record, Ken takes Alison’s hand and asks for the first dance of the evening. Certainly, she says. It’s been a tough day, but she thinks it will end quite nicely.