Avengers Assemble!: A Pseudo-Critical History of The Avengers - Part IV

I’ve Got To Save The Day

Jim Shooter returns as writer in issue #211, with husband and wife team Janet and Henry Pym, better known as the Wasp and Yellowjacket, in tow. Through the subsequent mental disintegration of Henry Pym, Shooter would examine what it means to be a ‘hero’. Now on the same team as Cap, Thor and Iron Man, Hank feels insecure about his importance to the team, and is eager to prove that he belongs. But his eagerness makes him irritable and aggressive: he blasts one of the Wasp’s costumes to pieces when her indecision makes them late for a meeting, and he is resentful when the other Avengers voted Cap stay on as chairman without him. It is clear that, at this stage, Yellowjacket is primarily concerned with appearing like a hero rather than being one. In issue #212 he strikes down a female enemy who has stopped fighting, because, by his own admission, he is ‘so desperate to be the star’ (#213). The diminutive Janet ends up saving her husband, and his teammates’ end up court-martialling him, which adds to his sense of being ‘a failure as a husband’ and ‘as a hero’ (#213). In desperation, Hank concocts an even bigger simulation; he builds a robot to attack the Avengers at his court-martial which only he knows how to stop. The court-martial goes badly, with Hank’s delusions on full display. He chastises Cap for being ungrateful to him for ‘saving’ his life, and begs Jan to ‘tell them I really was the hero’ (#213). If Hank’s words weren’t enough to convince the Avengers otherwise, then the sight of Jan’s face as she takes off her glasses - one black eye and tears streaming out of the other - surely is. To top it all off, Hank’s plan is a failure – the Avenger who saves the others from the robot is not him, but Jan, who instinctively acts to save her husband. His ruse uncovered, Yellowjacket leaves the mansion with his head bowed low, his life as a hero all but over.



Unfortunately for Hank, the more he tries to become a hero, the worse things get. In a lapse of judgment, in issue #217 he accepts an offer from his enemy Egghead to help his niece, which ends up with Yellowjacket attacking the Avengers and landing in jail. The departure of Tigra, who has only been an Avenger for five issues, in issue #216 makes an interesting comparison: she quickly realizes that she is not in the same league as the other Avengers, and happily says her goodbyes. Whilst in jail Hank has time to contemplate his past mistakes. Things seem to go awry when Egghead and the new Masters of Evil capture him at his trial, and force him to work for them. But Hank gets his payback as he uses his intellect to trick his foes and defeat them all single-handedly. ‘I’ve come to terms with myself in the past month,’ he tells Egghead, ‘I know who I am, and who I’m not! I’m not Ant-Man anymore! I’m not Giant-Man… or Goliath… or Yellowjacket! I’m Henry Pym!’ (#230) Hank no longer needs to ‘play super hero’, after all, any good man can wear a costume, as Hank tells the Avengers as he hands over the Yellowjacket suit. But a better man will admit to the Avengers and, more importantly, to Jan that what he did, he did to himself. This time around, Henry Pym can leave the mansion with his head held high.

By the time Yellowjacket makes his exit Roger Stern has become the series’ writer, and he soon focuses on another Avenger who is over-eager to be a hero, albeit on a much grander scale. In issue #238, the Vision’s powers are substantially increased after Starfox uses his home planet’s supercomputer, ISAAC, to help repair damage to the android’s body. As a result, the Vision is ‘at one with ISAAC’ and is now able to ‘out-think, out-deduce any computer system in the world.’ (#238) However, with this expansion in capability comes a expansion in ego; ISSAC, as Starfox explains, ‘for all intents and purposes’ runs his world, and the Vision gradually takes a more proactive role in the Avengers’ affairs. When most of the other senior Avengers are taken off-world (#243), the Vision assumes chairmanship of the Avengers for himself, a position he retains once the others return. He quickly uses the chairmanship to expand his influence with both the government and the public, developing a persona that is part-lobbyist, part used-car salesman. While his teammates are happy to see that he has ‘mellowed out’ (#250), they also find it at a little unsettling, sensing that the Vision may be trying a little too hard to be the charismatic leader. Subconsciously, the Vision too senses this: in issue #251, the Vision dreams of himself as the wise, handsome, human leader of Marvel’s super-human community who is suddenly interrupted by a mechanical abomination that claims to be part of his true self. The machine’s claim is soon verified when its face-plate is removed to reveal the Vision’s ‘human face’ lying underneath, and then Wanda pulls off the skin from the Vision’s face to reveal the machine’s face underneath. The Vision wakes up in a sweat, trying to reassure himself that ‘it was… just a dream.’ (#251)



One way of interpreting the Vision’s dream is that by denying his ‘machine-like’ side, the Vision has become unbalanced, out of touch with himself and those around him.[19] In issue #252, after arsonists destroy his and Wanda’s suburban home, the Vision becomes fed up with ‘the human approach’. Under ISAAC’s influence, the Vision abandons his android body, and uses his souped-up artificial intelligence to take control of the world’s computer systems. Needless to say those freedom-fighting Avengers are soon on his case; however, the Vision’s attempts to prevent them from stopping him are masterful, utilizing both his technological capabilities and his understanding of the human psyche. He takes control of the mansion’s systems, and then when the Avengers get through those, he tries to convince them by way of argument. His explanation for his actions is the same for all Avengers, but in each case he chooses the holographic form which is likely to hold the most weight for his intended audience: the casually-dressed brother-like figure for Wonder Man, the muscle-bound warrior for Hercules and the Black Knight, and the handsome, human-faced companion for the Scarlet Witch. The Avengers, however, manage to argue successfully that, while the Vision can control the world’s machines, he won’t be able to control the human element. It’s all over relatively quickly given the previous fifteen issues of build-up, but perhaps this is meant to be a sign that the Vision never really wanted that much power anyway. ‘I wanted to be a good husband to my wife… to be able to live in peace,’ he tells Wonder Man, ‘The world wouldn’t let me… I had to try…’ (#254) Like Yellowjacket the Vision’s desire to become a better hero stemmed from confusion about what it takes to be a better man. And for both of them, the mark of a good man is that, in the end, they try to correct their mistakes.

I Don’t Know Which One Of You Is The Bigger Idiot!

The Vision sub-plot takes up most of the first half of Roger Stern’s run on The Avengers, winding its way around various miscellaneous threats. These issues are enjoyable without being remarkable, with the artwork being a little too light to be taken seriously. During this time, the creative team counters the dourness of the line-up by adding characters that genuinely want to be Avengers, including Starfox, She-Hulk and a new Captain Marvel. Captain Marvel, in particular, is a breath of fresh air: there has been a tendency in The Avengers for African-American characters to take the moral high ground, but Monica Rambeau is as down-to-earth as anybody and relates well to her teammates. She is the most powerful of the Avengers without being overbearingly so, and is eventually elected leader of the team. Meanwhile, Hawkeye is jettisoned off to form a West Coast branch of Avengers, who would provide further hi-jinks by teaming up with the main group every now and then. There’s certainly a bit to like ‘about the playful good humour and happy fellowship’ (#250) of the Avengers during this period, but without that extra oomph to the stories they are easily forgotten.

With the Vision and Scarlet Witch’s departure in issue #255 however, Stern begins to hit top gear. By that time most of the Avengers’ members are characters that have been introduced to the team during his run. But the main change is that John Buscema and Tom Palmer return to The Avengers, and their darker, more accomplished artwork seems to inspire Stern to up the ante. Over the next thirty issues, the Avengers face such heavyweights as the giant alien Terminus, the space pirate Nebula and her army of intergalactic misfits, the omnipotent Beyonder, multiple versions of Kang the Conqueror, Baron Zemo and a souped-up Masters of Evil, and last but not least, the entire pantheon of Greek Gods. The vestige of camp that has clung to the Avengers in the post-Thomas era is finally swept away as the Avengers have to smarten up significantly to deal with these new and more powerful threats.



Having said that, the more powerful the threats, the more child-like they are in their outlook upon the universe - and therefore the more dangerous. Kang, Nebula and the second Baron Zemo, none of whom have super-powers, demonstrate quite a bit more cunning and organization than their counterparts. But even here there is an element of childishness inherent in these foes: Nebula is the granddaughter of the Avengers’ old foe Thanos, Baron Zemo the son of the Nazi scientist who fought the original Avengers, and Kang a younger, more bloodthirsty version of Immortus. Kang’s rise and fall in issues #267-269 is essentially engineered by Immortus to teach his younger self a lesson in maturity, which he fails when he snatches from Immortus a globe containing the memories of all the divergent Kangs, and goes mad as a result. Similarly, Baron Zemo recruits an army of super-villains to take over the Avengers’ mansion in issues #271-277 because he is unable to accept that his father, not Captain America, was responsible for his own death. The second Zemo’s own downfall comes when, in a tantrum, he lunges at Cap and falls off the mansion’s rooftop.

Terminus is even more pathetically juvenile; in issues #256-257 he trudges through the Savage Land causing massive destruction like an overgrown toddler smashing his playthings. ‘You are mine, to do with as I choose!’ he tells the natives (#256). When Hercules destroys his armour Terminus flounders in the snow like a huge flabby baby. The Avengers leave him flat on his back, shouting empty threats, in denial that he no longer has the power to do whatever he wishes. In issues #281-285, Zeus, most powerful of the Greek Gods, sentences the Avengers to eternity in Hades, based on the false belief that they are responsible for his son, Hercules, being placed into a coma. Zeus, blind with rage, will not listen to the Avengers’ protestations of innocence, and many of his children are just as headstrong; the Avengers waste a considerable amount of energy and breath before they are able to talk some sense into them. For the Beyonder, who continually pops up in issues #260-261, the whole of reality is his toybox. The Beyonder is intent on experiencing as much of the universe as possible, whether it be flipping switches in a research facility, or impaling himself on a sharpened blade. He pursues the Avengers not out of malice, but because he thinks it is their ‘form of sport’ (#261). Because of his naivete and limitless power, the Avengers are more scared of the Beyonder than anyone. ‘With his power… a dream might erase all of reality!’ thinks Captain America, gritting his teeth in horror (#265). The rational foes, the schemers, simply want to rule the world; if existence comes to its final end then it is more likely to be through a single act of irrationality.

Interlude: And You Shall Learn Why We Be Called Avengers!

When a series has run as long as The Avengers has, there are some questions that fans inevitably ask themselves and each other. Who is the best character in the Avengers? What is the ideal Avengers line-up? What is the greatest Avengers story? The answers to these questions are always subjective and have been debated so often that I can’t really add that much value to them. But if you’ll allow me to indulge in my fanboy persona for a moment, I will say this: the Roger Stern/ John Buscema/ Tom Palmer books (issues #255-286, except #280) were the greatest Avengers run ever. And here’s why:

Firstly, the plots, especially from #267 onwards, were never contrived or nonsensical; instead, they always flowed logically from earlier developments in the series.[20] Yet because no-one had ever thought of them before, they always seemed fresh and new. If Kang the Conqueror is continually mucking about with the time-stream, then it makes sense that his actions would create doubles of himself, and that these doubles would be hell-bent on destroying each other. Similarly, if small groups of villains have always failed to defeat the Avengers, then it makes sense for someone to organize an army of villains to defeat them. And if Hercules is beaten into a coma in such a battle, then it makes sense that his ever-impetuous father Zeus might blame the Avengers for his son’s state and seek his revenge. Thomas, Englehart and Shooter, for all their strengths, were sometimes rather ham-handed in the way they created situations to shock readers, in Stern’s case, the surprises are entirely due to a clever structuring and sequencing of events.

Secondly, the Avengers are treated with respect, rather than as overgrown children. Just about every writer of The Avengers has attempted to manufacture petty conflicts within the Avengers ranks, in the belief that the resulting histrionics will heighten the emotional tension in the title (and they often do). Of the Stern/Buscema line-up only Hercules and the Sub-Mariner regularly behave in this way, and the other members consider them fools for it. The advantages of this approach are twofold. One, although the Stern/Buscema line-up is not the most powerful the Avengers have ever had, treating the Avengers as professionals means that everything around them, including their enemies, is elevated as a result.[21] Two, because the Avengers do generally show restraint in their emotions on the occasions when they do lower their guard it becomes a lot more significant. The scene at the end of #277, in which Captain America kneels amongst the ruins of the Mansion, crying over the torn picture of his late mother is, for my money, as touching a moment as the series has ever seen. But Cap’s invitation to Namor to join the Avengers, Wasp’s resignation as chairwoman and Captain Marvel’s subsequent acceptance of the post, and Hercules’ admittance to his father that it was his actions that led to him being beaten into a coma, are all similarly poignant.



Finally, while I’ve extolled the virtues of Buscema and Palmer’s artwork before, they had become even better artists by the mid-1980s. Buscema had always been an exciting artist but by this stage he had developed a greater range, adept at dispersing quieter moments amidst the action. This gave his pencils a more mature, realistic look, more like a fantasy artist than a doodler. Buscema and Palmer’s artwork was grand but not overblown, heavy but not ugly. To me, more than just about anybody else, they make a world in which heroes routinely hop out of New York and travel into space and through time seem possible, and yet at the same time mysterious, almost beyond reach.

In the final analysis, the main criticism of the Stern/ Buscema/ Palmer run that I can think of — and the reason why it is only the greatest run, and not the definitive run — is that Stern’s writing has not had a large influence on subsequent stories. Certainly one can see an influence on the creators that directly followed, particularly John Byrne, who tended to portray a slicker, more professional Avengers outfit than in years past. However, these stories also tended to privilege the plot at the expense of the characters, which led to a somewhat more de-humanized book than when Stern was handling the writing chores. As we shall see, things swung back the other way once Bob Harras became the writer, and basically all of the writers since have made sure to keep ‘character conflict’ at the forefront of the action. As a result, these writers have generally looked beyond Stern’s tenure to the stories of Shooter, Thomas and Englehart for their inspiration. Also, these early writers created a larger pool of characters than Stern, who was more adept at renewing established concepts.

From the mid-1990s onwards, mainstream superheroics has put a lot of emphasis on portraying characters that readers can relate to, partly as a reaction against the ‘grim and gritty’ comics that were prevalent earlier in the decade. As a consequence, writers have made sure to flesh out the everyday lives of their characters, showing that, for all their powers, they’re just as human as anybody else. But in doing so there are instances where the stories try a little too hard, where they seem like their main aim is to prove to readers that their characters are as cool as any of the people you would see in movies, or on TV, or down at the mall. In contrast, Stern, Buscema and Palmer’s stories rarely seemed like they had anything to prove. And that, for me, will forever be the difference.

Covers copyright Marvel Comics

[19] Another interpretation is that the appearance of the machine foreshadows the Vision melding further with ISAAC (the machine and ISAAC do share some facial similarities).
[20] You could also make the same claim about the roster changes that Stern made.
[21] The line-up is pretty powerful when Thor, the She-Hulk, Namor and Captain Marvel are briefly together though.

Avengers Assemble!: A Pseudo-Critical History of The Avengers - Part III

The Passion Only We Two Could Have

Roy Thomas’ successor as Avengers writer was Steve Englehart, who joined the title with issue #106. Perhaps in an effort to emulate Thomas, Englehart’s initial plots tended to rely on shocking and bizarre situations, with the explanations for these situations often being somewhat incongruous. However his later stories were quite effective at stringing out plot-lines over the course of several issues and then tying them together, even if some of the seams showed through. Similarly, the artwork became smoother and cleaner as Englehart’s run went on, with the rough but dynamic sketches of penciler Bob Brown eventually morphing into the gorgeous layouts and backdrops of the very talented George Perez. Notably, Englehart’s ability to juggle several plot-lines simultaneously allowed him to interject an element of soap-opera into the title, which led to a greater focus upon the characters themselves.

The main players in Englehart’s ongoing drama were the Vision and the Scarlet Witch on one hand, and newcomers the Swordsman and Mantis on the other. The Vision and Wanda’s love is still in its early stages when the mustachioed musketeer and his Oriental lady-love arrive on the scene. Mantis appears to be a considerably more accomplished woman than the troubled mutant sorceress: whereas the Witch’s power is unpredictable and leaves her drained, Mantis’ mastery of the martial arts is enough to cripple even the mighty Thor.[12] The Vision and Mantis soon develop a mutual admiration for each other’s abilities. Mantis is impressed by how the Vision saves her after she is thrown off the top of a building, while the Vision in turn is impressed by how Mantis uses logical deduction to dispatch one of their foes. (For the Vision, this is probably the equivalent of Mantis lying naked in his bedroom.) In both body and mind they seem to be a cut above their counterparts. Another similarity is that neither of them knows their true origin. ‘I know what it means to be tutored – or programmed – and not know why,’ says the Vision to Mantis when she comes into his room, ‘—so perhaps, as we seek our own answers, what one of us learns will be of help to the other.’ (#128) ‘Yes, our lives must draw more closely together,’ Mantis replies. As it turns out, there’s no real connection between their pasts at all. When their origins are revealed they are told in parallel narratives, with the Vision only having to go back in time a mere three decades to learn the answers to his past, while Mantis has to travel back to the beginnings of civilization.

And what of those who love them? The Swordsman is the first to become jealous of the Vision’s and Mantis’ mutual admiration society. At heart, the Swordsman feels he is unworthy of Mantis: he is basically considered to be a loser (and is often referred to as such) and continually tries to prove himself to her. This doesn’t always work out for the best – in #123 he tries to exact revenge on the men who killed Mantis’ mother and inadvertently causes the slaughter of the priests who raised her. The Swordsman’s need to validate himself in Mantis’ eyes is considered a sign of weakness by her – when she abandons him in issue #128 she says that she hopes he ‘will prove a stronger man’ than he has been. The Swordsman promptly proves his manliness by becoming a violent, slobbering mess. The Scarlet Witch also tries to prove her worth when she becomes aware of her love’s growing admiration for another: thinking that the Vision is attracted to Mantis’ power she over-compensates by becoming more aggressive in her use of her powers and boasting about ‘crushing’ her foes (#125). But unlike the Swordsman, Wanda channels her feelings of inadequacy into adding another dimension to her powers, as she begins to learn ‘true’ witchcraft from the aged Agatha Harkness. Tellingly, she stays behind from a mission in order to continue her studies, even though it means that she can’t track of what the Vision and ‘that man-trap’ are doing (#130). While Wanda loves the Vision, she can get along without him – a level of independence that the Swordsman has not achieved.



‘It’s Wanda I love,’ the Vision tells Mantis, ‘No matter how irritable she has been lately.’ (#128) For those who believe that true love is destined to be, all these various conflicts are wrapped up rather nicely. When Kang the Conqueror returns to threaten his love the Swordsman pulls himself together and eventually dies a heroic death saving Mantis’ life. The Swordsman’s demise is enough for Mantis to realize how selfish she has been and that she really does love the big screw-up after all. But death does not part them, as the Swordsman’s body is re-animated by an alien presence, allowing the two lovers to be together for all time. Meanwhile the Vision is sufficiently buoyed by learning the secrets of his heritage to ask Wanda to marry him. Hence, after months of speculation, the whole thing comes to a neat little ending with the combined wedding of the two happy couples. The Vision and the Scarlet Witch continue their lives as Avengers, while the Swordsman and Mantis head for the stars. It seems that, in the end, they were nothing more than a passing phase for the Avengers, as the Avengers were nothing more than a passing phase for them.

I’ll Give You More Power!

Whereas, during their early adventures, the Avengers’ foes seemed to take a special pleasure in seeking them out and beating them senseless, in the 1970s the Avengers increasingly found themselves thrown in the way of the merely power-hungry. In issues #129-132 Kang the Conqueror travels to the twentieth century in order to seek out the woman who will be the Celestial Madonna, ‘she who will bear the one!’ (#129) According to Kang, the few records that survive of our era say that ‘her mate… will be the most powerful man on Earth… Father to the child -- and through him, ruler of the heavens!’ (#129) Kang, of course, intends to be that man, and since the indicators show that the Celestial Madonna is a member of the Avengers our heroes are in his sights. It seems that Kang doesn’t lack for ambition, as Thor says, ‘if he be mad, then ‘tis a great madness indeed!’ (#129) Yet after the Avengers thwart his scheme, it appears that Kang will be happy with anything he can get. In issues #141-143, Thor, Hawkeye and new member Moondragon encounter him in the old American West, terrorizing the small town of Tombstone. Stationed in his futuristic citadel, Kang now wants to conquer all of time through conquering the nineteenth century; a fair indication that the Avengers already have him on the back foot.[13] Eventually, when confronted by Thor, Kang panics and turns up the power-levels of his suit beyond capacity, thereby destroying the suit and him self along with it. Kang’s denial that he is no longer synonymous with power is evident in his final words: ‘I’m Kang – invincible!’ he screams as he is torn apart, ‘No! More! Kang! Conquers! Conquers! More! Kang! Kang! KANG’ (#143)

Kang is not the only one seeking an object of seemingly ultimate power. In issues #147-148 the Avengers return to the Squadron Supreme’s world, which is now run by a cartel of corporations through the power of an ‘arcane obscenity’ known as the Serpent Crown. The cartel is headed by U.S. President Nelson Rockefeller on whose head the Crown proudly sits. But those who wear the Crown do not possess its power in as much as it possesses them. The Crown psychically links together all those wear it and in the process each of them becomes the ‘serpent’s slave.’ (#147) The Scarlet Witch comes into possession of the Crown for only a short period of time, but that is enough time for her to turn on her husband, the Vision, when he tries to take it off her. The Crown not only has a hold on its wearers, but by its mere presence, can exert influence over even the mightiest of super-beings, as shown by the Squadron Supreme blindly accepting Rockefeller’s authority. Disguised as the President, new Avenger the Beast delivers a clever parody of Rockefeller’s motives in an attempt to open the Squadron’s eyes to the truth. ‘We run your lives, and you don’t know it…,’ he tells them, ‘all we really want is power! The talk’s just to get you to give it to us!’ (#148) Once the Squadron take on the Avengers’ view and look past the symbol of Rockefeller’s power they quickly realize their Emperor has no clothes (as indeed he does at this point). Like Kang, Rockefeller is banking on a power outside of his self to grant him authority, but once this is gone, he has even less to fall back on.



In issues #164-166, written by Jim Shooter and drawn by John Byrne, Count Nefaria is intent on relying on the power of no-one but himself. He frees a trio of Avengers foes from prison only to steal their powers and increase them a hundredfold, making him essentially the most powerful man on the planet. Nefaria revels in his power because it allows him to ‘indulge any whim I’ve ever had’ (#165), yet it becomes apparent that, as Thor notes, Nefaria’s lust for power arises out of fear. When Thor first attacks Nefaria, the Count pleads with him to stay back and only regains his confidence when he learns that he can withstand the blows of the mighty thunder god. Still, there is something greater that Nefaria shies away from – death. Nefaria’s face is filled with dismay when the aged Whizzer reminds him that he will die within twenty or thirty years, at which point he will be no more than ‘a nightmare that has ended’ (#165). Nefaria hopes to prevent this, only to have the scientist who gave him his powers trick him into believing that he is now aging at an accelerated rate. This drives Nefaria mad, and in an attempt to better mark his passing, he tries to take New York City with him. He is, as Thor says, a man with the power of a god, but without the wisdom to match. The Avengers eventually put a halt to Nefaria’s rampage in spectacular fashion, with the Vision falling an entire mile on top of him, thus grinding him into the street.



Nefaria’s aim of godhood is achieved by another Avengers’ foe, Michael Korvac, who in the process seemingly finds a higher purpose for his power. Korvac’s aim is to ‘make subtle alterations in the fabric of reality, eventually taking control – and correcting the chaos, healing the injustice that civilization has heaped upon a battered universe’ (#175). Led into believing that Korvac is ‘the Enemy’, the Avengers set out to expose him. This comes to a head in the awesome issue #177, in which the Avengers provoke Korvac into battle and he slaughters them one-by-one (!), before eventually dying himself.[14] Thor considers this proof that Korvac is evil, but Moondragon tells him that Korvac has restored the Avengers to life with his dying breath. ‘He was not evil…’ she tells Thor, ‘He sought not to rule us… He wished only to free us from the capricious whims of eternity!’ (#177) Moondragon’s views are debatable – Korvac clearly wants to have authority over all of existence, even if his reign would be a ‘sane and benevolent one’ (#176).[15] Yet, if left unchecked, Korvac’s alterations may well have seemed like part of the natural order of the universe. Again, it all comes down to freedom, and for the Avengers, freedom is more important than peace. But, at the least, the encounter with Korvac shows that the choice between good and evil is not as clear-cut as the Avengers might believe.

Happily Ever After

‘Folks need people who add excitement to their lives,’ says the blue-furred Beast to his good pal Wonder Man at the start of issue #181, ‘people who can do things they can’t –‘, and then he bounces jubilantly into the air.[16] Issues #181-202 are fondly remembered by those Avengers fans who were teenagers in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and it’s not difficult to see why. During these issues, the Avengers are the bunch of buddies that your average quiet, fantasy-loving white boy wishes he had. They fight giant Japanese robots and skull-faced assassins. They rescue pretty young women and plant kisses on their female foes as they are carted off in handcuffs (as Hawkeye does with Deathbird). They go out drinking until sunrise and stumble back arm-in-arm singing Herman’s Hermits (the Beast and Wonder Man again). And last, but not least, they ‘stick it’ to the man who is causing problems for their happy family, Henry Peter Gyrich, by suggesting that if he wants to remove the Avengers’ government security clearance then perhaps he should go out and fight the supervillains himself.[17] Adding to the communal feel is the fact that no particular creator stamps their authority upon the book during this period; David Micheline is the main writer, but he is helped out by Steven Grant, Jim Shooter and Mark Gruenwald, while star artists John Byrne and George Perez share penciling duties and also make contributions to the plots. If Englehart’s run can be summed up by Mantis and the Vision talking intensely in a dark, spare room then issues #181-202 can be summed up by the Avengers standing around in the snow drinking cocoa.



However, while the boys are off drinking and fighting big robots, things are not going so well for the female contingent of the team. In issues #197-198 it is revealed that the attractive Ms. Marvel is suddenly three months pregnant, and even more disturbingly, there is no father. The child is really a man named Marcus, son of the Avengers’ long-time foe Immortus, who in order to escape his home dimension of Limbo, kidnapped Ms. Marvel and, through sexual intercourse, implanted her with his ‘essence’ so that she would give birth to him once she returned to Earth. Hawkeye unwittingly destroys the machine that would make Marcus’ transferal to Earth permanent, meaning that he has to return to Limbo, to ‘live in solemn, solitary hell unto infinity’ (#200). But, after having initially wanted to have nothing to do with her ‘child’, Ms. Marvel decides that she will accompany Marcus back to Limbo. The Avengers have their misgivings but soon help the seemingly happy couple on their way. Once they are gone, Iron Man tries to cheer up the disconsolate Hawkeye, telling him that ‘we’ve just got to believe that everything worked out for the best.’ (#200)

At first pass this all seems reasonable enough, and if Ms. Marvel had never been heard from again, most readers (go on, admit it) would probably have assumed that Iron Man’s words had come true. It was up to X-Men writer Chris Claremont to show that, despite their camaraderie, the Avengers still had a great deal to learn about human relationships.[18] Ms. Marvel returns in Avengers Annual #10, and reveals that, in reality, Marcus had been controlling her all along, which she learnt when Marcus died on his return to Limbo. Ms. Marvel blames the Avengers for their complicity in the affair: ‘There I was pregnant by an unknown source… confused, terrified…’ she tells them, ‘You didn’t question. You didn’t doubt. You simply let me go with a smile and a wave and a bouncy bon voyage.’ (Annual #10) In issue #200 Ms. Marvel’s reservations were touched upon, but it seemed that she had forgiven Marcus for his actions. Claremont’s critique reveals those actions to be tantamount to rape: Marcus’ admission that he had used a ‘subtle boost from Immortus’ machines’ to win Ms. Marvel’s love now seems little different to using a date-rape drug, and his description of Carol as ‘the perfect vessel’ (#200) seems blatantly misogynistic. Marcus is the dark corollary of the Boys’ Own hero, ‘possessing the powers of a god, the body of a man, the emotional maturity of a child.’ (Annual #10) For the Avengers and their fans time moves on as they come to learn that they need to make the extra effort to help those they care about. This issue would raise its head again before too long; this time, the Avengers would learn from their mistakes.

Covers copyright Marvel Comics

[12] Mantis also manages to save the Scarlet Witch from a thuggish construction worker in her first appearance.
[13] On the other hand (and in fairness to our 19th century ancestors), since Kang comes from the 41st century perhaps there’s little difference.
[14] This is even more impressive considering the Avengers’ ranks have reached battalion-levels by this point.
[15] Moondragon’s views may also be coloured by her own views of godhood – she is, after all, the one who told Thor he was ‘slumming’ it with the Avengers, and she would later try and use her powers to bring about ‘universal peace’ herself.
[16] Yep, Wonder Man wasn’t as dead as he seemed.
[17] Gyrich is also the man who demanded that the Avengers reduce their roster size to a ‘mere’ seven members; perhaps in defiance of the government it takes about another couple of years for the Avengers to actually reduce their membership to this level.
[18] Part of the credit should go to Carol Strickland for her article ‘The Rape of Ms. Marvel’, which reportedly influenced Claremont’s work.

Sounds Like Chicken: ...Like A Cannonball To The Ocean Floor

The title and cover of Sounds Like Chicken’s one and only full-length recording brings to mind an album filled to the brim with blood and cutlasses, loot and scurvy. In fact, beyond the titles and a few tracks, the pirate theme turns out to be more of a jumping-off point than a full-blown concept, which works better. A seven-piece ska band from Melbourne, SLC did a decent job of capturing the energy of their live shows on this release. ‘Walk Ye The Plank’ kicks things off right, a lurching beast of a tune punctuated by a barking chorus of ‘Hey! Ho!’, which, even though it’s been used dozens of times, doesn’t seem tired here. From there, the album stumbles a little - ‘The Battle of Stentorian’ aspires to be epic, but isn’t entirely convincing. But then ‘Global Domination’ saunters in with its tight rhythms, rumbling vocals and loud guitar, and the SLC banner again flies high. ‘A battle cry from the rebel elite’ may sound like something of an oxymoron, but its sentiment is perfect for a bunch of rowdy young males. ‘Entrails’ takes aim at B-grade actors and watchers of current affairs programs, both of which, in terms of being objects of denigration, are only slightly harder targets than Michael Jackson. ‘Scourge of the Black Spot’, an intentionally shanty-like tune, is one of several tracks that revolves around dodgy in-jokes, in this case the mythical Captain Borange (guess what that rhymes with). Nevertheless, these bits of nonsense do add a bit of colour and range to the album: a good example is the hapless student asking for ‘Piano Lessons’, which leads into the building groove and eventual outburst of ‘The Awakening Pt 2’. The instrumental ‘The Payoff’ initially seems like a breather amidst all the blood and butchery, but turns out to be the best track of the lot. It combines a chilled-out rhythm with a ripping saxophone solo, moving beyond the borders of ska into the realms of reggae and jazz. ‘Spilt Beers and Drunken Tears’ rolls in like the fag-end of a drunken night that’s devolved into crap but which you still wouldn’t trade away. The slightly rough, unbroken chorus is a highlight. ‘The Ballad of William Stout’ is another slice of gibberish, while the closer, ‘Take A Bullet To The Grave’, ends the album on a suitably furious note. Like the rotting skull on its cover, ‘Like A Cannonball…’ almost seems like the id set loose, but it’s generally reined in before the throat’s bled dry. All in all, it’s a fun package – as goofy as the band’s moniker, and as sharp as the knife of the filthiest brigand.

Wool and Water

Meg sits knitting, anxiously slipping off the stitches, through the height of the afternoon. The cool sea breeze enters the room and lightly disturbs the smooth flaps of her cotton dress. A sign of strong seafaring weather, says her aunt wistfully, sewing with her three attractive cousins (less wistful than capricious and haughty) at the long wooden bench. Hopefully it means a fine homeward gale for our own distant sailors. Meg gives her a smile. Like the wily warrior, he would one day return. But for now there is a huge school order to fill, and she doesn’t know if it will be finished by the following Monday. The needle guides her tingling hand, over and under, and along the tossing threads of blue wool, forming a pattern that loops, that shimmers…
Waves lap, under the ache of the caustic sun. Then the rummy haze and the stars like moss-covered silver. To follow the crack of gunfire and to bathe in a pool of blood and salt, and after all is done, will he return to port with them, perched upon the spar, or will they skin his worthless bones? He is resting in the cabin, below deck, when John Black bursts in to tell him that a coastal town has been sighted to the west. His only reply is to look at the wall, to the east. The mate, in jest, punches him on the shoulder, ‘Cairn’t ye show yuir face for once, ye Ol’ Grey Dog?’ They call him that though he is neither old nor grey. Eventually, Black leaves and he returns again to dividing up the loot. Then, having completed his task, he lies down, curled upon his hammock, and closes his blistered eyelids. He does not lie down on shore again for forty more years.

She spies him at the base of the pier, hunched over, smelling the mackerel.
‘Beautiful morning, isn’t it?’ she calls to him.
He looks up, and takes the hook out from between his teeth. ‘Why Meg, m’lady, it’s abs’lootly balmy. Lord don’ make it better for me, nay?’
The net hangs loosely over the bow. ‘You’re a fisherman now, then?’
‘Bin cast by dis here ocean too darn’d long. Nee’d to set down, ye kno’. Nee’d to claim it f’me own.’ She looks into his old grey eyes. ‘So howz ye’ve bin, Meg?’
‘Business is well. My niece is running most of the day-to-day stuff now.’
‘Goo’. Goo’. Tha’s be cheery news.’ He walks halfway across the pier, and then turns around.
‘Come inside, m’lady, m’dame, m’maharanee.’

At ten-thirty sharp each day, he mops the cedar-wood floor and scrubs off the salt that seeps from the chimney bricks. He shaves the carp, and wraps them in blankets. Always the fisherman, he wears his waterproof coat and galoshes indoors as he potters around the cupboards making coffee for her, Chinese tea for himself. He coughs up saliva constantly. He lights three candles, and places them all in the centre of the round table at which she sits. Then he sits down opposite her, and rubs his grey beard red, twisting and twirling the long thick hairs with his fingers, and all the while he is saying,

‘I men t’ come ho’, Meg. Men t’ come ho’.’

An albatross, Ishmael’s bane, flies boldly out to sea. I leave him, and walk barefoot across the waterlogged sand. Even now, the sky and ocean meet in a calm turquoise. But what is this thing that lures men away, following the strip of red-gold, and brings them back as cloaked beggars?
There is a memory that I did not tell him about, that I do not have. I stand outside each night, wrapped in my blue woollen cardigan, and trace a crooked path from my waist up to my chin. When I look up, I see him floating into shore, nestled lightly on a sailboat hewn from a falling star. I walk out to him, and he smothers me, in pearls, in spices, before finally, drenched in essence, we drift together until daylight comes. Drift until the moment I turn over to find him gone, departed, a glint upon the waves.

Avengers Assemble!: A Pseudo-Critical History of The Avengers - Part II

A Climatic Culmination of Cooperative Creativity!

Roy Thomas replaced Stan Lee as writer with issue #35, and would chronicle The Avengers for the next seventy issues. He was joined by artist John Buscema for around half of those issues, with Don Heck, Sal Buscema, Barry Smith and Neal Adams (among others) also lending a hand. Although Lee and Kirby were the team that created the Avengers, from around the 50s onwards Thomas and Buscema would produce what was arguably the definitive run of Avengers comics. More literate than Lee and more classical than Kirby, Thomas and Buscema created a world for the Avengers that drew heavily upon both science fiction and mythology, but which was still realistic enough to make you believe that the Avengers actually live in a mansion in the center of New York.[6] Subsequent creative teams would each attempt to capture the epic scope of the Thomas/Buscema tales, while keeping the Avengers grounded in the city that surrounds them.

Thomas, for one, was evidently keen to mix things up for his heroes. He had the Avengers travel through time and to alternate universes, sent them into space to stop interstellar conflicts, storm the halls of Olympus, home of the Greek gods, and fight giant demons made out of fire and ice. But he also had the Avengers head to the mountains to avenge a tribe of Native Americans, protect the streets from the dangers of racist hate-groups, and hire themselves out as demolition workers to a greedy tycoon. Notably, Thomas tightened up the relationships between the main cast members, with Yellowjacket (formerly Goliath) marrying the Wasp, Goliath (formerly Hawkeye) revealing his true identity to his teammates, albeit obliquely, and the Vision and the Scarlet Witch gradually falling in love. Most of the line-up either lived in or spent the majority of their time hanging around the Mansion, while solo adventurers Thor, Iron Man and Captain America were reserved for guest appearances.

Buscema’s art, meanwhile, reflected this blend between the everyday and the extraordinary. When a long-haired, muscle-bound warlord stumbles into the room and proclaims himself Arkon the Magnificent, you believe it. Conversely, Buscema also makes it seem perfectly natural for a police officer to threaten a ten foot hero with arrest for blocking city traffic. Buscema’s artwork is a little darker in tone than that of most other Avengers artists; no-one walks when they can prowl, no-one talks when they can scream in anguish, and a lot of the members that appear during his run – the Vision, the Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, the Black Panther and the Black Knight – aren’t exactly the most happy-go-lucky bunch of characters. One often gets the sense when reading through his stories that the Avengers’ world teeters on the edge of destruction. Nevertheless, Buscema’s art set the visual template for other artists to follow – strong figures, dynamic angles, and just the right amount of detail to set the scene for the action. Having said all that though, let’s start with an issue drawn by Buscema’s predecessor, Don Heck, to show how the world has become a much more disturbing place for Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.

Time, the Rushing River…

Although in The Avengers, readers are continuously confronted with the possibility that things may take a turn for the worse, at the end of the day, our heroes are still around to protect the world from those who would threaten it. By the time the next issue rolls around, most of the possible courses that events may have taken are shelved are forgotten, thus lending a seeming inevitability to the Avengers’ lives. In Avengers Annual #2, the current-day Avengers are confronted with an alternate history in which the original line-up, under the influence of the villainous Scarlet Centurion, have effectively taken over the world.[7] The Centurion has basically tricked the Avengers into neutralizing every being with superpowers, under the pretence that this will correct a ‘cosmic imbalance’ and enable the Centurion to create a paradise on Earth. The Avengers therefore believe that they are doing ‘good’ in following the Centurion’s instructions, but the results are almost as bad as if their worst foe had been left unchecked. All the heroes are defeated (even before the super villains), and the public stand in silent fear of anyone in a costume, as shown when the current-day line-up arrive on this world.[8] Clearly, despite the Avengers’ best intentions, something has gone horribly wrong.



Or has it? Maybe it’s the case that one’s intentions are defined by one’s actions. ‘She’s snarling out her words so venomously… with such strong hatred!’ notes the Wasp as she fights against her alternate self, ‘years of self appointed world-saving have made her as cruel as the worst super-villain!’ (Annual #2) Or perhaps one’s intentions are irrelevant, as long as the results of one’s actions are for the best. ‘Are we certain we have the right to oppose them… merely to safeguard our own existence?’ the current-day team wonders, ‘If we were guilty of robbing the earth of a virtual golden age..!’ Captain America convinces them otherwise, ‘Mankind has often tried to escape from freedom… into the open arms of tyranny! Over the long haul, the result’s always been the same…’ These Avengers will fight to stop any dictatorship, benign or otherwise.

‘Time is like a river,’ says the Black Panther, ‘Dam it up at any one point… and it has no choice but to flow elsewhere… along other, easier routes!’ While it may seem, in hindsight, that history is following its natural course, any other course would seem just as natural had it occurred. When the new Avengers have left the Mansion and we check in on what the original Avengers are doing, it’s as if we’ve been following these characters for the past five years, and the new Avengers are the interlopers. Where the two teams fundamentally differ is in their attitude to history. The ‘old’ Avengers are aiming to shape history, as shown when they ban all scientific inquiry ‘lest any other mortal gain super-powers’ (as is wont to happen in the Marvel Universe). The ‘new’ Avengers, on the other hand, are willing to take their chances. They would be content to let this new timeline stand, if only it meant that mankind had freedom of choice. The ‘new’ Avengers are not dictators but facilitators: they believe that if you let history take whatever course it will things will generally work out for the best, but they’re still ready to help out if things should go wrong.



Further adventures through the looking-glass take place in issues #69-70, when the Avengers face off against the Squadron Sinister, a group of super-villains that bear more than a passing resemblance to DC Comics’ premier super-team, the Justice League of America.[9] Once again heroes become villains, although the Squadron’s first appearance may be more a case of cross-company rivalry than anything else. However, the Avengers’ next encounter with the Squadron turns everything back on its head. Our heroes have returned from Arkon’s dimension only to find that they are the last witnesses to a ‘doomed and burning earth’ (#85). It turns out that they have traveled two weeks into the future, but with the help of the Scarlet Witch’s hex-power, manage to return back to their own time. Or so it seems – when they enter their meeting-room they find it occupied by Nighthawk of the Squadron Sinister and four other strangers who claim that they are the intruders. Yes, the Avengers are once again trapped in a parallel world, but on this world the Squadron Sinister are not villains at all, instead, they are Earth’s mightiest heroes - the Squadron Supreme. One couldn’t blame the Avengers for wanting to go sit in a corner and hope that they wake up, but they are intent on saving this world from destruction. The obvious reason for doing so is that they are trapped on this world, so that if it dies, they die too. But, in another sense, whatever world the Avengers happen to be on is their own. The Avengers are eventually returned safe and sound to what seems to be their original home, but the Vision is not so easily reassured. ‘There may be paradoxes within paradoxes…’ he says to Quicksilver, ‘How can we be certain that we have not been rescued by a third world – all but identical to our own?’ (#86) Don’t judge a place lest ye be judged – you may be in for a longer stay than you think.

Whose Side Are You On, Baby?

When the Native American hero, the Red Wolf, tells how his parents have been killed for refusing to sell their land, some of the Avengers think that while his cause is just, it pales beside the menace of the Zodiac Cartel. Captain America thinks that one shouldn’t be so quick to make this judgment. ‘We run around calling ourselves Avengers --,’ he tells his teammates, ‘yet when this man comes before us with something to avenge… we turn a deaf ear – because his cause isn’t world-shattering enough for us! We forget that the world can end with a whimper – as well as a bang!’ (#80) As the Avengers entered the 1970s, they would increasingly realise that evil need not come with super-powers. Angry mobs and organized crime are potentially just as dangerous to the well-being of society as the plans of ‘costumed madmen’.

One of the main themes of Thomas’ run is how one spark of hatred can quickly lead to mass hysteria. In issues #73-74, a group known as the Sons of the Serpent blow up the Equal Employment Bureau and target high-profile African-American figures such as television presenter Montague Hale, singer Monica Lynne, and Avenger and King of the Wakandians the Black Panther. The incidents ignite a fiery on-air debate, led by Hale and bigoted late-night host Dan Dunn that threatens to divide America along racial lines. Similarly, in issue #92, a politician named H. Warren Craddock leads a witch-hunt against the Avengers’ ally, the alien Captain Marvel (essentially xenophobia on a cosmic scale), which results in a group of rioters tearing up the Avengers’ mansion. Most insidious of all though is the violence stirred up in #98 by the mysterious Mr. Tallon, who in moments transforms a ‘curious crowd’ into a bunch of ‘frenzied revolutionaries’. The objects of their war-mongering are ostensibly the representatives of an (unnamed) Asian communist nation, but the crowd quickly turns into a chaotic mass of pure hatred that doesn’t care who or what it engulfs. Mr. Tallon’s power derives not from his arguments, but from a hymn of martial pipe music that fills anyone who hears it with the desire to ‘smash America’s foes’ (#98). Hence, when Captain America and the Avengers turn up to try and reason with the crowd, all of their ideas of peace and brotherhood soon fly out the window. ‘Let’s go tear up those Commies!’ (#98) shouts a rabid Captain amidst the storm, and the dark side of national pride is shown in all its horror.



In all of these cases, however, those who incite the intolerance turn out to have another agenda entirely. The Supreme Serpents are eventually revealed to be the bickering TV personalities Dunn and Hale, who put on their ‘racist act’ for the sole reason that everyone would be watching. ‘Did you truly think we cared for anyone – any cause,’ Hale asks the Avengers, ‘except power for ourselves?’ Similarly, the real H. Warren Craddock turns out to have been replaced by a shape-changing Skrull, and Mr. Tallon is actually Ares, Greek god of war, who is stirring up trouble as part of his plot to crush the Earth forevermore.[10] There are at least two views that one could take on this tendency for racial prejudice to be revealed as nothing more than a super-villian’s grab for power. On one hand, it could be seen to trivialize racism by attributing its cause to ‘costumed madmen’ rather than to particular social and political factors. However, another argument that I have seen advanced is that it demonstrates how baseless racism really is. This seems plausible enough, although continually disguising the identity of the perpetrators does seem like a choice that has been made mostly for dramatic effect.

Whatever explanation you hold to, it’s hard to see exactly what the Avengers are fighting for or against here. Hale speaks to Monica Lynne of ‘the cause’, but his cause turns out to be nothing but a sham. Nevertheless, after Hale is exposed, both Monica and the Black Panther are convinced that they have gained a new purpose. ‘A cause may be right,’ says the Panther, ‘Even though a leader or two may be wrong.’ (#74) But who or what exactly is standing in the way of this cause? Super-villains? Gullible fools? Perhaps the answer is that there are no sides, but that each person must try to help others find the truth behind the lies that people tell. A teammate of the Panther’s, who has no ties to any race, religion or creed, would show just how arbitrary the distinctions the human race makes for itself can be.

Who Is The Vision?

As the Avengers assemble to decide whether or not to accept the Vision into their ranks, Goliath/Henry Pym tells their scarlet-faced ally that he is not really an android - but a synthozoid - who is ‘basically human in every way… except your body is made of synthetic parts!’ (#58) The Vision is not so sure, ‘I wonder… is it possible to be… “basically human”?’ he muses. Despite Hank’s encouragement, we often see the Vision doubt his status as a ‘human being’, and perhaps with good cause. He was created by the evil robot Ultron-5 to be nothing more than ‘an inhuman slave’, without a name or ‘soul’. When he first attacks the Wasp, she describes him as ‘some sort of unearthly, inhuman vision --,’ (#57), an apt description for the ghostly figure that swoops into her apartment, like a stalker from a B-grade horror flick. Except that any human stalker, when faced with a locked room, would have to try and bash the door down to get at the terrified girl; the Vision, on the other hand, simply has to lower his density and walk through the wall. Even after the Avengers have accepted the Vision as both a friend and a colleague, they still find it hard to get over how ‘unspeakably cold’ (#58) the android’s voice is.



On the other hand, the Vision certainly does show some human traits. For one thing, he has a tendency to question his own reason for being. It’s true that when he first encounters the Avengers, he seemingly has a limited capacity for independent thought - ‘There is nothing to reason about, human ---,‘ he says to Goliath, ‘I was sent to destroy you – and destroy you I must!’ (#57) But later, when he faces off against Ultron-5, different thoughts are upon his mind. ‘I have human thoughts… human memories!’ he says to his creator, ‘Why, Ultron-5? Who… or what… am I?’ (#57) Other signs that the Vision may be more human than first thought include the hatred he feels for his creator Ultron-5, and most famously, the tear he sheds when the Avengers finally accept him as one of their own.[11] It turns out that the Vision’s mind is based on the ‘brain patterns’ of the late Wonder Man, which the Avengers copied and Ultron stole from their lab. The Vision uses this to his advantage in issue #79, when he reveals to Wonder Man’s brother, the Grim Reaper, that he has the mind of his lost sibling, thus leading the Reaper to free the Avengers lest he condemn his brother to death. The Vision’s use of the Reaper’s fraternal ties suggests an understanding of human psychology that is beyond that of a mere machine.

However, does the fact that the Vision shows human traits qualify him to be a part of the human race? The Vision’s first betrayal of Ultron turns out to be part of his programming, and Ultron briefly re-gains control of the Vision in issues #66 and #67. These incidents raise some doubt about how much free will the Vision truly possesses. Furthermore, as the Vision notes, the robotic Ultron is just as prone to showing emotion as his progeny, as shown when he hurls himself at the Vision in rage, (temporarily) destroying himself in the process. After defeating the Reaper in issue #79, the Vision decides to leave the Avengers, claiming that ‘I am not his brother – nor am I a brother to any true human being!’ (#79) It may be that while the Vision understands Eric Williams’ emotions, he can not feel them in the same way that the Reaper does. However, the Vision’s exile from the human race does not last long – in issue #80 we see him posing as a streetwalker, complete with rubber mask. In that issue, he decides to help the Red Wolf bring the murderers of his family to justice. ‘I had [quit],’ he tells the Red Wolf, ‘for reasons of my own! Yet now I am back – for better reasons!’ (#80) It seems that the Vision has worked out that he is better off being a part of the human race than being apart from it. But what is the basis for his decision?

Perhaps a clue can be found by looking at the Vision’s closest tie to the human race - his burgeoning love for the Scarlet Witch. One of the first signs of the Vision’s affection for Wanda is when he surrenders himself to save her from a gang of armed hitmen. ‘Before now, I’ve always thought of him as cold… aloof,’ thinks the Scarlet Witch, ‘But I was wrong – so wrong!’ (#81) While it may seem that the Vision’s emotions often overcome his reason where Wanda is concerned, the line between the two is not always clear. When some of the Avengers, including the Scarlet Witch, are captured by a Skrull battalion, the Vision’s anger seemingly gets the better of him, as he bashes the Skrull commandant half-to-death in his efforts to learn where they have taken his lady love. Iron Man yells at him to stop, ‘You’ll kill him! You don’t know what you’re doing!’ (#96) The Vision corrects him, ‘My brain is a miniaturized, high-speed computer. I always know what I am doing. I—am—killing--him.’ Similarly, when the Olympians turn up to kidnap one-time Avenger Hercules, the Vision is too busy playing ‘nursemaid’ to Wanda to help, earning him the ire of Hawkeye of the process. The Vision is unperturbed, ‘I reject your line of reasoning,’ he tells the archer, ‘I help those I care for, Hawkeye, above all else!’ (#99) What the Vision realizes is that cold logic can only take you so far; once you begin to examine the reasons behind your actions, eventually you’ll come to something that has no foundation, no argument supporting it, but which is simply a matter of choice. And if that is the case, then why not follow what you feel is right, since that makes as much sense as anything else.

Covers copyright Marvel Comics

[6] Lee, however, has everyone beat for wordplay.
[7] It is later revealed that, through the vagaries of time travel, the Scarlet Centurion is actually an earlier version of Kang the Conqueror.
[8] Two other interesting points about this world: 1) of the original Avengers, it is the Hulk that is the least willing to follow the instructions of the Scarlet Centurion, and 2) once the Avengers have done their dirty work, the only super-beings who still oppose them are Doctor Doom, Doctor Octopus, Electro and the Mandarin.
[9] Superman is re-cast as Hyperion, last survivor of an alien world; Batman becomes the bored tycoon Nighthawk; Green Lantern appears as the prism-powered Doctor Spectrum; and the Flash morphs into the super-fast Whizzer (who like the Flash, also took his name from an old comic-book hero).
[10] And don’t forget the Valkyrie, leader of the short-lived feminist super-group the Lady Liberators (seen in issue #83), who turns out to be the Avengers’ old foe, the Enchantress.
[11] Note that, in a sign of their trust in the Vision, the Avengers are all unmasked when they induct him into their ranks.

The 100 Greatest Albums Ever

Music fans will be quite familiar with the concept of the ‘all-time greatest album’ list. Many of these types of lists surfaced around the turn of the century, although a few have appeared since that time (the most recent being Time Magazine’s All-TIME 100 Albums, which was released late last year). Such lists are usually accompanied by some justification for why the albums on the list were selected, citing factors such as musical influence, cultural influence, genre representation, and originality. The authors will also often stress how long they spent compiling the final list, noting with pride how they listened to hundreds upon hundreds of albums, and how they spent hours agonizing over which albums to include on the list, and which albums to consign to the dumpster.

These methods are all wrong. Any list of the 100 Greatest Albums should be able to be written in less than half an hour, depending on how fast you type. Having read dozens of ‘best of’ lists, I now swear by the following rules. If an album seems like it would be a strange inclusion on the list, it’s out. If an album seems like it would be a significant omission from the list, it’s in. If I have to think about an album for more than ten seconds, it’s out. If I have to look through my record collection or go through my bookshelf to remember that an album exists, it’s out.[1] These rules ensure that I don’t ho-hum, dilly-dally, or flip-flop about any album on the list (or at least, about ninety percent of them anyway).

Having said all that, I should add the following qualifications. I reserve the right to kick any album off the list if the weight of public opinion should turn against it. I do not consider the fact that I’ve never actually heard a particular album as a valid objection to its inclusion (how many people have read War and Peace or David Copperfield). I do not consider the fact that I will probably never listen to a particular album as a valid objection to its inclusion. This list is not written by me, but through me. It is the list that you know exists, but you may not want to admit it, because it shows how you like pretty much the same stuff as everybody else does.

With these considerations in mind, the 100 Greatest Albums are as follows:

Back In Black - AC/DC
The Band - The Band
Pet Sounds - The Beach Boys
Paul's Boutique - The Beastie Boys
Abbey Road - The Beatles
Revolver - The Beatles
Rubber Soul - The Beatles
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band - The Beatles
The Beatles - The Beatles
Odelay - Beck
Paranoid - Black Sabbath
Parallel Lines - Blondie
Parklife - Blur
Blonde On Blonde - Bob Dylan
Blood On The Tracks - Bob Dylan
Bringing It All Back Home - Bob Dylan
Highway 61 Revisited - Bob Dylan
Legend - Bob Marley
Born To Run - Bruce Springsteen
Trout Mask Replica - Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band
Tapestry - Carole King
London Calling - The Clash
The Clash - The Clash
A Rush of Blood to the Head - Coldplay
Hunky Dory - David Bowie
Low - David Bowie
The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust - David Bowie
Three Feet High and Rising - De La Soul
The Doors - The Doors
Dusty In Memphis - Dusty Springfield
Hotel California - The Eagles
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road - Elton John
The Sun Sessions - Elvis Presley
The Marshall Mathers LP - Eminem
Rumours - Fleetwood Mac
Appetite For Destruction - Guns 'N' Roses
Live At The Apollo - James Brown
Grace - Jeff Buckley
Psychocandy - The Jesus and Mary Chain
Are Your Experienced - The Jimi Hendrix Experience
Electric Ladyland - The Jimi Hendrix Experience
A Love Supreme - John Coltrane
Plastic Ono Band - John Lennon
Blue - Joni Mitchell
Closer - Joy Division
Trans-Europe Express - Kraftwerk
Led Zeppelin II - Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin IV - Led Zeppelin
Physical Graffiti - Led Zeppelin
Transformer - Lou Reed
Forever Changes - Love
The Holy Bible - Manic Street Preachers
What's Going On - Marvin Gaye
Blue Lines - Massive Attack
Thriller - Michael Jackson
Kind of Blue - Miles Davis
After the Goldrush - Neil Young
Harvest - Neil Young
In Utero - Nirvana
Nevermind - Nirvana
Definitely Maybe - Oasis
What's the Story Morning Glory? - Oasis
Otis Blue - Otis Redding
Horses - Patti Smith
Graceland - Paul Simon
Ten - Pearl Jam
Dark Side of the Moon - Pink Floyd
The Wall - Pink Floyd
Doolittle - The Pixies
Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea - PJ Harvey
Dummy - Portishead
Screamadelica - Primal Scream
Sign O' The Times - Prince
It Takes a Nation of Million to Hold Us Back - Public Enemy
Different Class - Pulp
OK Computer - Radiohead
The Bends - Radiohead
Ramones - Ramones
Automatic For The People - REM
Beggars Banquet - The Rolling Stones
Exile On Main Street - The Rolling Stones
Let It Bleed - The Rolling Stones
Sticky Fingers - The Rolling Stones
Never Mind The Bollocks Here's The Sex Pistols - The Sex Pistols
Siamese Dream - The Smashing Pumpkins
The Queen Is Dead - The Smiths
Daydream Nation - Sonic Youth
Innervisions - Stevie Wonder
Songs In The Key Of Life - Stevie Wonder
The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses
Fun House - The Stooges
Is This It? - The Strokes
Marquee Moon - Television
Achtung Baby - U2
The Joshua Tree - U2
Astral Weeks - Van Morrison
The Velvet Underground and Nico - The Velvet Underground
Urban Hymns - The Verve
White Blood Cells - The White Stripes
Who's Next - The Who

[1] I owe a debt to ESPN writer Bill Simmons for these criteria, as he used a similar approach when suggesting what criteria should be used for inducting athletes into the various Halls of Fame.

Avengers Assemble!: A Pseudo-Critical History of The Avengers - Part I

Work As A Team? Why Not? I’m For It!

To find out what it is that makes a superhero series tick, the answer is simple: start at the origin. Peter Parker became the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man because he learnt that ‘with great power comes great responsibility’ (Amazing Fantasy #15). Marvel’s first family, the Fantastic Four, banded together to use their extraordinary powers to help mankind. And those mutant outlaws, the X-Men, were gathered together by Professor Charles Xavier to protect mankind from the mutants that would destroy it, all the while preparing for the day that the human race is ready to ‘accept those with extra powers’ (X-Men #1). So let us go back, all the way back, to the very first issue of The Avengers – written by Stan Lee and drawn by Jack Kirby - and find out how and why the Avengers came to be.



The existence of the Avengers is, in some part, an accident. The five heroes that would found the Avengers – Thor, Iron Man, the Hulk, Ant-Man, and the Wasp – only come together as a result of an attempt by Loki, Norse god of evil, to lure his half brother Thor, god of thunder, into battle. To do so, Loki tricks the Hulk into destroying a railway line, thus leading the world to believe that the green behemoth is once again on a rampage. When the Hulk’s friend, Rick Jones, quickly sends out a distress call to the Fantastic Four, Loki uses his powers to re-direct the message to the radio of Thor’s alter-ego, Donald Blake. But Loki’s plan backfires on him, as the signal is also heard by Iron Man, Ant-Man and the Wasp, each of whom end up helping Thor put a stop to Loki’s scheme. Having dispatched their foe, the five heroes are about to go their separate ways, when Ant Man and the Wasp suggest that they should all combine forces on a more permanent basis. Iron Man readily agrees, and then the mighty thunder god, a pensive smile upon his face, voices his assent with a phrase that will define the team from that day forward:

‘There is much good we might do.’ (Avengers #1)

On one level, the meaning of Thor’s words is obvious – as Earth’s mightiest heroes, the Avengers have the power to do a lot of good for mankind. But consider this: Thor’s words also imply that there is much good that the Avengers might do. The Avengers might save the world, but they might also destroy it. They might all die in battle against an all-powerful foe, or they all might live to fight another day. And just as ‘a strange quirk of fate’ (#1) brought the Avengers together so too might it tear them apart.

Unlike the Fantastic Four and the X-Men, the Avengers have no familial ties or common vision to bind them together; the goals of the team may be as diverse as its membership, and often are. But what the team’s members do share is the potential to make some sort of difference to the world. Whether this will lead them to glory or disaster remains to be seen. Let’s see how well they do.

I Will Never Rest Until The Avengers Are Destroyed!

The threat that the Avengers will fall apart first rears its head in the very next issue, when a shape-shifting alien known as the Space Phantom attempts to create dissension within the Avengers’ ranks by mimicing their forms. In particular, the Phantom’s scheme uncovers the team’s prejudice against the Hulk (who, to be fair, isn’t the most congenial of teammates). ‘I always thought we had made a mistake by letting you join the Avengers…’ says Iron Man as he races in to clean the Hulk’s clock, unaware that it’s really the Phantom he’s fighting, ‘now I’m sure of it!’ (#2) Although the Avengers finally learn the truth, the damage has been done, with the Hulk deciding to quit the team. ‘I never suspected how much each of you hates me, deep down!’ he says, immediately before he leaps off into the distance, ‘I could tell by the way you fought me… by the remarks you made!’ (How he heard these remarks while the Space Phantom kept his body in another dimension is never explained.) With the Hulk’s departure, Lee and Kirby quickly prove that the Avengers are not as invulnerable to change as some readers might have thought they would be.

It seems that Lee and Kirby think that they are on a good thing here, as the possible destruction and/or dissolution of the Avengers provides the basis for most of the plots throughout the early issues. A vengeful Hulk takes on the Avengers in #3 alongside Namor the Sub-Mariner, and then the Sub-Mariner has another go at the Avengers in #4. Whereas the Phantom attempted to divide and conquer, the Hulk and Namor are simply looking to pound the Avengers into dust, like two overgrown kids out for a tussle. There’s certainly a primal thrill attached to watching them duke it out with Thor, Iron Man and the newly christened Giant-Man (formerly Ant-Man), as the sea roars and the rocks crumble around them. Yet even with the boulders flying in all directions, the prospect of real danger still seems somewhat remote, as the destruction is taking place far away from the ordinary people that the Avengers are supposed to protect.

Matters change in issue #6, when the Masters of Evil invade the streets of New York. Unlike the Hulk and Namor, the Masters of Evil generally attack from a distance, with their main weapon being an adhesive spray that, in effect, paralyses anyone it touches. The adhesive is the invention of one Baron Zemo, a Nazi scientist who is out for revenge against the Avengers’ newest recruit, Captain America. Like Loki and the Phantom, Zemo is a schemer, who devises plan after plan in his efforts to break the Avengers up for good. In issue #7 Zemo’s new ally the Enchantress tricks Thor into believing that the Avengers are the enemies of mankind, thus leading to a fight between Thor and the other Avengers. Then, in issue #9 (the first issue drawn by Don Heck), Zemo creates his own ‘super hero’, the tragic-comic Wonder Man, and sends him off to infiltrate the Avengers, only to have his creation turn against him and sacrifice his life for his new teammates.[1] By issues #10 and #11, this plot-line is starting to get a bit tired, as time-travelling villains Immortus and Kang the Conqueror go to unnecessarily complex lengths to try and destroy the Avengers from within. It seems that we are being told that, if by some cruel twist of fate the Avengers are no more, then the world is inevitably doomed.



A refreshing exception to this trend is issue #8, which introduces recurring Avengers foe Kang the Conqueror. It’s an entertaining riff on the classic invasion story, in which a futuristic warlord – i.e. Kang himself - attempts to take over the 20th century. What makes this story so compelling is not that Kang threatens to divide the Avengers, but that, even when united against him, they are hopelessly outmatched. Kang’s superiority is evident from the first moment they see him, relaxing confidently atop a transparent anti gravity chair, futuristic weapon in hand. Nevertheless, the Avengers are somehow able to bring the Conqueror to his knees and are all set to dog-pile on top of him, when Kang coolly presses a button on his belt and imprisons them within his ship. It seems that nothing can stop him now, but fortunately, an error of judgment on Kang’s behalf sets the Avengers free and throws his plans into chaos. A second desperate battle ensues, in which Kang, his battle-suit broken and battered beyond repair, is besieged by a team of Avengers that are hell-bent on making the most of their final chance of defeating the warlord. Eventually, the Avengers send Kang scurrying back to his own time, leaving behind only the fear of his return. However, as Captain America notes, Kang ‘knows now that he isn’t unbeatable… he knows if he returns, the Avengers will be waiting!’ (#8) Maybe, just maybe, amongst all the bickering and in-fighting, there may be a point to the Avengers after all.

Just When the World Has Need of Such a Man

Returning home from their battle with the Hulk and Sub-Mariner, their tails between their legs, the Avengers come across a frozen figure drifting through the ocean. After bringing the figure aboard they are startled to see that, underneath its tattered clothes, is ‘the famous red, white and blue garb of – Captain America!’ (#4) As every comic book fan knows, Captain America was first created as part of a government project to build an army of ‘super-solders’ during the Second World War.[2] It turns out that the last thing he remembers is chasing down an explosive filled drone plane alongside his teenage sidekick, Bucky Barnes. Eventually, the plane exploded, killing Bucky instantly, while the Captain was sent plummeting into the icy waters below. There, ‘by some fantastic stroke of fate’ (#4), an ice flow kept him frozen in a state of suspended animation, until the Sub-Mariner (inadvertently) freed him twenty years later.



Needless to say, the Captain is none too happy about the man who caused the death of his young friend – Baron Zemo. ‘On my oath as an Avenger, I shall devote my life, if need be, to finding the one who caused Bucky’s death!’ he says to Rick Jones, ‘Only then will I be able to find peace!’ (#6) Captain America’s feud with Zemo provides the thrust for a lot of the Avengers’ early adventures. While, on one level, these battles are driven by the combatants’ need for revenge, they also represent a battle of values between the U.S. of A and its totalitarian enemies. ‘I still remember how you sneered at democracy…’ says the Captain to Zemo in their first battle after his re-awakening, ‘How you called Americans soft… timid… too spoiled to fight for freedom! … Feel my grip, Zemo! It’s the grip of a free man! Look into my eyes tyrant! They’re the eyes of a man who would die for liberty!’ (#6) As we shall see, while there are many interpretations of ‘good’, the Avengers generally come down on the side of freedom. And Captain America, with the American flag emblazoned upon his costume, is seemingly the perfect figure to uphold these ideals. Other heroes, who are sooped up on gamma rays and the like, may have more power, but they are also more dangerous, more unpredictable, like a nuclear bomb waiting to explode. In contrast, Captain America’s good right fist and mighty shield is something that people can trust in unconditionally. After all, it’s wise not to leave too much to fate.

The Captain’s commitment, however, comes at a cost. For one thing, he is obsessed with gaining revenge on Zemo, to the point where he is having hallucinations of the Nazi scientist (see #9). And while, after their meetings, the other Avengers go back to their civilian lives, Captain America simply returns to brooding around the team’s mansion.[3] Captain America is the first of the ‘outsider’ figures in The Avengers – a mantle that would later be taken be up by Goliath (formerly Giant-Man) and the Vision. Like Captain America, they too would have a characteristic that separated them from others – Goliath because of his abnormal size, the Vision because he is an android – and, as a consequence, they too would have no life outside of their costume identities.[4] While it is OK to be a superhero; being nothing but a super-hero is perceived as somewhat unnatural. That the Captain sees himself as nothing but a crime-fighter is suggested soon after he is revived, when he tells the Avengers that he is ‘not lucky enough’ to forget himself forever (he then pulls on his mask) ‘to forget that I was once the man called Captain America!’ (#4) It seems that, as long as Zemo lives, Steve Rogers is gone, and only the man named Captain America remains. Happily for him, however, he finally avenges Bucky’s death in issue #15, when Zemo’s disintegrator gun causes a fatal rockslide. Zemo’s final defeat not only brings an end to The Avengers as we have known it, but is also gives the good Captain a chance to re-discover his humanity.

The Old Must Ever Give Way To The New!



Issue #16 marks a crucial turning point in the history of The Avengers. Having defeated the Masters of Evil for the fifth time in less than a year a weary Avengers team returns to the Mansion to wrap things up. Once there the Wasp, echoing Ant Man speech when the two of them first suggested forming the Avengers, tells the others she has something to say. ‘Why don’t all of us take a leave of absence?’ she asks, her head in her hands, ‘I’m tired of all this fighting.‘ (#16) And as he did in issue #1, Iron Man readily agrees - whereas then he said ‘Why not?’ to the idea of working together, now his response is ‘Why don’t we disband while we have the chance?’ (All we need now is for Thor to chime in with, ‘There is much loafing we might do’, but unfortunately he’s elsewhere.) But just when it looks like this may be the end for Earth’s mightiest heroes fate intervenes once again as, right on cue, a ready-made replacement turns up on the doorstep in the form of Hawkeye the archer. Hawkeye claims that he’s looking to make up for his past misdeeds by joining the Avengers, and he’s not the only one. Soon after, former X-Men foes Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch arrive on American shores, hoping to redeem themselves for being forced to fight alongside the evil mutant Magneto. When Cap returns home from his fight with Zemo, the original Avengers say their goodbyes and the new line-up is complete.

With issue #16, the old order has changed forever. The Avengers have gone from being a collection of Marvel’s premiere heroes to a ragtag bunch of former crooks (and in the case of Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch mutants to boot).[5] From this point onwards, creators would mix and match characters depending on their particular vision for the title. Furthermore, each cast would bring with it its own internal dynamics and plot threads. In the case of ‘Cap’s Kooky Quartet’, the interest stems from Cap’s efforts to lead his ‘young, hot-headed, [and] ambitious…’ (#17) charges. Quicksilver and especially Hawkeye are both keen to replace Cap as leader, and each setback brings with it a barrage of taunts and questions about Cap’s ability to lead the team. Captain America, for his part, appears more interested in honing his new teammates’ fighting skills than in trying to manage any interpersonal conflicts. For example, in #19, he is pleased to find out that he has been accepted to join a secret counter-intelligence unit because it means he will be ‘in action all the time’. When Quicksilver wonders how this will affect his ability to lead the Avengers, he tells him that ‘when you can point to a record like mine, then I’ll discuss it further with you!’ (#19) For Cap, a hero’s worth is defined by the training they’ve done and the battles they’ve won, and to hell with the rest.

Cap finally wins Hawkeye’s everlasting respect in issue #29, when he forgives the archer for not taking a clear shot at his former crush, the Black Widow, thus allowing her to escape. ‘We’re all Avengers, yes…’ he says, consoling his teammate, ‘But we’re also human beings, with feelings, and emotions! You did what you could…’ (#29) With these comments, Captain America shows that he is engaging with his teammates as people, rather than as components of a unit that he has pledged to keep together. And Hawkeye, for his part, realizes that this old warhorse may actually have some things to teach him after all.

The other notable feature of the new team is that they are considerably less powerful than their predecessors, and primarily rely upon speed and skill to win the day. The contrast is made even starker by the fact that Don Heck’s figures tend to be smaller and leaner than the muscle-bound figures of Jack Kirby. Consequently, while the new team fight their fair share of gargantuan foes, the most memorable issues are those in which they face off against an opponent of similar skill, such as the Swordsman (issues #19-20), or are thrown into the middle of a giant army, e.g. the legions of Kang (issues #23-24). This can be fun to watch, but it’s a little unsatisfying (and dare we say it, a little dorky), because the characters are too weak to fight huge ‘super-hero battles’, but are too esoteric to be doing anything else. Fortunately, the next creative team would be somewhat more successful in dealing with this problem.

Covers copyright Marvel Comics

[1] Although his character would be expanded upon years later, in his first appearance Wonder Man is basically Zemo’s twisted parody of a super-hero: corny name, generic costume, and designed to last for no longer than a week.
[2] He was also co-created by Avengers artist Jack Kirby, back in the days when Marvel was Timely Publications.
[3] A quick roll call: Iron Man is billionaire industrialist Tony Stark, Thor’s alter-ego is surgeon Donald Blake, Ant-Man/Giant-Man is biochemist Henry Pym, and the winsome Wasp is heiress Janet Van Dyne.
[4] Goliath was unable to revert to his normal size during issues #28-35.
[5] Having said that, no-one seems particularly bothered by this. The Avengers essentially overlook their new members’ criminal pasts, and the media treat them as if they were royalty. Of course, it may help that Captain America is standing alongside them, but it may also be that, by this point, the Avengers have involved into a ‘supra-concept’ that has meaning beyond its individual members. Interestingly, in issue #16, the Avengers also invite the Sub-Mariner to join, which he would do so many years later. The public response to his induction is less than effusive.