I suppose that Ron Wilson and John Romita’s cover for this issue of Avengers might be taken as misleading by some readers, since, as we’ll soon see, Earth’s Mightiest Heroes never directly confront Thanos himself anywhere within its pages (indeed, the Mad Titan only puts in a personal appearance on a couple of them). I’m pretty sure, however, that that fact didn’t bother my sixteen-year-old self very much (if at all) when I first read this comic back in April, 1974; after all, the story is unquestionably a part of the “Thanos War” saga that had been being told by artist-writer Jim Starlin and others for the last year and a half, mostly (though not entirely) in the pages of Captain Marvel. If you took Avengers #125’s cover as “symbolic” of our heroes’ struggle against that epic’s Big Bad, as I was happy to do, you’d have to admit it was pretty much on the money.
Turning past the cover, we find author Steve Englehart teamed again with the same artistic duo as he was for the title’s previous issue, i.e., John Buscema and Dave Cockrum. And while we’re looking at the credits box, it’s worth noting that Englehart takes advantage of the space to commemorate Avengers reaching its 125th issue. The writer was one of the few people in comics who was paying attention to such numerical or temporal milestones in this era — at least, those milestones whose issue numbers didn’t end in two zeroes — so I’m going to cut him some slack for the misuse of the word “anniversary” in this context.
While this issue may be mostly about someone else’s story, Englehart’s not the kind of creator to drop the threads of his ongoing plotlines for any occasion. And so, we open with a scene that follows directly from the end of Avengers #124 — and. somewhat less directly, from the end of the latest issue of Captain America (also written by Englehart), as well.
Readers who’d been following Captain Marvel for at least a year would recognize the last five panels shown above as a slightly revised reprise of the tenth page of issue #27 (Jul., 1973), excerpted at right (text by Mike Friedrich, plot/art by Jim Starlin, inks by Pablo Marcos). Your humble blogger was not among those fortunate ones, as I hadn’t hopped (back) on the Captain Marvel train until #29; still, I’d picked up enough info from recaps in later issues to have a pretty good idea where we were in Starlin’s epic — as well as to be familiar with the gist of what Englehart, Buscema, and Cockrum serve up by way of a summary of same on the very next page…
Can a whole year’s worth of one comic’s storyline be so easily slotted into the current continuity of another one? Pretty much, yeah. Just about the only significant obstacle to compressing the whole Thanos storyline into a few days’ time comes from an issue of Daredevil, of all places, in which writer Steve Gerber had implied that a full two months had transpired between the events of Captain Marvel #30 and #31; as you might expect, that was a problem for Mar-Vell’s chronology at least as much as it was for the Avengers’, and Marvel acknowledged as much in the letters column of this very issue, asking readers to allow for “a little artistic license (such as changing Moondragon’s stay at the Black Widow’s abode from two months to two days.”
And now that that’s dealt with, let’s return to our story. — or, as Steve Englehart put it in 1974…
There’s no particular reason that I can see why Englehart has the Black Panther fly the Zodiac’s Star-Cruiser solo, while everybody else squeezes into the quinjet (a later panel will note that the former craft is the larger one, so space shouldn’t be an issue), other than to emphasize the notion that T’Challa is “the perennial man alone“. For me, at least, it’s an odd storytelling choice that doesn’t quite work.
In Captain Marvel #31, Jim Starlin had made a point of showing us the variety of alien races from whom Thanos has built his army of “Thanos-Thralls“, and, quite naturally, a number of those same species turn up in this story — including, in the last panel above, a Badoon, and a member of the same unnamed race as the Tinkerer’s allies, from way back in Amazing Spider-Man #2 (May, 1963).*
The focus pulls back and away from Thor, now, to show us another front of a battle that matches “the grandeur and sweep of the stars!”
As noted earlier, Englehart wasn’t the sort of writer to let his ongoing Avengers plotlines lie unattended just because he was in the middle of a crossover with Captain Marvel. Obviously, that includes the romantic quadrangle involving the Scarlet Witch, Vision, Mantis, and Swordsman that had become an ever greater focus in recent months, and wasn’t anywhere near out of steam yet.
Mantis quickly takes down several Thanos-Thralls with a flying kick; just as quickly, the Scarlet Witch responds with a hex that collapses part of the ship’s internal structure, taking down several more…
Whaaaa —-? The whole invasion was only a ruse? Thanos didn’t even care if the Avengers won?
I suppose that that revelation could have been a letdown for some readers, back in April of ’74, seeing as how it reduces most of what’s gone down on the preceding seventeen pages to a lot of sound and fury, signifying, well, you know. And perhaps my younger self was one of them; although I have no recollection of feeling that way, and suspect today that, as with the “gotcha” cover, I didn’t really care all that much. That could have been because those seventeen pages had been highly entertaining on their own terms; it could also have been because I was already moving on to the saga’s final chapter and didn’t have time to think about it. Avengers #125 and Captain Marvel #33 were both published on April 16, 1974, and while I can’t be sure that I bought them on the same day, it seems very likely; and if that was the case, then the odds that I didn’t read the latter comic immediately after finishing the former one are pretty close to nil.
I’m afraid we won’t be indulging in quite such immediate gratification here on the blog, but don’t worry, you won’t have to wait for long. Look for our coverage of Jim Starlin, Steve Englehart, and Klaus Janson’s “The God Himself!” this coming Saturday, just three days from now.
We’ll close today’s post by officially acknowledging a cosmetic change to the site that at least some readers have (hopefully) already noticed: we have a new header image. This is the third refresh of our header since the debut of Attack of the 50 Year Old Comic Books in 2015, and, like its predecessors, it’s intended to keep the blog’s graphic identity in step with its content’s ever-sliding timescale by featuring comics whose golden anniversaries will arrive over the next two years.
As we usually do at this time, we here present the previous versions of the header, in the order of their appearance (and without the obscuring typography and menu graphics that accompanied them when they were “live”):
First up is our original banner, whose term of duty extended from July, 2015 through March, 2020:
Next comes the April, 2020 – March, 2022 edition:
Our third banner graced all posts and pages on this site from April, 2022 to March, 2024 (actually, it stayed up through April 15th, but let’s not be picky, OK?):
Finally, here’s a “clean” view of our brand new banner, which should serve us through March, 2026.
After March, 2026? I guess we’ll all have to wait and see…
*Ironically, the “aliens” in that early Amazing Spider-Man story would eventually be revealed (in Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #51 [Feb., 1981]) to be human Earth criminals wearing disguises; of course, there’s no way Starlin, Englehart, or Buscema could have anticipated that retcon in 1974.
Attack of the 50 Year Old Comic Books 
Despite being a devout Englehart Avengers fan I didn’t pick this one up — maybe because it was part of a plotline I wasn’t following in Captain Marvel? Though that seems unlike me back then. It definitely didn’t grab me as much as Englehart’s Avengers-centric stories did when I picked it up used some while later.
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It may be telling I have very little to say about this issue.
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As you mentioned, Englehart does a great job keeping his Avengers through-line running while in the midst of an early crossover issue. It also sets up Mantis’ involvement with the conclusion of the saga in Captain Marvel. Much more elegant than the often ham-fisted ways big cross-overs are forced into various comics to the detriment of their ongoing storylines nowadays.
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It wasn’t a big crossover by today’s standards. It was a cosmic Captain Marvel plotline that spilled over into Avengers and Englehart and Starlin kept the connections natural. Today’s crossover events are dictated from the top and have to rise to Crisis in Infinite Earth levels of company-wide involvement even if they don’t warrant it.
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It actually began in Iron Man #55, then switched over to Captain Marvel, made a side trip to Marvel Feature (the 2nd try-out for what would become Marvel Two-In-One), and diverted to Daredevil for the origin of Moondragon and Captain Marvel making a guest appearance in the conflict against Terrex, only loosely tied to the Thanos War, and then this side conflict in the Avengers, so ties to varying degrees in 4 other titles aside from the main event in C.M. As of 1974, this epic, overall, was Marvel’s first to spillover into so many titles, even if there were no cliffhanger type cross-overs of the story from one title to another. More like different events in other titles that tied in to the main story in Captain Marvel.
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the header collages are mandalas, virtual time travel portals for this middle aged comics geek!
I will miss seeing the PLOP logo, but it is fitting to have it go PLOP.
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Great overview of this next to last chapter of Thanos War I, and the only one not drawn by Starlin himself. I presume Starlin and Englehart collaborated to some degree on this issue, even though Starlin isn’t referenced in the credits. And everyone remembered that at the point of the epic wherein the Avengers comes up to date with the goings on in Captain Marvel’s mag, Iron Man had been subdued by Thanos’ mechanisms on Titan and wasn’t available to fight the incoming armada from space. Anyhow, very nice art by Big John B and Cockrum, getting his first prominent cosmic-opera kicks at Marvel, at least as far as I’m aware of, prepping for much more to come in his X-Men run.
Interestingly, this is one of the few times in comics where the differing languages of a multitude of characters from a variety of far-flung regions is not only brought up but is key factor in the plot. Far more often, everyone just speaks English no matter what country or planet they come from and no one ever wonders about it and not even a cursory explanation is given. I do recall that Conway as least brought up the language issue in a couple of his earlier Thor stories, but only as a minor aspect of the plot.
I also actually liked that even in the heat of battle, Swordsman can’t put aside his insecurity and jealousy to focus on the job at hand. I know some other reader on another site thought that was terrible of Englehart to so distract from the glorious battle, but IMO such bits humanize the characters and makes the story more interesting to read than if everyone was just congratulating one another on zapping the space invaders, or just steely-eyed focused on taking them down. Even if real life, there’s a big difference in how people should behave in various circumstances, including combat, and how many people actually behave.
It was fun to see the abbreviated shoehorning in of the Avengers involvement in this epic as previously seen in the last 5 issues of Captain Marvel. And what a lucky coincidence that this just happened to coincide pretty well with the end of the Secret Empire story over in that other Cap’s mag, and before he made the fateful decision to stop being Captain America. But first we’ll have to see if that other blonde Cap can prevent Thanos from wiping out the Earth, along with the rest of the universe as a death day gift to his thus far silent lady friend.
Looking forward to your write-up on that cataclysmic conclusion, Alan!
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The headers trigger the collector instinct in me…I look and see all the ones I own and have read…and then I see the ones I don’t have and think ‘hmmm, must look that up! That would be an interesting read’.
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Don’t know if anyone has experienced it, but Word Press stopped informing me of new posts a month or two ago and these days the only way I know we’ve begun a new thread is because of what day of the week it is. Unfortunately, it’s been a minute since we had a new post on a Wednesday and I didn’t even realize yesterday’s thread was about a new post until I got home last night and started reading the replies. I almost missed this one.
Anyway, the thing about this story that doesn’t work for me is the very thing you eluded to at the end, Alan. Thano’s willingness to sacrifice his entire fleet as a distraction from whatever he has going on in another book, means that, despite the excellent action and adventure, the story doesn’t really count for much and it’s outcome doesn’t really change anything the Mad Titan is planning for the future. This is not the first story in this arc that either Englehart or Starlin have had to dodge and weave either. The problem with an Omega-level threat like Thanos is that he’s just too powerful to be fought directly. You can do it, but then you have to come up with convoluted reasons why a “god” can be defeated. So instead, Thanos throws underlings at us; henchmen we’ve never met and don’t know and more importantly, don’t care about who don’t matter in the overall scheme of things. Like I said, I understand the dilemma, but Englehart’s solution here seems a bit lazy.
That said, the Romita/Cockrum art team is right on track and the whole book is a lot of fun to look at, even if nothing of any consequence really happens. It’s interesting, and a tribute to Steve’s skill, that Cap wants to talk to Tony and T’challa about what happened with the Secret Empire. Unfortunately, it also underlines the lack of any real weight contained in the main story. If Englehart really had anything important happening in this issue, he wouldn’t have had time for Cap’s troubles or the four-way between Vision, Wanda, Mantis and Swordsman. Or, at least, not as much time. It’s the same trouble a lot of writers deal with when writing Superman or Thor or any other all-powerful hero. Being unbeatable just isn’t that interesting. Thanks, Alan.
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That happens to me periodically with various WP blogs. Usually if I go over to my “follow” page and tinker with things I can get them back up and running. Or I resubscribe to following the problem blogs.
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Except, Thanos didn’t sacrifice his fleet only to distract the Avengers, he needed them off-planet so when he moved the earth one second out of phase, the Avengers would shift with the rest of the planet. I guess with the power of a god, Thanos should have been able to do that without the elaborate ruse but I thought it was a pretty cool reason.
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I probably dare the wrath of X-Men fans here, but I think Marvel would have been best served by using Dave Cockrum as an inker. His secondary thing could have been character design and concepts.
Cockrum could have given Marvel a new “House Look,” somewhat as his mentor Murphy Anderson (and before that, Dan and Sy Barry) had at DC.
Jim Shooter did a similar thing by having him work on covers, but I think he could have gotten his output up by concentrating on one thing.
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Due to the appearance by Thanos, I never was able to find an affordable back issue copy of Avengers #125. I finally read it when it was reprinted in black & white in Essential Avengers Vol. 6 in 2008. I enjoyed it, and even though the whole alien invasion fleet is nothing but a diversion to distract the Avengers, I still felt it was a good read that leads right into Captain Marvel #33, which was also collected in that Essential volume.
Agreed with everyone that the John Buscema & Dave Cockrum artwork is really great on this issue, and that Cockrum’s inking abilities were underrated. Did I already make a similar comment to that effect last issue? Well, it’s worth repeating. Cockrum was not an especially fast penciler (one time that I met Chris Claremont he commented that he loved working with Cockrum, but he wished Cockrum would have been faster so they could have worked together much more often) so perhaps as others have suggested he might have at certain point focused his career into being an inker / finisher. I suppose if Alan blogs about Cockrum’s X-Men work we can discuss it further then.
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I’ll definitely be blogging about Giant-Size X-Men #1, Ben… you can even see it in the new header! (Or at least I hope you can — I know that the graphic shows up differently on different screens. 😉 )
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I agree. I wonder if Murphy Anderson, who was on the record about preferring to both pencil and ink, influenced Cockrum’s view? (Cockrum said he and Anderson spent a lot of time talking when he worked for him.)
Shooter mentioned putting him on covers so he could make a living, so speed was a problem. Thomas (during the period when Cockrum’s stuff first appeared at Marvel on The Avengers and CPT Marvel in the Fall of 1972 and early winter of ’73) seemed to see him as an inker. I wonder if that is why he was pretty exclusive with DC after that for the rest of 1973?
Did Cockrum see himself as a penciller? Did he want to do BOTH (as Anderson had) and as he did to great acclaim on the LSH at DC, Giant Sized Avengers #2, Giant Sized X-Men #1 and X-Men #100?
It’s a tragedy that Cockrum never became the force in comics he could have been (by the late 1980s and 1990s he was largely forgotten, possibly a function of health problems and issues with Furturions and his Thunder Agents revival).
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My father was a Merchant Mariner prior to and during WWII. He was a Chief Bosuns Mate, who coordinated with Ports to get ships he was on loaded and unloaded.
I grew up by RPI, which had lots of foreign students. I was always shocked by the number of languages my father could at least communicate in when people at our neighborhood news stand/grocery store (where I bought comics) had some beef with a clerk.
You would think Thanos’s people could at least do something similar
Odd that there were not, for example, any Baddoon who had a working knowledge of Skrull? Or, that a lot of people (for want of a less-species-centric term) would not have understood some kind of patois or trade language.,
As often as Earth got invaded in 1960s or 1970s Marvel Comics, you would guess there would be a few Skrull or Baddoon who would have enough English or Russian or Spanish to have an ability to talk to each other on a simple level (“Get them!” or “!Matalo!”)
(I wonder if Google Translate and the like are doing this now, even as “clunky” as they are?)
,
s
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I bought this issue when it was on the spinner rack and I was an 8 year old kid who was much more used to DC stories and I distinctly recall it confounding me!
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Oh boy oh boy oh boy! Two “Attack of the 50-Year-Old Steve Englehart Comic Books” in one week!
In retrospect, I can appreciate this issue – and the next two issues of Avengers – sorta served as deck clearing. After the Avengers-Defenders Clash, the Zodiac three-parter, which led directly into the two-part Mantis story, Englehart had some catching up to do, with tying in the Thanos story, and in the next two issues addressing the departure of Black Panther (and Captain America), and marrying off Quicksilver and Crystal. But as you noted, Alan, he found an elegant way to deal with the exigencies of the plot without ongoing the neglecting character development. For that reason, the somewhat formula “beat up the alien fleet” story didn’t bother me a whit since it was cool to see the Wanda-Vision-Mantis-Swordsman quadrangle take a new turn.
In connection with that, two things stand out for me:
And the combo of Buscema and Cockrum worked just fine. As we mentioned last month at this time, I think Cockrum’s strength was in his inking and finishing rather than in his pencilling and layouts. The fact that he was able to give depth and dimension to old-school pencillers like George Tuska (back in #106-108) and Bob Brown (#126) inidcates that strength.
So no, 15-year-old me had no issues with the “main plot” being a fake-out, and 65-year-old me is similarly sanguine.
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Oh, and I wanted to address Alan’s comment about the Black Panther and the “man alone” bit. It actually was something that Englehart had addressed more than once before, even going back to his first issue, #105 . (I seem to remember in the Halloween issue or shortly thereafter, T’Challa is riding in a one-man craft, and the caption reads along the lines of “The fact that it is a one-man craft says as much as anything about him.”)
I think the purpose of this was two-fold. The first is character-oriented: as a monarch, Black Panther comes from a different place (mentally, not just physically) than the other Avengers, and Englehart was playing that up. The second (and maybe I’m reading too much into this) may have been that Englehart KNEW he would have to write out Black Panther at some point because of his JUNGLE ACTION stories, and perhaps he was setting that up.
Regardless, it may have been imperfect, but I think it worked.
Now – BRING ON CAPTAIN MARVEL #33!
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