As we discussed in our Giant-Size Avengers #4 post back in February, that comic had marked the end of a long sequence of stories by writer Steve Englehart and his various artistic collaborators — the “Celestial Madonna” saga — that had brought significant changes to the team. Perhaps the most of critical of these were the exits of the Swordsman (who’d actually perished in Giant-Size Avengers #2, but had been kinda-sorta brought back since then) and Mantis (who’d only “officially” become an Avenger in the final pages of GSA #4, but had been such a regular part of their adventures since issue #114 that she really might as well have been a member all along). Whatever else might be in store for Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, it certainly made sense that one or more additions to the team’s roster — whether in the form or returning veterans, fresh new recruits, or a mix of both — lay in the near future.
And, indeed, that’s just what the “Next month” blurb in the very last panel of Avengers #135 (the most recent issue of the Avengers’ regular monthly series, as well as the penultimate chapter of the Celestial Madonna storyline) had appeared to promise was coming our way in March:
Ultimately, though, that’s not what happened. Instead, issue #136 showed up in spinner racks featuring not a new line-up of our favorite Assemblers, but rather, a reprint. And not even an “Avengers” reprint, unless you thought that the presence of a single member of the team, Iron Man, was enough to make it count as such. Instead, it was a re-presentation of the second installment of the short-lived solo series of the one-time X-Man known as the Beast, as originally published in Amazing Adventures #12 (May, 1972) — or, more accurately, it was a re-presentation of most of that story, since Marvel’s shrinking page count meant that three pages of the original Steve Englehart-Tom Sutton-Mike Ploog yarn had to be cut. Even the Gil Kane-Joe Sinnott cover was a reprint, save for the (superfluous, as well as misleading) floating heads of Captain America, Thor, and the Vision that had been added by Marvel art director John Romita.
Another blurb — this one pasted in at the top of what had been AA #12’s splash page — offered an explanation:
Ah, the Dreaded Deadline Doom. Of course, this was hardly the first time my younger self had bought a comic book expecting it to contain a new story, only to find that it was instead comprised of all (or at least mostly) reprinted material; on the other hand, going by Tom Brevoort’s very useful “Guide to Marvel’s Unannounced 1970s Reprint Issues”, this was probably the first instance of my buying a “new” book where I already owned every bit of comics content it contained, meaning that I was getting nothing for my money save the privilege of not having a one-issue gap in my run of Avengers issues. I’m sure I was less than happy about that at the time; but, in the end, it was of course my own choice to feed my comics collecting habit, and no one else’s, so no tears need be shed for seventeen-year-old me.
And in any case, April, 1975 arrived soon enough, and with it Avengers #137 — featuring an all-John Romita cover that not only tipped Marvel’s hand about just who the “new Avengers” were going to be, but also helped explain why, of all the possible choices, it was an old Beast solo story (albeit one guest-starring an Avenger) that had been chosen for reprinting the previous month.
Yes, Hank McCoy had arrived in Avengers, though before we’d see his furry face turn up in the story itself, we’d have more than a few preliminary pages to peruse — starting with this one:
Penciller George Tuska had come on board with the aforementioned Avengers #135 and would be staying around for another several issues — as would inker Vince Colletta, returning here to the Avengers for the first time since Avengers Annual #2, back in 1968.
Did Tuska sketch a rough, simple outline of a five-pointed star in the next-to-last panel above, thinking that Colletta would fancy it up in the inking to look just a little more naturalistic — or, at least, a little bit less like a child’s drawing? If so, he was obviously incorrect. But as long as we’ve stopped to stargaze, this is a good point to note that our very next blog post will concern “the latest Captain Marvel” (i.e., issue #39), as referenced above — so, if you’re curious about how Englehart ultimately resolved that dangling plot thread, be sure and check it out.
A couple of quick notes here: first, Tuska and Colletta look to have taken a decade or two off Agatha Harkness’ age in the second panel, though we’re still nowhere near Kathryn Hahn territory; second, time (and later Marvel Comics writers) would prove Agatha wrong in regards to how far Wanda Maximoff would progress in her mastery of the mystic arts, though of course Steve Englehart couldn’t have known that in 1975.
In his 2014 introduction to Marvel Masterworks — The Avengers, Vol. 15, Steve Englehart notes that bringing in Moondragon as a new Avenger allowed him “to keep one last strand of the Mantis story alive, tying the new run to the old one”. I can sort of see where he’s coming from, although I still feel that the shoehorning of Moondragon into the latter chapters of the Celestial Madonna Saga mostly just added further complications to a storyline that was already complex enough.
As Thor reaches out n the first panel above to T’Challa, the Black Panther (whose last adventure with the Avengers had been in issue #126), Englehart is plainly having some fun at the expense of fellow Marvel scribe Don McGregor, whose writing on the Panther’s feature in Jungle Action (as well as on “Killraven” in Amazing Adventures) was (and still is) well known for its extravagant verbosity.
As for Quicksilver, aka Pietro Maximoff (whose last appearance in the title had been in #127), his brief scene here serves to demonstrate that, at least as far as the current Avengers writer is concerned, the speedster remains a massive dick.
Like the Black Panther, Captain America’s last formal outing with the team had been in Avengers #126, just ahead of his giving up his costumed identity in CA #176. Not too many months after that, however, Steve Rogers had briefly taken up the new costumed identity of the Nomad, in which guise he’d touched base with his old teammates in Avengers #131. And while he’d indeed told the team he planned to return to active duty after wrapping up things with the sinister Serpent Squad, he’d pretty much gone directly from that business into his latest conflict with the Red Skull, once again taking up the shield of Captain America along the way. (Although, as Cap’s struggle again the Skull had actually come to an indecisive, though nevertheless traumatic, conclusion in CA #186, published one month earlier, we’ll have to assume that these two stories appeared slightly out of their proper in-universe chronological order.) In any event, as things were to ultimately turn out, Cap would be returning to the Avengers soon… just not for another four issues.
The Black Widow had shared adventures with the Avengers in an unofficial capacity for a period in the mid-to-late ’60s prior to serving as an official, card-carrying member of the team for a single issue (#112) in 1973. As she tells Iron Man here, her reason for bailing on them at that time — i.e., her crimefighting and romantic partnership with Daredevil — was still a thing; ironically, however, the very next month’s issue of ol’ Hornhead’s title would be the last she’d appear in before going solo once again… although only until July, at which time she’d become a charter member of a brand-new super-team, the Champions.
Hercules’ last outing with the Avengers had been in the classic issue #100; more recently, he’d spent the better part of a year hanging out with none other than the mighty Thor, himself… a situation that was actually still continuing as of April, 1975, but was winding down and would be coming to an end in Thor #239, out in June (which would seem to make this scene another of those slightly out-of-chronological order ones). Providing us with a double-dose of possibly unintentional irony (after all, I don’t know how cognizant Steve Englehart was of the ins and outs of Marvel’s future publication schedule), and belying the I-wanna-be-free sentiments delivered above, Herc will be joining Black Widow (plus three other heroes) to form the Champions, in a mere three months’ time.
Like Hercules, founding Avenger Janet van Dyne Pym, aka the Wasp, had last graced the pages of the Avengers title in issue #100; since then, she’d turned up in various issues of Hulk, Marvel Feature (in support of her husband Hank’s starring role as Ant-Man), and Captain Marvel. Most recently, she’d made a brief on-panel appearance in Giant-Size Defenders #4 (Apr., 1975) — but what say we let her take it from here…
I can recall my younger self being quite startled at our first sight of the red-all-over Vision in his swim trunks, back in ’75 — though I’m not exactly sure why. Did I think that his green-and yellow tights were actually part of his synthetic skin? I’d like to hope not — on the other hand, I’m not sure that Steve Englehart himself had thought this matter all the way through, prior to this particular opportunity having presented itself. After all, just a couple of months prior, in Avengers #135’s account of how the original android Human Torch was transformed into the Vision, he’d had Ultron-5 specifically ask Professor Horton to make Vizh’s face “scarlet”, without saying anything about the rest of him.
Yeah, remember back in issue #116, when Englehart portrayed the inhabitants of the Polynesian island of Rurutu — a real place in the real world, by the way — as ignorant savages ready at the drop of a feathered headdress to sacrifice another human being to their volcano-god? So do I… though I’d just as soon forget all about it, to be honest.
Well, it’s certainly nice that we got an editorial note explaining the real-world/Marvel Universe chronological discrepancy for this one — although, if Mike’s Amazing World of Comics has it right, both Avengers #137 and Defenders #25 actually came out on the very same day, April 15th. (Could this be collateral damage from the Dreaded Deadline Doom-ordained delay of this story’s appearance by one month? It seems likely.)
Regardless of all that — looking back on what was going on in both Avengers and Defenders in the first half of 1975, it seems pretty obvious that the latter title’s writer, Steve Gerber, had every intention of adding Yellowjacket to the latter team’s regular roster prior to his fellow Steve, Englehart, tossing a wrench in those plans. Of course, one can see why, if there was a tug of war over the character, the team which Hank Pym had helped found (and with which much of his own heroic career had thus far been served) ended up with the win. (For the record, an editorial note on the letters page of Avengers #142 would claim that the ultimate decision to keep YJ with the Avengers rather than let him join the Defenders was driven by fan preference, as expressed in the mail Marvel had received on the topic.) And anyway, if we’re going to be honest, Gerber never came up with a good rationale for why Hank would leave his superhero wife sitting and stewing at home while he went off adventuring with Dr. Strange and the gang… though maybe he would have, had he been given more than the four issues he ultimately had to work with.
Yellowjacket responds to Hawkeye’s outburst by drawing his cellular disruptor gun (a new invention he’d introduced in Giant-Size Defenders #4) and giving the archer a little taste. It’s a completely gratuitous dust-up, but one that’s very typical of the Marvel comics of this era — the kind of thing you get when someone realizes they’re halfway through their story’s allotted page count, and there still hasn’t been any “action”.
Once the dust has settled, Hank declares that the main reason he’s come at all is that Jan told him “you needed a quorum” — if it was all up to him, he’d just as soon devote most of his time to his scientific research. “Then we do thank thee for thy sacrifice,” replies Thor, “though thou couldst have allowed thy wife to come alone.”
As regular readers of this blog will recall, at the conclusion of 1973’s Avengers/Defenders War, the Black Knight had opted to remain in the 12th century to fight in the Crusades. As for Dr. Doom’s time machine (aka the Time Platform), the Avengers had used it to travel back to World War II in 1968’s Avengers #56 and Avengers Annual #2.
If the Beast’s face in the panel shown at above left (aka the first panel of page 12) doesn’t look especially George Tuska-esque to your eye, there’s a good reason for that. As Englehart explained in his Marvel Masterworks intro: “On page 12, I evidently didn’t feel George had gotten the precise look of the Beast, so my friend Jim Starlin redrew the head shot. That happens.”
And now you know why Hank McCoy looks like he’s ready to throw back a few with Pip the Troll, if only for one brief moment…
The first installment of the Beast’s brief solo series in Amazing Adventures had been written by Gerry Conway, who’d ditched Hank McCoy’s previously magniloquent speech patterns at the same time that he gave him his new, furry appearance. The original idea seems to have been for the series, and character, to have straddled the borderline between the superhero and horror genres; but Conway’s successor, Steve Englehart — whose taking on the feature with AA #12 represented his first major writing gig for Marvel — had pretty quickly steered the strip away from monster/horror territory, eventually jettisoning the whole “cursed hero” vibe. As Englehart explained to writer Alex Boney for a Beast retrospective published in Back Issue #29 (Jul., 2008):
The situation he was in when I started writing him was incredibly distressing. In the original X-Men, he had been a human who just had big hands and big feet. The new series turned him into a big, blue, furry creature. With any other character, this could have been turned into a tragic situation. But I guess I’m an optimistic person myself, and I decided he should roll with the punches and get beyond the tragedy of the situation. He was living it — he couldn’t just ignore it all—but because he was so smart, he had the ability to put it into perspective.
Along with bringing the Beast along to an eventual acceptance of his new situation, Englehart also began to emphasize the character’s sense of humor — something which we get a brief taste of here with Hank’s Edward G. Robinson masquerade, but which would come to full flower as he began to interact regularly with the other Avengers.
Thor knows the Stranger from meeting him in issue #178 (Jul., 1970) of his own book (like the footnote says), while the Beast previously encountered him in X-Men #11 (May, 1965) and #18 (Mar., 1966). And longtime Marvel Comics fans may also be familiar with this space-faring villain from these and other appearances. Still, it seems an odd storytelling choice not to give readers a single look at the guy until the next-to-last page of our story… which, FYI, is what we’re about to watch happen.
Thor is knocked down, but he gamely gets up and flies again — only to be knocked down a second time. And this time, he doesn’t get up…
Too late, Iron Man realizes that the force of the earlier explosions have set the mines adrift. Unable to alter his own flight path quickly enough to avoid all of them, he too takes a hit and is knocked flat. “The two strongest Avengers — down almost before we got started!” exclaims the Wasp. “That’s going to be a tough act to follow!” “Now just hold on!” cautions her husband…
The Wasp tells Yellowjacket that he shouldn’t fly, because to do so he’d have to shrink. Her concern calls back to Hank’s run as Ant-Man in Marvel Feature, where the overarching storyline had the hero trapped at ant-size for most of the run. As will be stated explicitly in the following issue of Avengers, while Hank was eventually able to return to his normal stature (obviously) the microbe that caused the problem is still in his blood, making it dangerous for him to change size. Which is all well and good — except that in his recent Defenders appearances, Yellowjacket was able to fly just fine while still at normal size. So there’s a discrepancy here. (For the record, a quick check by your humble blogger of various Yellowjacket appearances in Avengers from issue #59 through #91 didn’t turn up any instances of his flying except when he was at insect-size, so this particular bobble may well have been Steve Gerber’s error. On the other hand, I didn’t conduct a thorough issue-by-issue, panel-by-panel examination of every YJ appearance, so please don’t take that as the last word on this subject.)
“Oh, my stars and garters!” Per a 2017 article by CBR’s Brian Cronin, this is the first instance of the Beast uttering what will quickly become his catch phrase.
And now, finally, we get our first look at the Stranger — in the last panel of the story’s next-to-last page.
It’s “a sobering beginning” for sure — not only for the Avengers’ new line-up, but for the current storyline, as well. Still, that’s where we’re going to have to leave Earth’s Mightiest Heroes for the next few months — though, don’t worry, we’ll fill you in on the resolution of their battle with “the Stranger” (note the quotation marks), the fate of the Wasp, and everything else you need to know when we return in August for Avengers #141 — and the handover of the illustrator’s pencil from one George (Tuska) to another (Pérez). I hope to see you then.
Another great, memory-tugging post, Alan!
The Beast pulling a lever/switch, after avoiding the Stranger’s dangers, always reminded me of the Black Panther pulling a similar lever/switch, after avoiding the Collector’s (or was it Avenger’s mansion’s?) traps, in Avengers # 119:
https://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=1300627
The Beast pulling off his crazy disguise isn’t completely dissimilar from the Collector pulling off his Tom Fagin mask, either!
Steve Englehart’s narrative tics?
George Tuska’s art – although basic, here – certainly gets the job done.
Phillip
ooow, looking forward to #141…Perez, Patsy, Nomad…it’s got some great stuff in it!
This was fun read and I was chuckling out loud on a few well worded lines in there. I had the same reaction to Hawkeye as you had to Quiksilver…I started reading the Avengers, knew nothing about any of the characters…and felt like asking an expert, hey ‘this Clint guy, is he deliberately written as a complete dick, has he always been this obnoxious? Why?’.
Thank’s for the link to Tom’s excellent reprint list! – brings back memories for the time’s I’m been stung! The only highlight amongst them is Dr. Strange #3 – you get a superb Brunner cover and splash page…almost worth the price of admission, almost.
When I first read this I thought it was a mistake when they had football yard lines on the field and spoke of football field. But then I remembered that the Football Giants did indeed play home games at Yankee Stadium way back in the 70’s. It’s just another reminder, if any is needed of just how long ago these tales our raconteur has been so ably bringing to us were written. On another note, I’ve never been much of fan of Tuska’s art but here Colletta’s ink work really helps. Together they make a very good team. As far as the gist of the story .ehhh. I was always a proponent of keeping the same group together. I liked how the crux of the team Cap, Wanda, Pietro, Jan, Hank and Clint,, with a few additions and short term supporting casts, stayed together for what? 50 issues? To me having a revolving door of characters exiting and entering like the Defenders is kind of a mask, a technique on the writer’s part of not simply bearing down and producing stories centering on the trials and tribulations of a set group. If the cast is forever changing you don’t have to do the hard work of really bringing the individual’s character traits to the fore. That’s just my two cents worth though.
My favorite summation of Quicksilver is in another Steve Englehart story, *Vision and Scarlet Witch* #10 from the 1980s, in which Wanda condemns Norm Webster for cuckolding Pietro. Norm doesn’t deny his adultery with Crystal, but he makes a good case for why it occurred, and concludes:
“No offense, Wanda, but you like your brother a lot more than most people do.”
The Scarlet Witch does not take that well.
I didn’t remember the Black Panther’s “nay” (which reads like something out of Herman Melville’s *Confidence-Man,* as the title character expresses what Pitch, a Missouri farmer, judges “picked and prudent sentiments” on abolition), and I was grateful for your context. (Maybe it was meant to remind us of how ostentatiously erudite, loquacious and sesquipedalian Hank McCoy once was?)
A few years after this issue came out, I had a French teacher who told me not to read three authors ever: Herman Hesse, J.R.R. Tolkien and Carlos Castaneda. It was too late for the first two, but I’ve come no closer to reading the last than a quick skim of *The Teachings of Don Juan* and a reference to a diablero, an entity I’d encountered in an episode of “The Night Stalker.”
Madame Diez, I have tried to keep my word. If it’s any consolation, I knew that Aragorn was a horse well before I knew that he was a ranger and the future King Elessar.
Obvious before going:
Another first-rare and fabulous examination, for which I thank you whole-heartedly. (What a great way to start a Saturday!)
Not much to say on this one, guys (though, I’m sure I’ll come up with something). Tuska’s art was never anything to write home about, but Vinnie’s inks at least make him palatable, so I have no real complaint with the art, except to wonder why Marvel kept putting their less popular pencillers on their most popular books. I guess it has to do with speed and budgets and the ol’ dreaded deadline doom, but it’s frustrating.
As for the story itself, so much time is taken up with recruiting new members that the fight with The Stranger isn’t really given any room to breathe and, as a result, isn’t very satisfying. Though the arrival of the Beast, I thought, was a great addition to the group, as the over-all line-up was in need of someone who could bring the funny and keep some of the darker moments from getting too mired in tragedy. Clint used to be the guy for that, but Englehart had really leaned in on making Hawkeye a pain in the ass lately, so we needed someone new. As for the addition of Moondragon, I was indifferent. I hadn’t liked Mantis, and inasmuch as she herself admitted, Moonie was only a different flavor of the same character, so I really had no interest in her as a character either.
All in all, this was a slight and fairly disappointing installment in Englehart’s run on the book. Fortunately, things would get better. Thanks, Alan!
Other than X-Men reprints my only knowledge of the Beast was his solo series and guest star roles after it ended and I loved him in the Avengers with his characterization and eventual BFF relationship with Wonder Man. To this day I hate that editorial fiat led to the very stupid reason for his leaving the team, losing that characterization eventually, and that brief amount of time that the execrable beginning to X-Factor lost what made him physically distinct. Hank McCoy was a much better character in Avengers (and somewhat in Defenders) than he has ever been as an X-Men and should never have been taken off the team. We lost his joyful side and a future X-Writer would even make him a villain! I also dislike the road Moondragon would be sent down with her haughtiness and hubris taken to ridiculous lengths.
More fun memories from comics of yore. The reprint issue was entirely new to me, although I can well understand being a bit peeved at feeling obliged to get a mag that mostly reprinted a story you alread had! As to the actual new story, not exactly a classic but still a key moment in Avengers history with the Beast joining the ranks, even if it wouldn’t become official for another 14 issues (gee, back in issue 16 they only took a few panels to say, “ok, you’re in!” Admittedly, it was only Iron Man, Giant-Man & Wasp making the decision as Cap was still trying to get back from South America, Thor was off on a trial of the gods, and the available trio was in a hurry to get the new kids in place so they could start their leaves of absence, and Cap got back just in time to be told he was in charge of the replacements! Funny that the Beast was the only new applicant to respond to their tv ad, although, naturally, a baddie responded to cause chaos. And Englehart brought back the Pyms only to have Jan seriously hurt in this issue and Henry collapse from overstrain a few issues later, leaving both hospitalized for all but the last two issues of Englehart’s run, one of which was mostly a reprint of issue 16 and the other mostly plotted by but not fully written by Englehart as he left in unpleasant circumstances.
Other observations – probably not something I thought much about when reading this tale 50 years ago but now, seems the sort of mine that would have knocked out Thor would have been more likely to blown Jan apart, whether she at normal size or Wasp-size. Not that I would’ve wanted that at all, but just one of those silly aspects of comics wherein someone is “hurt” by an explosion but with none of the sort of the fatal or otherwise permanent injuries a real person would have suffered in such an explosion. And I can’t buy that the Beast could really have avoided the mines any better than Jan did and unlike her, flight isn’t of his powers and being able to thread his body through the mines in mid-air has everything to do with magical make-believe and nothing to do with some sort of animal-based capacities. But, hey, comics! And it served the purpose of letting the new Hank shine after his new teammates-to-be had gotten themselves knocked out by those mines. On that close-up of the Beast’s face after he had taken off his Edward G. Robinson mask did stand out. Can’t say I immediately recognized it was by Starlin rather than Tuska but looking at it again after you mentioned the revision, it clearly stands out as Starlinesque, somewhat resembling Pip the Troll!
The scene of Vizh & Wanda on their honeymoon was entertaining. Yeah, seeing Vision for the very first time out of costume and just wearing swim trunks looked odd. Tuska certainly drew a very lovely Wanda but she didn’t quite look recognizably as Wanda and I don’t think it’s simply due to her being in a bikini rather than in her costume with the tiara, but more the difficulty of most comics artists being able to draw distinct faces for attractive young women without relying on a particular hairstyle or some sort of headpiece. Of course, most artists also had the same difficulty with most male faces. Also, now that Vizh & Wanda are married and with Henry & Pym rejoining the team, for the first time in any superhero group there would be two married couples working together, although Englehart didn’t get around to doing much with that before his exit.
Looking forward to your overview of that other George’s upcoming debut in depicting the adventures of our favorite assemblers!
I’ve often thought of a game. Take , for example , a host of Kirby (or other artist) character heads and remove any hair, mask and headgear etc and zoom in. Place them next to each other . How easy/difficult would it be to recognize the character? I suspect they would be mostly interchangeable but the hair/helmets/masks/costumes act as a signature. Not a criticism , but the nature of a lot of comic book character storytelling around the time.
My brother and I discussed that going through our Silver Age Legion stories — outside of hair styles, the guys’ faces looked interchangeable
Less true of characters designed by Gil Kane, he based them on actorsL GL was based on Paul Newman, The Atom on Robert Taylor . . . .
Thinking about T’Challa’s & Cap’s polite declinations to re-join the ranks reminded me of all that was going on in Thor’s and Iron Man’s mags and it seems to me that by this point, a little over three years since they’d rejoined, there’s hardly any way to reconcile their time in the Avengers with what they were doing in their solo adventures, all with long strings of multi-issue continuity with very few gaps for, say, Thor to sail off into space to search for Sif or Odin or whatever, and then get back in time for the Kang Wars, etc.. Might as well claim that they had managed to create clones of themselves so they could be in two places at once – being full-time Avengers and solo heroes too.
Yeah, I thought The Vision was Green. with a crimson face and a yellow diamond shape on his chest.
I thought the only things that were a costume were his clock, glove, boots, belt and trucks..
After all, he is a synthetic human like creature. There is an Avengers story from the early 1970s, where he is playing chess with Pietro in civies (a turtleneck and a pair of pants) but he still has his cowl.
I liked this back in the day, kind of an anticlimactic story but I liked the Use of YJ and The Wasp (who I thought had potential from the Marvel Feature Ant-Man series and Gerber’s use of him in The Defenders). I
I think Englehart, Friedrich and maybe Starlin’s use of Ant-Man & The Wasp in CM got both Gerber and Englehart thinking about them.
I liked what Englehart did in the next few issues by giving YJ all of the powers he had in any of his mantles. (He thus was probably the 3d most powerful Avenger, tied with the Vision.)
Given what a plank holder character Hank was, this made sense. But Englehart lost both those characters’ after this arc and never grabbed them again in the 1970s
In 1975, I thought Mondragon had potential, but Englehart lost track of her and none of the new writers knew. where she fit or if she did.
Englehart liked writing the Beast . . . and so did those who followed on the Avengers.
I had a lot of hope for this. Up through the resolution of . YJ and Whirlwind’s beef, it was very good. Perez came in, Kang came back . . . and every bogged down after Isabella’s fill in.
Englehart also reinvented Hank as “Dr. Pym, Science Adventurer” in WCA years later. I liked that take though it proved as temporary.
He did and it was clever. In the ;ate 1980s, early ’90s, though.
At this point George Tuska and Vince Colletta were journeyman hacks who bailed Marvel and DC out of deadline problems. Both were talented artists whose best work was seen in the late ’40s/1950s in crime and romance comics, respectively.
Aside from a few panels on the opening page where we see a male character with “The dry look” (think of Clint Eastwood’s hair in the first “Dirty Harry” film), there is nothing here in this story that says “contemporary 1970s” in the artistic depictions. Even the Beast’s Edward G. Robinson disguise is a callback to the 1931 “Little Caesar” film.
Many older artists were criticized by young fans for not keeping abreast of changing fashions as the decades passed by. Some wisely took a good look at contemporary fashion/celeb mags in an effort to stay up to date. Others, like Steve Ditko, for instance, didn’t even try.
Even 1990s comics artists, working in today’s field, are not exempt from this problem. In that case, it’s not only a fashion sensibility, but even an artistic one, in both drawing/rendering and storytelling/panel choices/ page layout styles. What was “hot” thirty years ago is dated and trite now.
An artist like George Tuska had enough solid artistic training that he could weather the societal and comics industry changes, as evidenced by a career that lasted from 1939 to his death in 2009 when he was still drawing variant covers and doing commissions. That’s an impressive run, fan favorite or not.
I actually liked Tuska on this (and on many other things). I particularly liked how he handled “flying brick” characters, Thor, Iron Man and Superman, real sense of power. and dynamic energy. It was true of Namor and Luke Cage (despite Cage being a bit more of a “street level” superhero) as well.
He was less good on less powerful heroes like Spider-Man or Daredevil or the Flash, who just never looked agile or fast. I did like his Deadman in the Challengers team up . . . . he didn’t look like an acrobat, but he gave him a “lived-in” look that worked for character/ .
His fights also looked like fights, like some one had to go to the ED and get stiches.
George Tuska was in top form in his Crime Does Not Pay stories in the late 1940s. Google some of these pages and you’ll see some remarkable quality on many levels.
Not a classic issue, but still readable. I enjoyed the first half of the book, highlights being Englehart offering his take on a successful marriage, and the panel where Iron Man talks about the Avengers being a way of life. I can understand a bit of Pietro’s anger: he had been so close to his sister, but then she doesn’t inform him of her wedding, which she should have done, whether he approved of it or not. I don’t recall whether relations between the two had completely broken down….but Wanda was not at Pietro’s wedding was she?
Tuska does a professional job. As to why unfashionable artists (ie non Adams school) drew the top titles ( eg Andru on Spidey, Tuska here, Trimpe on the Hulk, Sal B elsewhere) Marvel probably could not afford to have top titles shipping late. Plus Marvel also wanted ( I assume) to keep their top penciller (initials JB) happy….which was doing Hal Foster or Alex Raymond type books, rather than top title super-hero fare.
I purchased Avengers #136 in the summer of ’75, and this was a great introduction for me to the new style Beast, I didn’t feel it at all odd that none of the other Avengers appeared in the comic; I was just glad to have an issue of the Avengers, given that at the time the title was not generally distributed in the UK. With the various old X-Men heroes now up for graps, Englehart must have wanted the Beast, who he considered to be his character and had affection for (imho)….. and to bring in the Beast Englehart may have had to loose one of the current rota…..Hawkeye, sending him for a time travelling sub-plot. It seems strange for Englehart to have jettisoned Hawkeye so early after having just brought him back a few months beforehand. It may be that Englehart felt Hawkeye a reserve character to utilse/bring out whenever things were a bit slow.
Can’t agree more with Steve McB on the future (now past!) handling of the Beast and Moondragon.
Thanks as ever Alan for another great post.
You’re welcome, Spirit! Per your question, Wanda was in fact at Pietro’s wedding, but only because Crystal (and the other Inhumans) wanted her and the other Avengers there. See https://50yearoldcomics.com/2024/06/15/avengers-127-september-1974/ and https://50yearoldcomics.com/2024/06/22/fantastic-four-150-september-1970/ for the full details.
Pietro had made it perfectly clear he wanted nothing else to do with Wanda by this point, so I’m going to stick with my “massive dick” assessment. 🙂
As a side note to this, Pietro was shown with the Avengers in MTU#11 (July 73). Oddly enough, the team-up was between Spidey and the Inhumans, but Pietro was not there as part of the family.
Only in the background, with no dialogue. Same month Avengers #113 and FF#136 came out, so by this time Pietro was well out of the Avengers. Obviously a mistake, which should have been caught by the proof-reader, but an argument could be made that Pietro did keep contact with visits even though estranged ( by his own choice of course!).
In MTU#11 there was no appearance of Crystal. Putting together Crystal with Pietro was one of the crimes of the early bronze age….a plot device to cause destabilisation to Johnny Storm, but ultimately did nothing plot-wise or in character development for Johnny as far as I can tell. Stan and Roy must have really disliked Crystal: first they exclude her from the FF, then pair her up with someone like Pietro. Subsequent writers have not elevated the character either….
I had just turned 12 and probably bought this comic with my birthday money.
I’d also been reading The Avengers for about 8 months (since #129) and had had a steady diet of Kang/Celestial Madonna stories.
I was familiar with George Tuska from his work on Iron Man, which I enjoyed a great deal, and had seen Vince Colletta’s inks over Sal Buscema’s pencils on Captain America. I always liked Tuska and his art was always easily identifiable even early on in my time as a reader (he had a unique way of drawing action, much like Jack Kirby, Gil Kane, Ross Andru or Bob Brown – and I was pretty impressed with myself that I could alread notice the difference at 12!)
Anyway, I think Tuska was the artist here because not many artists at the time were interested in doing team books. Sal Buscema was doing The Avengers and The Defenders simultaneously, and I believe moved on to something like Marvel Team-Up. As mentioned above John Buscema wasn’t exactly itching to draw superheroes, John Romita was now busy as Art Director and doing occassional covers, Gene Colan was on Tomb of Dracula and Kane was one of their main cover artists. Luckily, in a few month a new eager young artist named George Perez was happy to take over.
As for the book itself I enjoyed the change of pace as they recruited members. I’m sure I was disappointed that Hercules or Quicksilver weren’t coming back because they were favorites, but the Beast was a fabulous choice. Moondragon, ehhh, not so much.
The conclusion with the “Stranger” reveal and the cliffhanger for the next issue was a little underwhelming, but things would get better.
In April of 1975, I was still a year away from the beginning of my subscription to the Avengers, and I missed issues 136-138, so I never read these stories until the Essential Avengers series. In addition to issue 136, the Avengers would be interrupted with fill-ins or partial reprints in issues 145-146, 150, 157, 163, 169 and 178-180 over the span of almost 4 full years. As a young reader I didn’t mind so much because I loved every comic book that I could devour, but later as I became more sophisticated and continuity-minded, I became bothered due to the not-great stories and artwork.
I’ve never been a fan of either George Tuska or Vinnie Colletta, so the artwork of both of them combined was a disappointment to me. For me, my favorite penciller for the Avengers up to this point (besides Neal Adams) was Our Pal Sal Buscema, who I felt to be a solid counterpart to Dick Dillin’s JLA, which was my all-time favorite Super-team book up through the really strange origin of the Black Canary in issues 219-220.
As I was reading the whole section in issue 137 of the remaining trio of Avengers seeking out new members, it occurred to me that the Assemblers had also trickled down to a triad back in 1967 after the sudden departure of Cap, Wanda, Pietro and Hercules in issues 47-50. Back then, Hank, Jan & Hawk (not yet Clint) did not consider recruiting old or new members to fill out the ranks. Roy Thomas snuck in the first of Thor and Iron Man’s return appearances in issue 51, and then at the end of the story Cap told the gang that he was sending the Black Panther as his replacement. And then just 6 issues later in 57, Ultron-5 was nice enough to send the Vision, who was nice enough himself to override his homicidal programming before having a full issue devoted to an intensive vetting process to be voted in as the fifth core member.
Although I was too young to have known Yellowjacket in his original run, I really enjoyed him in the Sons of the Serpent saga that had just taken place in the Defenders, so I was happy for Hank and Jan to become regular members at this point. I have never liked Moondragon and did not care for her inclusion in the team, and I thought that this new furry Beast was completely bizarre. Under Jim Shooter and George Perez, my opinion of him greatly improved.
To this day, I’m still disappointed that Hawkeye’s quest to find the Black Knight was thwarted, as I’ve always been greatly pleased by any appearance of Dane Whitman. Aside from a pseudo-cameo in issue 157, it would be another 5+ years before he returned from the Middle Ages. Was it just that no scripters were interested in Roy’s “original” character for all of that time? And yet Hawkeye’s quest did result in his three-year team-up with the Two-Gun Kid. Lastly, the Avengers power-levels would have been considerably boosted greatly by the return of another former member. If only the creators could come up with a way to resurrect the first Avenger to die in the ranks of duty, Wonder Man. If only comic book deaths were reversible. What’s that you say, Alan? Just wait? Okay
The Two-Gun Kid’s introduction is a classic example of “interesting idea that went nowhere.”
Rereading Roy’s run (as I’ve been doing recently) it’s really startling how few the Avengers were for much of his run and how underpowered compared to my platonic ideal of the team. They were close to the Detroit League with no Martian Manhunter.
Hey Alan, a personal question – 50 years ago when you bought this one…are you still pulling ASM from the racks regularly? I think the last time I saw an ASM issue was #129 and I can’t remember if you stopped collecting Spider-Man at that point. (I’m not suggesting we need to feature an issue, just wanted to know what you were buying at the time!).
#129 was indeed the last issue of ASM I blogged about, Spider — and the last you’re likely to see covered here for a good long while, I’m afraid, as I dropped the title with #141, published in November, 1974. After that I’d pick up issues here and there, but never got back into the habit of buying the book regularly until around 2001, when J. Michael Straczynski took over as writer. I gave up on Spidey again at the time of the “Brand New Day” reset, and have only briefly dipped into ASM or any of Marvel’s other Spider-Man series since then.
Alan, just out of curiosity, what other Marvel and DC titles were you collecting 50 years ago that you haven’t blogged about?
It varied from month to month, Jay, as books came and went. But the Marvels and DCs I was buying regularly circa April 1975 that I have yet to blog about include Kong the Untamed, Kull and the Barbarians, and Marvel Team-Up. Among those titles that I haven’t blogged about in a good long while, but was still picking up back then, are Conan the Barbarian, Fantastic Four, Marvel Spotlight (featuring the Son of Satan), Phantom Stranger, Thor, Tomb of Dracula, and Werewolf by Night.
I didn’t find this anticlimactic at all. A character piece with mostly talk fit well into Englehart’s wheelhouse.
I don’t think I’d realized until the previous issue’s reprint that the furry Beast was the same Hank McCoy in the Silver Age X-Men. I agree with Englehart, Hank’s the upbeat mutant — as Roy Thomas’ origin shows, his home town never had a problem with him being a freak (because he was a freak who could win football games — he’s our boy!).
Englehart said in an interview that name-dropping Castaneda was as close as he could get to saying Hank was taking hallucinogens.
As I didn’t read McGregor’s Panther until much later, the mockery flew over my head. It works, much as I like McGregor’s Panther’s Rage.
I’ve heard Tuska was good once, but none of his Bronze Age work did it for me.
In terms of team members who don’t work out, I think there’s often an element of experimentation — this person looks good in theory, not in practice. Moondragon didn’t add much but I did like Englehart’s Pyms. One of the last times they’d get to be a happy normal couple.
Contrarian me, again. I may have been the only fan in the 1970s who didn’t mind the Dreaded Deadline Doom because those issues gave me insight into Marvel adventures of the past. It’s probably the same reason I gravitated toward the reprint titles of the time, too: Marvel Super-Heroes, Marvel Two-In-One, Marvel’s Greatest Comics, etc.
Back in the ’70s Marvel Tales was a great way to catch up on any of the first 100 issues of the Amazing Spider-Man that I had missed.
As far as Yellowjacket flying while normal size, in his first appearance it looks like he can, his wings seem to moving but on two occasions the dialogue says he is “leaping”. When Hank rejoins the team after a very short honeymoon and explains why he is keeping the YJ identity he specifically says he can fly while small, so, yes, it looks like Gerber made a mistake. Not surprising, considering all the mistakes he made with Daredevil meeting the Defenders in GS Defenders 3. Guess he wasn’t big on researching continuity. But I hadn’t noticed till you brought it up Alan.
I got a good laugh with the panel with the Panther’s speech and Thor’s simple “nay”.
It was odd seeing Vizh in a bathing suit, since I had always seen him in costume, and maybe twice with other clothes on top.
It was great to see the Beast’s story continue here, he made a fine addition to the team.
As always, thanks for another great review Alan.