Last month we took a look at Avengers #147, the cover of which we noted found its penciller, Rich Buckler, operating in “full Kirby mode”. By contrast, the cover of today’s fifty-year-old comic happens to have been pencilled by Jack Kirby himself… and may I just say, ain’t nothin’ like the real King, baby. (For the record, Mike Esposito inked this piece.)
Moving on to the issue’s opening splash page, we find writer Steve Englehart and artist George Pérez bringing us the latest chapter of the “Serpent Crown Saga” the two of them first kicked off back in issue #141:
As in previous episodes of the storyline, the Avengers’ main foes (at least as far as actual physical combat is concerned) are the Squadron Supreme — a team of alternate-world superheroes whose derivation from DC Comics’ Justice League of America has never been in question. That said, our Marvel Comics storytellers had started leaning more heavily into the parodic possibilities of the pastiche beginning with last issue’s “Crisis on Other-Earth!”, whose very title nodded to the annual team-ups between the JLA and their Golden Age predecessors, the Justice Society of America — who, in DC’s fictional continuity of this era, were conceived of as living on parallel planet Earths, just like the Avengers and Squadron. This issue’s opening splash page takes the conceit further yet, beginning with a title — “20,000 Leagues Under Justice!” — which is essentially meaningless if you’re not in the joke; and continuing with a symbolic central image that’s flanked by two “roll call” — excuse me, two “membership” columns of floating heads, elements that evoke standard practices used by DC in their JLA/JSA extravaganzas of this era. (Compare, for example, this splash from the first half of the previous year’s event.) And to really bring the parody home, even Englehart’s omniscient narrator gets in on the act. with an introductory caption that invites the reader to pretend that they’re actually reading an installment of the adventures of “our own…Squadron Supreme”, rather than of “the invading Avengers“.
Panel from Avengers #85 (Feb., 1971). Text by Roy Thomas; art by John Buscema and Frank Giacoia.
Panel from Avengers #69 (Oct., 1969). Text by Roy Thomas; art by Sal Buscema and Sam Grainger.
As already noted, the Squadron Supreme have always been obviously based on the Justice League, going back to the original iteration of the concept: a team of supervillains based on the “main” Earth of the Marvel Universe, who were called the Squadron Sinister, and who made their debut in the final panel of Avengers #69. We readers only learned of heir heroic doppelgängers in issue #85, at which time the ranks of the original foursome of Hyperion, Nighthawk, Dr. Spectrum, and the Whizzer were filled out by another four Supremes: Lady Lark, Hawkeye (no, not that one), Tom Thumb, and American Eagle.
Our current storyline — which, incidentally, is only the second to feature the Squadron Supreme, rather than their Sinister precursors — has thus far featured five of the eight team members previously introduced. With this issue, however, we have a chance to get reacquainted with a couple of those guys, as well as to meet one never-before-seen addition to the ranks. Interestingly, while one of the two veterans — the sort-of Atom stand-in named Tom Thumb — looks and acts just like he did in Avengers #85, the other — Cap’n Hawk — has had such an intensive makeover that it’s not entirely clear which previously-seen Squadder he’s intended to be. Obviously, he’s a pastiche of Hawkman, so it’d be logical to assume that he’s the same guy as the beaked-and-winged American Eagle we met in #85. On the other hand, the Squadron Supreme’s Batman knockoff, Nighthawk, is conspicuously absent from this storyline — so, if only because of the similarity of name and costume, it’s hard to completely discount the possibility that the Kyle Richmond of Other-Earth could have drastically changed his m.o. since the last time we checked in. Back in 1976, my younger self figured that Nighthawk’s absence was simply a matter of avoiding confusion with the Sinister version, who had of course reformed and joined the Defenders long before this, and so, Cap’n Hawk was probably American Eagle… but I couldn’t be 100% certain. (For the record, later stories would confirm that my initial supposition was correct, while giving the Supremes’ Hawkman-derived hero yet another new name and costume, that of the Blue Eagle.)
As for the the one brand-new, never-before-seen Squadron member, that would of course be Amphibion — an Aquaman analogue who’s amusingly depicted here as a preening Muscle Beach type. (Again for the record, he’d soon ditch the rather affected spelling of his codemame to become just plain, regular Amphibian.)
And now back to our story, where we find Dr. Spectrum about to give us a handy run-down of some of the key events from last issue…
Golden Archer’s remark about the Squadron’s exploits wrapping up without “any loose ends or questions” is an obvious jab at the more… let’s say tidy manner of storytelling that was standard in the Justice League of America title during this period. It’s a fair observation — though also somewhat ironic, in retrospect, as Steve Englehart could have had no idea when he scripted this story that he’d soon have the opportunity to write the League his way — before the year was out, in fact.
The breaking up of the story into distinct parts, with the battling heroes’ names featured in the “chapter titles” is another nod to the conventions of JLA stories (although we should note Englehart had done something similar in the “Avengers/Defenders War” crossover of a few years earlier). I’m not entirely sure if the “Part II” is supposed to signify that this is the second chapter of this issue’s story, or if it’s actually in reference to the first round of “The Battle of the Century” having occurred in the previous issue, when the Vision and Scarlet Witch bested Hyperion, Golden Archer, and Lady Lark; I’m inclined towards the latter interpretation, though I suppose there’s no reason why it couldn’t be both.
Ya gotta love that double gleam (eye and teeth!) George Pérez and his inker, Sam Grainger, have given Amphibion in that third-from-last panel above. And while we’re talking about the art, I’ll note that, to my eye, Grainger — who here returns to the gig of embellishing Avengers after a two-issue gap (OK, four issues counting the out-of-sequence “Assassin” fill-in) — seems to be doing a better job over Pérez’s pencils than on his previous attempt, back in issue #143. Of course, I said something similar about Vince Colletta’s work in the previous issue — so maybe it’s less about the individual inkers stepping up, and more about young Mr. Pérez himself getting a little more assured with each issue. Which isn’t to say that he hadn’t been pretty great right from the start, because he had (at least in your humble blogger’s opinion).
A moment later, however, it’s not just the Hellcat’s strength striving against the jet-powered thrust of Tom Thumb’s Micro-Module — it’s the Beast’s, as he grabs hold of his teammate’s claw-lines and yanks down hard. In the end, that’s enough to bring the one-man vehicle crashing down to Earth… though Tom is loath to admit defeat…
Cap’n Hawk’s reference to his and Tom Thumb’s longtime friendship is a reference to a similar relationship between their JLA counterparts, Hawkman and Atom, as had been established by DC Comics editor Julius Schwartz and his writers during the Silver Age.
As he did with Cap’n Hawk and Tom Thumb in the previous chapter, Englehart is alluding here to the Silver Age tradition of semi-regular team-ups between best buds Flash and Green Lantern. (One gets the impression from various things the writer has said over the years that he was a bigger fan of Marvel than of its primary competitor back in his pre-professional days — but, based just on these stories, you sure can’t say the man didn’t know his DC lore.)
While the Whizzer continues his super-speed assault against Captain America, Dr. Spectrum delivers a blow from a Power Prism-generated club that sends Iron Man reeling skyward. And then…
As he previously had once before, in Avengers #143, Iron Man seems to have forgotten — as has of course Steve Englehart (and I suppose we have to ding editor-of-record Marv Wolfman here as well) — that the Dr. Spectrum whom Shellhead fought in issues #63-66 of his own title was the Squadron Sinister version, and not this guy at all. It’s OK, fellas; we know this alternate-Earths stuff isn’t the kind of thing you usually had to keep up with at Marvel Comics in the 1970s.
As Iron Man and Captain America stand over the prone bodies of their unconscious foes, the rest of the Avengers — i.e., Beast, Hellcat, Vision, Scarlet Witch — all come strolling up as a group. “We just ran into them,” Patsy Walker explains.
This is the first we’ve seen of Hank and Janet van Dyne Pym in these pages since issue #141, where, then as now, they were recuperating from injuries sustained in #137-140. It’s nice to see that they’re finally on the verge of being discharged from the hospital — especially since, at this point, readers might wonder why Steve Englehart had wanted to bring Yellowjacket and the Wasp back on to the Avengers’ roster in the first place, given how long he’s kept them sidelined. Of course, Hank’s ambivalence about the costumed-hero life is evidently still a thing, so it looks like we’ll have some more drama on that score coming up sooner, rather than later.
The references to “Capitol City” and “Knickerbocker City” in the first panel above reflect the convention that had been established by Roy Thomas back in Avengers #85 that, much like in the DC Universe, the U.S.A. of Other-Earth has a good number of familiar-seeming cities with fictional names — even in cases where DC’s Earths don’t, as with Washington, D.C.. Although if “Knickerbocker City” is supposed to stand in for New York, which seems likely, then where the heck is Cosmopolis, the major metropolis (heh) where most of the action of this and last issue has taken place (and where the Squadron previously had their headquarters, in a near double of Avengers Mansion, as shown in #85) supposed to be located? Oh, well, whatever.
While the in-story context of the speech the Beast delivers in President Rockefeller’s guise is clearly the current, Serpent Crown-driven crisis, Steve Englehart is, just as clearly, making more general points about politics and power in the “real world” as well; points that, if anything, seem even more valid in the America of 2026 than they did in 1976, especially in regards to certain leaders and their supporters.
And that’s it for what is probably my favorite single episode in what remains, after half a century, my favorite single Avengers storyline. Like the “Next” blurb in the last panel says, the ending is imminent — but that doesn’t mean that there still aren’t a couple of surprises yet to come. (I dunno about you, but I certainly didn’t have Orka the Human Killer Whale on my bingo card fifty years ago.) I look forward to meeting you all back here in a month’s time to see how it all turns out.
We’ll wrap up today’s post by calling your attention to something that most of you have hopefully already noticed: namely, our new header image. This is the fifth iteration of the header since Attack of the 50 Year Old Comic Books‘ launch back in 2015, and, like its predecessors, the reason for the change is to keep the blog’s graphic identity in line with its ever-changing content by highlighting a number of comics whose fiftieth anniversaries will arrive over the next two years (and which will be covered here in due course).
As is our usual custom at this time, we here present the previous versions of the header, in the order of their appearance (and without any obscuring typography and menu graphics ). The first up is our original banner, which appeared at the top of every post from July, 2015 through March, 2020:
Next in line is the April, 2020 – March, 2022 version:
Our third banner’s term of service extended from April, 2022 to mid-April, 2024:
The fourth iteration ran from mid-April, 2024 through, well, yesterday:
And finally, here’s a clean copy of our brand-new banner, which should cover us until the spring of ’28. After that? Only time will tell…
I was sufficiently distracted by everything else going on in this issue that I never stopped to wonder about whence the Beast managed to rustle up a Nelson Rockefeller mask at no notice sufficiently good enough to fool Hyperion (who got the nearest) and the other Squadders at close quarters…after all, making a Hank McCoy mask took him all night (with a load of materials and references to work from) first time around, which wasn’t _that_ long ago. Still, one oughtn’t quibble…with the corporate cartels in control, there was probably a White House gift shop that sold ’em.
All in all, a top effort all round by all concerned.
If you give Beast’s impersonation more thought, you realize Englehart, like pretty much everyone else writing comics then and now, forgets that while we’re reading the dialog the characters should be hearing it. Like every other character in disguise, the fact there is a vocal component that can’t easily be faked that should be a deal breaker.
Of course, that goes back even to the Alpha-Beta of superheroes, Superman & Batman. Ok, maybe somehow Superman uses his powers to be able to make a distinct voice to use when he’s in costume and another when he’s in Clark Kent mode. But how can Batman prevent anyone who knows Bruce Wayne from recognizing his voice when he’s in costume? And the problem was just compounded when Dick Grayson/Robin was added to the mix, and same with all other kid sidekicks. Not really a problem if readers just take it all in stride as part of pure escapism of comics, but more problematic when they tried mixing in more realistic elements. In this case, we just have to imagine Hank McCoy and the gang somehow had the means to get a realistic looking Nelson Rockefeller mask as well the suit and accept that McCoy was a sufficient talent for voice mimicry to fool the Squadron Supreme. Not something anyone in the real world could do so quickly, but, then it would be more feasible than transforming into a furry blue Beast!
Just remembered that McCoy got the Rockefeller suit off of Rocky himself! And presumably made a fast-setting mold for a mask from Rockefeller’s own face. And they must have made short work of the Secret Service sufficiently fast to prevent them from sending out any sort of alert.
Hank may also have gotten better at mask-making since *Amazing Adventures* #12. Consider the masks he uses with the Avengers and with the Toad in *Avengers* #137-38.
I had that problem from Hank’s first appearance with the team, when he somehow pulls an Edward G. Robinson mask (and clothes, and a cigar) out of nowhere)
An excellent summary and analysis of this story and arc. I wasn’t buying Avengers during this period, as I was in college and had forsworn comics. But thanks for pointing out on the DC dopplegangers, as I had been around for the Squadron Sinister crossover in Avengers #70-71. But amazingly, I never did get the connection to DC at the time. Too subtle for me, I guess.
Love the new banner! It’s firmly in my personal “golden age of comics”!
For me Marvel’s best era was 1961-70, though there are great moments after it, and DC’s was from 1967-74.
Shrinking page count for stories, cheaper quality printing and cheaper paper, and an exodus of my favorite artists for better paying assignments elsewhere (Neal Adams, Wrightson, Steranko, Barry Smith, Alex Toth, etc.) were all factors.
I largely agree about those best eras you cite. In the 70s the mainstream Marvels were in a creative slump and the interesting stuff was going on around the fringes (plus, of course, Englehart’s Avengers and Cap).
And in the US I loved Fawcett’s material in the 1940s (particularly what was drawn by Mac Raboy), Quality Comics in the ’40s (especially anything by Eisner, Lou Fine, and Reed Crandall), and E.C. in the 1950s. Timely/Atlas inherited a few of the former E.C. artists for a brief period (Al Williamson and Bernard Krigstein, e.g.) before Lee, Kirby, and Ditko morphed their monster mag stories into silver age Marvel super-heroes.
I really enjoyed this story when I first read it in the UK Marvel reprint a couple of years after the American publication (Avengers wasn’t being distributed in the UK at the time). I did see all the JLA parallels even though I hadn’t read a JLA since Len Wein was writing it.
The comics on the new banner not counting the overlap with the old one are Showcase # 100, Marvel Treasury Special Captain America’s Bicentennial Battles, Metal Men # 48, All-Star Comics # 64, Detective Comics # 472, Star Wars # 1, Howard The Duck # 8, Avengers Annual # 7, Marvel Super Special # 1, All-New Collector’s Edition # C-56 Superman vs Mohammed Ali, Heavy Metal # 1 and Shade the Changing Man # 1. It worries me slightly that I only had to look up the issue numbers for a couple of them…
You get the gold star, S.K.!
You are in good company. Many of us here, I imagine, can remember issue numbers, dates, story titles and obscure creators and characters but are a little hazy about what we had for breakfast this morning. Good, innit?
Alan started it! Alan started it!
Consider that my less mature manner of commenting on the political overtones of this excellent Avengers comic. “Big business syndicates” maneuvering levers of power behind the scenes was a common theme in the mid-70’s. As a kid, I picked up on it – particularly with Nelson Rockefeller as President – but that was about it as everything else about this issue seized much more of my attention. That such corruption is more apparent now – and much more brazen – is a stunning testament to our current times.
But given that even the collective wisdom of everyone reading Alan’s excellent review cannot correct today’s challenges, I will focus on this “high water mark” of the Steve Englehart-George Perez collaboration. Even though I was far from an avid JLA reader, it was fun to pick up on so many of the writer’s overtures to DC’s “A-Team.”. Ditto for the incredible detail the penciller put into his rapidly improving art. It was enough for me – a huge Iron Man fan – to overlook the obvious gaffe about which Dr. Spectrum he was fighting. (And yes, we have another appearance of the mighty “Ultraviolet Beam.” That incredible weapon that’s useful only when taking on some version of Marvel’s Green Lantern.)
At the risk of incurring ire, my only minor quibble was that as much as I respected Jack Kirby, I was not a fan of his cover for this issue.
It is one of his worst covers and as someone who didn’t really like Kirby’s art then and now that says a lot.
My quibble with the cover is that it reads like the slack-jawed Supremes in the foreground are part of the Avengers. Why else would Captain Hawk yell “Stand Aside!” at a bunch of unconscious people?
While absolutely no disrespect to those who like Kirby’s cover, I confess that I feel better than I’m not alone in my assessment. In hindsight, perhaps someone doing a more “JLA-type” cover would have worked even better.
That’s a good point, David. Of course, we can’t hold Kirby responsible for the text copy.
Agreed Alan. This one is still a beaut.
The cover’s probably based on a Marie Severin or Alan Kupperberg layout. Kirby didn’t do the layouts for most (if not all) of his covers that appeared on books he didn’t write/draw during this period.
Well, I loved this! As a much bigger DC fan than I was a Marvel fan at the time (and still am today), I gravitated to every appearance of the Squadron Supreme because I knew it was a JLA knock-off and that’s what I enjoyed about them, especially if the writer was willing to play with the similarities between the Avengers and the JLA and the various relationships of the JLA members themselves. What I could never get was why some writers chose to use the Squadron and didn’t treat them as a parody. That never made sense to me, but it certainly happened from time to time.
Englehart’s depictions of the Squardron as thinly-veiled takes on the JLA counterparts is so on-the-mark, you’d almost think that this was his DC/JLA audition. The friendship/relationship moments between Spectrum and the Whizzer, Cap’n Hawk and Tom Thumb and Golden Arrow and Lady Lark were spot-on and fun to read. I also like the idea that Cap’n Hawk is somehow an alt-universe version of Nighthawk, Alan, and wish Marvel had seen it that way themselves. Was there a specific reason that Marvel writers kept changing the Squad’s Hawkman analogue? Between Cap’n Hawk, Blue Eagle and whatever the hell else he was called, that character certainly got a workout! Finally, I loved Amphibion as a muscle-bound “himbo.” That was a fun take, even though Aquaman himself is usually much more serious than that.
I suppose the Thor/Moondragon discussion will be picked up and dealt with later? Cause right now, it doesn’t make any sense to me at all. As to the Jan/Hank discussion, I know it’s comics, but Jan’s not very understanding of Hank’s position, is she? Typical Marvel woman. Nag, nag, nag…
All in all, I right there with you, Alan. This is one of my favorite issues of Englehart’s run on the Avengers as well. And Perez is really starting to come into his own as a premier talent. Thanks, Alan!
At the risk of spilling any beans, Thor and Moondragon’s argument factors into both the next issue and 150-151. (And when is Moondragon ever making her MCU premiere?)
Moondragon had issues earlier with Iron Man when he showed romantic interest in her which she didn’t reciprocate, and I’m hoping that Alan deals with that in due time. (Daredevil was also in love with Moondragon, if I remember correctly…it was deemed hopeless in **DD & BW* #108.)
“…I’m hoping that Alan deals with that in due time.” Alas, A.S. I’m afraid that ship has sailed. What can I say — it just didn’t seem that big a deal when I was covering that issue. 🙂
One thing that bothered me then and now is the way Patsy’s costume seems to have elevated her to above human ability and strength when it was just window dressing for Greer Nelson. I was disappointed nonetheless with how her story in this book ended but got over it with her long tenure in the Defenders. Too bad Hank fared much, much worse after he was unceremoniously dumped later on.
I assume Englehart made that retcon to justify Patsy as part of the team. But yes, it clearly has no special powers in Claws of the Cat
At this point in 1976, I hadn’t read any issues of JLA yet but I was otherwise familiar enough with that group’s most prominent members. I loved the story when I first read it 50 years ago but can appreciate what Englehart & Perez were doing as far as parodic elements more now that I’ve long since become much more familiar with various elements of the JLA and relationships of the members, including Green Arrow’s costume and personality makeover by O’Neil and Adams. That his analog Golden Arrow would be the one to take heart the Beast’s speech while disguised as President Rockefeller became all that much more apt to me after I’d actually read the Green Lantern / Green Arrow stories.
Overall, this was a fun story to read, a peak for Englehart and Perez.
Thanks, Alan. I read this with a mix of pleasure and melancholy. The story itself was a joy to re-visit (as it was to read when it first came out). So many great touches in both script and art. Perez wasn’t junk to begin with, but by now he was clearly coming into his own, and I think as his pencilling became more assured, it became less and less likely that inkers would mess up his work.The panel with the gleams in both Amphibion’s eye AND smile? You can almost hear the “ding!” sound effect.
Although several people have done a fine job with the Beast since, NO ONE could match Englehart when it came to the combination of puns and allusions that he had Hank say. (CF, the Scotland/Scott Towels/scotched panel. Also the “ugly, hairy and tall to a midget” line.) And the Moondragon-Thor scene builds on everything between them since #137, showing that Englehart was in full command of where he wanted to go with the characters.
But re-reading this issue now in hindsight, it saddens me to think about what might have been, had the Englehart-Perez team been allowed to continue. Both seem rather strong-willed creators – would they have been able to find a middle ground with a result that was more than the sum of the parts? This issue and the next sure seemed to indicate it (as #150 would have done, if it had appeared as intended).
I know, I know – you can’t go back. And yes, we’d get 10 great issues of JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA, eight brilliant issues of DETECTIVE COMICS, and others. But I really wish that Englehart had been able to leave Marvel on his own terms, concluding storylines the way he wanted. I’d love to go to that alternate universe (or at least visit Lucien’s library in the Dreaming) to read what MIGHT have been.
Thanks again, Alan.
I fully share your feelings on what might have been, Bill! Also, a bit strange to think that this grand finale epic from issues 141 – 149, excluding the 2-part fill-in, was the longest stretch during Englehart’s nearly 4 year run when he had a really great artistic collaborator. Not to disdain the usually good art work of Bob Brown, Sal Buscema, etc., but IMO, even at this early stage of his career, George Perez was bringing greater visual excitement to the proceedings. Of course, he’d continue to do excellent work with Shooter, but I missed Englehart’s writing.
Add me to your group as well, Bill. With Englehart’s departure, it took Gerry Conway only a couple issues to take perhaps my favorite title and move into onto my “endangered” list. (He did likewise around this time with Iron Man.)
On the plus side, since I was either about to stop or had stopped collecting comics, I missed Steve Englehart’s runs on both JLA and that winged character. As a result, I’m looking forward to Alan’s upcoming reviews of each.
I thought a lot of Jack Kirby’s covers during this period (for the books he wasn’t writing and drawing, at least) were done from layouts provided by others, so maybe it’s not entirely fair to blame him alone for their quality. Surprised no-one else has questioned why, though, Hyperion is holding aloft an unconscious Thor, when Thor was on another world in another dimension in another part of the multiverse while this Avengers/SS clash was going on.
Agree with Alan and all the previous comments that the rapidly developing Perez art is making the quality of the inking less and less of a concern, and I certainly prefer Grainger to Colletta.
I did feel that there was a certain amount of contrivance in this plot. Everyone’s already mentioned the convenience of the Beast’s quick-change/latex manufacturing/ mimicry skills, but it seems also odd to me that the Squad Supreme would be so quick to contemplate a U-turn on the basis of his one little speech. Pretty sure that Oliver Queen, in yet another part of the multiverse, would have started raising objections from the first moment that the Squad ‘started drawing paychecks from the corporate men’, and he wouldn’t have had to wait for a visitor from another dimension to prompt him.
I believe it was later revealed / retconned that the Squadron Supreme were being mind controlled by the Serpent Crown, and that was why they were going along with the corporate-manipulated government so willingly. Can anyone confirm that?
Yes, I think that came out when Mark Gruenwald was writing the Squadron. And Nighthawk was absent because his Batman-like willpower enabled him to resist.
I guess “we screwed up bigly” wasn’t something he was comfortable with.
Best. Comic. Ever. Long-time-reader-first-time-writer. My first Avenegrs ever was #137 and that was a fabulous jumping-on point for a 7-year-old, especially with the Beast joining the team. My 2nd was #141, the start of this saga and the first ever George Perez Avengers. This was my 3rd and I have re-read it to the point of being able to sing the dialogue and draw the panels in my sleep. Steve Englehart and George Perez have been my absolute favorite comics creators ever since this issue. And, of course, comics only went downhill from there. What’s that line, that the comics you buy in your first year will always be the high-water mark for all comics, and everything else will be just a pale attempt to chase that initial high? Boy is that ever true for this old (former) collector! I spent the next 50 years trying to track down all the Marvels and DCs that led to this point, but I haven’t bought anything new in decades.
One thing I notice about blogs like this (and this is the very best of the comics retrospectives on the interweb — thank you so much, Alan!): as groups like the readers here assemble to reminisce over these hallowed classics, it becomes apparent that we are all mainly of a certain age, with shared similar experiences, but we are not young. Sorry to sound maudlin, but it makes me sad to think that, as we pass, others will not go this way after us, at least not in the same way. Even if younger generations start sharing their impressions, they won’t be first-hand impressions; they will be “I picked this up at a comic shop because it looked neat and what’s a Rockefeller?” Comics are so different nowadays. This issue, for me, is a seminal work of a magical era, which was ending even by this date in 1976. That era cannot be recaptured. Still, at least by sharing these moments with everyone here, I can TRY to hold on to the feeling, for a few moments. This said as the world seems to be….well, Rockefeller/The Beast’s speech sure is eerily prescient, isn’t it?
Thank you all so much for everything you post here!
As I’ve said elsewhere, we’ve seen a lot of eldritch artifacts since then, but I don’t recall any recent appearances by the Serpent Crown.
Marvel did a 1980s plotline in which all the serpent crowns across the multiverse were destroyed. New crowns have been created and destroyed since.
The end of a great run I’d followed from Englehart’s first story.
Rereading, he does come across slightly smug (“look how much more politically aware my writing is!”) but it’s still a great story. Lost me a little on references to the Golden Archer having been Hawkeye — I hadn’t read the original Supreme story yet — but that’s a minor issue.
Nothing much else to say. Still my favorite Avengers run