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Avengers Re-Read: The 1970s - Part Two 10/3/2014 11:43:46 AM
[A version of this post originally appeared on thunderalleybcp.com on September 12, 2014]
The Avengers Re-Read continues with the second half of the 1970s.
The Serpent Crown (Avengers #141-144 and 147-149)
Steve Englehart’s last major arc is a strong swan song for the writer. He brings Captain America back full-time and picks up on threads from Cap and Beast’s solo adventures that positions Avengers at the center of the Marvel Universe. Thor and Moondragon enlist Immortus to help them chase a time-lost Hawkeye. The heroes land in the Old West in the 1880s and encounter several of Marvel’s classic western characters en route to a final showdown with Kang. The rest of the team breaks into the Brand Corporation, a subsidiary of Roxxon Oil, Marvel’s emblem of corporate evil in the ‘70s. They run afoul of the Corp’s president, a thrall of the mystic Serpent Crown. He entraps the heroes with the aid of the alternate earth characters the Squadron Supreme, who have been duped by their own Earth’s President. The Avengers find themselves temporarily banished to the Squadron’s world, where they engage in a tense fight before confiscating that world’s Serpent Crown and escaping back to their own. Hawkeye leaves the team again, with a time-transplanted Two-Gun Kid at his side. Thor and Moondragon return for the final battle that involves the monstrous Orca. That battle puts Thor on a path that will lead him out of the book in the near future.
Englehart’s two-track plot is complex, but he keeps full control and does some interesting character work. The portrait of Moondragon as an arrogant, self-styled goddess comes to full fruition here and her effect on Thor is considerable. Englehart does some nice work with the teasing, sibling-esque friendship between Beast and classic Marvel romance character Patsy Walker, who tags along with the team and winds up becoming the heroine Hellcat. The Squadron is always welcome and Englehart gets some space to spotlight the Captain America/Iron Man friendship, too.
The big news was the debut of the now-legendary George Perez as regular artist. Elements of his familiar style are evident here and he does great things with panel composition and character presentation. Perez was somewhat hobbled by incompatible inking, a heavier brush at times overpowering his intricate line work, but it’s still an exciting debut for the artist. He’d become closely identified with the title over the next few years. This is an essential collection for any fan of the series.
The Private War of Doctor Doom (Avengers #150-156 and Annual #6 and Super-Villain Team-Up #9)
The flashback-laden introductory two-parter transitioned the title to writer Gerry Conway and established a line-up that will be the title’s core for most of the next five years: Iron Man, Captain America, Scarlet Witch, Vision, Beat, Wasp and Yellowjacket. That announcement is punctuated by the delivery of the long-dead Wonder Man, now a seeming zombie, onto the team’s front lawn. Sojourns to the Louisiana bayou to confront voodoo priest Black Talon and a California Army base, where they deal with Living Laser, Nuklo and a rogue military unit, ensue. Wonder Man comes back to his senses along the way and Golden Age hero the Whizzer, then believed to be the Witch’s father, makes a return. Atlantis warlord Attuma attacks the Avengers and draws them into a conflict with Doctor Doom and the Sub-Mariner that also crossed over into Super-Villain Team Up. The arc forced the heroes to work with two of their enemies at various times.
Wonder Man’s return is the most momentous part of this arc. It sends Vision (whose android brain was based on Wonder Man’s brain patterns) into an existential crisis from which he won’t emerge fully for years. Vision and the Witch experience some marital ups and downs. Wonder Man struggles to re-adjust to being among the living. And Beast experiences his own identity issues, trying to reconcile his new appearance with his old place in the world. John and Sal Buscema spell Perez for some of these issues, but the key addition was inker Pablo Marcos. After some heavier hands had held back Perez’s earlier issues, Marcos proved to be a fantastic partner, bringing out the full dynamism in Perez’s work. This might not be the place to start for fans exploring the Avengers back catalogue, but it’s a great stretch of issues that’s worth reading once you’ve tackled the major arcs.
The Bride of Ultron (Avengers #157-166)
There’s a lot of great stuff in this stretch, some of it with big implications for the team’s future. An odd Christmas Eve attack from the Black Knight’s stone remains precipitates a fearsome throwdown between Wonder Man and the Vision. The latter’s existential crisis deepens, as he becomes more robotic and less human, straining his marriage to Scarlet Witch. The team’s not exactly unified as Graviton makes his debut and almost drops a city on New York. The returns of Thor and the Black Panther save the day. Right after, the Grim Reaper (a/k/a Wonder Man’s brother) ambushes several Avengers in their mansion and holds a grotesque “trial” to determine if either Wonder Man or the Vision is the “real” Simon Williams. The fallout leaves neither hero feeling especially good. That leads into Hank Pym having a break with reality and reverting to his original Ant-Man persona. Thinking the new members are interlopers, Ant-Man attacks the team (demonstrating how badass he can be in the process). Hank’s breakdown is a prelude to the return of Ultron, the genocidal robot, who intends to drain the Wasp’s life energy to create the collection’s title character (not named here, but eventually to be called Jocasta). After a guest spot featuring the Champions and an old mythological villain, a well-crafted trilogy brings back Count Nefaria with a new Lethal Legion as minions. Nefaria exploits his lackeys to gain superpower he uses to fight the Avengers to a standstill before ultimately undoing himself.
There’s a lot going on here. The Vision/Wonder Man drama heats up, but also paves the way for the duo’s eventual fraternal bond. In addition, Wonder Man’s dealing with some serious PTSD and very much fears going back to the grave. We also get some idea of the nature of the character’s “resurrection.” This stretch really starts to showcase Scarlet Witch as a potent force. Wasp, while still thrust into “victim” mode at more than one point, begins to demonstrate some of the steel that would make her the team’s pivot in the ‘80s. It’s also one of the first glimpses we get into the Pyms’ marital issues and the return of Hank Pym’s psychological troubles, all of which will simmer for years to come. The oddity of Thor’s recent spate of 11th hour arrivals finally dawns on some characters, planting seeds for the epic that follows this stretch.
On the creative side, future Marvel editor-in-chief Jim Shooter took over the writing in a seamless transition that built on Conway’s work quite effectively. The Buscemas and Marvel legend Don Heck stepped in to relieve Perez at times, but more exciting was the Avengers debut of superstar artist John Byrne. Byrne pinch hit for the Nefaria trilogy, more than a year before he’d come aboard as the regular penciler. Given how much this run affects what comes later in the franchise, fans should definitely check it out, especially those interested in Byrne’s classic ‘70s work.
The Korvac Saga (Avengers #167, 168 and 170-177)
As Avengers hurtled toward the ‘80s, it proved that it still had one big epic in the tank. The arrival in the 20th century of futuristic heroes Guardians of the Galaxy put the team on alert that Guardians foe Korvac, an insane “living computer,” was loose in their era. At the same time, Michael, an odd, blond man who appeared to have considerable power, and his new wife were seen. Seeing a connection? Michael seemed to be priming the entire universe to take it over. Avenger members (past and present) and various allies started disappearing mysteriously, popping away in front of their friends. Jocasta, who’d been dormant since her creation, came to life and led the Avengers into a trap set by Ultron. She later was welcomed as the team’s often-overlooked guest. Thor’s return and insistence that he had no memory of the several times he’d arrived to help the Avengers since resigning as an active member heightened the mystery. As Michael’s wife seemed poised to betray him, the Avengers discovered that The Collector, one of the Elders of the Universe, had been abducting them ahead of a great cosmic upheaval he’d foreseen. Michael killed the Collector before he could reveal him, precipitating a final showdown that left most of the heroes near death.
This was a massive saga with universe-shattering stakes. The fractured core team had to find a way to reunify, just as a massive infusion of former members and allies descended on their doorstep. Michael’s motivations were rather complex and he was presented as far from the typical comic book villain. He’d have a profound impact on Moondragon, especially, propelling her down some dark roads in the years to come. Several characters made progress dealing with their respective personal issues. And Ms. Marvel made her first appearances in the book (though it would still be some time before she’d join as an official member). This arc also includes the introduction of Wasp’s career as a fashion designer and explores some crucial terrain in the complicated Captain America/Iron Man partnership that would echo down the years in stories such as Civil War or Jonathan Hickman’s recent run on the title. This also marks the debut of Wonder Man’s infamous leisure suit look. Readers are also introduced to NSA liaison Peter Henry Gyrich, who revokes the team’s special privileges due to security concerns, making their operations difficult at a crucial moment. Seeing the team commandeer a city bus to transport them to the climactic showdown is a wonderfully bizarre detail.
A small army of writers and artists worked on this saga. That it holds together so well is an accomplishment of strong editing. This is one of the most famous Avengers arcs and a must read for fans.
Nights of Wundagore (Avengers #181-187)
Gyrich restores the Avengers’ special privileges, but in return dictates their roster: Captain America, Iron Man, Vision, Scarlet Witch, Beat, Wasp and, controversially, the Falcon. The Falcon’s appointment to comply with government minority opportunity policies was a move that rankled both the characters and fans. When an old gypsy shaman briefly “steals” the souls of Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, it propels the twins to Eastern Europe to explore their past. Ms. Marvel officially joins the team to replace Wanda and Wonder Man will soon sub in for Iron Man. Hawkeye lingers for a few issues, helping the core team fight the Absorbing Man, a Thor villain given gratifyingly complex treatment here. The twins’ quest has them run afoul of a powerful demon that’s been grooming Wanda for possession since her birth. They learn important information about their past and fight an epic battle for Wanda’s soul.
This is an important arc that set in motion a lot of the things that writers would do with the Scarlet Witch over the following three decades. Equally importantly, the arc set the stage for the revelation that chief X-Men antagonist Magneto was the twins’ father. With strong characterization and complex interpersonal dynamics, it’s a vital run of the series. The revolving door for writers continued, but strong editorial oversight kept it all consistent. Most importantly, Byrne came aboard as regular penciler for a stint that would last nearly a year. This is a great story with major implications for the future and should be on any fan’s read list.
Heart of Stone (Avengers #188-196 and Annual #9)
While not a momentous stretch for the series, Avengers closed out the decade with several well-crafted one-, two- and three-part stories that put focus on the characters and set up elements that will be important down the road. Hawkeye gets a new job and encounters Deathbird. Grey Gargoyle (another Thor foe) attacks as the team navigates a hearing to get Gyrich out of their hair. An act of violence at a Pittsburgh steel plant creates an oddly sympathetic monster. The final trilogy introduces the Taskmaster, later to become a major Marvel Universe presence, and sees the first appearance of the Scott Lang version of Ant-Man in the series (Lang had made a cameo a few issues earlier in his civilian ID). Quicksilver and Crystal announced her pregnancy, setting off more confusion for Scarlet Witch, stirring up issues about children and family that are the earliest steps on the path to Avengers Disassembled and House of M.
As had been the case for the series at the time, there were several writers helming the issues, but the tone holds up overall. Byrne wrapped his run and after a couple fill-in issues, Perez returned. This is a well-crafted collection of stories, with some elements that will be important in later years. If it’s not exactly a priority in your trek through Avengers history, it’s worth a read.
