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Avengers Re-Read: The 1980s - Part 2 11/3/2014 6:45:45 AM
[This post originally appeared on thunderalleybcp.com on October 14, 2014]
We continue the Avengers Re-Read with the second half of the 1980s.
The Legacy of Thanos (Avengers #255-261 and Annual #14 and Fantastic Four Annual #19)
In the aftermath of the “Absolute Vision” story, Wasp resumed control as the team dealt with the fallout. Black Knight and Hercules rejoined as regulars, while Vision and Scarlet Witch departed. Captain Marvel arrived at the abandoned space station that once belonged to Thanos. No sooner did she learn that Vision sent her on a fool’s errand than the station was taken by pirates and plunged into deep space, taking Marvel with them. Back on Earth, the rest of the team headed to Antarctica to deal with the alien menace Terminus, who left the Savage Land in bad shape. Marvel met the pirates’ leader, Nebula, who plotted to unite the remnants of the Skrull Empire (in chaos since Galactus consumed their throne world) under her control. The Avengers encountered Firelord, former herald of Galactus, and made contact with the Beyonder as part of Secret Wars II. Captain Marvel finally made contact with her team and they joined her, making an uneasy alliance with the Skrulls against Nebula. At a climactic moment, Nebula claimed to Starfox that Thanos was her grandfather, but a misapprehending Beyonder sent Nebula far away before Starfox could question her further. There was an Annuals cross-over with the FF that saw the two teams land on the same Skrull world, telling the same story from different sides. The climax would rob the Skrulls of their shape-changing abilities for years. At the conclusion, Starfox left the team to go hunt for Nebula, accompanied by Firelord, and the team became more concerned about the possible threat of the Beyonder.
Stern continued his solid run with this arc, seamlessly managing the membership fluctuations. Classic Avengers penciler John Buscema returned for a long stint, teamed with inker Tom Palmer for a distinctive, old school look. The collection is most notable for the debut of Nebula, later to be a significant character in the Marvel Universe, and as the starting point of reintroducing readers to Thanos (though he didn’t appear in this story). It’s a solid collection and of particular interest to devoted fans, but isn’t the starting point for more casual readers.
The Once and Future Kang (Avengers #262-269 and Annual #15 and West Coast Avengers Annual #1)
With the team once again in trouble with the U.S. Government, they lost the ability to land their jets in New York City. Enter Hydrobase, overseen by part-time hero Stingray, who offered the artificial island as a place to house the Avengers’ aircraft. Stingray’s guest, the Sub-Mariner, at loose ends since losing the throne of Atlantis, agreed to join the Avengers. The team investigated an odd cocoon in Jamaica Bay, as part of the lead-up to the launch of X-Factor and then Wasp encountered a new, female and villainous Yellowjacket, as the Black Knight developed a one-sided romantic attachment for his team leader. The book crossed over with the climax of Secret Wars II, featuring a confrontation with the Beyonder. In the aftermath of that battle, the Fantastic Four and Silver Surfer guested as the quasi-reformed Molecule Man tried to help the heroes undo the damage to the planet that the Beyonder caused. A clever trilogy that followed featured the return of Kang as part of a “Council of Kangs” determined to wipe out variant versions of himself. The Avengers wound up in Limbo, caught in the conflict, which eventually is settled by the arrival of Immortus. The two Annuals started a cross-over tradition with the West Coast team. The former Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, rechristened Freedom Force and working for the U.S. Government, interrupted an Avengers softball game to arrest the teams for treason. The heroes learned a former member has denounced them. After Force member Spider-Woman had a change of heart and allowed the Avengers to escape, they gathered former members and determined that Quicksilver (estranged from his wife and at odds with his sister), engineered their downfall. They confronted him and the criminal cartel Zodiac, of whom he’d taken control. The heroes defeated Zodiac, but Quicksilver fled in anger.
The Stern/Buscema team continued to do steady work in this stretch, but there wasn’t a lot of flow. The dark road for Quicksilver in the Annual is probably the most important thing here and the Kang saga will be revisited down the road, but this collection is really for serious fans who want to cover this entire period of Avengers history.
Emperor Doom
This prestige-format graphic novel, from the team of writer David Micheline and artist Bob Hall, tells a quasi-canonical story that saw Doctor Doom take over the world using the mental control powers of the Purple Man. The only character unaffected was Wonder Man, who spent a month in a sense deprivation chamber as part of a study of his powers. He recruited a small band of Avengers with strong wills (Captain America, Wasp, Hawkeye and Iron Man) who were able to shake off Doom’s mental control and invaded Doom’s island HQ. The wrinkle was that, under Doom’s control, the world was actually a better place. But Doom became restless, and essentially allowed the heroes to undo his plot. It’s an interesting story, well done overall, but given that it’s basically never affected any story after it, it’s not essential.
Under Siege (Avengers #270, 271, 273-277)
This was the last great Avengers story of the ‘80s. As the action opened, the team was beset by tension. Sub-Mariner’s membership generated strong protests from the public and created additional issues for the team with the government. Cap was spending less time in New York, trying to patrol the whole country. The chauvinistic Hercules was chafed to the point of rebellion at taking orders from Wasp, while the Black Knight’s one-sided crush on her made him careless. As Sub-Mariner disappeared to deal with a personal mission, Baron Zemo assembled an army of super-villains into a new Masters of Evil. The Masters picked a moment when all the Avengers were away and invaded the team’s mansion, seizing control and taking faithful butler Jarvis hostage. The villains ambushed a distracted Black Knight, who returned from an event where Wasp ditched him for Paladin, and when Captain Marvel arrived, Zemo used the power of Blackout to banish her to the dark force dimension. Captain America and Wasp began to suspect that something wasn’t right and briefly managed to divert Hercules, drunk and (unknown to him) heavily drugged after a night of carousing. Hercules’s rash invasion of the mansion led to a severe beating at the hands of the villains and of the Masters taking Cap hostage. Blackout surrounded the mansion in an impenetrable force field, then ejected a critically wounded Hercules. Wasp took Hercules to the hospital, where she and the new Ant-Man faced off against the formidable Absorbing Man and Titania, taking them down after a fierce fight. Wasp and Ant-Man coordinated with the military and then Thor (suffering a curse that’s weakened him, unknown to the others) and Captain Marvel (after escaping the dark force dimension) arrived. Doctor Druid intervened, as well, feeling he owed the Avengers a debt. Meanwhile, Zemo and his cronies ransacked the mansion and forced Cap to watch Mister Hyde beat and torture Jarvis nearly to death. Wasp led a strike force into the mansion, tunneling in from beneath. Fierce fighting damaged the building heavily, but one by one the villains fell, until the climactic confrontation between Cap and Zemo.
Under Siege was possibly Stern’s best arc on the book. It took a lot of chances with the narrative, such as allowing serious injury to Hercules. The very concept of the Masters of Evil changed in this story. Instead of a roughly equivalent force of villains, it grew into a large organization centered around Zemo, a concept that’s evolved even further in modern comics, where the villains inhabit their own country. While the mansion had been a battle site for the Avengers before, they’d never had their building hijacked by enemies. The psychological drama between Zemo and Cap was fairly spellbinding, Zemo was determined to ruin Cap’s surrogate family because he blamed Cap for the downfall of his own clan. Perhaps most disturbing was the treatment of Jarvis. God knows the faithful butler had been taken hostage plenty of times in the past, but he usually emerged with little more than a crease in his morning coat. Seeing the character beaten near death while a helpless Cap watched was the most disturbing sequence. The story also charted how far Wasp had come in a few short years. She took down heavy hitters Absorbing Man and Titania almost single-handed and rallied the troops at the darkest moment. This is an amazing volume that any fan of the series should have.
Assault on Olympus (Avengers #278-285)
In the aftermath of Under Siege a beleaguered Wasp did her best to set the team back on track, relocating them to Hydrobase. She-Hulk and Thor returned to active duty and Wasp inducted Doctor Druid as a member, before announcing her move to reserve status and leaving for a much-needed rest. The others urged Captain Marvel to become the new chairwoman and after a lot of thought, she agreed. A special issues from the team of Bob Harras, Bob Hall and Kyle Baker focused on Jarvis, struggling with his recovery in the hospital, as he thought back on his time supporting the Avengers and made a decision about his future. After that, Hercules mysteriously disappeared and the Avengers soon found themselves in conflict with the gods of Olympus. Zeus, mad with grief over his favorite son’s state, blamed the Avengers and condemned them to death. The team was trapped in Hades, but when Sub-Mariner was taken, the intervention of a mysterious stranger (whose identity won’t shock fans of ancient myths) intervened to help turn the tide. Wasp was also taken and singled out for special torment. Some of the Olympians began to suspect Zeus is off-base and sided with the Avengers, resulting in a fierce conflict that only ended when Hercules recovered enough to set his father straight. Back on Earth, Wasp returned to her vacation, while Cap and Thor took off to deal with personal issues. Rendered homeless in the Olympian conflict, Sub-Mariner returned to the team with his new wife (former Alpha Flight member Marrina) in tow.
This is a well-done arc that made good use of the developments of Under Siege. It was stunning to see Wasp leave active duty after more than a decade as the most consistent point of continuity in the team’s membership. Ancient mythology was used effectively, as well, though the wanton mixing of the gods’ Greek and Roman names will rankle purists (that wasn’t Stern’s fault, he was stuck with the names previous writers picked when they introduced the characters piecemeal into the Marvel Universe). The Jarvis spotlight was especially effective and the creators didn’t shy away from his PTSD. All in all, this is a strong arc, worth seeking out after you’ve read Under Siege.
Heavy Metal (Avengers #286-293)
The threat that took up the bulk of this arc was kind of odd. The Super Adaptoid, once a prisoner of the Avengers, switched places with the Fixer during the Masters of Evil’s occupation of Avengers Mansion. He sought to assemble a team of robotic menaces (including the usually heroic Machine Man) in pursuit of the Cosmic Cube. More interesting was the interpersonal drama. Captain America was M.I.A. and Captain Marvel struggled to lead the team. She-Hulk supported her strongly, but Doctor Druid, convinced a major menace is on the horizon, actively undermined Marvel with an eye to taking over the team. The heroes didn’t necessarily work together smoothly and the conclusion was kind of a deus ex machina in which The Captain (the non-Captain America identity that Steve Rogers sported at the time) basically talked the powerful Adaptoid into a defeat. After that, Thor returned and the Avengers were rebuilding, when Marrina lost control and her alien side reasserted itself, transforming her into a violent leviathan that menaced the ocean. Black Knight underwent an abrupt personality shift and Doctor Druid, beset with dreams of a fantasy woman urging him onward, kicked up his campaign to undermine Captain Marvel. The Kang story was revisited with a new Council of Cross-Time Kangs, but that story doesn’t get much play in this volume. At the end, Marrina was dead, the Black Knight was beset again by the blood curse of his sword, Sub-Mariner took off and Captain Marvel had disappeared.
The main arc is sort of disjointed. Long-time writer Stern departed in the middle of it, leaving veteran writer/editor Ralph Macchio to step in and complete the story. Star writer Walter Simonson took over after that, launching a larger story to break down the team that isn’t completed in this collection. There are some interesting moments here, but it’s not a necessary read for casual fans.
