Featuring: Avengers
Release: November 10, 1964
Cover: January 1965
12 cents
Written in the Marvel manner by smilin’ Stan Lee
Illustrated in the Marvel tradition by dazzlin’ Don Heck
Delineated in the Marvel style by darlin’ Dick Ayers
Lettered in the nick of time by swingin’ Sam Rosen
20 pages
| Previous | #294 | Next |
|---|---|---|
| Journey Into Mystery #112, Story B | Reading order | X-Men #9 |
| Avengers #11 | Avengers | Avengers #13 |
Avengers. Mole Man. Let’s check it out.
Mole Man is plotting to conquer the world. Ants are the first to notice his schemes, and they warn Giant-Man who warns the Avengers who… don’t take the ants seriously.
The moral of the story is to take warnings from ants seriously.
Iron Man seems to be back. In the previous issue, he was missing, and they went looking for him in Mexico. He’d actually been the prisoner of the Mandarin in China, but has since escaped. It’s likely the Avengers still believe Tony Stark to be dead, as Stark is trapped in his suit of armor. Neither Iron Man’s disappearance nor Stark’s death are addressed in this issue.
Iron Man’s status will be the same when we see the Avengers in X-Men #9, which was actually released one week earlier than this, but seemed to make more sense to read after.
The Avengers borrow two villains from the Fantastic Four: Mole Man and Red Ghost. They team up, as villains do, but their egos get in the way of the alliance, as happens. Red Ghost has parted ways with his Super Apes and was hoping Mole Man would fill the void. Mole Man apparently survived the big explosion in Fantastic Four #31.
Red Ghost has a new power. He can make others unsolid in addition to himself.
Wasp is chairman of the Avengers this week. That means she’s partially to blame when Giant-Man goes off to fight Mole Man alone while she goes to her hairdresser.
Rick is described as Cap’s sidekick and apparently training to become an Avenger. Go home to New Mexico and don’t drop out of school, Rick. Cap, you’re a bad influence. If you must be a sidekick, the Hulk actually needs help, Rick. Captain America you’re just slowing down.
Rating: ★★½, 48/100
Significance: ★★★☆☆
I read this story in Marvel Masterworks: Avengers vol. 2. You can find it in Avengers Epic Collection vol.1: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. Or on Kindle.
Characters:
- Giant-Man/Henry “Hank” Pym
- Wasp/Jan Van Dyne
- Thor
- Iron Man
- Captain America
- Rick Jones
- Mole Man
- Monk
- Red Ghost
Minor characters:
- Miss Mayhew (office staff)
Story notes:
- References FF battles with Mole Man in #22 and #31.
- Avengers have pact to work as team whenever possible.
- Mole Man’s atomic gyroscope will increase the rotation of the Earth; humanity must surrender to him or perish.
- Thor refers to Giant-Man as the Master of Many Sizes, just as Cap did last issue.
- Wasp uses image projector from Avengers #3.
- Subterraneans described as obedient, loyal, almost mindless.
- Army recently ordered transistorized fox-hole diggers from Stark.
- Cap refers to Teen Brigade, who can alert the army if they need back-up.
- Rick described as Cap’s teen sidekick; attacks Monk.
- Apparently Rick is still in training to become an Avenger.
- Red Ghost has ditched the Super-Apes, seeks an alliance with Mole Man.
- Red Ghost and Mole Man escape; each blames the other for the failure.
| Previous | #294 | Next |
|---|---|---|
| Journey Into Mystery #112, Story B | Reading order | X-Men #9 |
| Avengers #11 | Avengers | Avengers #13 |
Avengers had the most peaks & valleys of any SA Marvel title. This was not a peak
I’ve been reading all of these with my son, using your list and my complete collection of Marvel Masterworks. I really like your reviews. Thanks for your doing this!
I read this again yesterday.
Boy, was this one a stinker! Not only does the Red Ghost/Mole Man team-up come out of nowhere, but, by my recollection they spent 3 pages dealing with Captain America and Rick Jones thwarting thieves at a Stark warehouse. These thieves just happened to have the poor timing to choose to rob the warehouse at the only time a superhero was looking for Stark equipment. They could have used those three pages (out of the whole 20 page story) to develop the Red Ghost/Mole Man relationship more or making the Mole Man’s degree of menace greater. Could have had the Mole Man pull out some of his underground monsters to fight the Avengers rather than depending on the cute little subterranean Minions.
But, I’ve always said, you have to read a bad comic to fully appreciate a good one.