Featuring: Avengers
Release: August 10, 1965
Cover: October 1965
12 cents
Written with the usual Stan Lee madness!
Drawn with the usual Don Heck magnificence!
Inked with the usual Wally Wood magic!
Lettered with the usual Artie Simek mistakes!
20 pages
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|---|---|---|
| Strange Tales #141, Story B | Reading order | Avengers #22 |
| Avengers #20 | Avengers | Avengers #22 |
When I took command, the Avengers were at the height of their power, their prestige, their fame! And now– look what I’ve done!
Yesterday was Don Heck’s birthday! He would have been 94 years old, but he passed away at the age of 66.
The story opens with a lot of chastising.
Well, first Hawkeye is fixing a fuse. The narrator seems to mock that the artist chose to begin the story in such a “prosaic” way. Stan, if you want the stories to open differently, you have to write the stories.
The machinery seems unusually detailed. I suspect that has a lot to do with Wood’s inking.
Onto the chiding. Captain America chides Hawkeye for fixing the fuse, when only Stark is allowed to touch the equipment. Quicksilver, who would not come to be known as the level-headed one, reminds Cap of the importance of self-control.
Then Hawkeye insults Wanda, so she chastises him with a hex bolt. Then Cap chastises her for using her powers, and Quicksilver chastises Cap for chastising her.
There’s talk of electing a new leader, but it’s hard in a group of 4 with 2 people related. The assumption is that Cap will get 1 vote, Hawkeye will get 1 vote, and Quicksilver 2. Nobody considers that anybody would vote for Wanda.
Wanda finds Cap’s touch strong, but gentle. Will this flirtation lead anywhere? No.
I don’t really like the characterization of Captain America as being the hot-tempered one that Quicksilver needs to calm down.
One thing that’s interesting to note is which villains reform and become superheroes. The Avengers roster has three such characters. Hulk and Namor have always walked that line. This issue we meet Power Man, who will be a villain for decades to come. But in the late ’90s he will reform as the superhero Atlas. We can read his early stories with that in mind, to see how redeemable he seems.
With the current Avengers, the seeds of reform were there to begin with. Hawkeye only became a villain by mistake, and then continued down a bad path because of a woman. Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch felt a debt to Magneto, and had earned their distrust of humans from their treatment. Their motivations were from the start at least understandable to us.
Power Man was a smuggler turned mercenary, working for Zemo. He sought power for his own ends. He seemed to mostly be motivated to destroy the Avengers by Enchantress’ beauty. Women lead a lot of men astray.
He is empowered by the same machine that created Wonder Man. Stan pokes a bit of fun at the genre through the character, who finds his costume and name corny.
Enchantress insists he must be a symbol of the Masters of Evil. Is she suggesting the two of them are now the Masters of Evil?
Why is Enchantress after the Avengers anyway? It’s as silly as Mandarin being after them. She wants revenge on Thor. She fought the old Avengers because of it. What have these new Avengers ever done to her? Hawkeye is on a team Thor used to be on, so she must destroy him?
And Power Man thinks Enchantress is pretty, so now he wants to destroy the Avengers too.
“Now tell me, do you hate the Avengers as much as I do?”
“When you look at me like that, I’d hate myself if you wanted me to!”
What?
The evolution of Wanda’s powers continues. Her hex power now appears as pink lightning bolts. I still presume those present see nothing, and that the embellishment is representational for the reader’s benefit. Artistic license.
Enchantress has the Avengers fighting an illusory monster. Scarlet Witch destroys a building in an attempt to stop it.
This is reminiscent of a scene in Captain America: Civil War, the central conflict of the movie motivated by Wanda’s destruction of a building in a battle.
Not just Wanda, though. They all partake in destroying a train. Sounds like the Avengers need to be reined in.
The press call the Avengers menaces, and ultimately the City Council orders them to disband.
Meanwhile, Power Man convinces everybody he is a a great new superhero to replace the Avengers. Not the last time Power Man will have this idea.
Continuity notes. A disbanded Avengers are in no shape to attend a wedding. And we’ll see there’s no chance in the following two issues either. So the wedding had to be before this.
Rating: ★★★☆☆, 54/100
Significance: ★★★★☆
I read this story in Avengers Epic Collection vol. 2: Once An Avenger...
Unrelated to the Avengers, but I’d like to wish a happy 60th birthday to everybody’s favorite cosmic voyeur, the Watcher. Introduced in Fantastic Four #13, 60 years ago today, January 3, 1963.
Characters:
- Hawkeye
- Captain America/Steve Rogers
- Quicksilver/Pietro
- Scarlet Witch/Wanda
- Power Man/Erik Josten
- Enchantress
Story notes:
- Narrator suggests it’s been a few months since the New Avengers formed.
- Tony Stark lends the Avengers his equipment and his town house.
- Erik Josten, ne of Zemo’s remaining mercenaries remained in the Amazon jungle with an injured leg. He knows Interpol is looking for him. He had already been wanted in Europe for smuggling. He unearths Zemo’s lab where Wonder Man was created.
- Callbacks to Avengers #9 and #15.
- Enchantress exiled from Asgard; she appears and offers to work Zemo’s machine, hoping this man can destroy the Avengers.
- Machine heals Josten’s leg, gives him strength.
- Josten is reluctant to wear a costume, but Enchantress thinks he must be a symbol of the Masters of Evil.
- Enchantress thinks he needs a name to strike terror into the hearts of the Avengers. Josten found “Wonder Man” childish and “Power Man” corny.
- Teen Brigade informs Cap a monster is running loose on Sutton Place.
- Witch’s hex power now looks like pink lightning bolts.
- Wanda destroys a building to stop an illusion.
- Enchantress’ magic twists train tracks.
- Power Man knocks out Quicksilver from behind.
- Avengers wreck train to save Quicksilver.
- Tony Stark helped pay for the damage to the train.
- Press calls Avengers menaces.
- Hawkeye notes Cap is twice his age.
- Spell draws Captain America in helicopter to scene; he sees Power Man fighting two guards, actually crooks in disguise.
- Enchantress’ subtle spells mess up Cap’s shield-play.
- Thieves would have stolen vital papers if Power Man hadn’t stopped them. Thieves disguised as guards, but businessman can’t fathom Captain America’s confusion.
- Hawkeye goes to address for Power Man listed in newspapers.
- Quicksilver and Wanda see Carol Channing in Hello, Dolly!
- Each Avenger wants to secretly confront Power Man themself.
- Enchantress’ spell slowing Quicksilver, but not enough.
- Avengers arrested for trespassing on Power Man’s property.
- City Council unanimously declares the Avengers a public menace and forces them to disband.
| Previous | #429 | Next |
|---|---|---|
| Strange Tales #141, Story B | Reading order | Avengers #22 |
| Avengers #20 | Avengers | Avengers #22 |
