Featuring: Avengers
Release: February 10, 1966
Cover: April 1966
12 cents
Mad, mixed-up story by Stan Lee
Ickie, insane illustrations by Don Heck
Daffy, dizzy delineation by Frankie Ray
Loony, lampoony lettering by Artie Simek
20 pages
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|---|---|---|
| Avengers #26 | Reading order | Avengers #28 |
| Avengers #26 | Avengers | Avengers #28 |
Only a fool– or a liar– says he’s never afraid, Wanda!
A lot of plot threads to pick up on from last issue. Namor headed to New York (though we’ve already seen how that plays out in the pages of Tales to Astonish). Dr. Pym busy with research on ship. Other Avengers captured in attempt to rescue Wasp. Attuma engaging them in trial combat to impress men, as the sea poured in. Hawkeye in a coma attempting to remember his password. A mysterious figure in the shadows. Wasp has escaped Atttuma but her fate is unknown.
The password thing is quite funny. People forget their passwords at work and need to call IT support to get it reset. No such backup here. Hawkeye must hook himself up to a fancy memory-jogging machine.
But the number he couldn’t remember was 1313. How hard is that? It’s not like the password was something actually secure like _b9<Jgu_X^TZDS.
That shadowy figure? Turns out it’s the Beetle.
Hawkeye talks about how he may not have any “so-called super powers”, which amuses me. Is all his posturing to cover up for a case of impostor syndrome?
We’re starting to get more comfortable with the idea that there are a bunch of super-villains out there, ready to be hired as needed. Particularly villains that aren’t tied to a particular character. Beetle first fought Human Torch, so he’s a Human Torch villain. But then he showed up in the pages of Amazing Spider-Man. Spider-Man teamed up with the Torch to stop him. Still making him seem like a Torch villain. But here he is attacking the Avengers. No Human Torch in sight. This issue also features Attuma, who has fought the Fantastic Four and Sub-Mariner, Iron Man, Giant-Man and the Wasp, and now the Avengers.
Human Torch no longer even has his own series, but that doesn’t mean his villains have to disappear. We’ve already seen Eel battle Daredevil, and I suspect Plantman will be turning up soon enough.
I think I’ve brought this up before, and we’ll definitely bring it up again if we ever get around to Spider-Man’s battles with the Tarantula, but one of my least favorite tropes is hero dialogue indicating they are overly impressed with the villain’s powers. The worst case of telling, not showing. If you want to make an intimidating villain, make an intimidating villain. Don’t make your hero think thoughts like, “He’s pulling the control panel right out of the wall with those suction cup ‘fingers’ of his–!” As though suction cups are somehow intimidating.
Why is Beetle attacking the Avengers anyway? I think we’ll learn that in coming issues.
Hawkeye wins the day and knocks Beetle out with gas. I guess Beetle’s helmet isn’t equipped to protect from gas. But then Hawkeye just leaves him unconscious in the mansion. Why? Maybe call the police? I presume Jarvis isn’t around. How about remove his armor?
Nope, none of that. I guess Hawkeye was in a hurry to go rescue the Avengers from Attuma.
He borrows a sub from the Fantastic Four. Could he have mentioned the Beetle to them? Beetle is a Human Torch foe. And Attuma is also an FF foe. Maybe they weren’t home. They might be in Attilan with the Inhumans. Maybe when Hawkeye says “borrowed”, he means “stole”.
The reporter covering the rising tides is Chet Brinkley. He ends his broadcast with, “Goodnight, David!” Who is David? Ah, I see. Chet Brinkley is inspired by Chet Hunter and David Brinkley, two popular newscasters of the time from the Huntley-Brinkley Report.
Hawkeye compares Quicksilver to “greased lightning”. Guess that phrase predates Grease.
I can sometimes be a bit harsh of the work of Don Heck, though that’s usually about the storytelling, not the draftsmanship. In fairness, I’d like to pause and notice that he’s drawn a cool octopus.
“Let this be an answer to those who claim the New Avengers are lacking in power!”, says Quicksilver. This sounds like Stan is having his characters talk directly to letter writers of the time again.
Of course, another answer is that Stan brings back Giant-Man next issue. The letter writers win again.
We see Wanda freeze a soldier to the spot with her hex power. This seems to be a new use of the power.
The Avengers defeat Attuma and save the world.
The armored bad guy Hawkeye has tied up and left in the mansion was unsurprisingly not there. Hawkeye never even learned his name.
Now, the Avengers had been here in the first place because the Wasp had been Attuma’s prisoner, but she escaped and got a message to the Avengers. But then what? The Avengers never met up with her in Attuma’s lair, and she doesn’t appear in this issue. We never saw her after she sent a message to the Avengers. They almost seem like they forgot her. Until the final panel when they get a message bout the Wasp.
It should be noted that a lot is left to the dialogue here. Looking at the art of the last two panels, there’s no hint of concern about the Beetle or the Wasp. Stan is having to fill in these plot details with dialogue. Ditko or Kirby would have told this all through visuals.
Let’s look to this month’s Bullpen Bulletins.
Stan notes an article about comics and Marvel in the National Observer, promotes their new “Bullpen” artists John Romita and Bill Everett, and still chooses to keep us in the dark about who Irving Forbush is.
Perhaps you’d also like to peek at the letters pages.
Rating: ★★★☆☆, 51/100
Significance: ★★★☆☆
Sufficiently complex narrative to be interesting, even if the telling is merely adequate.
Characters:
- Hawkeye
- Beetle
- Attuma
- Captain America
- Quicksilver
- Scarlet Witch
- Chet Brinkley
Story notes:
- Hawkeye able to read message, a warning that Attuma is about to attack the surface and to join the Avengers at given coordinates. Message fades before Beetle can read it.
- Beetle’s suction-cupped fingers stretch to grab.
- Arrows can’t penetrate Beetle’s invulnerable wings.
- Hawkeye captures Beetle with bolo arrow then knocks him out with gas capsule, then leaves him in the mansion.
- Attuma defeats 3 Avengers; his servant counts four for some reason.
- Hawkeye “borrows” aero-sub from Fantastic Four.
- Tides rising globally. Within hours every coastal city will be flooded and within days, Earth’s surface will be underwater and Attuma will rule.
- Chet Brinkley news reporter broadcasting from Cape Hatteras
- Quicksilver ends up in an ejector-tube. He is rescued by Hawkeye.
- “I shall never despair, Steve– while an Avenger lives!” — Wanda
- Attuma will turn y-ray-tank on Avengers.
- Wanda’s hex freezes a soldier to the spot.
- Wanda takes control of Attuma’s Y-ray-tank.
- Wasp still missing.
- Cap set control panel to explode. Threat ended.
| Previous | #494 | Next |
|---|---|---|
| Avengers #26 | Reading order | Avengers #28 |
| Avengers #26 | Avengers | Avengers #28 |
