Featuring: Avengers
Release: May 5, 1964
Cover: July 1964
12 cents
Written by the inspired typewriter of: Stan Lee
Drawn by the enchanted pencil of: Jack Kirby
Inked by the gifted brush of: Chic Stone
Lettered by the scratch pen of: S. Rosen
23 pages
As if it wasn’t hard enough trying to figure out how to fit the Avengers’ solo adventures around this title, issue 5 ended with an urgent call from the Teen Brigade to go on a mission unrelated to the Lava Men adventure they just had, which itself was unrelated to the Hulk adventure that started that issue. Leaving almost no space for solo adventures.
Here, the narration informs us they are still on the way to New York to respond to the urgent call, but needed to refuel in Chicago.
Between New York and Chicago, Iron Man and Giant-Man have gotten new costumes, and Wasp has a new hairdo and headpiece.
Captain America meanwhile has new glove magnets and miniature transistors installed in his shield that allow him to control its motion.
Iron Man designed the shield transistors. He is apparently an engineering genius on par with Tony Stark, the man nobody has ever seen him with, despite being Stark’s bodyguard.
And then Thor gives Captain America his mail. Wait? What? I thought this was a refueling stop in Chicago. Where did they get the mail? Where are they?
Not many details in the scene. Some equipment makes it look like a lab. Cap is sitting on a chair, so they seem to not be on a plane or at a refueling station.
The story doesn’t really make any sense so far, but to make it worse, it cuts to South America, where we meet Zemo.
We met Dr. Zemo in Sgt. Fury #8, which let us know these were the same person, twenty years apart. In Avengers #4, we glimpsed a shadowy figure responsible for Bucky’s death. We now learn that was Zemo. (Note this comic always calls him Zemo, never mentioning the Doctor title.)
We also learn that prior to the fateful day when Bucky died, Zemo had sworn revenge on Captain America for causing his hood to be trapped in his head.
Zemo has fled to South America as many a Nazi did. Except instead of living humbly in hiding, he’s become something of a god to the locals. It’s mostly pretty racist, but could perhaps be seen as a metaphor for everything wrong with colonialism.
But here’s what doesn’t make sense. Zemo sends the pilot to recruit three villains to his cause, and they will go menace New York… but if Zemo is just having this idea, how could the Avengers have already been summoned?
We then turn to the Teen Brigade, who seem to just now be learning about the threat to New York. Yet, they had summoned the Avengers last issue. Nothing makes sense.
We come to the cool thing. This issue introduces the Masters of Evil. The Avengers are a team of superheroes, so a team of supervillains is a natural foil, like the Brotherhood to the X-Men. Even more sensibly, since the Avengers as individuals have their own titles and solo adventures, this team of villains is assembled from the foes of the individual Avengers.
Zemo stands revealed as a nemesis to Captain America. He recruits the old Iron Man foe, the Melter; the old Thor foe, Radioactive Man; and the old Giant-Man/Wasp foe, Black Knight.
Radioactive Man had been killed when last we saw him, which triggered a nuclear explosion in China. Apparently he somehow survived. The comic doesn’t address how. They’ve also learned how to spell “radioactive” since last time, when he was called “Radio-Active Man”.
Zemo’s big shtick so far seem to be his Adhesive X. He has the Masters of Evil spread it throughout the city. But Adhesive X is a form of glue, just really powerful glue. Zemo is basically a rip-off of Paste-Pot Pete.
The Avengers see Radioactive Man first. Captain America notes he alone can’t be responsible, being an expert on Radioactive Man, likely having used the week he’s been awake to study up on all 137 supervillains that have emerged in recent times.
Paste-Pot Pete gets involved, helping the Avengers in exchange for leniency toward his sentence. He has a super-dissolver which can even dissolve Adhesive X, just the thing Zemo has spent decades trying to discover. Maybe Zemo is just a poor man’s Paste-Pot Pete.
Zemo wants to lure the Avengers out from their hiding place. Hiding place? Is the public unaware that they meet at Stark’s Mansion. It never felt that secretive.
Captain America starts coming into his own and assuming a familiar role. He’s written like a born leader, and even Thor notes this.
We’re getting closer to my notion of what an Avengers story should look like. A threat that necessitates the grouping of heroes to defeat. Four super-villains teamed up qualifies as a threat requiring a team of super-heroes. No one hero could take on four villains (let alone six).
When Captain America finally confronts Zemo, he’s armed with speeches about democracy, freedom, and America. “Feel my grip, Zemo! It’s the grip of a free man! Look into my eyes, tyrant! They’re the eyes of a man who would die for liberty! The world must never again make the fatal error of mistaking compassion for weakness!! And while I live, it won’t!!!” That’s Captain America at his best.
I would say this type of threat even justifies the Avengers’ existence… except that if the Avengers didn’t exist, these super-villains would never have banded together. They only banded together to fight the Avengers. So, really, this entire mess is entirely the fault of the Avengers. How did Vision put it in that movie? “Our very existence invites challenge.”
What I’m on the lookout for now is the Avengers to battle a threat worthy of their mettle that they themselves are not somehow responsible for.
I would like to note this is the first issue where the Avengers not only don’t battle the Hulk, but don’t even mention wanting to fight the Hulk, and don’t seem to be actively looking for the Hulk. Another step in the right direction. Let’s hope next issue they also find somebody to fight who is not the Hulk.
Art vs script
We’ve talked about this. At this point, the basic working arrangement is likely that Kirby comes up with the story and draws it. Stan then adds the script to them. Stan may or may not have had some input before Kirby started drawing, perhaps a brief discussion.
Sometimes the script tries to tell a different story than the art is telling. That is obviously what is happening here in a few places.
First, let’s talk about Zemo. Looking at Zemo and back to the Sgt. Fury comic that allegedly introduced the same character, no connection is obvious, except for the name. This comic doesn’t reference the Sgt. Fury story directly, and the characters have no visible resemblance, nor do their inventions. I’m left to assume the decision to connect the two characters was made later by Stan, and not the plan when Kirby was drawing the artwork originally. It makes sense to connect them, as both are Nazi mad scientists. Why not be the same person?
I am confident that if Kirby thought he was drawing the same character in both comics, he would have left at least some visual clue. He is a visual storyteller.
Then the big art/script fight. The narration tells us the Avengers have just left New Mexico, stopped in Chicago to refuel and then hurried to New York to battle the Masters of Evil, apparently already menacing the city when the Avengers were still in New Mexico.
The art contradicts that story in countless ways. First, most of the Avengers have new costumes this issue, reflecting recent changes in their own titles. Wasp has a new hairdo. Captain America has a newly improved shield. He is testing it out. None of this makes any sense unless the Avengers went home and had a bit of time to change, and for Iron Man to make the modifications to Cap’s shield.
The art shows Captain America demonstrating tricks with his new shield improvements. That is hardly how Kirby would have displayed urgency to get to a threat had he cared to. And if there’s one thing Kirby knows how to draw, it’s characters feeling a sense of urgency.
More damning is the fact that the mail comes! Obviously, they are at the New York mansion, and not a Chicago fuel stop. Wherever they are, we see lab equipment, a chair like you would see in a house, and their mail.
At no point do we see the Avengers copter. If Kirby wanted to show the Avengers traveling to New York, then jumping out of their copter to confront the super-villains, he is entirely capable of doing so. Instead, the Avengers seem to be running toward the threat, as though they just came from their nearby mansion.
Finally, Kirby draws a scene of Zemo learning Captain America is alive after the opening scene.
The narration tells us that the Avengers were rushing to New York to confront the Masters of Evil, then shows us Zemo in the jungle learning Captain America is alive and deciding to form the Masters of Evil. Stan could have saved himself there with a bit of narration letting us know this Zemo scene took place a week earlier, but he does no such thing.
Clearly, Kirby meant for a time break between last issue and this one, showed a simple relaxed scene of the Avengers at the mansion, then showed the villain hatching a plot, then had the villains attack and the Avengers respond. This scenario would have saved us a lot of…
Chronology headaches.
The narration on that first page… The existence of a title like Avengers makes it hard enough to figure out what order everything is supposed to go in. All these characters have ongoing solo series, so you have to see where they have gaps in their adventures for Avengers stories to fit. It doesn’t help when the Avengers stories don’t leave gaps within themselves. To make matters worse, Avengers is published bimonthly, so the solo titles have twice as many stories in the same timespan.
According to the narration, this issue picks up right where #5 left off, two months earlier in publishing time. (The art tells a different story.)
What should be an easy way to line up the Avengers comics with the solo stories is to look to the costume changes. But that doesn’t work here; the costume changes between 5 and 6 would lead me to believe that the debuts of those costumes fit between 5 and 6, but the narration informs me there is no space between the issues.
We are actually seeing Iron Man’s new look for the first time here. In his own series, it’s introduced in Tales of Suspense #54, but I just couldn’t find space for that story before this issue.
What would make more sense is to ignore the narration completely. Let last issue end and have the Avengers come home. Then, some time later, have the events of this issue, set entirely in New York begin. That would make room for more Avengers adventures, explain the outfit changes… it would fix everything. But the narration is very clear, and so nothing makes sense.
Frustrating.
Rating: ★★★☆☆, 53/100
Significance: ★★★★☆
I read this story in Marvel Masterworks: The Avengers vol. 1. The scans are from a reprint in Avengers Classic #6 (2008).
You can also find the story in Avengers Epic Collection vol.1: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. Or on Kindle.
Characters:
- Iron Man
- Rick Jones
- Thor
- Wasp
- Giant-Man
- Captain America
- Zemo
- Black Knight
- Melter
- Radioactive Man
- Paste-Pot Pete
Story notes:
- Story opens in Chicago, immediately after ending of Avengers #5; Avengers are refueling on the way to New York.
- Iron Man has adjusted Captain America’s shield, adding a radio and miniature transistors, allowing Captain America to control it with glove magnets.
- Captain America swears revenge on Bucky’s murderer.
- Zemo lives in South American jungle; Zemo pays a pilot to bring him supplies.
- Zemo’s hood stuck to his head with Adhesive X.
- Zemo just discovers Captain America is alive.
- Masters of Evil spray Adhesive X all over New York.
- Black Knight’s lance: whirling bolos, fires projectiles. Arsenal: stun ray.
- Radioactive Man thinks Giant-Man disappears.
- Zemo has hypno-ray.
#197 story in reading order
Next: Tales of Suspense #54
Previous: Sgt. Fury #8
