The crown is still yours by my leave only! ‘Tis Kang who is the power here! Though countless worlds have fallen before my banner, yours have I spared… but only because of love for you!
Serendipitous timing. We get to see a major battle between Kang and the Avengers just in time for Kang to make his big screen debut in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania this Friday, portrayed by Jonathan Majors. We had met Jonathan Majors as Kang before in the Loki series.
This story is particularly notable for introducing Kang’s great love, the Princess Ravonna. She was portrayed by Gugu Mbatha-Raw in the Loki series.
John Romita is a new name in the modern Marvel reading, but we’d seen him before in our looks back, as he was the Captain America artist in the 1950s. We’ll be seeing more of him, and have more to say soon.
Sherigail we recall is an alias for for Morrie Kuramoto. We haven’t seen him in a while, with Rosen and Simek dividing up most lettering between them. He married Gail Masuoka in 1955, and they had a daughter Sheri– hence the pen name. As a young adult, Morrie had seen his possessions confiscated and his family sent into prison camps by the US government for having Japanese ancestry. He was able to enlist in the military to escape imprisonment. He worked as a letterer after the war, and continued to do irregular lettering work until his death in 1985.
Featuring: Marvels Release: December 14, 1993 Cover: February 1994 $5.95 Writer: Kurt Busiek Artist: Alex Ross Letterers: Starkings w/ John Gaushell Editor: Marcus McLaurin Assitant editor: Spencer Lamm Editor in Chief: Tom DeFalco Cover design & logo: Joe Kaufman Interior design: Comicraft 45 pages
The real story was the people who’d been scared too long. Who’d been wound tight by talk of mutant menaces and hidden conspiracies and shadows under the bed.
I’ve mentioned before I want to frame our reading around the Marvels miniseries from the 1990s. That hasn’t really been obvious yet. We read Marvels #0, which retold a few pages from Marvel Comics #1. And we read Marvels #1, which paralleled 1940s Marvel comics. But our reading is concentrated in the 1960s. Finally, we get to Marvels #2, which parallels the 1960s Marvel stories, ranging from Avengers #6 (May 1964), the 191st entry in our reading, through Tales of Suspense #69 (June 1965), the 404th entry in our reading. Quite the range. We are reading it after completing the Iron Man story from Tales of Suspense #72, because we’d first needed to tie up some continuity ends.
We’ve hinted before at the theme of this comic, and I’d like to just discuss it up front. The two centerpiece stories are the wedding of Reed and Sue in Fantastic Four Annual 3, and the attack on the X-Men by the Sentinels in X-Men #14. The writer Kurt Busiek had noted in his own Marvel Universe research what we also found in our reading here, that these events must occur on nearly consecutive days. That’s not obvious from any comic, but does follow from a close reading of the many interconnected comics. And the two stories make for quite the juxtaposition.
The contrast between these two arcs becomes the central tension of this issue. The Fantastic Four wedding is the celebrity event of the century. The press covered it, crowds of fans gathered, famous people like Tony Stark and Millie the Model attended. The Fantastic Four are super-powered heroes and beloved by the public.
The X-Men are also super-powered heroes. But where the Fantastic Four gained their powers from cosmic radiation, the powers of the X-Men are innate, based on an accident of birth, perhaps from radiation their parents had been exposed to. The “Children of the Atom”. And that difference is big enough that the same public who cheered on the wedding of the FF members would listen with interest and nods of approval as Bolivar Trask went on the airwaves to declare mutants a menace and announce he’d created robot-hunting Sentinels to hunt and kill the X-Men.
We read the Heroes & Legends retelling of the wedding, which focused on this very tension in the form of a child, who was a huge fan of the Fantastic Four, but afraid of the X-Men. He learned better by issue’s end.
Here, the arc will play out within Phil Sheldon, the photojournalist who specialises in shots of the people he’s dubbed the Marvels. A person who idolizes heroes like the Fantastic Four and Avengers, but fears mutants like the X-Men.
It’s entirely irrational, just like all forms of bigotry.
That’s enough belaboring of themes. Let’s dive into the story. As we do, we’ll try to draw the parallels between what’s happening on the page and our reading.
I’ll note that the title is called “Monsters”, which brings to my mind Thing and Hulk. The latter doesn’t appear, and the former is a minor player at best.
It’s 20 years after the events of Marvels #1. Phil Sheldon is now an established freelance photojournalist happily married with two kids. We see hm doing freelance work for Barney Bushkin at the Daily Globe. The shadows on the page somewhat obscure Phil’s eyepatch, a lifelong injury sustained last issue by getting too close to a superhero battle.
We remember meeting Barney in Amazing Spider-Man #27. He’s nicer than Jonah, but asked too many questions for Peter’s tastes.
I was chosen to be– keeper of the flame! But now– the torch has– gone out!
Captain America is certain there is somebody behind Power Man. Since he knows nothing about Power Man, I’m not sure where that certainty comes from.
The Avengers have been ordered to disband by the city. That’s enough for most of the team, but not for Captain America. He thinks they stand for something bigger than obeying laws.
This leads the Avengers to fight amongst themselves. They do this a lot. But this time, the fight dissolves the team.
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
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.
Featuring: Avengers Release: July 8, 1965 Cover: September 1965 12 cents Wham-Type script by Stan Lee Pow-type pencilling by Don Heck Zowie-type inking by Wallace Wood Rather nice lettering by Artie Simek 20 pages
There’s something about being an Avenger… that seems to get into your blood and never let go!
The creative team is almost never mentioned on the cover of these (or any) comics. This is certainly the first time we’ve seen the inker advertised. Stan knows he’s lucky to have Wally Wood, and perhaps already knows he won’t have him much longer.
We saw Wood inking Heck in Tales of Suspense #71, which comes out one month after this one. So this is properly their first collaboration.
The cover is a rare Kirby/Wood collaboration, and pretty awesome. A team I think many would like to have seen more work by.
We see a rare feat of teamwork for these new Avengers. They seem to be defeating the Swordsman when he disappears.
He finds himself in the lair of the Mandarin. Who wishes to destroy the Avengers, though he’s never met them*. His foe is Iron Man, who used to be an Avenger. And it follows that he must destroy these Avengers, which don’t include Iron Man. Because Iron Man is his foe. And… the Mandarin’s plans may just be too crafty for my little brain.
Featuring: Avengers Release: June 8, 1965 Cover: August 1965 12 cents Writer: Stan Lee Artist: Don Heck Inker: Dick Ayers Letterer: Artie Simek 20 pages
“Marvel Pop Art Productions”? This phrase started appearing on covers these last couple months. The letters page explains that fans object to these magazines being called comics, perhaps as that implies they are humorous and juvenile. So Stan is going to start calling them “pop art books”. I started reading these things about 25 years later and heard they were called comics, so I’m not sure this rebranding will stick.
Swordsman tries to join the Avengers but is rebuffed after a fight.
Featuring: Fantastic Four Release: July 1, 1965 Cover: 1965 25 cents Written by: Stan Lee Drawn by: Jack Kirby Inked by: Vince Colletta Lettered by: Artie Simek 23 pages
I now pronounce you man and wife! You may kiss your bride!
It’s the wedding of the century. Today’s the day. Half the Marvels have been invited! And the rest of them are turning up anyway!
This issue represents by far the largest gathering of heroes and villains yet, forever binding these disparate characters into a universe.
This issue represents the idea that there is no status quo, that these characters are at their best when they change and grow. Forward momentum is an essential ingredient to storytelling. Genuine, non-illusionary, change.
This is the most significant moment in the early Marvel Universe.
I think I’d have come up with a better title than “Bedlam at the Baxter Building”.
I wish Chic Stone or Joe Sinnott had been the inker. A few months too late to have Stone and one month too early to have Sinnott. Also, Colletta is uniquely suited to a long special issue with many characters because he’s famously expedient.
I appreciate that the headline takes for granted the public knows who Reed and Sue are without the need for surnames or superhero identities. The cover does the same for its audience.
Pretty cool this worked out to be the 400th story in our reading order. Currently on track to also have the 500th story be a particularly special issue of Fantastic Four as well. When we read Avengers #1, it was the 100th story, but then I went and retroactively mucked with the ordering.
Featuring: Avengers Release: May 11, 1965 Cover: July 1965 12 cents Slyly written by: Stan Lee Smoothly drawn by: Don Heck Suavely inked by: Dick Ayers Superbly lettered by: Artie Simek Stoically read by: You (if you’ll ever turn the page…!) 20 pages
I thought our purpose was to battle crime! Why need we concern ourselves with international affairs?
Of all the stories in the early Marvel Universe, these Cold War stories are the worst across the board. The very worst are the Cold War stories set in Asia, as they tend to mix in racism with the blatant US government pro-war propaganda.
It’s awful because they are aimed at children, with the seeming intent to indoctrinate them into supporting the war in Vietnam or whatever else.
If you remove all the ways they are plainly awful jingoistic racist propaganda, they still tend to be prettyawfulnarratively. The closest thing to an exception is the recent Thor story, which did have an actual narrative about a conflict between brothers and a family divided because one brother joined the Viet Cong.
But maybe this story where the Avengers invade an Asian nation at random to battle their Communist leader and overthrow the government will be the exception.
Spoiler. It won’t be.
This story is interesting because it’s both forgettable and forgotten… at least mostly forgotten for about 55 years… until 2019 when someone decided it should be one of the foundational cornerstones of the entire history of the Marvel Universe.
Featuring: Avengers Release: April 8, 1965 Cover: June 1965 12 cents Story by: Stan Lee (Who else?) Art by: Don Heck (Why not?) Inked by: Dick Ayers Lettered by: S. Rosen 20 pages
Here it is, the first outing of the New Avengers. How will they measure up to the old team? Lots of differences. In terms of power level, we’ve traded in a god and a man in a powerful suit of iron armor for a guy with a bow and arrows and a guy who runs fast. In terms of character strength, we’ve traded in four people who sustained their own features for 3 years now for three who have only been side characters. In terms of ethics, we’ve traded in four superheroes for three characters who were super-villains a month ago. Two members of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants and one lovesick Soviet stooge.
The opening tag refers to the team as the New Avengers, which is what I have always called them. Similarly if you hear me refer to the New X-Men, I probably mean the 1975 team.
It also lets us know the Avengers have begun the search for the Hulk. I’m not convinced they look very hard at all.
“Avengers Assemble!” shouts Captain America. With quite the assemblage of heroes and villains behind him. Check out our pretty full cast list near the end.
A little annoyed with myself as I make this post. I screwed up. In the middle of a move and all my comics are in transit. I have this issue, my second oldest Avengers comic after issue 8, and I thought I had scanned this before I packed and shipped it. I remembered doing so. Apparently I only scanned the single page I used in my Wandavision post.
I considered pausing our reading for a bit until I could scan my comic, but who knows when that will be. So we’ll press forward with scans, err, found on the internet. We’ll call them temporary. I’ll come back in a month or so and replace them with my own. You probably won’t even notice the difference. I just prefer to scan my own comics when I can.
And this issue means a lot to me.
Had it since early childhood somehow. My cousin had borrowed it for an extended period of time, but I eventually got it back.
This is a pretty historic issue. For whatever reason, Heck chose this issue of all issues to take a breather, leaving Ayers to do the artwork over Kirby’s layouts… or perhaps Kirby’s loose pencils, or maybe full pencils for some of the comic.
First, we need to wrap up the story from last issue. Captain America had just fatally defeated Zemo, and now needs to get back to New York with Rick. He’ll have some trouble with Zemo’s henchmen. Meanwhile, the battle with the Masters of Evil continues in New York.
Let’s just say the Avengers win, though Enchantress and Executioner escape. The battle’s anyway over by page 4, and we have more important things to discuss.
It turns out this was these heroes’ final battle together.
