power man – Coke & Comics

Avengers #30

Frenzy in a Far-Off Land!

Featuring: Avengers
Release: May 10, 1966
Cover: July 1966
12 cents
Stan Lee: Writer
Don Heck: Artist
Frank Giacoia: Inker
Sam Rosen: Letterer
Irving Forbush: Arbitrator
20 pages

Previous	#522	Next
Amazing Spider-Man #38	Reading order	Avengers #31
Avengers #29	Avengers	Avengers #31

But, the past is over now! The past is dead! You are the master no longer! I’m free of you… at last!

We just saw Galactus appear in the middle of New York. There to devour the Earth. The Avengers have a mansion in the middle of New York. Why didn’t they help out?

Well, maybe they were away. Where? Surely not just elsewhere in New York fighting Black Widow. Maybe off wherever the Collector’s castle is? Or in the middle of the Atlantic fighting Attuma? Or perhaps they were in the “Far-Off Land”, as the title suggests. It seems likely they were quite far away.

Now, the Avengers won’t make it to the titular Far-Off Land this issue, but next issue.

And Marvels will claim this is where the Avengers were when Galactus attacked. Which is good enough for me.

Avengers #29

This Power Unleashed!

Featuring: Avengers
Release: April 12, 1966
Cover: June 1966
12 cents
Savage script by: Stan Lee!
Powerful pencilling by: Don Heck!
Explosive embellishment by: Frank Giacoia!
Lethargic lettering by: Sam Rosen!
20 pages

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Avengers #28	Reading order	Thor #127
Avengers #28	Avengers	Avengers #30

No matter what else… he’ll always be an Avenger! Just as he’ll always be… the man I love!

Frank Giacoia going by his real name for perhaps the first time. He’s usually been under the pen name Frankie Ray or similar.

Dr. Henry Pym. Ant-Man. Giant-Man. Goliath. He who can’t choose a name.

Or a status quo. His latest shtick is that he can only turn exactly 25 feet tall and only for a period of exactly 15 minutes. What happens if he exceeds 15 minutes? We’re about to find out. He did so last issue, then collapsed while shrinking, having gotten down to about 10 feet.

I think it’s cute how quickly all the Avengers have taken to calling him Goliath. There’s probably a lesson for people today to take from this.

Avengers #22

The Road Back

Featuring: Avengers
Release: September 2, 1965
Cover: November 1965
12 cents
Star-studded story by: Stan Lee!
Peerless pencilling by: Don Heck!
Dazzling delineation by: Wally Wood!
Lonesome lettering by: Artie Simek!
20 pages

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Avengers #21	Reading order	Tales of Suspense #72
Avengers #21	Avengers	Avengers #23

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.

Avengers #21

The Bitter Taste of Defeat!

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.