Avengers Vol. 1 No. 13

Avengers Vol. 1 No. 13
February, 1965
"Trapped in... The Castle of Count Nefaria!"
Rather exceptional story by: Stan Lee
Somewhat distinctive art by: Don Heck
Fairly compelling inking by: Dick Ayers
Moderately clear lettering by: Artie Simek

On the cover, we see a sinister figure -- the titular Count Nefaria
himself -- working an elaborate control panel like a concert pianist.
Green waves of energy stream forth from the machine, holding the
mighty Avengers at bay.

The splash page shows the Avengers -- Captain America, Giant-Man,
Thor, The Wasp, and Iron Man -- under attack by unseen forces. On a
telephone pole nearby, a poster declares that the Avengers are wanted
for treason, dead or alive! A caption assures us that we are about to
learn how this came about...

As the story opens, a group of thieves are making off with a truck
full of stolen furs. But their crime is interrupted by the arrival of
Iron Man and Thor, who quickly apprehend them. Word of the aborted
robbery soon reaches the members of the international crime
organization known as the Maggia, and they're not pleased. The
interference of the Avengers has been cutting deeply into their profits.

Suddenly, a device on the wrist of one of the gangsters begins to
glow; he is being summoned by their leader, Count Nefaria. Nervously,
the mobster places his hands on the "Sensitized Electro-Disc" mounted
on the wall, and his image is projected halfway across the world to
Nefaria's castle. Nefaria chews out the gang leader for his repeated
failures, and tells him to prepare for punishment. As his image
disappears, Nefaria ponders that he has been banished from the Maggia,
and will have "no place to go -- none to turn to!" (I have to wonder
if the "punishment" wasn't originally intended to be a bit more fatal,
and either the Comics Code objected, or Stan had second thoughts.) He
then begins to formulate a plan for dealing with the Avengers. Since
the public only knows him as a respectable European nobleman, no one
will suspect his true intentions.

Days later, the papers carry the news that Nefaria is moving his
castle stone by stone from Europe to the New Jersey Palisades. The
castle will be open to the public, with the profits going to charity
(Sounds like he's going to be competing with the Palisades Amusement
Park that was always being advertised in DC Comics!). Moreover, the
Count sends a letter to the Avengers, inviting them to the grand
opening. The heroes take him up on the offer, and soon arrive at the
castle. Even Thor is impressed by the Count's fancy digs (while the
Wasp seems quite taken with the Count himself). The Avengers are lead
to individual guest rooms, where they can "freshen up" before the
opening ceremonies.

But Nefaria has other plans. The Avengers soon fall victim to the
"Time Transcender Beams" hidden in the lights of each room. Time seems
to stand still for them, as the Count carries out his evil scheme.
Rather than harm the Avengers directly, he plans to let others do his
dirty work for him. He uses his scientific equipment to creates
3-dimensional images of each of the heroes, which he then beams into
the Pentagon. The phony Avengers declare that they are taking over the
country, and anyone who opposes them will be destroyed! The response
is immediate -- the Avengers are declared traitors, to be shot on
sight, and the military makes plans to hunt them down.

Back at the castle, Rick Jones and his pals in the Teen Brigade are
wondering why the Avengers haven't reappeared. They decide to snoop
around, but as they approach Nefaria's control room, they are spotted
and captured by Maggia guards. While the kids cool their heels in the
dungeon, Nefaria releases the Avengers, who don't realize that they've
been unconscious for hours. Nefaria spins a yarn about having to
postpone the opening ceremonies, and sends the heroes on their way --
right into the path of the U.S. military! Though they don't understand
why they're being attacked, the Avengers fight back. Thor and Iron Man
take out the tanks and planes, while Cap and Giant-Man hold the troops
at bay to cover their escape, being careful not to injure anyone. The
Avengers retreat to their secondary emergency headquarters, and learn
of the charges against them. They realize that someone must have
impersonated them, and suspect that Nefaria is somehow involved.

Across town at the famous Baxter Building, Reed Richards declares that
if the Avengers have gone rogue, the Fantastic Four will have to help
apprehend them. The Thing actually relishes the chance to match his
strength against Thor, but a government agent arrives and instructs
them to stay put. With the public so riled up against the Avengers,
it's feared that any "super-powered celebrity" who shows their face
will be attacked. So the government is warning them all to keep a low
profile while they handle matters.

In Nefaria's dungeon, Rick tries to contact Iron Man with his
miniature transmitter. Unfortunately, Iron Man's receiver was damaged
in the fight with the army, and he doesn't get their message. But
Nefaria detects the radio beam, and decides to punish the Teen Brigade
by moving them to a different dungeon. Their new prison has
transparent walls studded with suction cups coated with a strange
substance. Nefaria warns them that one touch of the substance will put
them into "perpetual suspended animation", and then causes the walls
to close in on them until they are almost touching. The Count boasts
that once again he has not harmed them directly -- they'll be safe as
long as they stand perfectly still.

The Avengers are closing in on the castle, but run afoul of the
Count's booby-traps; Thor, Giant-Man, the Wasp, and Iron Man are all
paralyzed by a powerful chemical as soon as they come in contact with
the building. Captain America manages to jump through an open window
without actually touching the walls, and enters safely. He is attacked
by Maggia goons, but makes short work of them, and soon finds Rick and
his friends in the dungeon. Once they're all free, they split up in
order to avoid Nefaria's men. Looking outside, Cap sees a navy
destroyer travelling up the Hudson River; using his shield to catch
the sun's rays, he flashes a signal to them.

Nefaria spots Captain America on his monitor screen, and zaps him with
a paralyzing ray. When Cap wakes up, he is in chains, and Nefaria
brags that he will be a hero when he turns Cap over to the
authorities. Just then, Iron Man comes crashing through the wall.
While Cap was distracting the Count, the Teen Brigade was able to find
and free the Avengers. The heroes make quick work of the Maggia thugs,
and close in on the Count himself. Panicking, Nefaria admits that he
is the one who send the electronic images of the Avengers to the
Pentagon, and tries to pass it off as a mere "prank". A general steps
out from hiding and says that he's heard enough to exonerate the
Avengers (presumably he came in response to Cap's signal, although
this isn't stated). Count Nefaria will be deported, and no doubt
punished by his Maggia superiors. All's well that ends well -- until
Giant-Man notices that the Wasp isn't around, and then sees her
unconscious body cradled in Rick's arms. A grief-stricken Rick says
that she was hit by a stray bullet during the fight, and the issue
ends on this cliffhanger.

--

Another solid, action-packed issue. While Count Nefaria is essentially
just another mad scientist (in the same vein as Zemo or Kang), making
him a European nobleman and the head of a Mafia-type cartel is a
somewhat different spin on things. In a few of his close-ups, the
Count resembles horror star Vincent Price. Nefaria went on to fight
both the original and "all-new" X-Men teams, before making a memorable
return in AVENGERS 164-166.

Captain America always seems to be "last man standing" in these
stories, and his teammates are starting to look a little dumb by
comparison; even the Teen Brigade comes off better than Thor and Iron
Man this issue!

Wasp Watch: Not much glory for Jan this time out. She's not a factor
in any of the battles, and her only contribution to the plot is
getting shot at the end.

The Mighty Marvel Checklist features Fantastic Four #36, Spider-Man
#22, Daredevil #6, Thor #113, Strange Tales #130, Suspense #63,
Astonish #65, and Sgt. Fury #15.

--
- JKC -

Avengers Vol. 1 No. 12

THE AVENGERS Vol. 1 No. 12
January 1965
"This Hostage Earth!"
Written in the Marvel manner by Smilin' Stan Lee
Illustrated in the Marvel tradition by Dazzlin' Don Heck
Delineated in the Marvel style by Darlin' Dick Ayers
Lettered in the nick of time by Swingin' Sam Rosen

Giant-Man is working in his lab (again!) when he receives a Cybernetic
Alarm from the ants living far below the surface. The ants are in a
panic, indicating some great danger. Giant-Man decides to call an
Avengers emergency meeting, although the Wasp suspects that the other
heroes won't take well to being summoned on account of a bunch of
ants. Sure enough, when Thor, Iron Man (traveling via his built-in
roller skates!) and Captain America arrive, they are highly skeptical
of this alleged emergency. Giant-Man points out that it could have
something to do with the Fantastic Four's enemy the Mole Man, but Thor
reminds him that Mole Man and his entire underground kingdom were
destroyed in his last battle with the F.F. Irritated, Giant-Man
finally tells the other Avengers to get lost, and that he'll
investigate this situation by himself.

Miles below the surface, we see that Giant-Man's hunch was correct:
The Mole Man survived his battle with the Fantastic Four, and has
rebuilt his underground empire. Now he and his subterranean slaves
have built a gigantic Atomic Gyroscope, which will cause the Earth's
rotation to gradually speed up, eventually destroying all life on the
surface. It was this acceleration that the sensitive ants picked up on.

Back in his laboratory, Giant-Man tells the Wasp to shrink down to
ant-size with him so they can investigate. But it turns out that she
is just as skeptical of the situation as the other Avengers were, and
doesn't think it's worth missing her hairdresser appointment. So
Giant-Man goes alone to the ant-hill where the alarm came from. As he
enters, he feels the entire hill start shaking and then collapse,
sending him tumbling down a vast chasm. He's able to stop his fall by
growing to giant-size and bracing himself against the walls of the
tunnel. Giant-Man works his way down to the bottom, where he hears the
sound of a massive turbine, and sees a barrier made of beams of light
blocking his path.

Not far away, the Mole Man's sensitive ears pick up the sound of
Giant-Man pounding on the barrier, and he leads his mindless minions
to investigate. The dwarf-like Subterraneans swarm over Giant-Man like
Lilliputians over Gulliver. He grabs a slab of rock to block the
energy-rays they fire at him, then uses it to smash the tank they send
after him. But the Mole Man sneaks up behind and fires a stun gun that
brings the giant Avenger down. The Subterraneans bind him and carry
him away.

On the surface, the effects of the Atomic Gyroscope are becoming
noticeable. Office workers in a skyscraper feel the building swaying;
seismographs all over the world are going berserk; even the famous
Tower of Pisa is leaning farther than usual. At their headquarters,
the Avengers realize that they should have listened to Giant-Man's
warning. They have to find him, since he may be the only one who knows
the nature of the menace. As acting chairman, the Wasp decides to use
their Image Projector (seen in issue &3) to quickly search for
Giant-Man's whereabouts. While her real self is safe in Avengers' HQ,
a projected image of her is sent below the surface, following the
signals from Giant-Man's antennae. She soon spots the light-barrier,
and the Mole Man's rebuilt kingdom. The Mole Man detects this new
intruder, but the image vanishes before he can intercept it. Knowing
that he's been found, the Mole Man decides to strike first, and he
sends a squad of Subterraneans to the surface in a mole-like
tunneling machine.

At the Avengers' mansion, the team is trying to figure out the best
way to reach Giant-Man at the Earth's core. Captain America remembers
Tony Stark's new transistorized fox-hole digger, and Iron Man says he
can modify it to reach the Mole Man's lair. But before they can act,
the Subterraneans come bursting up from the floor. The Mole Man's
soldiers are puny, but armed with high-tech weaponry. One uses a
magnetic device to grab Captain America's shield, but Cap is unfazed;
he simply lays into them bare-handed instead. The Wasp targets another
Subterranean, but he sprays her with choking gas; luckily, Iron Man is
able to disperse the gas with a blast of compressed air. But then Iron
Man is menaced by a Subterranean with a flame-thrower; the Wasp
returns the favor by using her "sting" to make the enemy drop his
weapon. Thor, meanwhile, is smashing weapons right and left with his
hammer, and Cap's ricocheting shield takes out several more. Just as
the Subterraneans seem on the verge of surrender, they are surrounded
by a blinding mist. Rick Jones (where'd he come from?) manages to turn
on the exhaust fan, but by the time the mist clears, their foes have
vanished.

The Avengers decide to continue with their original plan, and Cap and
Rick go to Tony Stark's warehouse to get the transistor tubes they
need to boost the power of the fox-hole diggers. When they arrive at
the warehouse, they see a group of thieves making off with Stark's
equipment. Cap lays into the thugs, but gets caught by surprise when a
big brute named Monk emerges from the shadows and tags him in the jaw.
Rick jumps in to help, but is no match for the burly crook. But by
this time, Cap has recovered, and takes out Monk with a couple of
well-placed punches. Rick is embarrassed at being taken out so easily,
but Cap assures him that the important thing is to learn from his
mistakes.

At Tony Stark's weapons factory, Iron Man is working on the machinery,
while Thor is anxious to get moving; he feels guilty for not heeding
Giant-Man's warnings earlier. Captain America and Rick Jones return
with the transistors, and soon the device is completed. Thor has used
his hammer like a divining rod to pinpoint the location where they
must dig. He and Iron Man fly the machine to the proper spot, while
the others follow in a chartered jet.

Down below, the Mole Man is angered to see his defeated troops return.
He can't understand why they gave up, or how they escaped the
Avengers. Suddenly, a figure appears and announces that he is the one
who brought the troops back. It is the Red Ghost, the communist agent
who fought the Fantastic Four on the Moon many months ago. He has the
power to become unsolid, and has since learned how to use that power
on others as well, which is how he slipped the Mole Man's troops back
under the surface. The Red Ghost has decided that the Super-Apes he
employed in the past were too unpredictable, and he wants to form an
alliance with the Mole Man instead. An alarm goes off, signalling the
approach of an enemy, and the Mole Man says that the Red Ghost can
prove his worth in the upcoming battle.

The Avengers' makeshift tunneling device carries them to the Mole
Man's domain, and Iron Man leads the charge with a cry of "Avengers
Attack!". Thor easily clears the light barrier with his hammer, but
then Captain America spots the Red Ghost aiming a ray gun at them from
a ledge above. Iron Man uses his magnetic repulsor to deflect the
shot, which leaves a smoking crater in front of the heroes. Before the
Red Ghost can fire again, Iron Man hits him with a sound blast that
staggers him and causes him to drop his weapon. A tank enters the
fray, with what looks like a giant fly-swatter mounted on the front.
Iron Man holds the weapon back and tells the others to go look for
Giant-Man.

But the Wasp has already flown ahead and found her partner, trapped by
an anti-cybernetic ray. She dodges the gunshots of the Subterranean
guards, and then flips the switch to free Giant-Man. He brushes aside
the Mole Man's guards with a sweep of his hand, then he and the Wasp
rush to rejoin their comrades.

Meanwhile, the Mole Man unleashes a barrage of Hyper-Ionic Missiles at
the Avengers. Thor deflects them back to the source with his hammer,
but the Red Ghost uses his power on himself and the Mole Man, so the
missiles pass through harmlessly. Iron Man wrecks the missile
launcher. More Subterraneans show up, but he and Thor tear up a slab
of the metal floor and wrap the enemy soldiers up in it. By this time,
the Mole Man and the Red Ghost have reached the controls of the Atomic
Gyroscope, with which they can destroy the Earth. The Mole Man says he
will kill all but one of the Avengers, and the remaining hero will
deliver his demand for unconditional surrender to the surface-dwellers.

Unknown to the villains, however, an ant-sized Giant-Man is crawling
around inside the Gyroscope controls, switching connections and
causing the device to short-circuit. The Gyroscope stops moving, and
the Avengers move in to capture their foes. Unfortunately, the Red
Ghost's power to become unsolid makes it impossible to stop their
escape. But Thor uses his hammer to destroy the Subterraneans'
war-machines, and the Avengers seal the tunnel behind them, which will
prevent them from invading the surface again.

The next day, the Avengers meet up again, and the Wasp says that
they'll have to give an official apology to Giant-Man for doubting
him. Back in the ruins of the Mole Man's empire, the two villains
argue over which of them is to blame for their defeat.

--

Plot-wise, this is a pretty standard issue; the "underground invaders"
theme is reminiscent of the Lava Men from issue #5, and the Red Ghost
seems to have just been tossed in for the heck of it. But the emphasis
on characterization helps it to stand out, with Thor's arrogance and
Giant-Man's anger over not being taken seriously (another
foreshadowing of the inferiority complex that will cause him so many
problems in the years ahead). Don Heck continues to do nice work on
the art side. His high-tech gadgets aren't as inspired as Kirby's, but
he's very good at staging action. The Red Ghost has this great
arrogant sneer plastered to his face; appropriately, he resembles a
long-haired Nikita Khrushchev.

Wasp Watch: Jan comes across pretty well this issue. She rather rudely
dismisses Giant-Man's warnings of impending disaster, but so does
everyone else (and she's the one who rescues him later). I love the
scene where she and Iron Man take turns helping each other out, which
makes her seem like an equal part of the team. We even get to see her
taking her turn as Chairman, although she doesn't actually get to do
much in the way of giving orders (the Chairmanship will eventually
become a much more significant job, and Jan will have a turn at it
again in the 1980s).

On the "All About the Avengers" page, there's a letter from none other
than George R.R. Martin, who went on to become a well-known author
(anyone who's read his "Wild Cards" books will not be surprised to
find out that he was a comics fan!). He praises the Heck/Ayers art
team, and lists his favorite and least favorite villains, suggesting
that the likes of the Thinker, the Mole Man, the Puppet Master, and
Diablo not make any more appearances (Stan responds that it's too
late, as most of those guys had either already reappeared or were
about to). In the "Special Announcements" section, we're told that in
the debate over whether they were using too many guest-stars, the
pro-guest-star contingent was slightly ahead. We also find out that
Rick Jones and the Teen Brigade will be playing a bigger part in
future issues (personally, I think they're kind of lame... the Newsboy
Legion could totally kick their butts). The "Mighty Marvel Checklist"
includes FANTASTIC FOUR #35, SPIDER-MAN #21, X-MEN #9, THOR #112,
STRANGE TALES #129, SUSPENSE #62, ASTONISH #64, and SGT. FURY AND HIS
YOU-KNOW-WHO'S #14.

--
- JKC -

Avengers Vol. 1 No. 11

THE AVENGERS Vol. 1 No. 11
December 1964
"The Mighty Avengers Meet Spider-Man!"
Spectacular story by: Stan Lee
Incomparable illustrations by: Don Heck
Dazzling delineation by: Chic Stone
Lachrymose lettering by: Sam Rosen

Giant-Man is working in his laboratory when he receives a call from
Thor. Annoyed at the interruption of his experiments, he and the Wasp
nonetheless report to Avengers headquarters for an emergency meeting.
It seems that millionaire Tony Stark has been killed, and his
bodyguard Iron Man has gone missing. Not knowing that the two are one
and the same, the Avengers assume that Iron Man is trying to track
down Stark's killer. They vote to grant Iron Man a temporary leave of
absence until he finishes his mission.

The Avengers don't realize that they are being monitored by their
enemy Kang from the year 3000. He has been watching their battles, and
observes that the Masters of Evil came closest to destroying the
Avengers when they sent Wonder Man to infiltrate the team. Kang
decides to try a similar strategy, but using a robot so there will be
no chance of his spy betraying him. He briefly considers sending a
team of robots patterned after powerful villains, such as Absorbing
Man, the Unicorn, Mysterio, Magneto, and Dr. Doom, but decides that
they would just get in each others' way. No, a single hero robot is
his best bet, and the unique powers and loner status of Spider-Man
make him the ideal choice. Kang's Iso-Nuclear Duplicator analyzes
photographs and data about Spider-Man, and creates an exact copy with
all his powers and abilities. Kang gives the robot its instructions,
and sends it back to the 20th century.

As per Kang's calculations, the faux Spidey soon sees Captain America
battling a group of thugs. Spinning a giant web, the Spider-Robot
captures the crooks. Cap is grateful, but curious as to why Spider-Man
would be helping him. The Spider-Robot tells him that he wishes to
join the Avengers, and Cap agrees to take him to their headquarters.

The other Avengers don't exactly greet him with open arms. Thor points
out that there are tests and trials that a prospective member must go
through, and the Wasp says that she has an instinctual dislike of
spiders. The Spider-Robot expected such a reaction, and plays his
trump card: He tells them that he knows where Iron Man is, but if they
aren't interested, he'll just leave. Thor angrily cuts off his
departure with a toss of his hammer, and threatens to teach the
insolent arachnid a lesson in manners. Captain America calms him down,
and the Spider-Robot tells his story: He claims he witnessed the
Masters of Evil kidnapping Iron Man, and overhead them saying they
were going to take him to the Temple of Tirod in Mexico. Again, Thor
is ready to clobber Spider-Man for not revealing this at once, but
Giant-Man restrains him, and the thunder god agrees to stay his
wrath... until after Iron Man is rescued. Cap rallies the team with a
stirring cry of "Avengers --- Awaaay!" and they are off to Mexico. The
Spider-Robot thinks smugly that they are running off to their deaths.

The team decide to split up and each make the trip in their own
fashion. Giant-Man and the Wasp stow away on a jet plane at insect
size, and soon arrive at the temple. Suddenly, they are attacked by
the Spider-Robot, who was able to get there first via Kang's
technology. He tries to trap the two tiny heroes under a granite
block, but the Wasp slams into the robot's midsection and zaps him
with her Wasp's Sting, which knocks the imposter off-balance.
Recovering quickly, the robot tries to web them up, but Giant-Man
closes in, shrinking down to ant-size to avoid his attacks, then
zipping back up to giant-size to tag him with a super-strong punch.
Unable to keep up with the constant size-changes, the Spider-Robot
flees. But he's really luring Giant-Man into a trap, where he ties his
giant hands to a stone pillar with a special elastic web that will
shrink and grow as he does. The Spider-Robot then turns his attention
to the Wasp, smacking her with a web fly-swatter.

At that moment, Thor leaps into the fray. The robot dodges his attack,
then strikes back with a two-fisted blow that knocks Thor off-balance.
Realizing that he's no match for Thor in a fistfight, the robot backs
off and taunts him by asking if he uses bobby pins or curlers in that
long hair of his. Thor responds by tossing his hammer... exactly as
the robot hoped. He snares the hammer in his web, keeping it from
returning to Thor. Thor thinks that he must get the hammer back within
60 seconds, or revert to his mortal form. He tosses a granite block at
the Spider-Robot, but his foe uses his webbing to bounce the block
right back at him. Thor smashes the block easily, but this gives the
robot a chance to cover him in a cocoon of webbing. Thor begins to
tear through, but then his time limit runs out, and he reverts to his
Don Blake identity. Unable to see him through all the webbing, the
Spider-Robot assumes that Thor just ran out of steam. That just leaves
one Avenger, he thinks... and with no super-powers, Captain America
will be the easiest target of all. Unknown to the robot, however, he
is being watched from the shadows...

The robot exits the temple, just in time to see Captain America
parachuting in. He tries to shove a stone block down on Cap, but he
rolls out of the way. As the Spider-Robot approaches, Cap tosses his
shield at him, but the robot quickly recovers and closes in for
battle. Cap tags the robot with a punch to the jaw, and the robot
decides that it's foolish to fight him hand-to-hand. Instead, he
covers Cap's face with webbing, and shoves him backwards off the ledge
of the temple. It's one hundred feet to the ground below, and the
robot is sure he won't survive the fall.

Watching the battle on his monitor, Kang is pleased with the robot's
victory. But his mood turns sour when he sees Cap land safely in a
web-net. Why would his robot do such a thing? Kang decides he'd better
wrap things up quickly, and orders his robot to activate the
Time-Transport Dial that will bring the Avengers to him in the year
3000. But before the robot can comply, it is yanked off its feet by a
spider-web. Then a blast of sticky web-fluid gums up the works of the
Time-Transport Dial, rendering it useless. The real Spider-Man has
arrived, much to Kang's chagrin.

The true Spidey tells the imposter that his Spider-Sense detected his
presence back in New York, and he's been following him ever since. The
robot interrupts his explanation with a kick to the jaw, knocking
Spidey over the ledge. But Spider-Man easily clings to the wall of the
temple, and starts to swing back up on his web-line. The robot grabs
the line, intending to play "crack the whip" with Spidey, but
Spider-Man once again anchors himself to the wall and reverses their
positions, yanking the robot off the ledge. Reacting quickly, the
robot webs up a pair of glider-wings to break his fall. Spider-Man
creates wings of his own and leaps up after him. Spider-Man leaps onto
his imposter in mid-air, and the two struggle. Using his scientific
knowledge, Spider-Man manages to find the robot's control stud,
allowing him to deactivate it. Shut down, the robot falls to the
ground below, while Spidey parachutes to safety.

Still caught in the web that broke his fall, Captain America has
witnessed the whole thing. Meanwhile, Don Blake has managed to work
his hand free of the web cocoon and retrieve his hammer, turning him
back into Thor. Soon the Avengers are back together, and Cap explains
about the robot imposter. They deduce that only Kang could have the
advanced technology to create such a perfect duplicate, and vow that
they will not be caught off-guard like that again. Watching them from
the year 3000, Kang shakes his fists in frustration, then slinks off
into the shadows to ponder his next scheme.

--

The "All About the Avengers" column begins with an explanation that
Marvel will no longer be able to send out cards responding to every
letter received, because the volume of mail has just gotten too large.
But Stan assures the readers that they still read every letter. A
couple of interesting letters from female fans this issue: Barbara
McCasland of Indiana thinks Captain America is too conceited and
bossy, and wants the Hulk back on the team. And Ruth Doyle of
California would like to see a beauty contest between Betty Brant,
Alica Masters, Sue Storm, Janet Van Dyne, Pepper Potts, Karen Page,
Jean Grey, Jane Foster, and Doris Evans (My money's on Jean Grey...
mmm, redheads...). Robert Linderman of Connecticut boasts about how he
sneaks Marvel Comics into school against the headmaster's wishes. Stan
seems a bit taken aback, and tells Robert he shouldn't go around
defying authority like that (no doubt remembering the brouhaha in the
'50s over comics allegedly causing juvenile delinquincy).

In the "Special Announcements" section, Stan reveals that the plot for
this issue was changed in mid-stream. Originally, only the Spider-Man
robot was going to show up, but they realized that might seem like a
rip-off, so they changed the ending to have the real Spider-Man appear
and save the day. We're told that while Marvel enjoys surprising their
readers, they never want them to feel like they're being deceived.

In the "Memo From the M.M.M.S.", Stan says that the plans for the
Merry Marvel Marching Society are still being finalized, but reveals
that the membership fee will be a dollar. He hastens to add that if a
fan is strapped for cash, they shouldn't worry about holding off and
joining later when they can save up the money (The tone of this whole
letter column is kind of cautious and apologetic, as if Stan was
starting to realize how popular and influential his books were, and
was being careful not to do anything that could be seen as exploiting
the kids).

The "Mighty Marvel Checklist" includes entries for FANTASTIC FOUR #34,
SPIDER-MAN #20, THOR #111, STRANGE TALES #128, SUSPENSE #61, ASTONISH
#63, and SGT. FURY #12.

Wasp Watch: The Wasp doesn't have a big presence in this story, but at
least she does get to sock the phony Spider-Man right in the ol'
breadbasket. It appears that Stan and co. are getting past the idea
that having a woman fight is "unladylike", and letting her mix it up a
little more.

Perhaps because of the last-minute nature of his involvement,
Spider-Man never does get to interact directly with any of the
Avengers, so the idea of him joining the team for real doesn't come
up. The idea will be broached in a couple of later issues, with mixed
results, but it won't be until 2005's NEW AVENGERS that Spidey becomes
a full-blown member.

--
- JKC -

Avengers Vol. 1 No. 10

AVENGERS Vol. 1 No. 10
November, 1964
"The Avengers Break Up!"
Story superbly written by: Stan Lee
Art adorably drawn by: Don Heck
Inked by darlin' Dick Ayers
Lettered by stalwart Sam Rosen

The story opens with the Avengers having a training session at their
mansion headquarters; the other heroes have to catch and subdue
Captain America. Iron Man snatches Cap's shield away by reversing his
magentic repulsors, and Thor grabs Cap from behind, pinning him with
his hammer. Giant-Man observes that Cap lasted for 47 seconds... a new
record. Cap is disappointed, though, since he felt he should have been
able to evade them for a full minute.

The team sits down for their regular meeting. Iron Man suggests that
they make Rick Jones a full-fledged member, but Captain America rather
testily insists that such a decision is for him to make. After the
meeting, he talks to Rick, telling him that he still feels guilty over
the death of his first partner Bucky, and he's not sure if he's ready
to put another teenaged boy in harm's way.

Meanwhile, in a hidden castle in the Amazon jungle, Zemo, the
Executioner, and the Enchantress are licking their wounds after their
previous defeat by the Avengers. Suddenly, the Enchantress feels a
strange sensation... a mental force contacting her. Seconds later, a
cloaked figure appears, announcing himself as Immortus, master of time
and ruler of Limbo. Immortus declares that he is joining the Masters
of Evil... one day he plans to take control of this century, and the
villains will make useful underlings when that happens.

The Executioner doesn't take kindly to this, and attacks. Immortus
vanishes, and sends a proxy to fight in his place -- the legendary
giant Paul Bunyan. The gargantuan lumberjack and the Asgardian warrior
fight briefly, but Zemo tells Immortus to call off the battle before
they destroy his entire castle. He concedes that Immortus has proven
his power, but now he wants to test his loyalty by having him destroy
one of the Avengers. Immortus boasts that he will defeat the entire
team, and then vanishes. The Executioner still doesn't trust the
newcomer, but Zemo points out that they have nothing to lose by
letting him attempt to kill the Avengers.

Back in New York, Rick Jones sees an ad in the back of a comic book
that promises to give people genuine super-powers. Thinking that this
will enable him to finally become a true Avenger, Rick goes to the
company's address -- only to find it was a trap laid by Immortus.
Immortus has his lackey, none other than Attila the Hun, subdue the
boy. Rick tries to fight back, and even Attila is impressed by his
courage, but in the end he is captured and imprisoned in the Tower of
London in the year 1760.

When Captain America realizes that Rick is missing, he contacts Rick's
friends in the Teen Brigade. They tell him about the ad that Rick saw,
and Cap in turn goes to the office where he finds Immortus waiting for
him. Immortus claims that it was the Avengers themselves who
instructed him to capture Rick, and says that he can prove it if Cap
will bring his teammates to him. With Rick's life in danger, Cap
reluctantly agrees.

Back at Avengers' Mansion, an angry Cap lashes out at his fellow
heroes, demanding to know why they betrayed Rick. The Avengers try to
subdue their out-of-control teammates, but Cap swats Iron Man aside
with his shield, then uses it to deflect Thor's hammer-throw. Cap uses
the spray from a fire extinguisher to blind Iron Man. Giant-Man steps
between Cap and Thor, trying to stop the battle, but Cap kicks him in
the legs, knocking him down. The Wasp tries to use her sting on Cap,
but he blocks it with his shield. Giant-Man gets back up, and this
time is able to separate the combatants. The Avengers agree to go with
Cap to see Immortus and get to the bottom of things.

The Avengers confront Immortus in his lair, and he tells them that he
will free Rick Jones if each of them can defeat an enemy that he
summons from the past. First up, Giant-Man is attacked by the evil
giant Goliath. They seem evenly matched, so Giant-Man tries to gain
advantage by shrinking down and tying his enemy's feet together with a
nylon cord. But Goliath easily snaps the bindings and threatnes to
squash the tiny hero with his foot. The Wasp intervenes, distracting
the enemy long enough for Ant-Man to form another plan. Taking his cue
from Goliath's foe David, Ant-Man improvises a slingshot to hurl
himself at the giant; he strikes in just the right spot to knock
Goliath out.

Next, Immortus summons Merlin the magician to fight Iron Man. The
wizard creates a steel cage around Iron Man, which he easily smashes
out of. Then he hurls a lightning bolt, which Iron Man dodges. Going
on the offensive, Iron Man uses the gadgets in his armor to create
blinding lights and loud screeching noises, which stun Merlin into
unconsciousness.

Thor's opponent turns out to be none other than Hercules. He proves to
be the strongest foe Thor's ever faced, but he manages to manuver the
brute towards the window. Knocking Hercules off-balance, Thor dangles
him out the window and threatens to drop him; Hercules has no choice
but to surrender.

As the other Avengers defeat his minions, Immortus grabs Captain
America, and the two of them are whisked back to 18th century London.
Immortus challenges Cap to fight his way through his army of medieval
knights and rescue Rick from the Tower.

Watching events from Zemo's castle, the Masters of Evil decide to
attack the Avengers while their strength is reduced. The heroes have
returned to their headquarters and are pondering the disappearance of
Captain America. But their musings are interrupted when the
Executioner smashes down the front door. As he squares off against
Iron Man, the other Masters of Evil target individual heroes. This
time, Zemo says, they will settle for nothing less than victory.

The Enchantress casts a spell at Giant-Man, forcing him to shrink to
the size of a small child. Meanwhile, the Executioner pounds away at
Iron Man with his special meteorite metal gloves, and is able to
actually put dents in his armor. Zemo uses a gun to spray "liquid ore"
at Thor, which solidfies and traps his hands. The Wasp flies around
the Enchantress' head, hoping to disrupt her concentration and allow
Giant-Man to regain his normal size. Iron Man tries to fight back with
his repulsor rays, but the Executioner's pounding has damaged his
circuits, and his weapons no longer function.

Zemo has almost completely covered Thor in solid rock, but before he
can finish the job, his weapon is shattered by Captain America's
shield. Zemo is stunned to see his old foe returned. Cap explains that
once he defeated his guards, Immortus kept his word and returned him
and Rick to the present. Cap attacks the Executioner, drawing him away
from the damaged Iron Man by bopping him on the head with his shield,
followed by a shield-throw to the midsection. A recovered Giant-Man
grabs the Executioner and hurls him into the wall. At that moment,
Thor manages to break free from the solid stone imprisoning him. The
Enchantress prepares to cast another spell, but the Wasp stops her by
yanking her hair.

With the Avengers recoverd and reunited, the Masters of Evil know they
haven't a chance. The Enchantress manages to get off a spell, which
will take them several days into the past, before they met Immortus.
Thus events are reset to the beginning of the story. The Avengers are
back at their meeting table, debating the membership of Rick Jones.
And the Masters of Evil are back in Zemo's castle. Unlike the
Avengers, the villains still remember the battle that occured, and
this time, when Immortus tries to mentally contact her, the
Enchantress breaks the connection.

--

This is a strange issue in a number of ways, not the least of which is
the fact that the whole story is declared null and void by the end! It
seems odd that Stan and co. would introduce Immortus, another
time-travelling villain, so soon after the debut of Kang (Later
writers would establish a connection between the two). His modus
operandi is slightly different, though, and his gimmick of summoning
famous warriors from the past is reminiscent of the golden age hero
Kid Eternity.

Speaking of Immortus' minions, I believe this is the first appearance
of Hercules in a modern Marvel comic. He looks somewhat different from
the way he would later appear in THOR -- he's clean-shaven, and wields
a wooden club instead of the more familiar mace. But his arrogant
personality is much the same, and since everyone has forgotten about
this meeting by the time it's over, I suppose there's no reason it
couldn't be the same guy. Didn't Thor also fight Merlin at some point?

Wasp Watch: Jan gets a new hood this issue -- it's now a Batman-esque
cowl that covers her upper face, and her hair is no longer visible. It
also has a "W" insignia on the forehead, which seems to double as
antennae. For the first time, she uses her "Wasp's sting" against a
foe, although it ends up not being effective. Here it's described an
an "air gun", though in later stories it will be electrical in nature,
and eventually becomes a natural power instead of a gadget. The Wasp
does her usual "fly around the enemy's head to distract them" bit a
couple of times this issue, and adds a new combat manuver to her
repertoire: pulling hair. I suppose that's progress...

The letter column includes a note from Gene Day of Lansdowne, Ontario
-- I'm guessing this is the same Gene Day who went on to draw MASTER
OF KUNG FU and other books for Marvel before his untimely death. He
praises various recent Marvel titles, and declares "Around my school,
Marvels are top choice!"

The Special Announcements Section reveals that Marvel is starting
their own club, The Merry Marvel Marching Society. The list of
upcoming titles is now boxed off in its own section and officially
labelled "The Mighty Marvel Checklist"; FANTASTIC FOUR #33, SPIDER-MAN
#19, X-MEN #8, STRANGE TALES #127, THOR #110, SUSPENSE #60, ASTONISH
#62, and SGT. FURY #12 are listed.

The plug for next issue promises the return of Kang, and a
guest-appearance by none other than Spider-Man.

Avengers Vol. 1 No. 8

THE AVENGERS Vol. 1 No. 8
September 1964
"Kang, The Conqueror!"
Written by: Stan Lee (Our answer to Victor Hugo!)
Illustrated by: Jack Kirby (Our answer to Rembrandt!)
Inked by Dick Ayers (Our answer to automation!)
Lettered by Sam Rosen (Our answer to Artie Simek!)

The Avengers arrive for an emergency meeting at Tony Stark's mansion.
The police have to hold back the crowds of onlookers as the heroes
walk by. Giant-Man waves to the crowd, while the Wasp pauses to sign
an autograph. It's mentioned that the Avengers take turns acting as
chairman, and that it is currently Captain America's turn.

Inside, the heroes take their seats as they receive a closed-circuit
tv message from the Pentagon. Their military contact shows them
footage of a large UFO that has landed in a wooded area of Virgina.
The craft used a strange ray to clear away a mile-square landing
strip, rendering the ground as smooth as glass. Washington ordered
tanks and troops to surround the strange ship, but the UFO retaliated
with a vibration ray that literally shook the tanks to pieces.
Suddenly, a man in elaborate armor emerged from the ship. He announced
himself as "Kang", and insisted on meeting the rulers of Earth in
order to relay his demands.

The Avengers quickly board the DC-8 that has been sent to fetch them,
and soon they arrive at the UFO site. Kang is waiting for them,
casually lounging on what appears to be a transparent bean-bag chair.
He is unconcerned about the Avengers, and boldly states his intention
to conquer the planet. As a demonstration of his power, he touches a
button on his belt, which causes Captain America, Iron Man, Giant-Man
and the Wasp to be caught up in an anti-gravity ray. As they float
helplessly, Thor hurls his hammer at Kang. But with the touch of
another button, Kang causes the hammer to disappear in mid-flight and
reappear a few feet away. Thor is amazed by this futuristic science.
Meanwhile, Iron Man is using his magnetic repulser to counter-act the
anti-gravity ray and lower him and his fellow Avengers back down to
the ground.

At this point, the Under-secretary of the Defense Department arrives
to meet with Kang. Kang explains that he is a time-traveller from the
year 3000. Previously, he had journeyed to ancient Egypt, where he
fought the Fantastic Four as "Rama-Tut". When he attempted to return
to his own time period, a disturbance in the time-stream caused him to
over-shoot his target and end up in the year 4000 instead. He found a
war-torn world, inhabited by barbarians who could no longer understand
the advanced weapons they used against each other. Kang had little
trouble taking over this era, but he was unsatisfied ruling such a
"dying world". He decided to come back to the 20th century and conquer
it as well.

Giant-Man decides that he's heard enough, and grabs Kang, pinning his
arms and legs. But Kang can still activate his suit's circuitry by
flexing his muscles, and a sudden electrical burst leaves Giant-Man
stunned. Thor pounds the ground with his hammer, causing a shockwave
that knocks Kang off his feet. He follows up with another hammer toss,
thinking that Kang won't be able to teleport his hammer away a second
time. Which is true, but Kang has other defenses, such as an
anti-matter screen that will disintegrate anything that touches it.
The enchanted nature of Thor's hammer keeps it from dissolving, but it
is still deflected.

During all this, the Wasp has flown in to examine Kang's helmet,
trying to find a way to disable the circuitry. But she's unable to
comprehend the futuristic tech, and an alarm alerts Kang to her
presence. As Kang grabs her, the Wasp grows back to normal size,
distracting him long enough for Captain America to knock him over with
his shield. Iron Man gets the Wasp away from Kang, and the heroes
charge in to attack their prone enemy.

But once again, Kang is able to press a button on his belt, activating
an attractor ray that pulls the Avengers into his ship. Each hero is
sent to a separate chamber, where another ray completely paralyzes
them. The ray also somehow causes Thor to revert back to his Don Blake
identity, and with his muscles frozen, he is unable to change back. In
the other chambers, Giant-Man has been reduced to normal size, Iron
Man is having trouble breathing due to the ray slowing down his
chestplate pacemaker, and Captain America is pinned under his own
shield. Cap realizes that the Wasp and Rick Jones are still free, but
wonders what they will be able to do against a foe like Kang.

Outside, Kang tells the Under-secretary to deliver his ultimatum to
the leaders of the world: Surrender to him within 24 hours, or be
destroyed. In the woods nearby, the Wasp and Rick Jones are working on
a plan to free the Avengers. The Wasp intends to return to Avengers HQ
to find a suitable weapon, while Rick goes to gather his Teen Brigade
friends.

Word of Kang's arrival begins to spread all over the world. At the
United Nations, all the world leaders are in agreement: They will
forget their differences and work together to defy Kang!

Back at the landing site, Rick and his Teen Brigade allies manage to
sneak past the military cordon and approach Kang. But instead of
attacking him, they volunteer to join him! Impressed with their common
sense, Kang declares the boys his personal servants, and sends them
into his ship to fetch one of his devices. On the way out, two of the
boys "accidentally" drop the gadget, causing energy to leak out of it.
While Kang is distracted fixing the leak, the other boys scour the
ship to find the Avengers. Rick hears a buzzing noise, and sees a
series of lights flashing on and off. He pushes on the lights, and in
the adjoining room, Don Blake suddenly finds himself able to move
again. Blake quickly slams his walking stick against the ground,
transforming him back into Thor. Thor smashes his way out of the
chamber, and the frees the other Avengers. Iron Man is still weak from
the strain on his heart, but doesn't want to hold back the others and
insists that he's all right.

Meanwhile, the Wasp is back at Henry Pym's laboratory, retrieving an
odd-looking rifle. It's too heavy for her to carry in wasp form, so
she uses the cybernetic communicator in the lab to summon a group of
flying ants to help her.

The Avengers charge out of Kang's ship and attack. But Kang's powerful
force field holds them at bay, and Kang sneers that by his futuristic
standards, they are no better than cavemen. Just then, the Wasp
arrives, tossing the rifle to Giant-Man. He takes aim, and tells Thor
to keep pounding away at Kang's force field; even a small breach will
be enough for his weapon to work. Thor complies, and finally the
shield opens for a split-second. Giant-Man fires a pellet at Kang,
which explodes into an acidic mist. Giant-Man explains that it is a
special solvent that rots fabric, wiring, and insulation. The weapons
built into Kang's costume are soon rendered useless.

But Kang is not totally without resources. He waves his hand in front
of an invisible beam coming from his ship, which triggers the launch
of a neutrino missile. The missile will not harm Kang, but will
destroy the Avengers. Iron Man, however, is able to deflect the
missile with his repulser ray, so that it explodes harmlessly above
them. Giant-Man shoots more of the solvent at Kang's ship,
neutralizing the weapons there as well.

Desperate, Kang plays his final trump card: His mask begins to glow,
emitting radiation. Kang is immune, but the radiation will kill the
Avengers. Thor steps up and uses his uru hammer to absorb the
radiation and send it back at Kang. Even his immunity can't handle
that much concentrated radiation, and Kang flees back into his ship.
Thor, Iron Man, and the Wasp give chase as the ship takes off, but
Kang escapes them by fleeing into the time stream. Captain America
vows that if he ever returns, the Avengers will be waiting for him.

--

Another issue packed with action and crazy gimmicks, and yet another
villain who escapes at the end! Kang, of course, went on to become a
major recurring foe of the Avengers. It's interesting that they gave
him a whole new name and look, instead of just having him remain as
"Rama-Tut". I suppose Stan and Jack figured they'd already gotten
enough mileage out of the Egyptian gimmick, and that it was simpler
for the guy from the future to look futuristic, rather than ancient.
Kang's early appearances were straightforward enough, but eventually
his timeline became so convoluted that entire storylines were devoted
to untangling his history (with debateable results). It's a great
costume design, though, with his distinctive round helmet and "poncho"
type tunic helping to distinguish him from that other armored
megalomaniac, Dr. Doom.

Kang's selectively-deadly neutrino missile reminds me of the real-life
neutron bomb, which was supposed to kill people while leaving
buildings intact. Coincidence, I'm sure, since their treatment of
radiation (complete with Kang worrying about reaching "critical mass")
reminds us that Stan and Jack weren't exactly rocket scientists. ;-)

Dick Ayers' inks aren't quite a slick as Chic Stone's, but are tighter
and cleaner than Paul Reinman's. He seems very faithful to Kirby's
faces (an area where many inkers tried to "fix" Kirby's work), and
some of the close-up shots remind me of the Mike Royer-inked work of
the 1970s.

Wasp Watch: Ms. Van Dyne gets better-than-average treatment this issue
(which ain't saying much). She's still largely useless in a fight, but
at least she was smart enough to figure out what kind of weapon was
needed to defeat Kang. I was surprised to see her using a separate
communications device to talk to the ants -- didn't she originally
have a built-in antenna for that?

On the letters page, Chris Palmer of Michigan wants to know why the
villains never get killed. Stan says that he loves the villains too
much to kill them, and jokingly threatens to knock off a hero instead
(little suspecting how common a plot device that would become in later
years!). And Bob Spann of Kentucky predicts, among other things, that
Spider-Man will join the Avengers (no doubt he'd be pleased to see
that his prediction came true, albeit 40 years later!). At the end of
the page is a "Special Announcements" section, plugging upcoming
titles: FANTASIC FOUR ANNUAL #2, SPIDER-MAN ANNUAL #1, MARVEL TALES
ANNUAL #1, X-MEN #7, DAREDEVIL #3, SPIDER-MAN #16, and FANTASTIC FOUR
#31. And Stan concludes with a teaser for the next issue of AVENGERS,
promising a new character who could be described as either a villain
OR a hero!

--
- JKC -

Avengers Vol. 1 No. 7

AVENGERS Vol. 1 No. 7
August, 1964
"Their Darkest Hour!"
Magnificently written by: Stan Lee
Majestically illustrated by: Jack Kirby
Masterfully inked by: Chic Stone
Meticulously lettered by: Art Simek

As the story opens, the Avengers have convened a special board of
inquiry. Iron Man stands accused of failing to respond to an Avengers
summons several days ago (a footnote refers readers to IRON MAN &56
for an explanation... presumably they meant TALES OF SUSPENSE!). Iron
Man offers no defense for his actions. His teammates offer to help him
with whatever situation is troubling him, but he insists that there is
nothing they can do. The other Avengers announce their decision: Iron
Man is found guilty, and suspended from the team for a week. Which
seems pretty mild, all things considered, but it does establish that
the Avengers is a team with strict rules and procedures, something
that will come into play in other stories in the years to come.

While Thor is passing sentence on his teammate, his father Odin is
performing the same duty in the legendary realm of Asgard. The ruler
of the Norse gods is banishing the Enchantress and the Executioner for
their attacks on Thor (in JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY #103 -- the footnote
gets the title right this time!). The Executioner is stripped of his
axe and helmet, and he and the Enchantress are sent across the Rainbow
Bridge to Earth. Watching from the shadows, Thor's half-brother Loki
ponders that it's a good thing no one suspects that he was the real
mastermind behind the attacks. He also points out something that Odin
apparently didn't consider: That sending them to Earth just makes it
all that much easier for the Enchantress and Executioner to attack Thor!

The two Asgardian exiles appear suddenly in the middle of a busy
intersection, and a policeman chews them out for blocking traffic. The
surly Executioner is spoiling for a fight, but the Enchantress
convinces him to back off. They know nothing of the ways of Earth, and
they will need an ally to help them formulate a plan. The Enchantress
notices a newspaper headline announcing that the evil Zemo has escaped
custody and fled to South America. Perhaps he is the partner they're
looking for?

On the other side of the city, Captain America is working out at the
gym, sparring with a group of five burly wrestlers. Cap encourages
them to go all out, but he easily defeats them. When he suggests a
rematch tomorrow, the battered wrestlers say they're going back to the
ring, where it's safe. Back home, Rick Jones decides to surprise Cap
by putting on Bucky's old uniform (Rick says he found it in Cap's
closet... but where the heck did Cap get it from?). Captain America
reacts in anger; he still hasn't forgiven himself for what happened to
Bucky, and he refuses to put another partner at risk. He sends Rick
away, and thinks about the escaped Zemo, swearing that he won't rest
until Bucky's killer is brought to justice.

Down in South America, we see that Zemo has returned to his hidden
kingdom, where he rules the tribesmen with an iron fist. Suddenly, he
is confronted by the ghostly figures of the Enchantress and the
Executioner; she has used her magic to project their images to him.
They offer to help him defeat Captain America, in exchange for his
help in their battle against Thor. Zemo agrees, while the Enchantress
thinks that her true goal is not to destroy Thor, but to seduce him to
her side.

Some time later, Thor, Cap, and Rick are bidding farewell to Giant-Man
and the Wasp, who are flying to New England for a scientific study.
After their helicopter takes off, Thor likewise leaves to attend to
matters of his own. Walking home, Cap and Rick are confronted by a
mysterious figure who introduces himself as Hans Grubervelt, former
second-in-command to Dr. Zemo. Cap's first instinct is to haul him in
as a war criminal, but Grubervelt says that he has repented, and wants
to help him find Zemo. He tells Captain America about Zemo's hidden
kingdom in South America, and Cap immediately takes off to pursue him.
After he leaves, Grubervelt removes his disguise, revealing his true
identity as the Executioner. With Cap, Iron Man, and Giant-Man all out
of the way, he says, they will have a clear shot at Thor.

And indeed, as the god of thunder is flying over the city, he hears a
haunting voice calling his name. He follows the voice to a penthouse
apartment, where he is confronted by the Enchantress. Taken by
suprirse, Thor falls victim to her hypnotic gaze. The Enchantress
knows that her power cannot hold him long, so she backs it up with a
magical potion. Thor drifts off to sleep, and she begins casting her
spell. In his dreams, Thor sees the Avengers -- not as friends and
allies, but as demonic menaces that he must defeat. The dreams repeat
over and over again, and by the time he wakes up, Thor is convinced
that they are true.

Meanwhile, a determined Captain America has travelled by jet to South
America, and is parachuting down to the jungle where Zemo is hiding
out. But Zemo is ready for him, and launches a gas-filled missile to
subdue his foe. Cap quickly wraps his parachute around himself to
protect him from the fumes; once he is clear, he slashes through the
fabric and uses his shield to absorb the impact of his landing.
Immediately, he is attacked by tribesmen armed with machine guns. He
hurls his shield at them to scatter them, and Zemo orders more of his
men to retrieve the shield before Cap can. But using a branch as a
makeshift pole vault, Cap hurtles over the tribesmen and snatches the
shield with his feet. But his victory is short-lived; when he lands,
he realizes that he has fallen into a camoflauged pit.

Back in New York, Thor has summoned Giant-Man and the Wasp back to the
city. As soon as their helicopter arrives, he attacks, smashing it to
pieces with his hammer. Giant-Man expands to forty feet to survive the
fall, but the strain leaves him weak and all he is barely able to flip
out of the way of Thor's attack. He can't understand why his teammate
is trying to kill him.

Elsewhere, Tony Stark is kicking back with a cigarette, watching tv
while he recharges his armor. He sees a news bulletin about the
Thor/Giant-Man fight and decides that, despite his suspension from the
team, he'd better investigate. Back at the battle, Thor is about to
deliver the coup de grace to the weakened Giant-Man, but the Wasp does
her patented "fly around the bad guy really fast and distract him"
routine. This buys enough time for Iron Man to arrive, and he sends
Thor spinning in circles with his magnetic repulser.

The Enchantress and the Executioner are watching the fight from a
nearby rooftop. They wonder how Zemo is doing against Captain America,
and the Enchantress uses a crystal ball to check on them. She sees Cap
trapped at the bottom of a pit, and decides to make sure he doesn't
escape by magically causing a cave-in. Cap deflects the falling rocks
with his shield, and manages to climb back out to the surface. Zemo
and his men are waiting for him, with a large cannon called the
"vibra-gun". But before they can fire, Cap bends back a tree, then
releases it; it snaps around and knocks Zemo and his crew for a loop.
Cap then grabs the vibra-gun and uses it to destroy Zemo's palace. Cap
takes a moment to double-check the magnets that he uses to hold his
shield to his glove, but then hears the sound of an aircraft taking
off. Zemo is trying to flee back to New York, but Cap uses his
magnetized shield to grab hold as it flies by.

In New York, Thor manages to stop his spin by hooking his hammer onto
a nearby chimney. He hurls his hammer at Iron Man, but doesn't notice
Giant-Man coming up behind him. Giant-Man grabs Thor, but is unable to
stop his hammer from returning to Thor's hand. Not wanting to get a
face-full of Mjolnir, Giant-Man drops back down to a lower ledge. Iron
Man has figured out that Thor must be hypnotized. He reflects the
sun's rays off his armor, and the blinding light stuns Thor and breaks
the spell.

Seeing that the jig is up, the Enchantress uses her magic to take
control of Zemo's airship and draw it towards them. Zemo sees the
Avengers, and prepares to fire on them with his ship's giant stun gun.
But Cap is still clinging to the outside of the ship, and uses his
shield to smash his way into the cockpit. As Cap and Zemo battle, the
Enchantress brings the ship down to the roof, where she and the
Executioner can join in the battle. The Executioner clamps his hand
onto Captain America's shoulder, and the sheer pressure is enough to
make Cap pass out. Tossing Cap aside, the three villains climb back
into the plane and take off.

But Thor is having none of it. Whirling his hammer, he creates a space
warp that envelops the ship, causing it to vanish. Even Thor isn't
sure where they might end up. Gathering back together, they determine
that Cap isn't seriously hurt. Thor ponders that the combination of
Zemo, the Enchantress, and the Executioner might be a match even for
them. But a recovered Captain America vows that they will find them
wherever they are, and defeat them.

--

Definitely an action-packed issue, although for all the smashing and
bashing, nothing is really resolved. As with their earlier battles
with the Sub-Mariner and the Hulk, the enemy simply escapes to fight
another day. Thor's use of the space warp at the end doesn't make a
whole lot of sense, and seems like just an excuse to allow Zemo and
co. to get away. Odd ending aside, the way Stan and Jack bring the
villains together, then coordinate their assualt on the heroes, is
handled very cleverly.

Captain America's lengthy solo sequence really shows off his acrobatic
and fighting ability, and in retrospect it's obvious that he was being
groomed for his own series.

The concept of heroes fighting each other (either due to
misunderstanding or mind-control) is a gimmick that Stan and his
successors turned to many times over the years. You still see it
today, for instance in Marvel's current CIVIL WAR miniseries. Fans
seem to love speculating about "who could beat whom", and Stan was all
about giving the people what they want (Though he was careful to make
the battles inconclusive, so as to keep the debates going!).

Wasp Watch: Aside from one panel of distracting Thor, the Wasp is
pretty much a non-factor in the battle this issue. She's back to the
v-neck vest (at least in some panels), and more of her hair shows
around the edges of her cowl.

On the letters page, Stan apologizes for not delivering the promised
Hulk guest-appearance. But he tells the readers that ol' Greenskin
will soon have a regular feature alongside Giant-Man in TALES TO ASTONISH.

--
- JKC -

Avengers Vol. 1 No. 6

AVENGERS Vol. 1 No. 6
July, 1964
"Meet the 'Masters of Evil!'"
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 scratchy pen of S. Rosen

En route back to New York after last issue's adventure, the Avengers
stop in Chicago to refuel their helicopter. Captain America
demonstrates to the others how he can control his shield via the
magnets in his glove. The shield also opens up to show that it is full
of electronic equipment, including a communications device (This
concept was quickly dropped, in favor of having Cap rely on pure
skill. Perhaps they felt that having him so reliant on gadgets made
him too similar to Iron Man?). But Cap's mood turns melancholy, as he
thinks about his deceased partner, Bucky. He is determined to one day
find the man responsible for killing his young sidekick.

The scene shifts to South America, where a small plane is delivering
supplies to a remote valley. The natives there are ruled by a
mysterious masked figure named Zemo. As the pilot arrives, Zemo goes
to greet him, literally walking across the backs of his prostrated
subjects. In addition to supplies, the pilot has also brought the
latest scientific journals and newspapers. When Zemo sees photos of
the returned Captain America, he flies into a rage.

We learn that Zemo was a scientist who worked for Adolf Hitler. Zemo
was so hated by the public that he had to wear a mask to hide his
identity. While he was working on a new super-glue called "Adhesive
X", Captain America burst into Zemo's lab, determined to foil the
experiment. During the battle, Cap hurled his shield at the vat of
Adhesive X, causing it to spill on Zemo. This caused his mask to
become permanently stuck to his face. Zemo has been unable to find
anything that could remove it. Zemo thought he had gotten his revenge
by killing Captain America and Bucky, but now he knows that Cap still
lives. But not for long, if Zemo has anything to say about it.

Some time later in New York, the ham radio buffs in the Teen Brigade
are desperately trying to contact the Avengers to warn them of an
emergency. Giant-Man's old foe the Black Knight is flying his winged
steed all over the city, spraying an adhesive foam that traps
everything from people to cars to ships. Meanwhile, two other villains
are terrorizing the city: Iron Man's enemy the Melter (who's beam now
melts any metal, thanks to improvements by Zemo), and Thor's sparring
partner Radioactive Man.

The Avengers arrive on the scene. Radioactive Man's force field
protects him from Thor's hammer, and he fires his Adhesive X gun,
missing Thor but pinning Captain America and Giant-Man to the ground.
Cap immediately recognizes Zemo's adhesive, but before he can ponder
the implications, the Melter arrives. Iron Man knocks him for a loop
with his magnetic repeller, and the Wasp keeps him busy while Iron Man
tries to blast his allies free of the adhesive. Unable to break the
glue itself, Iron Man cuts out the chunk of ground the two Avengers
are standing on. Iron Man attaches chains to a nearby truck and pulls
the chunk of ground behind him, with Cap and Giant-Man hanging on like
a couple of water-skiers. But even this isn't enough to break the
bonds of the adhesive.

The Black Knight joins the fray, racing towards the truck. Thor spots
him and takes to the air to intercept. The Knight tries to tie up Thor
with bolas fired from his lance, but the thunder god knocks the lance
away with ease. The Avengers elect to retreat, so they can find a way
to free Cap and Giant-Man from the Adhesive X. Once they're gone, Zemo
arrives on the scene, and his super-villain lackeys apologize for
letting the heroes escape. Zemo wonders if the heroes will actually
manage to find a way to dissolve the adhesive; if so, he must steal it
for himself. He begins to formulate a plan.

Back at the Avengers' headquarters, they are having no luck removing
the adhesive. Then the Wasp remembers a villain named Paste-Pot Pete,
an expert in pastes and adhesives who recently fought the Human Torch.
She contacts him in prison, and in return for a reduced sentence, he
agrees to help them. He tells them where he had hidden a barrel full
of a super-dissolver; Iron Man goes to retrieve it, and sure enough,
it melts away the Adhesive X. Like his opposite number Zemo, Captain
America takes charge and begins to plan their strategy. Step one is to
contact the Teen Brigade.

Meanwhile, Zemo is refilling his lackey's tanks of Adhesive X from the
main supply in his Heli-Hovercraft. Soon they will terrorize the city
again, drawing out the Avengers to their doom. What they don't know is
that the Teen Brigade has snuck into their headquarters and switched
the tanks of Adhesive X for tanks of the super-dissolver.

As the Black Knight flies over the city (in a gorgeous 2/3 splash page
by Kirby and Stone), he is shocked to see that the foam he is spraying
is actually freeing people instead of trapping them. Just then, he is
attacked by Thor. The Knight fires projectiles from his lance, but
Thor deflects them with his whirling hammer and closes in for
hand-to-hand combat. The Knight zaps him with his stun-ray, but it
only slows Thor down for a few seconds. His patience at an end, Thor
renews his attack.

Elsewhere, Giant-Man is confronting the Radioactive Man. By repeatedly
shrinking and growing, he confuses his foe and manuvers him into
position. When the Radioactive Man fires an energy-blast, Giant-Man
shrinks out of the way, letting the bolt hit a device held by Iron
Man. The transistorized ejector springs to life, shooting out a spool
of lead foil that wraps up Radioactive Man like a mummy. Then a
balloon mechanism inflates, lifting the trapped villain into the air
to dangle helplessly.

The Melter appears, and uses his ray to melt a lamp-post so that it
wraps around Iron Man. Shellhead manages to fly out of the way, but
the Melter blocks his escape by melting the masonry of a condemned
building. Much like Giant-Man did with Radioactive Man, Iron Man draws
his enemy's fire, and then ducks out of the way. The beam hits a fire
hydrant, and a stream of high-pressure water knocks the Melter out.

Nearby, the shrunken Giant-Man has recovered from the strain of doing
so much size-changing, and he and the Wasp decide to go see how
Captain America is doing.

Back at Zemo's ship, the master villain has spotted the boys of the
Teen Brigade and subdues them with his Hypno-Ray. But then Captain
America arrives and lays into his old foe. Zemo surprises Cap with his
fighting skill; since last they met, he has studied and mastered the
art of karate. But Cap is by far the better and more experienced
fighter, and he mops the floor with Zemo, angrily reminding the
villain how he once sneered at freedom and democracy, claiming the
Americans and their allies were too timid to fight. But Cap is living
proof that compassion doesn't equal cowardice.

But just then, Zemo's pilot strikes from the shadows, firing his
pistol at Captain America. The bullet only grazes him, but it's enough
to take him out long enough for Zemo and the pilot to make it back to
the ship. The pilot tries to shoot Cap again, but the Wasp shoves a
nail into the barrel of his gun, deflecting the bullet so that it goes
wide of the mark. The pilot tries to flee, but Giant-Man takes to the
rooftops and quickly intercepts him.

As the police take the pilot into custody, Giant-Man sees the Black
Knight's horse heading their way. But it's actually Thor in the
saddle, carrying the unconscious knight. Suddenly, they see Zemo's
craft taking off. It looks like he's escaped, but Cap assures them
that he has not. Cap knew that Zemo would try to make off with the
super-dissolver, so he had the Teen Brigade carry a decoy can -- one
that was filled with tear gas. And sure enough, they see Zemo's ship
coming to an awkward landing nearby, where the police will be able to
pick him up.

So it looks like victory for the Avengers, but the closing caption
assures us that we haven't heard the last of Zemo and his Masters of
Evil...

Stan Lee's patented cornball patter is in full force on the cover: One
blurb begs "Please don't frustrate us... you've got to read it!!",
while another promises "More super-heroes, more super-villains, and
more super-bonehead mistakes than ever". It continues on the splash
page, where readers are advised "Don't tear this magazine or wrinkle
the pages or get food stains on it! We have a hunch you'll want to
save it...". Stan's hype somehow managed to be self-deprecating and
self-aggrandizing at the same time. The combination of a serious plot
with self-aware mockery is fairly commonplace today (cf. "Buffy the
Vampire Slayer"), but at the time it was a big departure from the
traditional straightlaced superhero yarn.

The inter-title continuity seen in previous issues is kicked up
another notch here; not only do we see old villains from the Avengers'
solo series, but the cameo by Paste-Pot Pete reinforces their ties to
the Fantastic Four as well. Even Zemo (as the letters page points out)
had previously appeared in an issue of Sgt. Fury. There could have
been any number of ways for the Avengers to solve their Adhesive X
dilemma, but bringing in a previously-established "glue expert" helps
sell the idea of a shared universe. And of course, it encourages the
reader to buy all of Marvel's titles, since you never knew where a
familiar face might show up.

Chic Stone's inks are very distinctive; his lines tend to be bolder
and cleaner than Paul Reinman's. The heavy contour line he puts around
each character sometimes makes them look like cardboard cut-outs or
animation cels, but overall the art has a very sharp look.

Wasp Watch: We now consistently see a few stray locks of hair slipping
out from the Wasp's cowl (something seen once or twice in previous
issues). Her costume is slightly modified: Before, her red vest had a
v-neck, showing the black leotard underneath with a blue "W" logo on
it. Now the vest is closed up, with a black "W" on the vest itself.
This may just be down to Stone interpreting Kirby's pencils
differently, rather than being a concscious change. She's still
something of a second-class member here, but she does get a couple of
moments to shine, holding off the Melter and later saving Cap's life.

The letters page announces that THE AVENGERS is now a monthly title.
One of the letters is by Buddy Saunders of Arlington, Texas; Saunders
went on to become a fanzine publisher (as one of the "Texas Trio"),
and later a comics retailer with his "Lone Star" chain of stores. In
the blurb for next issue, Stan promises not only more of Zemo and the
Masters of Evil, but the return of the Hulk as well (which only turns
out to be half true...).

Avengers Vol. 1 No. 5

AVENGERS Vol. 1 No. 5
May, 1964
"The Invasion of the Lava Men!"
An epic tale, told with high drama and heroic dignity by: Stan Lee
Illustrated with deep sincerity and dazzling beauty: by Jack Kirby
Inked by: Paul Reinman
Lettered by: S. Rosen

The splash page shows the Avengers (Giant-Man, the Wasp, Iron Man,
Captain America, and Thor, plus hanger-on Rick Jones) grimly surveying
the damage done to their mansion headquarters (caused by the Hulk in
FANTASTIC FOUR #25-26). The members decide to go their separate ways
and attend to personal matters while the building is being repaired.

A few days later, workers at Tony Stark's Long Island weapons factory
are building a new artillery computer. Suddenly, a loud, piercing
sound is heard; it's so powerful that it tears the computer to pieces.
Stark is called with the news, and he decides to go investigate. But
first, he must charge up the mechanical chest-plate that keeps his
injured heart beating. He ponders that the many men who are jealous of
his wealth and good looks might think differently if they knew about
his handicap.

Meanwhile, Ant-Man and the Wasp are shrunken down inside an ant-hill,
performing a research project. They, too, get blasted by the
mysterious sound, which causes the ant-hill to come crashing down
around them. They manage to get out just in time, and start searching
for the source of the deadly noise.

Elsewhere, Dr. Don Blake sees a newspaper article about the strange
sound that is causing disasters all over the country. Striking his
cane to the ground, he transforms into the mighty Thor, and says that
it's time to summon the Avengers.

And the final member of the team, Captain America, is showing off some
acrobatic stunts to Rick Jones and his Teen Brigade pals. Thor
arrives, much to the kids' delight, but before Thor can explain the
reason for his visit, the terrible noise strikes again, causing a tree
to shatter into splinters. Thor, Cap, and Rick go to meet with the
other Avengers. Conferring in the basement of the headquarters (since
the upper floors are still under repairs), the heroes deduce that the
source of the sounds is somewhere in the southwest. Giant-Man wonders
if the Hulk is somehow involved, but Rick Jones is skeptical.

At a missile base in that self-same part of the country, a mound of
solid rock erupts from the ground. Before the soldiers can
investigate, the young scientist named Bruce Banner appears. The base
commander, General Ross, demands to know where Banner has been for the
past several months, but Banner merely claims to have been sick. What
Ross doesn't know is that Banner is secretly the rampaging monster
known as the Hulk.

Far below the surface, we see the cave-dwelling, stone-skinned
creatures known as the Lava Men. It is they who have caused the small
mountain to suddenly appear, using a mechanism to push the "living
rock" up towards the surface. The tribe's king and witch doctor are
both determined to see the rock pushed all the way out of their realm
and onto the surface, but a tribesman named Molto objects. He knows
that the surface humans are not evil, and don't deserve to have the
dangerous living rock forced upon them. But the witch doctor says that
Molto is simply afraid of the surface people, having been defeated by
Thor months ago.

Back up top, the Avengers have arrived at the missile base via
helicopter to investigate the growing rock. Iron Man flies towards the
rock and blasts a hole in it with his repulser transistors, trying to
determine what's causing it to expand so rapidly. The Lava Men
interpret this as an attack, and swarm all over the armored Avenger.
Using their power to generate heat, they try to broil Iron Man with
his own armor. But Iron Man is rescued by the timely arrival of Thor,
who uses his hammer to scatter the attacking Lava Men.

The thunder god sends Iron Man and Captain America back to the
surface, saying that only he can deal with the Lava Men. The creatures
are stunned when they see Thor walk into a pool of molten rock, and
rise up again unharmed. Thor confronts the king and the witch doctor,
who tell him that once he sees the mighty weapon they have, he will
know that the surface world is doomed. They show him the mechanism
that is pushing the Living Rock towards the surface. The rock is the
source of the deadly sounds that have been causing havoc.

Thor threatens to destroy the rock with a cosmic bolt from his hammer,
but the king stops him. He explains that the rock was first exposed
after a strange upheaval shook the underground realms. When one of the
Lava Men struck the small, strange rock with a hammer, the resulting
explosion destroyed an entire island. Since then, the rock has
continued to grow in power and size; if it were to explode underground
now, it might well tear the whole planet apart. The only solution,
they claim, is to push the rock completely onto the surface, where the
inevitable explosion will "only" destroy the surface world, leaving
the Lava Men's subterranean world intact.

Thor is momentarily stymied; he dare not strike the rock, but neither
can he allow it to be pushed to the surface. The king takes this as
his cue to order his army to attack, and the Lava Men start rushing
towards the surface. At the mouth of the tunnel, they are blocked by
Captain America, who uses his ricocheting shield to keep them at bay.
But the Lava Men strike back, heating the air around Cap and trapping
him in a cocoon of unbreakable cinders. Rick Jones tries to get Cap
free, while Iron Man steps up to confront the invaders.

Meanwhile, Ant-Man and the Wasp have been carefully examining every
inch of the living rock, and found one spot that is not pulsating and
growing; a sufficiently powerful blow at that point could destroy the
rock with causing an explosion. Switching to Giant-Man form, he and
the Wasp go down the tunnel to look for Thor. Iron Man explains that
there's a whole army of Lava Men between them and the thunder god, and
they've almost melted through the boulder he used to block the tunnel.
Grabbing the Avengers' helicopter, Giant-Man turns the blades sideways
to serve as a giant fan, knocking the Lava Men for a loop. The
invaders retreat, and Iron Man is able to blast Captain America free
from the cinders holding him. The heroes continue down the tunnel and
meet up with Thor, who tells them they have their work cut out for them.

Back up on the surface, Bruce Banner has deduced the nature of the
living rock. But before he can ponder further, he suddenly feels
himself transforming... and soon the Hulk is on the rampage once more.
Hearing the Avengers below, he leaps in to attack them. Thor beings
whirling his hammer in preparation to attack, but the Lava Men's witch
doctor intervenes with an atomic blast from his radioactive rod.
Somehow, the blast causes Thor to be turned back into Dr. Blake. The
transformation frightens the superstitious witch doctor, and he flees.

Meanwhile, the other Avengers struggle with the Hulk on top of the
living rock, which has nearly reached critical mass. Captain America
has devised a plan, but the timing is critical. Giant-Man repeatedly
grows and shrinks, confusing the Hulk and manuvering him into
position. Then the Wasp flies between the Hulk and the one vulnerable
point of the rock. The Hulk strikes out with all his might, and
suddenly the living rock glows, shimmers... and then implodes,
collapsing in on itself harmlessly.

Down below, Blake turns back into Thor and tells the demoralized Lava
Men to go back to their realm and never threaten the surface again,
lest they face the might of the Avengers. Back above, General Ross
orders his men to stand down, while his daughter Betty worries about
where Bruce Banner could have gone. At the site where the living rock
stood, the force of the explosion has transformed the ground into a
sheet of glass. The worn-out Avengers pick themselves up, and explain
to Thor how they manuvered the Hulk into striking the critical spot on
the living rock. Thor ponders that the Hulk's arrival must have been
fate, and Giant-Man praises the Wasp for her role in the plan.

Not far away, Betty Ross finds the battered form of Bruce Banner. She
asks him if the Hulk was responsible for injuring him, and he tells
her that was the case, more or less. But, he assures her, the Hulk is
gone... at least for now.

The Avengers head back to their helicopter to go back to New York,
only to receive a radio message from the Teen Brigade. A "Condition
Red" Emergency! To be continued...

With a solid membership in place, and a genuine world-threatening
menace to fight, this is perhaps the most "traditional" issue to date,
with a plot that could have easily been in an issue of JLA. But, as is
typical of Lee/Kirby, the "villains" aren't purely evil for the sake
of evil. While the king and witch doctor are shown to be all-too-eager
for an excuse to invade the surface world, they're also acting out of
self-preservation. The convenient arrival of the Hulk is a bit of a
deus ex machina, but at least it's set up fairly early on, and is
consistent with his appearances in previous issues. The ongoing
sub-plot of the Hulk's desire for revenge on the Avengers pretty much
peters out here, though, and he eventually transitions into a solo
series in TALES TO ASTONISH.

(And, I'm happy to note, the Wasp actually makes a worthwhile
contribution this issue. Finally!)

This issue also features the debut of the letters page, "All About The
Avengers". Morton Hughes of Ohio wants to know who's stronger, the
Hulk or Thor (Stan is typically non-committal). Roger Gilman of
Massachusettes thinks that the Hulk should fight the X-Men and have a
romance with Marvel Girl (???). And future comics artist Alan Weiss of
Nevada thinks that the Sub-Mariner should turn from villain to hero
(which indeed came to pass).

Avengers Vol. 1 No. 4

AVENGERS Vol. 1 No. 4
March, 1964
"Captain America Joins...The Avengers!"
Gloriously written by Stan Lee
Grandly illustrated by Jack Kirby
Gallantly lettered by Art Simek

The splash page shows legendary WWII hero Captain America being
welcomed into the ranks of the Avengers. A caption reminds us that
both Jack Kirby and Stan Lee worked on Cap's adventures back in the
Golden Age of comics (Joe Simon's name is conspicuously absent). It's
interesting to note that the term "Golden Age" had already caught on
as a label for the comics of the 1940s by this time. Anyone know who
first coined it?

The story proper picks up directly from last issue, with Namor the
Sub-Mariner narrowly escaping our heroes. Angry and frustrated, Namor
searches the oceans for some sign of his lost race, the Atlanteans.
Hours later, he reaches the North Sea, where he spots a tribe of
eskimos gathered on an ice floe. They are worshipping a strange
figure, frozen in a block of ice. Spoiling for a fight, Namor hurls
the frozen idol in the sea, and begins smashing apart the ice floe, as
the eskimos flee in terror.

Unnoticed, the frozen figure is carried away by the currents until it
reaches the warm water of the Gulf Stream and begins to thaw out. By
chance, the Avengers' submarine is passing nearby. They spot the body
floating in the sea and bring it aboard. With the ice completely
melted, we see that the figure is a blond-haired man in tattered
clothes. But beneath those clothes is a distinctive red-white-and-blue
uniform, which the Wasp recognizes as the costume of the legendary
Captain America. Moreover, a closer examination reveals that he is
still breathing!

Suddenly, the Captain sits upright, yelling about someone named
"Bucky". Seeing the Avengers, he leaps to attack them. The heroes
manage to restrain him, and soon Captain America calms down. The
Avengers express doubt that he could really be the famous hero of
World War II, and the Captain suggests that they put him to the test.
He easily dodges Thor's hammer, and even manages to throw Giant-Man
for a loop, but is stymied when the Wasp appears before him; he
doesn't want to hit a girl. Still, he's proven he is who he claims to
be, and the Avengers wonder how he came to be here, and why he hasn't
aged.

Somberly, Cap tells the tale of his final mission of the war. He and
teen sidekick Bucky were guarding a new type of drone plane when it
was stolen by a Nazi spy. Chasing the plane on a motorcycle, they
drove up a ramp and tried to jump onto the plane. Bucky made the jump,
but Cap fell short. Cap warned Bucky not to try and turn the plane
around himself, because the controls might be booby-trapped. But it
was too late; an explosion threw Cap into the ocean off the coast of
Newfoundland, and ended the life of the brave boy named Bucky. A fluke
of chance caused Cap to be frozen in ice, which kept him in suspended
animation for all those years.

Soon, the submarine arrives in New York, and the Avengers are greeted
by a mob of reporters, anxious to hear the results of their battle
with the Hulk. Iron Man comments that they'll be disappointed to hear
that the battle was inconclusive. Thor points out that there's an even
bigger story -- Captain America -- waiting below decks. But before the
heroes can announce the identity of their passenger, there is a
blinding flash of light. When it fades, the Avengers have vanished,
replaced by stone statues. The reporters assume that this is some
trick the heroes pulled in order to avoid the press, and leave the
scene (not exactly a bunch of Woodwards and Bernsteins -- or even Lois
Lanes -- are they?).

At this point, Captain America (who had been resting below) finally
climbs out of the submarine. He too wonders where the Avengers have
gone, and why those statues are sculpted in such odd poses, but he
shrugs it off (Hey, he's got an excuse for being oblivious -- he's
been asleep for 20 years!). Cap goes for a walk to see what the world
is like these days, observing the changes in fashions and automobiles.
A policeman recognizes the Captain and gets a bit choked up; it's as
if Cap had returned just when America needed him the most.

But as he settles down in a hotel room, Cap isn't so sure. He broods
over Bucky's death, and wonders if there's any place for him in this
strange modern world. Just then, a figure appears at the door. Cap
thinks it's Bucky at first, but it turns out to be Rick Jones, the
teen who has palled around with both the Hulk and the Avengers. Rick
knows that Captain America was the last person to see the Avengers
before they vanished, and demands to know what happened to them.

Seeing Rick, and hearing about the Avengers' plight, seems to
re-energize Cap; perhaps he has a part to play in this era after all.
He tells Rick to get copies of all the photos that were taken of the
Avengers at the docks. Examining enlargements of the pictures, Cap
spots a strange man hidden among the reporters, carrying what appears
to be some kind of hi-tech gun. He has Rick rally all his teenage
friends to canvas the city, looking for that man.

Captain America finally spots the culprit in a hotel room. He charges
in, only to be attacked by a mob of gun-wielding thugs. He uses his
shield to slice apart their weapons, then subdues the gang with his
acrobatic combat moves. Soon only the leader with the ray-gun is left.
Cap realizes that such a strange weapon couldn't have come from Earth.
He pulls the mask from the man's face, revealing a green-skinned,
spiky-haired alien.

Beaten, the alien tells his story. His spaceship landed on Earth
centuries ago, crashing into the sea. He tried to make contact with
the humans, in order to get their help retrieving his ship. But his
appearance frightened them, and he was forced to use his ray-gun in
self-defence, turning people to stone. Cap realizes that he must have
been the inspiration for the legend of the snake-haired medusa.

Recently, the Sub-Mariner found the alien, and agreed to free his ship
from the ocean floor if he would use his petrifying weapon on the
Avengers. Cap tells him that he will take care of the ship, if the
alien will change the Avengers back to normal. The green-skinned
creature agrees, and soon the Avengers are hale and hearty once more.

Observing the scene on his undersea scanner, the Sub-Mariner knows
that his plan has failed. But in a stroke of luck, he encounters a
troop of Atlantean soldiers who are still loyal to him. Perhaps he can
still defeat the Avengers after all...

The next day, the Avengers, the alien, and Rick Jones all travel to a
remote island, near the crash site of the alien's ship. The spacecraft
is buried in the ocean floor, with only the tail section visible; even
Giant-Man's mighty muscles can't budge it. But Thor's hammer does the
trick, generating powerful magnetic waves that pull the ship free of
the muck. The alien quickly goes inside to effect repairs, while the
Avengers wait topside.

At that moment, the Sub-Mariner and his troops attack, causing an
explosion that scatters the heroes. Iron Man goes to confront Namor,
using his magnetic repulsers at full power to knock his foe for a
loop. But this depletes his energy supply, and while he's waiting for
his weapons to recharge, Namor closes in and threatens to crush him.
The Wasp flies circles around Namor's head, distracting him momentarily.

Then Namor hears his troops calling for help; Thor is making mincemeat
of them with his spinning hammer. Even their energy-blasts are being
reflected back at them. But Namor is not so easily thwarted, and he
closes in to battle Thor hand-to-hand.

Meanwhile, Giant-Man is trapped underwater, having been snared in a
net by the Atlantean troops. He quickly changes to ant-size, which
enables him to slip through the loops of the net, and then resurfaces
again in giant form. He sees Iron Man surrounded by more of the
undersea soldiers, and leaps into battle, scattering them in all
directions. Iron Man says he can finish off the rest, and Giant-Man
goes over to help Thor subdue Namor.

Captain America has been holding back all this time, in order to watch
the Avengers in action. He's definitely impressed, and likewise amazed
at the power of the Sub-Mariner. He wonders what it would have been
like if such men had existed in his era. (Apparently, Cap's memory is
still a bit fuzzy, since the Sub-Mariner WAS around in the '40s. And
of course, later stories would establish that he and Namor were
teammates in the wartime group The Invaders.)

With the Avengers closing in on him, Namor pulls out his ace in the
hole: His troops have taken Rick Jones hostage. This is the last straw
for Cap; he springs into action, smashing into the trooper holding
Rick prisoner. The Sub-Mariner grabs hold of Cap, ready to demolish
this new intruder (though Cap is confident he can counter his foe's
enormous strength).

But before the battle can continue, the island is rocked by a huge
shockwave, which causes the land to start breaking apart. Namor orders
his troops to retreat, confident that this sudden earthquake will
finish off the Avengers for him. But his prediction is premature; the
shockwave was caused by the alien's spaceship emerging from the sea.
Once the ship flies off, the quake subsides, and the Avengers are safe.

With the immediate threat over, the Avengers turn to more pleasant
business. They offer Captain America membership in the Avengers, and
the living legend gratefully accepts. Everyone is all smiles, except
for Rick Jones. He wonders what the Hulk will think when he finds out
that Captain America has replaced him, both in the Avengers and as
Rick's mentor. (And we'll soon find out, albeit in the pages of
FANTASTIC FOUR, rather than AVENGERS...)

In some ways this issue is a rehash of #3, being another inconclusive
skirmish with the Sub-Mariner. But the presence of the stranded alien
adds an interesting twist, and of course the main attraction here is
the much-ballyhooed return of Captain America. Resurrecting "Golden
Age" heroes was something DC Comics had been having great success
with, and Marvel's own Sub-Mariner was turning out to be a popular
anti-hero/villain, so bringing back their flagship character from the
1940s must've been a no-brainer. But Stan and Jack realized that such
a simplistically patriotic figure might not fly in a more complex era,
and actually incorporated that ambiguity into the character. Cap's
feelings of alienation, and his guilt over the death of Bucky, added a
layer of nuance to his personality and set the tone for his portrayal
for decades to come.

With Captain America in place, the preliminaries are finally over, and
the Avengers really start to feel like a genuine team (The
aforementioned crossover with the Fantastic Four, in FF #25 & 26, also
goes a long way towards establishing the team's credentials). Of
course, once they've settled into something of a comfortable groove,
Stan & Jack start looking for ways to shake things up again. But
that's still a few issues down the line...