A common complaint these days is that modern comic books are too steeped in their own continuity, and therefore
too complex and daunting for new readers (who, I suppose the theory goes, are completely unable to handle jumping into a story
in media res, and would run away in terror at the thought of not immediately and instantly knowing every single fact about this new universe right away).
Damn good thing these newbies were never exposed to
Steve Englehart's Avengers in the 1970s or nobody ever would have taken up comic books.
I mentioned
yesterday about Englehart's tendency to play the "
long game" in his 70s Marvel work. I mean, this guy would have plots that percolated for
20-odd issues, and expect you to keep up. He'd sow the seeds for the
Celestial Madonna story in issue #114, and drops a hint or three every once in awhile, and then have everything explode in #129, settle, perk up again a few issues later, intertwine with the
Vision/Scarlet Witch story he's been doing since #107, throw in a new retconned origin for an old, forgotten Avengers villain who hadn't been seen for 125 issues, make another long-forgotten bad guy the father of one of our characters, bring time travel into the mix, tie in with the travails of
Captain America's mag, completely retcon the origin of one of the Avengers into being the corpse of a WWII hero based on a stray comment during the
Kree/Skrull war, and then tie it all in with his
Doctor Strange run by having
Dormammu show up.
So, yeah, Steve
expected you to be able to keep up. This particular issue contained explicit references to at least
20 other
Marvel comics. And yet, somehow, readers
were able to keep up.
Now, I've discussed
my first Avengers experience before, and therein discussed why I think the concern for newbies is a bit
overblown. So I won't belabor the point any longer, except to say: give the newbies some credit, dudes.
Anyway, let's get to the rocking fun this issue:
Oh. Sorry. No disrespect intended.
Last issue the
Swordsman died saving
Mantis from
Kang, and it was revealed that Mantis was likely to be the "Celestial Madonna," she who will bear "
The One." Heavy stuff, so this issue is mostly a
lull before the next chapter of the epic.
Our creators:
Englehart chose to go the flashback route, so after the splash, we zig back 48 hours, as
Hawkeye talks up his recent guest stint in Captain America:
Then Mantis decides she wants to take the Swordsman's body "
home" for a funeral.
So they loaded up the
Quinjet and flew to Vietnam, everybody's idea of a fun place in 1974. Meanwhile, a petty thief with a painful gimmick is slice up Saigon shops:
Back to
Four Heroes and a Funeral--who better to officiate at one of these things than--a god?!?
After the ceremony, there's a ruckus outside the temple:
Well, it turns out that, even though we know this trio as
villains, they're after a killer...and when the Avengers try to intervene:
What? They're good guys now??
We learn their evil communist past (damn,
more references to past issues!), and how they became disenchanted with their Soviet and Chinese masters, so went to Vietnam to become heroes there!:
Now,
Iron Man is having none of this, because he blames the
Crimson Dynamo for the death of his girlfriend of the week a while back...and he wants to revenge.
Thor, surprisingly, is the voice of reason. Which leads to our
Mid-Issue Rumble!!
Thor wins,
Stark chills out. And Hawkeye, who only showed up last issue, wants the lowdown on this whole Mantis business. So
Vision gives him the handy recap page:
Now, the issue is only halfway done, but our heroes and "villains" have reached an uneasy truce. What excuse for more fighting? That's right--the random thief we watched earlier!! He sees the Avengers and
assumes that they are after him (because, after all, the Avengers often pursue jewel thieves in Asia...). So he plays the "
lie to one set of guys so they'll fight the other set under false pretenses" card...
...which inevitably leads to:
The End Of Issue Tussle!!!
Fight fight fight...
Fight fight fight...Which, of course, starts going the American team's way.
And the Vision stops the
Slasher, which, of course, reveals his wicked deception:
Of course, the commies never thought to ask why, if the guy was innocent, he was running around in a suit of knives...
And, as the communist super-team leaves him to his fate, Vision gets to deliver the issue's moral lesson:
Uhh, OK.
Hey, Englehart wasn't perfect. The second half of this issue was overly rushed and compressed (perhaps spending two pages on Iron Man vs Thor and one whole page on an extended Mantis flashback wasn't the
best ideas). The end of the Celestial Madonna story was fairly
unsatisfying,
an anti-climax that didn't meet the expectations built up along the way (but then again, what ending could??). He became
obsessed with Mantis to a disturbing degree, first using a thinly veiled Mantis in his work at
DC and
Eclipse--and upon his return to Marvel, using her in the
Fantastic Four AND the
West Coast Avengers AND Silver Surfer (she even became the Surfer's
girlfriend!!). He's had a history of tensions with editors that has resulted in abrupt endings to runs and comics published with pseudonyms.
But by golly, the man was
ambitious when crafting a story; he knew how to use the history of Marvel is
unique and fascinating ways; he
challenged the readers. And his run on the Avengers in the 1970s is one of the
greatest in Avengers (or Marvel) history.
ELSEWHERE IN THE MARVEL UNIVERSE:Speaking of
Sal Buscema and team books:
Man, is there
anything that Sal didn't draw?
The Defenders--what a concept. Marvel's attempt at a "
non-team," although nobody actually seemed to know what that was supposed to
mean, or how to actually
implement that idea. Still, with that cast, even the most conventional superhero stories turned
odd quickly.
This issue, written by
Len Wein, saw the origin of the
Wrecking Crew (yes, in the Defenders!!), as they were tearing down buildings
Kyle Richmond (Nighthawk) owned, looking for a hidden Gamma Bomb!! Guest starring
Luke Cage!! It was the middle chapter of a
three-parter!! All lovingly rendered by Our Pal Sal Buscema!!
Two months later,
Steve Gerber would come on board, and things would get really weird...