Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION Dr. Gym'll's Cultural Rarities The All Avengers Thread

I’ve been looking at the Celestial Madonna covers online lately because I’ve been reading up on Starlin’s Captain Marvel run (and it has that great crossover issue in Avengers #125), and I’ve been itching to reread those issues again even though I just did that last January 2007. Mantis just rawks my face off more each time.

Hmmm... I just read Stealth's entry on these tales and Staton was inking Buscema. Didn't remember/realize that.

And yes, Mantis (or "that one" as I like to call her) rawks hearty.

The Squadron Supreme/Serpent Crown Saga

I'll actually set this back to when the Beast and Moondragon joined the team. That issue featured (iirc) George Tuska art that I actually didn't hate and featured the team vs. The Stranger/The Toad and a bunch of giant hover-mines. Still, that (Beast joining) was just a set-up (for me) to the next great Avengers arc of my childhood: The Serpent Crown saga featuring the senses-shattering debut of HELLCAT!

Why is it a happy favorite?

Perez art that got better by the issue-- Patsy Walker as Hellcat, who would go on to be brave enough a couple issues later to take on the Squadron Supreme's Superman analogue HYPERION (albiet unsuccesfully).

This is also my intro to the Squadron Supreme, a team that since then became another favorite of mine. The politics involved with the ending were a little over li'l MLLASH's head but he sure still loved the story. Good stuff!

It should be noted:

This tale is now in TPB form. MLLASH will put it on his to-get list despite having the original issues he bought as a kid. (By the time of this story, I was taking a little better care of my favorite comics)

Welcome to the All-Avengers Thread, Lash. I'm delighted that you accepted the invitation I posted in the Patsy Walker thread.

Thank you for mentioning that. As great as Mantis's journey is, the Scarlet Witch really came into her own during this saga, something which, for some reason, never seems to get much attention in Avengers discussions. Oh, she'd had her moments during Englehart's earlier issues (especially the climax of the Avengers/Defenders War) but it was during the Celestial Madonna Saga that she finally fulfilled her potential.


Yeah, the Avengers have a long history of being underestimated by their enemies, which is one of the reasons I prefer them to the JLA, especially the "Big Guns" JLA who pretty much have every battle won before it even begins.

Cobie, I'm very glad you've finally gotten a chance to read Starlin's 70s Marvel work. Can't wait to find out what you think of Avengers Annual # 7. And yes, # 125 is excellent.

I just double-checked my Avengers references, and they confirm that Sal Buscema only did layouts, so the art itself really is all Staton.

The Squadron Supreme/Serpent Crown Saga is one of those stories that gets better and better with each successive read. Subversive super-heroics worthy of Alan Grant's L.E.G.I.O.N. run.

Looking forward to your next Avengers post, Lash.

Oh, Lash? I think you'll be pleased by these news:

http://www.newsarama.com/comics/080927-baltimore-cupofb.html

"I’ve been looking at the Celestial Madonna covers online lately because I’ve been reading up on Starlin’s Captain Marvel run (and it has that great crossover issue in Avengers #125), and I’ve been itching to reread those issues again"

In my 70's Re-Reading project, I just got thru Wayne Boring's 3rd (and last) issue of CAPTAIN MARVEL. You know what that means!

Now that Secret Invasion is finally over, Marvel has declassified its solicitations, and this one is of interest:

I'm not a fan, but I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, and I will read his first arc.

Will he turn out to be the next Roger Stern or the next Kurt Busiek? Stay tuned.

This is potentially exciting. I have no idea what sort of stuff Slott is going to get away with, but the sheer dripping contempt he heaped on the recent state of comic books and 'superheroes' in general in GLA: Misassembled was, IMO, really powerful, and made me wish that someone with his sensibilities would be allowed to write a more prominent book.

He seems to have some 'old school' in his blood, and miss the days when superheroes weren't all killers and every story-arc didn't start with a bunch of people dying and end with a bunch of people dying.

Granted, that was a few years back, and I haven't read his more recent stuff. Perhaps he's all gung-ho and on-board with the new 'more realistic!' way of doing stuff.

Let the controversy begin!

As his first order of business, Dan Slott has given Hank Pym a new identity.

<span class="spoiler_containter"><span class="spoiler_wording">Click Here For A Spoiler</span><span class="spoiler_text">Hank performs the Wasp-ifying process on himself, growing wings and taking on his recently deceased ex-wife's superhero identity. That's right, Hank is now the Wasp.</span></span>

Details in Secret Invasion: Requiem (don't buy it, read it in the store -- it's a few pages of new material framing two worthless reprints, and some mediocre bonus material.)

Man, Hank changes his identify more than Jan changes costumes! The dude must have some serious self-esteem issues...

I have no problem with that, because to me anything's preferable to seeing him in plain clothes.

And I have no problem with this new identity, although I'm sure a lot of people will.

Over at the Silver Age Marvel website, I've been updating THE AVENGERS section to include links between certain issues that allow you to follow the histories of certain villains, like Kang, The Masters of Evil, etc. (Yep, I have strange ideas of "fun".)

http://www.samcci.comics.org/

Click on "Titles", then "Avengers"... (it's still a work in progress, but it's getting there)

While Hank's name change to Wasp might be a way for him to honor Jan, given his previous mental instability it's almost like he feels so guilty that he's given up on being himself and is hiding in the identity of someone who was much stronger than him.

That's just one interpretation...

5 days and counting until Slott's first issue of Mighty Avengers.

Please post any comments about it in this thread. I created this thread to be as much about the current Avengers as the classic Avengers. A couple of years ago, I was very upset when somebody started an Avengers: Initiative thread instead of posting about it in this thread; I played it down at the time, claiming I was exaggerating in jest, but the truth is that I really was very upset.

The first 100 issues of THE AVENGERS are represented at the Silver Age Marvel site. I've been updating the site extensively over the last 2 months, and one of the additions I've made has been links between related stories, where there's "sequels" and "prequels". Makes it easy in some cases to follow the complex histories of some super-villains and the like!

http://www.samcci.comics.org/

Follow the link, click "Titles", then click on the "Avengers" icon. Have fun! (But please excuse me if there's any links that aren't working-- it's an IMMENSE project, and at the moment, definitely "work in progress".)

RANDOM THOUGHTS ON MIGHTY AVENGERS # 21, DAN SLOTT'S FIRST ISSUE:


- Any doubts I had about Slott's grasp of Hank/He-Wasp have been wiped away. The character hasn't been this well-written since the Harras era.

- Slott writes a great Jarvis.

- I'd been hoping that Hercules would be talking like himself instead of the erratic speech patterns he's sported since he got his own book. No such luck. And the alleged charms of his teenage sidekick continue to elude me.

- The "Avengers Assemble!" moment is the most deliciously corny moment in superhero comics since the "Fastball Special" at the climax of Joss Whedon's first Astonishing X-Men arc.

- The artwork is a big disappointment, but it's more the fault of the inkers than the penciller. God, I wish Tom Palmer was here.

<span class="spoiler_containter"><span class="spoiler_wording">Click Here For A Spoiler</span><span class="spoiler_text">

- The temporary lineup, some of whom will be dropped after Slott's first MA arc, are: He-Wasp, Hercules, Hulk (green), Scarlet Witch, Stature, Young Vision, Jocasta, and U.S. Agent.

- I never thought I'd say this, but I'm starting to like Jocasta. That alone makes Slott pretty close to a miracle worker.

- Having said that, the presence of Modred and Ch'thon as the villains is dangerously retro, and Ch'thon possessing Quicksilver is too self-consciously "clever" by half.
</span></span>

VERDICT: Flawed but promising.

I thought <span class="spoiler_containter"><span class="spoiler_wording">Click Here For A Spoiler</span><span class="spoiler_text"> Bova </span></span> died not too long ago...

I like the mysterious aura built up around Wanda, as she transports from site to site. That's new for her, isn't it?

Time to codify her powers, for me. Personally, I wish she'd go back to the barely controlled hex sphere.

I don't have a clear memory of Modred, so his appearance didn't come across as retro, to me.

<span class="spoiler_containter"><span class="spoiler_wording">Click Here For A Spoiler</span><span class="spoiler_text"> Pietro's imprisonment and re-re-re-villainization was a big disappointment, for me. I liked the place he was in at the end of Peter David's oneshot a few months ago. The character appears on a future cover of MIGHTY AVENGERS as Quicksilver, so this 'Chthon' ID most likely won't last. </span></span>

I liked the interaction between Vision and Stature, Jocasta, Hank, Herc and Cho (sorry- I thoroughly enjoy INCREDIBLE HERCULES and find their teaming fitting and fun).

Loved my spoonful of corn-- seconds, please!

Re: the character that was presumed dead -- that sort of thing hasn't stopped any writers, good ones and bad ones, lately.

This same week, over in EVERYBODY READ ----> Thunderbolts <---- EVERYBODY READ, a character also came back from the dead with no explanation, although we do get a hint there might be one in the future.

And yes, that corn was particularly tasty.

I hate corn.

And the character I think you mean came back in MCP, not Tbolts, Stealth (also without explanation). I suspect the one who died was a skrull.

Less than a month into 2009, and we already have a front-runner for Legion World's Least Surprising Statement of the Year.

A Skrull. What a surprise. :rolleyes:

Was that before or after MCP # 4? I only read the first four issues of that book, and only really paid attention to the Hellcat serial.

For the record, I meant it literally - I can't stand sweetcorn

Uh... I know it was in the Vanguard strip. I haven't actually read it.

Well, suckle me Elmo... MA 21 was totally sold out tonight. I'll look again next week, if I get to the CBS.

The latest Mighty Avengers interview with Slott (SPOILERS):

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=19662

I wasn't happy after I read this bit:

Come on, Slott, I'm trying to stay hopeful that you'll be the next Roger Stern, not the next Kurt Busiek. Don't let me down.