sonotadream | Entries tagged with avengers

Let’s meet Marvel’s no. 2 team (until the X-Men take off)! This section of the list alternates between 4 series written in 3 different time periods (and I didn’t read them in the right order), so forgive me if things are a bit jumbled.

Avengers (1963) #1-3- Stan Lee/Jack Kirby

So, what brings the Avengers together? Loki!

He’s imprisoned in the Isle of Silence and wants to lure Thor, so they can fight and Loki can escape. He takes a look around Earth and sees the Hulk, who is perfect for his purposes. Loki sends him a mental image of a bomb in a train track. Hulk leaps to grab it, but accidentally destroys the tracks, just as a high speed train is approaching. He avoids a train wreck, but still gets the blame.

His buddy, Rick Jones, calls on his team - the Teen Brigade - for help. If the Hulk is innocent, he’ll need help to prove it; if he’s guilty, he’ll need to be stopped. The teens figure only the Fantastic Four are up to the task and send them a message on the radio. Loki interferes with the radio waves to prevent the FF from hearing the message, but making sure it reaches Dr. Blake. Iron Man, Ant-Man and the Wasp - who gets credited on the splash page, but not the cover, btw - also get the message and make their way to the Brigade’s base in New Mexico.

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Tales to Astonish (1959) #27, #35, #44 - Stan Lee/Larry Lieber/Jack Kirby

Another superhero taking over an anthology series - or not.

Created by Stan Lee, Larry Lieber and Jack Kirby, Ant-Man never got as popular as their other creations. According to Lee, it was because artists never got the hang of drawing Ant-Man in a way that would emphasize his tiny size.

Hank Pym is a scientist specialized in cell biology. He created a pair of serums that make things smaller and then return them to the original size - he later develops them as gasses.

He decides to test the serum on himself. Unfortunately, it works faster than Hank expected and he's unable to grab the growing serum before it's out of reach.

In his panic, Hank runs outside and catches the attention of some ants, so he decides to hide inside an ant-hill - it looks like he's not very good at making decisions under pressure…

He falls into some honey, but a nice ant helps him to escape. “He" (like bees, worker ants are all female; the writers seem unaware of that fact) also helps Hank later to climb a wall to get to the growing serum.

The story ends with Hank destroying the serums, deeming them too dangerous, and going back to more conventional science.

However, the character was brought back - the first story sold well and Lee thought making him a superhero would be fun - so Hank changes his mind and recreates the serums. He also researches ants and, theorizing they use their antennae to communicate, builds a special helmet that allows him to imitate them. It works so well Hank develops a communication network with the city's ants. In truth, ants preferred method of communication is making chemical trails with pheromones, but let’s give the authors the benefit of the doubt and assume they were working with current information at the time of writing.

He also develops an unstable molecules suit with steel mesh, that's very useful to protect from soldier ant's mandibles.

He gets a chance to test his new gadgets when foreign communist agents invade the lab where he's working on a secret government project. Hank gets locked in his office, giving him ample time to change clothes and size, find the nearest ant-hill and become “alpha" ant. He leads the ants inside the lab, gets his coworkers free and sends the ants against the commies, defeating them.

I didn’t feel like reading the rest of the Ant Man stories, so let’s just skip ahead for the introduction of the Wasp.

Janet van Dyne is the daughter of another renowned scientist who is working on a way to make contact with beings of another planet, if they exist (I guess he doesn't read the Fantastic Four comics). He is successful, but the being that travels trough the Professor's rays down to Earth is a criminal and intends to make earthlings his slaves, something he failed to do back home, in Kosmos.

He kills Professor van Dyne using his telepathic powers. Janet finds him and calls Hank, the first person she can think of to help her. Thinking she's just a bored society girl playing a prank on him, Hank dismisses her, until his ant spy network confirms the death of her father.

Hank had been thinking about a finding a partner. When Janet vows she'll avenge her father, no matter what, he offers her the job and Janet becomes the Wasp.

Hank also implants some special cells on Janet, so that, when she becomes small, she gains both wings and antennae of her own.

Ant Man flies along with her by firing himself out of a mini-cannon.

With the help of the ants, Ant Man and the Wasp find the creature from Kosmos and destroy him.

There's a bit of friction going on between the two: Janet wants to prove herself and is maybe falling in love with Hank; Hank keeps thinking she's a child, but also being reminded of his wife.

For a bit of tragic backstory, Maria was the daughter of a Hungarian political dissident, but she wanted to return to her country, thinking that being married to an American, no one would recognize her. Tragically, she was wrong. Her murder is why Hank wants to use her powers for justice.

The stories are nice enough, but it’s hard to get invested in the character when you know where things are headed ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Tales of Suspense (1959) #39, #45, #46 - Stan Lee/Larry Lieber/Don Heck/R. Berns

Another iconic Marvel hero, taking over another anthology series!

Iron Man was created by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and Don Heck, with Heck serving as the main artist and Larry Lieber as the writer of his origin story. Lee’s goal with Iron Man was to create a likeable pro-war character. The early stories lean onto the Cold War setting, with several Communist antagonists. The main inspirations for Tony Stark were Howard Hughes and Errol Flynn, for the looks.

Iron Man's origin is not too different from the movie. Anthony Stark is a playboy, millionaire, genius inventor, working with the US military to develop weapons using his mini-transistor technology (according to Wikipedia, a transistor is a semiconductor device used to amplify or switch electrical signals and power. I don’t understand what that meas, tbh. It’s easier to think of them as basically magical objects).

He ends up in Vietnam - it was the 60's, remember - to supervise their deployment and he's captured by a communist militia led by Wong-Chu.

Tony was hit with shrapnel and only has a few days to love before it reaches his heart. Wong-Chu wants to use this to get Tony to build him weapons, with the promise of helping him later, if Tony proves useful.

Tony knows Wong-Chu is lying, but agrees in order to gain time. Wong-Chu sends Yinsen, a prisoner who is also a famous physicist, to assist Tony.

Together, they built the Iron Man suit, using Tony's transistor technology. Its main feature is the ability to keep Tony alive, besides many other useful little gadgets.

Yinsen sacrifices himself to allow Iron Man to escape, defeating Wong-Chu and his militia in the process.

Tony Stark goes on keeping a double life. He needs to wear the chest plate all the time (and charge it regularly) and he keeps his armour in a suitcase, folded like origami. He pretends he and Iron Man are good friends, to explain why he's always hanging around.

Of course, the day Tony forgets to charge his plate, he crashes his sports car during a race and has to be rescued by a spectator.

Happy Hogan is a former boxer. His career never took off because he couldn't bring himself to finish his opponents. His friends call him Happy because they never saw him smile.

He doesn't want Tony's money - he thinks he isn't valuing his life high enough - so Tony offers him a job as his chauffeur/bodyguard.

When Happy meets Tony's secretary, Pepper Potts, they start a bit of a Slap, Slap but no Kiss thing - she's hung up on Tony, just waiting for the day he finally notices her and gives up all other woman.

We also meet the Crimson Dynamo, a soviet scientist who is the world's foremost electricity expert. He built is own suit, with magical electrical powers, in order to destroy Iron Man.

He's ordered by the Soviet leader to go to America and destroy Tony Stark. The Dynamo does a good job, destroying Stark's plants to the point he's facing bankruptcy and distrust in Washington.

Still, when the Crimson Dynamo and Iron Man come face to face, Iron Man prevails, to the point he convinces Professor Vanko to switch sides.

(Tony makes him listen to a fake recording of the leader planning to have Vanko assassinated; that's actually true, but Tony's just acting on the knowledge that communists are naturally distrusting and paranoid.)

In the end, Professor Vanko becomes the latest recruit to Stark Industries.

The Incredible Hulk (1962) #1-6 - Stan Lee/Jack Kirby/Steve Ditko

Another iconic Marvel character, although, I have to be honest and say I never really cared about the Hulk ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

According to Stan Lee, the main inspirations for the Hulk were Frankenstein and Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde.

We start in the desert, where a Gamma bomb, designed by famous scientist Bruce Banner, is being tested. General Ross is not happy about the delays and Banner’s colleague is not happy about his secrecy - he’s right about how someone else should have checked Banner’s numbers, but he turns out to be a Russian spy…

Security at the site turns out not to be great, because, just as the test is about to start, a teenager drives by. Banner races to stop him, leaving the spy in charge, who continues the test.

Banner manages to throw the teenager, Rick Jones, into a protective trench, but he gets the full blast of radiation. Everything seems fine at first, but, as evening comes, Banner is transformed into the Hulk.

The Hulk is the opposite of Bruce Banner in every way: strong, not very intelligent, more concerned with power than anything else. He causes destruction around him and is quickly being persecuted by the US army.

Grateful that Banner would save his life - no one else ever really cared for him - Rick Jones stays by both Banner’s and Hulk’s side, despite the latter’s protests that he doesn’t need a friend. Rick is capable of calming the Hulk, so maybe he protests a little too much.

The series was cancelled after 6 issues, but the character of the Hulk proved popular enough to guest star in other books and would get another series a year later.

Journey into Mystery (1952) #83-90 - Stan Lee/Larry Lieber/Jack Kirby

The Introduction of another classic Marvel character, Thor the Mighty, also know from Norse mythology. The idea of having Thor as a superhero came about because Stan Lee wanted someone stronger than the Hulk, and who’s stronger than a God?

However, the story starts with Donald Blake, an American tourist in Norway who goes to investigate the sighting of weird rock creatures - they’re from Saturn, they look like mini-Things, except for their conic heads, and they want to invade the Earth.

Donald has to hide in a cave, the exit trapped by a boulder and his cane broken. Things look bleak, but the wall starts moving and he finds a walking stick. He can’t use it to move the boulder, but when he hits it on the ground, it transforms into the hammer Mjolnir, which grants him the powers of Thor. As in, he transforms into Thor in appearance, but remains Donald mentally.

He quickly discovers the powers of Mjolnir: creating storms, returning to hand, can be used to fly; but, if he drops it, he’ll return to his normal form in about 60 seconds.

Anyway, Donald uses his powers to stop the alien invasion and disappears before anyone realizes Thor was there.

His adventures continue, with Thor fighting gangsters and communists, aiding the American military in bomb testing, and sending Loki back to Asgard twice. He has to protect his identity from everyone, by order of Odin, which complicates his love life. Donald is sweet on his nurse, Jane Foster, and she kinda likes him, until Thor shows up.

So, it’s interesting to see where the mythological side of the Marvel Universe got started, but I’m not sure I’ll stick with this one. It didn’t grab me, at least for the moment.

Captain America and Bucky #620-624 (2011) - written by Ed Brubaker and Marc Andreyko, art by Chris Samnee

We go back to Captain America with this not-actually-a-miniseries (it retains the numbering from the ongoing Captain America series) retelling the origin of Captain America's sidekick, Bucky Barnes, written by the guy who brought us the Winter Soldier.

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Captain America (1968) #255 - written by Roger Stern, art by John Byrne. First published March 1981

This is a special issue for the 40th Anniversary of Captain America and is meant to be the definitive telling of Captain America's origin story.

Steve Rogers was raised by his widowed mother in the Lower East Side (not Brooklyn! Sorry, that's not the last time I compare the comic with the movie). He grows up a fan of fantasy and art. He watches a news reel about nazis one day and becomes radicalised - love that for him.

He's not fit enough for the army, but General Phillips just happens to be hanging out at a random recruiting center and recruits Steve for Project Rebirth, on the strength of his desire to fight nazis. Not a bad reason, but I think the movie did this part better.

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