Random Longbox

TITLE: The Avengers #150

PUBLISHER: Marvel Comics

COVER DATE: August 1976

COVER PRICE: $0.25

18 pages


WHAT I REMEMBER...

As I mentioned on the last post, I just recently reread this issue so the events are pretty fresh in my mind. It doesn't help, that this issue serves as a vehicle for reprinting bits and pieces of stories that any Avengers or Marvel fan should know by heart. And honestly, if you don't know what happened in Avengers #4, you should probably just hang it up.

I'll cut the non-Avenger reader some slack if they're unfamiliar with Wonder Man's introduction in #9, and I might even be lenient about ignorance with the first big wholesale line-up change in issue #16 if you catch me on a good day.

And you know what? Today is a good day, because this issue reprints those exact issues. So while we don't get a new Avengers line-up until the next issue, we are treated to some highlights of the first year and half of Avengers history, courtesy of Messrs. Lee and Kirby. If that wasn't enough, we also get a framing sequence by Steve Englehart and George Perez.

Let's get right to it, and in the interest of still having something to say when and if the Randomizer picks issue #9 or 16, I'm going to forgo the full on review and just geek out for the remainder of this issue and soak up all that Lee, Kirby and Perez have to offer.

Since this was the anniversary of 150 issues of The Avengers, let's see if I can find 150 things to geek out about in these eighteen pages. Everybody synchronize your watches, and we're off...

1. Awesome cover by Ron Wilson and Frank Giacoia! That right there is just about the perfect Avengers line-up. Swap out Hawkeye for Hellcat, and I could read about these guys all day long.


2. It only cost two bits!


3. Great issue title. Avengers Assemble! It's also a great catch-phrase, but why does it work as well as it does? It's not like assemble is the most action-packed verb around, and it definitely doesn't translate to other super-hero teams nearly as well. Champions Congregate! Fantastic Four Forgather! Metal Men Muster! It's a true mystery for the ages.


4. Stan Lee


5. Jack Kirby


6. George Perez

I'm probably cheating by listing the creative team separately, but I gotta get to 150 somehow. Besides, those guys are legends and deserve the honor. And while I've acknowledged that I'm playing fast and loose with the rules, these guys ain't nothing to sneeze at either...


7. Steve Englehart


8. John Tartag


9. Duffy Vohland


10. Dick Ayers


11. Denise Wohl


12. Artie Simek


13. I love time travelling villains


14. Irene Vartanoff


15. Archie Goodwin


16. Avengers Trope #41: The assembled mass of people and reporters outside of Avengers Mansion. I love this visual, as it really drives home the accessibility of these heroes. You couldn't do this with a moon base.


17. Yellowjacket. You can keep your Ant-Man, Giant-Man, Goliath, Wasp, Scientist Supreme, or Dr. Pym identities. To me, Hank Pym will always be Yellowjacket (although I do kinda like the sound of that Scientist Supreme one).


18. Crazy wild coincidence! That just happens to be the 150th different costume that the Wasp has worn in her tenure with the Avengers so far.


19. Another crazy wild coincidence! I think I may have just made that last fact up out of thin air.


20. It's not named here, but one can only wonder if that is Korr that Yellowjacket is riding on.


21. The Wasp's fiery streak! She's come a long way in the past 118 issues.


22. A bonus shout out for referencing continuity from the previous year...and in a Marvel book, no less. Those were the days.


23. Jarvis' striped pants and tails. There's a butler who dresses for success.


24. Avengers Trope #81: Monogrammed chairs! Nothing says super-hero headquarters like monogrammed chairs.


25. Although, for each of them supposedly having chairs "especially reserved for them", it would appear that the Beasts and Hellcats are pretty interchangeable. One can only assume that their decals are waiting if they make the cut into the new line-up.


26. Appropriate that Iron Man's symbol is that of both iron and man.


27. Avengers Trope #68: Overly dramatic resignations!
    
    But I guess when you're dealing with the god of thunder, you should expect a little bluster every now and again.


28. Thor's abrupt announcement leads us to our first flashback to Avengers #1 and the formation of the team, helpfully recapped by the local newscaster reporting from outside. It was pretty awesome that the news station had Kirby on staff to provide some artist's renderings of the action.


29. It turns out, it's actually George Perez that they had on staff. I just checked the panels that I assumed were reprinted from Avengers #1 with the actual issue, but they're not the same. So there you go, a little Perez after Kirby for you. Here's another...


30. I like how Iron Man keeps his options open. You know, just in case this whole Avengers thing doesn't pan out.


31. This was obviously the Hulk from his more verbose, catch-phrase spewing youth.


32. Overly officious membership by-laws.


33. Wait a minute...isn't everyone here? Couldn't you just do a show of hands and get the new chairman installed with an actual mandate behind him? We all know what happens when a leader gets appointed, rather than elected.


34. Here's Perez' take on Kirby's classic scene of a frozen cap from Avengers #4.


35. Followed shortly by a nice Perez ala Heck re-imagining.
    
    
36. There's something right about George Perez drawing Wonder Man. He's one of the few that can make his myriad of questionable costumes seem not quite so questionable.


37. With the flashbacks coming this quickly, it's only a matter of time until we're at the formation of the new Avengers in Avengers #16. And with it, our first glimpse of actual Kirby art.
    
    And not a moment too soon, as the old Avengers seem to be in a spot of trouble!


38. Avengers Trope #92: Nothing says let me onto your team more than an "I just kicked your teams ass" introduction!



39. Hawkeye!


40. Flashbacks within flashbacks. Were there no editors back then. But it's Hawkeye, so we'll give him a pass.
    
    


41. And what of old Jarvis tied up in the corner? No hard feelings I'm sure, but we'll see how quickly your tea and biscuits gets delivered the next time your feeling a bit peckish, eh Hawkeye?


42. ZZZZZZZIT!


43. TWANNNNNG!


44. SSSSSSST!


45. Three arrows loosed from the same bow at the same time, and only one of them sounds like an actual arrow. Although in all fairness, I think that last sound effect is actually coming from the snake that Hawkeye used to tie up Jarvis' legs with, so we're all good. It's probably a good thing he was around to get that snake before something drastic happened, eh?


46. More by-laws! Good thing there's an employee manual to get the new members up to speed.


47. Watch that wandering eye, Jan! You know your man is a bit of a loose cannon, right?


48. One reformed villain joined up, so why not offer a spot to Namor, The Sub-Mariner?


49. Denied!


50. He'd come around in about a hundred issues or so, and end up palling around with the Avengers for a good few years. I actually have a lot of love for Namor in the Avengers as his arrival came right around the time I started reading the books on a regular basis.


51. Don't fret Iron Man, there's plenty of b-list villains hanging around that are just dying to join up.


52. Old-timey social networking at its finest. I long for the days when you could have a membership drive using the want ads.


53. Quicksilver's hair, the beta-testing for Logan's hairdo.


54. Self-deprecating Stan.
    
    I guess even Stan gets tired of Magneto boasting in those early issues, as we have yet another flashback in a flashback dealing with the origin of Quicksilver and The Scarlet Witch.


55. Old-timey social networking at its finest, part two.
    
    I guess the equivalent today would be tweeting your request for membership to #avengersmemberdrive.


56. Quicksilver has lovely penmanship for someone who, and I'm only assuming here, writes really fast.


57. Captain America fighting jungle beasts! Why? Who cares, as we've had a real lack of action in this issue.


58. If only he would've fought a gorilla, we would've come full circle from our last post.


59. I guess this is still early in Cap's career, as he hasn't mastered the art of ricocheting his shield back to him with every throw. There's nothing more foolish than a super-hero picking his shield up off the ground.


60. Back in the states, Cap is still on his jungle high and looks to avoid the assembled reporters in true, man of action style.
    
    Surely there has to be a secret door somewhere, eh?


61. Reunions!
    
    Just because the other Avengers are kid-sized to Giant-Man, shouldn't give him permission to treat them as such.


62. Time-travelling villains! Although isn't there some sort of paradox being violated by having two disparate versions of the same character commenting about the same thing in real time?


63. Did I mention that I love time-travelling villains? Maybe I'll go back in time and mention it there too!


64. The drama...oh, the drama!


65. Really Rick Jones? I mean really? (with apologies to Seth and Amy)


66. Tip for Rick Jones on getting into the Avengers. Try robbing a bank or subjugating mankind first. It seemed to work out all right for the new line-up.


67. I think Tony Stark is the poster child for personal reasons.


68. Overly dramatic exits...


69. ...and new beginnings!

And that brings the 150th issue extravaganza to a close. Let's see how we did on our quest to find 150 interesting things about Avengers #150. After totaling up the judges scores, it looks like we got to 69...so close, so close.

Lucky for you, you won't be going home empty-handed. That's right, along with the home version of the Random Longbox board game, every reader will also be going home with the identity of the new line-up that was teased in this very issue, but never revealed.

Here it is, enjoy...

(oh, and spoilers I suppose, for those of you not up on your 34 year old continuity)

As far as line-ups go, it doesn't get much better than that.

TITLE: X-Factor #87

PUBLISHER: Marvel

COVER DATE: February 1993

COVER PRICE: $1.25

23 pages


WHAT I REMEMBER...

X-Factor has always held a special place in my collection. Set aside the fact that this title was the first major title launch that I remember buying off the shelf, or the fact that this was also the first speculation buying I remember partaking in, and there was still one thing that made this title something special.

Although now that I think about it, it was two things...Peter David and c-list characters.

Peter David was a writer that I had started reading on The Incredible Hulk the year before he started writing X-Factor. With his work on these two titles, he has earned a guaranteed first issue buy of anything new he starts. Peter David's writing pretty much introduced me to the concept of character. He took such care when advancing the story and made it much more than just moving the plot along at the expense of everything else. The characters in his stories interacted with the Marvel Universe as a whole, but always in a way that made you see something new or think about something differently.

Like I said in the previous post, he was a writer ahead of his time, and his stories still hold up to multiple rereads without missing a beat.

The second thing I liked about this title was the use of the c-list characters. And "c-list" is probably being overly generous in some cases. Strong Guy? Multiple Man? Really?

But it was with these second-stringers that you could let loose with some unorthodox stories, without upsetting the cash cow X-Men franchise that was the early 90's. One of the best of those stories was the issue we're reviewing today. So without any further hyperbolic ado, let's just get on with it.

X-Aminations

• Writer: Peter David
• Penciler: Joe Quesada
• Inker: Al Milgrom
• Colorist: Marie Javins
• Letterer: Richard Starkings & Steve Dutro
• Assistant Editor: Kelly Corvese
• Editor: Bob Harras
• Editor in Chief: Tom DeFalco

The story opens up with a peek inside of Rahne's dreams as she is cavorting around a cartoon world with Feral, drawn in the style of Ren & Stimpy. It turns out that she's been having a lot of these types of dreams, imagining herself in the place of whatever character is on the television when she falls asleep.

Is it just me, or did Joe Quesada model the cartoon version of Stimpy after himself?

Thanks to Guido cluing Rahne into how psychiatrists "really" work, she has her guard up when he starts asking her some questions. He answers her skepticism with a textbook diagnosis that hits her like a ton of bricks.

She has a combination of a lack of self-esteem and a need for approval from whatever authority figure is before her. Forced to confront her issues head-on, she admits that she's been carrying a small torch for Havok, as he is the team leader and local authority figure.

The doctor has one more insight that cuts to the core of her problem, and it all boils down to Reverend Craig, the man who raised her. All of her personality searching and need of approval boils down to the fact that she was denied love and respect from the reverend when she was growing up.

Angry at first, Rahne "wolfs" up. True to form, however, she realizes that the doctor (and local authority figure) is right.

Up next on the shrink's couch is Quicksilver. With Pietro being the somewhat arrogant and standoffish character that he is, he doesn't give the doctor much respect or time.

The doctor calls him on it, and Pietro goes on to explain that his mood and temperament is more a reaction of interacting with a world that moves at a snail's pace compared to him. Frustrating is the kindest way of putting it, so it should come as no surprise that Pietro has little patience for others.

True to form, Quicksilver has the last word, while finishing both the doctor's Rubik's Cube and jigsaw puzzle before he leaves.

After Quicksilver, you'd think the rest of X-Factor would be a pleasant experience, but Polaris is up next and she's not feeling very forthcoming today. After 10 minutes of silence, the doctor manages to get a rise out of her by complimenting her. She instantly gets defensive and assumes he only brought up her high I.Q. in order to make her shortcomings more pronounced. While never having mentioned her looks, she wrongly assumes that's what he is talking about.

With all of the recent issues she has had with being controlled, she's disappointed in herself that she has let the doctor get inside her head, so to speak. Realizing that he now has her attention, he lays it all out for her...she has body image issues and she tends to push against others instinctively. Kind of ironic for someone who controls the very powers of magnetism and can both attract and repel whatever she chooses.

Not ready to confront the truth, she chooses to rebuff the doctor's offer of kindness and leaves his office.

Strong Guy has the next appointment, and he has no problem spilling his guts to the doctor. Like he told Rahne, he knows how psychiatrists do what they do from experience. The doctor asks him about his previous experience and it turns out the Guido saw a lot of guidance counselors when he was a kid.

He then goes on to explain the secret origin story of Strong Guy. Back when he was a kid, he was really smart. He used jokes and wise-cracks to divert people from his nerdiness, but it only worked a little. Eventually he was caught between a bully and the girl he adored, and he ended up getting beat upon by him and his friends.

That's when his mutant power emerged, with his body enlarging to the disproportionate size that it holds to this day. It turns out the change has left Guido in constant pain, but not wanting to be pitied he covers up his pain with jokes and wisecracks.

So Guido did have a lot of experience in a psychiatrist's office, as he came prepared with his own self-diagnosis. The doctor plays the role of the reader here as well, when he says that he had "no idea" about any of his origin. I'm not sure if that was ever explained in any of his other appearances, but it was definitely the first time I remember hearing about it.

That session was an easy one, let's see if the Multiple Man keeps the streak going. It's a quick session with Jaime, as a little word association game soon brings to the surface Jaime's one fear...being alone.

That's one of the reasons that Jaime plays the role of practical joker, so that he can get a reaction out of people. The attention he gets, either good or bad, makes him feel less alone. Another ironic diagnosis, considering the basis of his mutant power.

Havok's the last team member to sit down with the doctor, but he has a hard time actually sitting and relaxing. The doctor calls him out on it, and we find out that Alex is overcompensating as team leader, trying to live up to the legend that is his brother, Cyclops. He's so busy trying to stay two steps ahead of everything else, that he doesn't even know if his team respects him or his abilities.

Once again, the doctor cuts to the core and wonders why he just doesn't ask them himself. Still not confident in his place as team leader, he's afraid of what they would tell him if he asked.

As the doctor wraps up his long day, looking over his notes, he is surprised by the reappearance of Polaris. She has come to tell him that she is neither repressed nor overly repulsive towards other people.

To prove her point, she debuts her daringly sexy new costume. Not something that someone repressed would do, right doc?

Realizing that she has completely missed the point of their previous talk, he gives her what she wants to hear with a compliment to her looks. Satisfied, she leaves his office feeling triumphant.

Finally it's time for the doctor to report to Valerie Cooper, who is the team's government liaison. She's eager to find out just what it is that is keeping X-Factor from acting like a true team.

In a bit of reverse psychology, he asks her to give her impression of each team member. She goes on to misread every team member at the most basic level. I think we now see who is the problem that is keeping the team from becoming a cohesive fighting unit.

She storms out of his office, muttering under her breath about his request that she take "awareness training". So distracted by what he has told her, she doesn't seem to notice the many tentacled creature sneaking up behind her. She's gone in the blink of an eye, as the doctor emerges from his office and we finally get to see who he was...Doc Samson.

SO, WHAT DID WE LEARN...

This issue is still just as entertaining now, as it was back when it was first released. In fact, do yourself a favor and don't read my review. Go out and read the issue instead. It's such a cleverly and well crafted character study, that my review just doesn't do it justice.

The issue has a great sense of humor to it, finely balancing the heavier moments that occur with some of the more emotionally revealing sessions. This story was a great primer to bring everyone up to speed who was sticking around after The Extinction Agenda crossover concluded. It was a shame then, that Peter David would be gone from the title a few months later.

Joe Quesada's pencils are relatively strong here, having to pull double duty to keep the reader's eye entertained with little to no action. Some of his characters look a little stiff, but you can definitely tell that he was an up-and-coming star who would be a major impact in the coming years.

I still think he draws one of the best looking Quicksilvers that I can remember. Not that drawing the definitive Quicksilver is one's ticket to the big time, but that says something when you can make him look cool.

I'm glad that Peter David was able to come back to this title and these characters recently, as he was able to bring something new to the premise while still retaining the old feel. He really made me care for Multiple Man as a character in his initial run, so it was cool to see that he was really able to make him the center piece years later.