{"id":18351,"date":"2018-05-12T08:00:40","date_gmt":"2018-05-12T08:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=18351"},"modified":"2018-05-10T16:13:10","modified_gmt":"2018-05-10T16:13:10","slug":"avengers-marvel-masterworks-volume-9","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2018\/05\/12\/avengers-marvel-masterworks-volume-9\/","title":{"rendered":"Avengers Marvel Masterworks volume 9"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nBy Roy Thomas<\/strong>, Harlan Ellison<\/strong>, John Buscema, Sal Buscema, Frank Giacoia<\/strong>, Herb Trimpe, Sam Grainger <\/strong>& various (Marvel)
\nISBN: 978-0-7851-3501-2<\/p>\n

The Avengers<\/strong> always proved that putting all one’s star eggs in on single basket paid off big-time; even when all Marvel’s all-stars such as Thor<\/strong>, Captain America<\/strong> and Iron Man<\/strong> were absent, it merely allowed the lesser lights of the team to shine more brightly.<\/p>\n

Of course, all the founding stars regularly featured due to a rotating, open door policy which meant that most issues included somebody’s fave-rave. The increasingly bold and impressively ambitious stories and artwork were no hindrance either.<\/p>\n

This sturdy hardcover and eBook compilation gathers the astounding contents of Avengers<\/strong> issues #80-88 and a cosmic crossover from Incredible Hulk<\/strong> #140 spanning September 1970-June 1971): evocative, socially-informed tales which confirmed Roy Thomas as a major creative force in comics whilst simultaneously consolidating John Buscema’s status as the foremost artist of Marvel’s second generation.<\/p>\n

Following another candid reminiscence from Thomas – unravelling the behind-the-scenes secrets of the Dawning Marvel Age in his Introduction<\/em> – this epochal tome opens with the debut of the company’s first Native American costumed hero in ‘The Coming of Red Wolf!’<\/em> (Thomas, John B & Tom Palmer) as the Avengers are drawn into a highly personal and decidedly brutal clash between ruthless entrepreneur Cornelius Van Lunt<\/em> and a tribe of Indians he is defrauding and persecuting.<\/p>\n

The dramatic dilemma (heralding the team’s entry into the era of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Relevant\u00e2\u20ac\u009d, socially conscious tales) divides the team and concludes with Vision<\/em>, Scarlet Witch<\/em> and Goliath<\/em> aiding Red Wolf in concluding episode ‘When Dies A Legend!’<\/em>, whilst the remaining team pursues super crime combine Zodiac<\/em> and the Black Panther<\/strong> pursues what he believes is a personal quest beside Daredevil<\/strong>. (This last tale occurred in DD<\/strong> #69 but is not included here. You’ll need to see the equivalent Daredevil Masterworks<\/strong> volume [#9, I think] for that).<\/p>\n

Sadly, the malevolent mega-mob move first and take the entire island of Manhattan ‘Hostage!’<\/em>, leaving only the solitary sightless vigilante Daredevil free to save the day, after which Militant Feminism raises its disconcertingly strident head as the Wasp<\/em>, Black Widow<\/em>, Scarlet Witch and Madame Medusa<\/em> are seduced into joining a new team called the Lady Liberators<\/em> (yes, I know how that sounds now but the all-male creative team meant well\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6).<\/p>\n

However, the Valkyrie<\/em> who declares ‘Come on in\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 the Revolution’s Fine!’<\/em> had her own dark secret and sinister agenda that has nothing to do with justice or equality\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Avengers<\/strong> #84 featured part-time paladin Black Knight<\/em> who had become addicted to the bloodthirsty hunger of his Ebony Blade, resulting in an otherworldly confrontation with alternate-Earth barbarian king Arkon<\/em> and his latest paramour the Enchantress<\/em> in ‘The Sword and the Sorceress!’<\/em> The resulting acrimonious clash subsequently left half the team lost in a parallel existence\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

In ‘The World is Not for Burning!’<\/em> (inked by Frank Giacoia), Vision, Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver<\/em>‘s efforts to return home leave them stranded on an Earth where the Squadron Supreme<\/em> are the World’s Greatest heroes and a solar Armageddon is only hours away\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Illustrated by Sal Buscema & Jim Mooney, ‘Brain-Child to the Dark Tower Came\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6!’<\/em> sees the extremely reluctant trans-Earth allies unite to save a very different world after which, back home, the Black Panther reprises his bombastic origin before taking leave of his comrades to assume the throne of his hidden African nation in ‘Look Homeward, Avenger’<\/em> (Giacoia & Sal B).<\/p>\n

Novelist Harlan Ellison was a very vocal comics fan in the 1970s and occasionally collaborated on Marvel tales. Avengers <\/strong>#88 began a radical adaptation of one his best short stories, heralding ‘The Summons of Psyklop’<\/em> (Ellison, Thomas, Sal Buscema & Mooney) wherein an experiment to cure the Hulk of his destructive nature leads to the Jade Juggernaut’s abduction by a preternatural entity.<\/p>\n

The saga concluded in Incredible Hulk<\/strong> #140 (Ellison, Thomas, Herb Trimpe & Sam Grainger) as ‘The Brute\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 That Shouted Love\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 at the Heart of the Atom!’<\/em> finds the man-monster experiencing truelove and idyllic peace in a sub-molecular paradise, only to lose it all when the demonic Psyklop tracks him down\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Following a reproduction of the cover of the all-reprint Avengers Annual<\/strong> #4, the romantic tragedy is somewhat leavened by a bonus yarn from Marvel’s spoof publication Not Brand Echh<\/strong> #5 (December 1967). Here Thomas, Gene Colan & John Tartaglione recount the sterling saga of ‘The Revengers vs Charlie America’<\/em>, reinterpreting how – if not why – the heroes saved the Star-Spangled Simpleton of Liberty from icy entombment. Wrapping up the memorable magic is a brace of contemporary house ads and full biographies of all creative folk involved\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Thomas and John Buscema (and Sal too, actually) gloriously led Marvel’s second generation of creators in building on and consolidating Lee, Kirby and Ditko’s initial burst of comics creativity: spearheading and constructing a logical, fully functioning wonder- machine of places and events that so many others were inspired by and could add to.<\/p>\n

These terrific tales are perfect examples of superheroes done exactly right and a pivotal step of the little company into the corporate colossus. They are also utterly fabulous stories you’ll never tire of reading
\n\u00c2\u00a9 1970, 1971, 2015 Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Roy Thomas, Harlan Ellison, John Buscema, Sal Buscema, Frank Giacoia, Herb Trimpe, Sam Grainger & various (Marvel) ISBN: 978-0-7851-3501-2 The Avengers always proved that putting all one’s star eggs in on single basket paid off big-time; even when all Marvel’s all-stars such as Thor, Captain America and Iron Man were absent, it merely allowed … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Avengers Marvel Masterworks volume 9”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[94,85,98,97,72,79],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18351","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-avengers","category-daredevil","category-hulk","category-kids-all-ages","category-marvel-masters-masterworks","category-marvel-superheroes"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4AFj-4LZ","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18351","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18351"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18351\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}