Continuing with Roger Stern's classic Avengers run, Marvel Comics Group, 1986 You might’ve found the clash of egos between Namor and Hercules amusing; perhaps the arguing just left you cold. Perhaps you enjoyed the complexities of their friendship. When Captain Marvel breaks up their latest row over Namor not catching Hercules---tossed in the air by the Beyonder’s parting gift, a tornado, in #265---she gets them both to focus, irritated though she is. “May your beard grow inward” from Namor’s thoughts as they work together, is the funniest thing I’ve read all day. When Marrina flees Atlantis in #272, Hercules is the first to speak his worry. It is well that Namor realized, when Attuma repulsed him alone with the forces of Atlantis, he should in fact call Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. The entire team’s reassembled: Captain Marvel, Black Knight, Captain America, Hercules, the Submariner, and their leader, the Wasp. Now, his fiancé, Marrina of Alpha Flight, is the endangered one, t

AVENGERS #264: The very first piece comes together long before Hercules is casually quaffing wine and popping grapes, indifferent to the Submariner’s desertion in #271. Here in this blog we’ve noted Roger Stern’s first AVENGERS storyline ties up the legal saga of Hank Pym and includes his dust-up with the Masters of Evil under Egghead. In this story, a new villain---a rookie with some technological expertise---uses remote control devices to remove Pym’s Yellowjacket equipment and costume from within Avenger’s Mansion! It’s actually quite humorous to watch the costume seem to “walk” out under its own power, just beneath the notice of the Avengers and their temporary guests, the Fantastic Four. Hercules, for one, conveys his awe to Reed Richards concerning his ability to create all manner of marvelous machines---as well as his assertion that too many strange things have been happening around the Mansion of late! I’m amused to see Jarvis talking to Franklin Richards at play, as wel

The recently-deposed Submariner’s in the middle of being sued for billions of dollars when he answers a call to face the warlord Attuma, the new crowned replacement monarch of Atlantis. The Wasp is furious with Prince Namor’s reckless decision as AVENGERS #271 opens. With casual disdain, Hercules disagrees: it’s a matter of honor, “not that I expect a woman to understand.” She firmly disagrees and insults Hercules for not using his brain, and the Black Knight agrees the demi-god, their strongest, longest-lived member on the roster, is out of line. A willing guy for a challenge of power or courage, and a faithful guy to come to your rescue if word reaches him, Herc has yet not acquired that viewpoint regarding female leadership, most especially if he, regardless of what he has said, is then rebuked, for he is one to let feelings get involved before logic, and quite accustomed to being accorded his way among gods and mortals alike. Pride wounded, the Lion of Olympus storms out. I t

Mister Hyde. Goliath. The Wrecker and the Wrecking Crew, Thunderball, Bulldozer, and Piledriver. Moonstone. Blackout. The Fixer. Yellowjacket. Tiger Shark. And more, selected to match each Avengers’ strength---and together, surpass it. Gathered by a scientific criminal mastermind---for the purpose of destroying the Avengers, utterly, once and for all. And should they survive, then…the wrath of a god-king? Roger Stern’s Avengers themselves have been my primary focus; we’re going to mix one more fantasy oddball, Dr. Druid, and head towards old-fashioned costumed super criminals and face the gods themselves! (Wow, what that character could’ve been in the right hands! After Stern, he pretty much makes you hate him.) The Masters of Evil are the first threat Uncle Roj wraps up with his start on the title in ’82. For that matter, two of these owe their identities to Hank Pym’s career: Goliath and Yellow Jacket. How appropriate, at the Avengers’ last stand, a former burglar, Scott L

Meanwhile, our remaining t-shirts are available at Convention Special Price, for $12 each plus $3.00 for shipping & handling. • The members of this period are notable as experienced super heroes, rather than new ones, and overall older adults. The New York setting Stern used so well in his first two years rarely appears, as the team’s adventures happen mostly in exotic settings, like Limbo, outside time and space; Hydrobase, their new off-shore head quarters in the Atlantic Ocean; and Mount Olympus, home of the Greek gods. Hercules (expansion, space, super-hero period) *5. Black Knight (transition, Vision/ space period) Submariner (superhero period) 6. Doctor Druid Thor, * She-Hulk A great on-going writer not only develops his characters across the length of his series, but continues consequences from previous storylines, so as to develop the team’s story over time. In this case, the Vision’s breach of national security (see “Ultimate Vision” posts---Loquac

Finally: the last in my Turkey Day Triple Treat: Oh yeah, you’ve been waiting for it: SECRET WARS II. Whether it took you on a tour of the comic shop, with all its cross-overs (that really was the perfect place to explore as much of it as you wanted), or whether you just wished the whole war stayed a secret, the Beyonder’s visit to Earth became the Marvel Event of the Year, at a time when such a concept had never been tried. The Thanksgiving turkey has arrived. Storywise, how do you write about confrontations with a being of limitless power? It’s an exercise in frustration, and you’re going to watch every one that stands against him be humbled if not humiliated, while no reasonable force could be brought to bear in equal portion. (No Ultimate Nullifier on the shelf, here. Who knows what it would’ve meant to the Beyonder, anyway?) Early on, though, there’s the question of what to do with the curious being from another universe, how to interact---what to even believe! When the Be

Tweet Second Part of a Three Course banquet of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes! FIRELORD: Hot Air Balloons As if their inability to save the Savage Land were not enough, the Avengers return home to find that National Security Council agents ransacking their headquarters. According to Raymond Sikorsky, in light of information from the Vision's debriefing, the Avengers' priority clearance has been suspended. Without a moment to breathe, they're called in to confront Firelord, only to find the former herald of Galactus already defeated by Spider-Man. That’s right, Firelord. Any Spidey fans remember him trying a slice of New York Pizza? Hercules proves the rare voice of reason, convincing his ally of old to join the Avengers in their next great danger, as a way of making amends for his rampage on Earth. The Skrull empire is in disarray, warring provincial powers dividing hegemony with shifting alliances. Starfox Starfox has a power he keeps secret at first from the Avengers; this m

Myebook - D'n'A Comics #1 As promised: the online version of DNA #1!!!Fifty cents for a complete, nuanced, spine-tingling sixteen page story, written and drawn by us. Meanwhile, our remaining t-shirts are available at Convention Special Price, for $12 each plus $3.00 for shipping & handling. MORE COMIC CON PICS BELOW!!! AND!! You can use the button provided; the $15 will cover your postage. D'n'A t-shirt #1 Small $15.00 Medium $15.00 Large $15.00 or D'n'A t-shirt Puzzle pieces (girl and boy) Small $15.00 Medium $15.00 Large $15.00 While we prepare demos to go gig-shopping again, we have numerous other ideas in the works. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Integr8d-Soul/108962196641 We offer online home concerts, through Ustream (which is free; please tip through Pay Pal!) and Stageit.com We'd love to play for you, personally, or for your party. If you are NOT on the Pacific coast, adjust for time !! We are three hours behind the East Coa

4. The Superhero period (AVENGERS 262-285) 1986, 1987 “Wait a cock-eyed second,” you might say: “aren’t all Avengers stories superheroic?” Ah, but in this period the settings become detached largely from the view of the average person. We’re no longer in the familiar New York streets; everything’s exotic. As his run ends, Roger Stern writes the graduation of Captain Marvel, who came in with him as a rookie and, just as he turns in what will prove his last scripts on the title, becomes the team leader, the Wasp, handing the baton to another, very different young woman---someone a lot like a less-experienced version of Cap, a real model Avenger---who makes mistakes, but not out of impoverished character. Monica’s role models definitely include Miss Janet Van Dyne, the team leader of note through her entire evolution. She, like the Wasp, respects people’s experiences, even her parents, all the while thinking for herself. For my money, they are as strong a pair of characters in an