This week saw me digging into Marvel's hottest property right now - none other than the Mighty Avengers themselves! And who better to accompany the world's mightiest heroes other than the Golden Avenger, now staring in his third big summer blockbuster? To accompany my foray into the history of the World's Mightiest Heroes, I also read the first two Iron Many Stories in Tales of Suspense, going from the secret origin of Tony Stark to his final adventure in the bulky gold armor.
Avengers #1 - Written by Stan Lee, Art by Jack Kirby
The Avengers was Marvel's answer to the Justice League (well, other than their more popular answer sitting in the Baxter Building), combining several of their second-string characters into a single team. Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, Ant-Man, and the Wasp all come together to battle not only the evil God Loki but each other as well. The result pulls a little bit from each characters solo adventures, presenting a sampling of the variety of stories Marvel was publishing while also managing to tell a concise and enjoyable story of its own.
One of the great creations of the silver age,
The plot of Avengers #1 deals with Loki, the God of Mischief, attempting to get Hulk and Thor into a fight, believing that Hulk will manage to defeat his brother. His plan backfires when Iron Man, Ant-Man, and the Wasp answer the call to defeat the Hulk as well. Thor eventually discovers the deception and returns to Asgard to do battle with Loki while the rest of the heroes remain on Earth, still believing the Hulk to be their true foe. The plot does have some moments of ridiculousness that drag it down (at one point, Hulk disguises himself as a circus performer and delivers multiple performances over a few weeks before the Avengers find him), but overall it flows well and serves as a solid vehicle to bring the different character together.
The book switches its point of view around several times, sometimes from panel to panel, and each character's time in the spotlight plays out as if it was a scene from their solo adventures. Hulk's focus on being hunted and trying to escape, and Thor's journey to Asgard comes complete with magic trees and trolls. Iron Man and the Ant Man/Wasp combo, despite both being science based, manage to differentiate themselves - Iron Man is based around using his transistors to do battle directly, while Hank Pym is all about finesse, using his command of ants to find creative solutions to Hulk sized problems. Janet in her role of the Wasp is sadly little more than Pym's buddy, flying around and talking about how dreamy Thor is without doing much in battle.
While each characters distinctive tone makes keeps each scene feeling fresh, the climax - featuring an Iron Man and Hulk throwdown in a factory - is by far the highlight for its merging of the two characters styles. It could easily be a fight out of either of their books, wherein Hulk attempts to use brute strength to conquer his more intelligent foe and Iron Man devises creative countermeasures on the fly. The result feels more unique than anything else in the book, and the fact that there is no easy hero to root for in the situation only serves to heighten the tension.
Avengers #1 is able to sell its team well, displaying how their various skills and personalities interact to form a cohesive unit. When all the different moving pieces gel together, as they did in the Hulk and Iron Man fight to conclude the issue, the result is something truly exciting that extends this book past the solo offerings of its cast. While its plot is nothing all too spectacular, and it spends too much time having its heroes operating solo when they should have stuck together throughout, it offers a solid glimpse of the greatness that the Avengers franchise will reach in later years. Final Score: 8.5/10
Avengers #2 - Written by Stan Lee, Art by Jack Kirby
Despite his similarities to Loki, the Space Phantom is actually a pretty effective villain, wholly due to Kirby's pencils. Kirby gives the Phantom a body unlike any other I've seen in comics, something in between an upside down triangle and deformed human. Coupled with a face that seems fixed in permanent Bela Lugosi-esque glare, the Phantom truly chills every time he's on panel. His power is slightly different from the basic illusions employed by Loki in issue 1 - instead of creating a false image, the Phantom takes the form of someone while placing that unfortunate individual into limbo - and if his debut was spaced further away from Loki's plot, it would be hard to find fault with him. Sadly, this is not the case, and while Phantom himself is a solid creation, his plan and powers just feel to similar to what was seen last issue to fully succeed.
Likewise, the action present in this issue feels a little too similar to last issues offering. Ant Man's switch to Giant Man offers a bit of a change (and a good thing, too, as the ant gimmick was already getting old fast), but a large portion of the action in this comic deals with Hulk destroying scenery and another Iron Man vs Hulk battle, albeit in this case the Hulk is actually Space Phantom in disguise. Tony brings some stranger tools to the battle this time, most notably the ability to transform his hand into a hammer, but can't shake the feeling that this fight is just a rerun of last issue. A Space Phantom possessed Iron Man vs. The Avengers fight fares better, as the Wasp is able to differentiate herself from Pym by getting small enough to attack Iron Man from the inside. The resolution, sadly, is a let down, as the Phantom finds himself trapped in limbo when he attempts to possess Thor for no other reason than his power "only affects humans! And [Thor] is a God!".
The issues salvation lies in the way that the characters interact with each other, in particularly how the rest of the cast treats the Hulk. The issue opens with Thor giving Hulk crap because he's only wearing underpants, and this treatment continues throughout the issue as it becomes clear that the other Avengers at best don't like the Hulk, and at worst don't trust him at all, leading to his decision to quit the team at the end of the issue. It's made clear that these Avengers aren't all friends like in DC's Justice League, or even Marvel's own Fantastic Four, doing what Spider-Man did for solo books for team books.
Indeed, just as the drama surrounding Peter Parker's life is commonly far better than the adventures Spider-Man gets into, so too does the Avengers' internal drama surpass its action by a good bit. The book still has yet to fully meld all of the different heroes different fighting styles into one larger form, and much of the mechanics of the team are still in doubt. While the characterization remains strong, Avengers will hopefully start to mix things up in the future until it can find something that works better than its hero vs hero hook. Final Score: 6/10
Avengers #3 - Written by Stan Lee, Art by Jack Kirby
Avengers #3 decisively answers my earlier question of "Was there ever a time when the Avengers spent their time fighting villains instead of each other?" with a decisive "No, there was not". This is the third straight issue in which the Avengers battle the Hulk in some form or another, and if you thought it was a bit stale last time, well, get ready for more of the same. Luckily, the plot is better developed for this outing, and Lee mixes in some interesting new dynamics for the Hulk vs. Avengers battles that differentiate from the earlier battles.
Sadly, a lot of the inter-team drama dissipated from the Avenger's HQ after Hulk's departure at the end of issue #2. Other than Janet's continued unrequited pursuit of Pym, the team all gets along fairly well, agreeing unanimously that they should hunt down the Hulk before he can go on a rampage. The Avengers here present us with a story that could come straight out of The Incredible Hulk - puny humans fear Hulk and try to take him out - but from the other side, letting us understand the reasoning of the Hulk's foes. It's an interesting angle, but sadly it feels too similar to the first issue, albeit examined more fully here.
Stan changes up the formula he's established in the earlier two issues a bit through a rather liberal use of guest stars. Iron Man attempts to enlist the aid of the Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, and the X-Men to no avail while Namor successfully forms a brief, villainous team up with the Hulk. Seeing Kirby draw Spider-Man, a characters whose earlier years are closely identified with Ditko's distinctive pencils, is something of a treat, but ultimately these appearances by other heroes feel tacked on, adding very little if anything to the overarching story. Namor's role is more successful; his team up with the Hulk finally gives the Avengers a threat that isn't one of their own to fight, injecting variety into the final battle.
To Stan and Jack's credit, they do manage to squeeze some variety out of the fights with the Hulk as well. They play around with Hulk's transformations into Banner, and have the first engagement take place on top of a fast moving train. Kirby's pencils create a real sense of speed and motion, adding a thrill to this fight that's been missing since the initial Iron Man vs Hulk battle. Some creative uses of powers by all combatants, including a maneuver by Pym's ants that feels more clever than hooky, leaves the action feeling surprisingly fresh despite the regurgitation of battles from earlier issues.
Avengers #3 really mines the Avengers vs Hulk conflict to the bone, and hopefully this'll be the last time Hulk appears as a foe for awhile. In doing so, however, Stan and Jack manage to find the last few gems that can be found for this engagement, presenting a storyline that is better than its predecessor, if not quite yet reaching the heights of the debut issue. Final Score: 7.5/10
Tales of Suspense #39 - Written by Stan Lee, Art by Steve Ditko
The first appearance of Iron Man is relayed here by the duo of Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, and its something special. Lee and Ditko manage to pack in here what would stretch over a few issues in modern comics (something you see a lot of in older stuff), but as a result characterization is skipped out on in favor of speeding along the plot.
The broad strokes of Iron Man's origin are known to anyone who saw the 2008 film, with a few alterations to allow it to operate firmly in the 60s rather than present day. Brilliant weapons designer Anthony Stark gets kidnapped by communists after a weapons test gone awry in Vietnam. Wounded by a booby trap, shrapnel is slowly moving closer to his heart, and will kill him a week. Aided by fellow captive Yinsen, he is ordered to make weapons for his captors, but manages to turn the tables on them when he constructs a high tech suit of armor. Yinsen sacrifices himself to allow Stark's armor to charge up, and Stark takes revenge as Iron Man, destroying the communist's base and killing their leader before slinking off into the sunset.
There's a lot to like about the plot Lee puts together. He takes time to build up to the action, and Iron Man first confrontation the communist leader (Wong-Chu) is an extremely satisfying moment because of it, aided by Heck's decision to build up the suspense over a full page as challenges Chu in a trench coat before revealing his armor. The death of Yinsen adds some pathos to the character, and having a weapons designer double as a super hero is a novel concept itself and worthy of some note.
What Tales of Suspense #39 lacks, however, is emotion. Little is learned about the character of Tony Stark outside his profession and dislike of being kidnapped, and even less is learned of Yinsen. His death doesn't evoke emotion of any sort - he only existed for a few pages, in within those pages all he did was support whatever Stark was saying. It is, rather surprisingly, Chu who gets perhaps the most characterization of all. He's seen having the rather strange habit of allowing inhabitants of the villages he takes over attempt to earn freedom by wrestling him, beating most of the men in the village. Lee's dialogue, presenting a boisterous and overconfident man, work well with Ditko's art, who gives Chu facial expressions that emphasize his distastefulness, to make Chu draw the ire of the reader and really root for Stark to take him down. While it would be better to root for Stark rather than against Chu, nevertheless it results in a very satisfying final battle.
The action in the later half of the book is well done as well; instead of just having Iron Man punch out everyone, Lee and Heck have him use several different tricks - mainly utilizing his transistors, which seem to have the ability to make everything work better than it usually does - to thwart Chu's attempts to rally his men against him at every turn. Chu gets a dramatic death, as Iron Man combines his oil slick and flamethrower to ignite a weapons cache and blow him sky high, giving the battle an explosive and very enjoyable climax. The final few panels are a bit of a surprise; instead of triumphantly marching away from the site of his victory, Stark instead takes off the suit and slinks away in his trench coat, suggesting that maybe not everything is going to get back to normal for him - a subtle and well done hook for the next issue.
Overall, Tales of Suspense #39 succeeds in establishing a new hero, even if our interest with his in costume exploits far outweigh his character when he's out of it. Over the next few issues, I hope to gain some insight into Stark's life, giving readers reasons to want him to succeed, but for now the action, coupled with a strong villain, is strong enough to make this issue a success. Final Score: 8.5/10
Tales of Suspense #40 - Written by Stan Lee, Art by Steve Ditko
While the battle with the giant neanderthal falls flat, the first half of the book proves more successful in carving out a character for Tony Stark. His technical genius is reaffirmed (although the high powered roller skates he invents for the army reek a little too much of 60s camp), and he is presented with the primary drawbacks of his Iron Man suit. He must ensure that it remains charged, lest its magnets fail and he is killed by the shrapnel, and he is unable to appear shirtless - a minor issue for the average man, but something of a larger obstacle for a billionaire playboy. While Tony's sacrifices are nothing near those of Peter Parker's or Bruce Banner's, they work better to create pathos than last issues death of Yinsen. They also allow for some interesting stories in the future; this issue displays how Tony cannot get too close to women, and the threat of running out of power in the middle of the fight could provide tension for Iron Man's battles.
The books midsection details a rather strange adventure for Iron Man, in which Tony battles a group of large cats run amok at a circus. The idea of a billionaire taking a date to the circus is rather odd, as are the concept of Tony's transistors being able to make his iron suit collapsible. Add in a battle in which Iron Man quite literally faces down lions and tigers, and you're left with a sequence that feels out of place. The highlight comes from the crowds reaction to Iron Man, finding him looking more like a science fiction villain than a superhero and acting appropriately. Seeing the public react negatively to a hero worked wonders for Spider-Man (another Lee/Ditko collaboration), and it works here too, giving both the reader and Tony something to chew over. While the issue is resolved in a rather silly manner - a simple gold paintjob wins the people over - it helps to keep the circus scenes from failing entirely.
The final sequence, in which Iron Man battles Gagantus for the fate of a small town, has no such mitigating factor. Gargantus isn't half the villain that Chu was last issue, displaying no real personality to speak of, and providing no real reason to root against him. The two twist endings, revealing Gargantus to actually be a robot sent by aliens, clearly display roots from the giant monster stories of the books yore, and have no place in a superhero comic, feeling jarringly out of place and robbing the confrontation of a satisfying ending.
Despite its weak villain and uneven second act, Tales of Suspense #40 does prove successful in letting the readers get to know Tony Stark, providing reasons to sympathize with the character that were missing from the first issue. If Lee and Ditko can provide some stronger motivation for Stark, create some engaging villains, and ditch the campy giant monster themes, then Tales of Suspense has the potential to develop into something truly exciting; for now, however, we only get a glimpse of the books potential. Final Score: 6.5/1-
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