The Kree Skrull War - part 9

Avengers #97
date: March 1972
writer: Roy Thomas
artist: John Buscema, Tom Palmer, Gil Kane, Bill Everett
rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Rick Jones wanders the Negative Zone.  Captain Marvel frees Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch.  Rick Jones, with the Supreme Intelligence, summons seven heroes from his memories of Marvel's golden age (Captain America, Namor, Blazing Skull, the original Human Torch, the original Vision, the original Angel, the Fin, and The Patriot) to battle Ronan and the Kree.

Using his newfound power, Rick aids the rest of the Avengers against the Skrulls, turning them into statues.  It turns out the anti-Kree sentiments on earth were stirred up by a Skrull to begin with.  Captain Marvel resumes his former place in the Negative Zone.  Things are back to normal, except Goliath is missing.

Wow.  That was a great payoff.  The Avengers kind of seemed like spectators for a big part of this issue, playing second fiddles to Rick Jones and Captain Marvel.  I have no gripes with the payoff issue of the Kree Skrull War.  Five out of Five stars.

The Kree Skrull War - part 8

Avengers #96
date: February 1972
writer: Roy Thomas
artist: Neal Adams, Tom Palmer
rating: 4 out of 5 stars

The Avengers FINALLY go into space and tackle a Skrull armada to find their missing comrades.  The Avengers stop Vision from killing a Skrull.  Rick Jones is brought before Ronan. Rick Jones and the Supreme Intellgence hatch a plan to end the war.

Okay, when the Avengers finally get involved, they get involved big.  I was skeptical for some of this series but now I'm confident the finale will deliver the goods.  Everyone knows the Vision is in love with the Scarlet Witch but he's still in denial.  Great stuff.

The Kree Skrull War - part 7

Avengers #95
date: January 1972
writer: Roy Thomas
artist: Neal Adams, Tom Palmer
rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Triton asks for help from the Avengers to find Black Bolt, which pisses off the Vision.  Finally, Cap, Goliath, and Rick Jones agree to go with Triton. Black Bolt is found and the Avengers go to Attilan to fight off Maximus.  The Avengers save the day but Rick Jones is abducted.

Are the Avengers ever going into space during this war?  Much like The Vision, I'm getting impatient with all the futzing around.  The Neal Adams art is sweet and the battle at Attilan was pretty good but I'm ready for the Avengers to actually get involved in the Kree Skrull War.

The Kree Skrull War - part 6

Avengers #94
date: December 1971
writer: Roy Thomas
artist: John Buscema, Neal Adams, John Romita, Tom Palmer
rating: 4 out of 5 stars

The Skrulls have Quicksilver, Captain Marvel, and the Scarlet Witch captive and a stowaway in the form of The Vision!  The Vision fights the Super Skrull and the Skrulls launch a failed attack on Attilan, home of the Inhumans.

Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch are imprisioned in a pocket dimension while Mar-Vell deals with his Skrull captors.  The Vision returns to headquarters to warn the others, just in time to help them battle three Mandroids.

Holy shit there was a lot going on in this one.  The alternating chapters done by Buscema and Neal Adams gelled well.  I assumed there would be more space action than this but the War isn't over yet.

The Kree Skrull War - part 5

Avengers #93
date: November 1971
writer: Roy Thomas
artist: Neal Adams, Tom Palmer
rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Thor, Captain America, Iron Man, and Ant-Man meet to discuss the future of the Avengers.  The Vision collapses at their feet, seemingly dead. Ant-Man goes inside the Vision to investigate. The Vision is revived by Ant-Man's efforts and reveals what has transpired.  It seems the Thor, Captain America, and Iron Man from the last issue were Skrulls and another group of Skrulls has captured Carol Danvers, Captain Marvel, Goliath, Quicksilver, and the Scarlet Witch!  A battle ensues, duh, and the Skrulls manage to escape.

The Neal Adams art in this one is pretty fucking spectacular and it's a defining moment for Ant-Man, exploring the Vision's innards. It's cool that the Skrulls the Fantastic Four changed into cows at the end of Fantastic Four #2 have come back into play.  Things are heating up!

The Kree Skrull War - part 4

Avengers #92
date: September 1971
writer: Roy Thomas
artist: Sal Buscema, Neal Adams, George Roussos, Tom Palmer
rating: 4 out of 5 stars


The general public learns of the Kree citadel in Alaska and the Avengers are accused of being Kree spies. Hysterical asshole citizens surround Avengers mansion and demand Mar-Vell be handed over to them.  The Avengers help Mar-Vell escape with Carol Danvers and are brought up on charges. Thinking the current team acted irresponsibly by hiding Mar-Vell, Cap, Iron Man, and Thor disband the Avengers.

Wow, Cap and company come off looking like dicks at the end of this one.  The Avengers are caught up by bureaucratic assholes while there's a war waging lightyears away.  Somehow, I have no trouble imagining this scenario playing out the same way in real life.

The Kree Skrull War - part 3

Avengers #91
date: August 1971
writer: Roy Thomas
artist: Sal Buscema
rating: 3 out of 5 stars

The cave man Hank Pym carries off the Wasp. Ronan does some monologing instead of killing Mar-Vell while the Avengers fight Goliath and the Sentry.  Everyone except Quicksilver and Rick Jones are defeated and taken inside the Kree citadel. Cave-Pym fights some other savages over the Wasp.  Vision and Scarlet Witch almost kiss.  Quicksilver and Rick Jones manage to free the rest of the heroes.  Before Ronan can retaliate, he is summoned back to the Kree Galaxy for war has broken out between the Kree and the Skrulls!

Now we're talking.  The last of the setup is complete.  When does Quicksilver go off the rails and become a villain again?

The Kree Skrull War - part 2

Avengers #90
date: July 1971
writer: Roy Thomas
artist: Sal Buscema, Sam Rosen
rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, and the weakened Vision battle the Sentry.  The Sentry escapes with the recovering Mar-Vell.  Meanwhile, Goliath (aka Clint Barton) goes looking for Yellowjacket in a mysterious jungle that sprang up in Alaska, and soon finds himself battling Ronan.  Wasp, Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, and the Vision show up and battle Goliath, who is under some kind of mind control from Ronan. Just when things couldn't get worse, Yellowjacket shows up, mutated into some kind of gorilla creature.

Still no Skrulls.  I'm digging this Avengers lineup that's solely characters that don't have books of their own, a rarity in this day and age.  Once again, I'm digging the creative team and I'm wondering where this is going.

The Kree Skrull War - part 1

Avengers #89
date: June 1971
writer: Roy Thomas
artist: Sal Buscema, Sam Grainger, Sam Rosen
rating: 3 out of 5 stars

The Kree-Skrull War is one of the most revered storylines in Avengers history but I've never read it until now.  First off, this first issue has one of my favorite covers of  from the 1970s, Mar-Vell in the electric chair.

Mar-Vell breaks into the Baxter Building to free himself and Rick Jones from their bond and accidentally releases Annihilus from the Negative Zone.  Vision, Scarlet Witch, and Quicksilver battle Annihilus and force him back into the Negative Zone while Mar-Vell steals their quinjet, unaware that he has been contaminated by radiation from the Negative Zone and may destroy the world.  The three Avengers bring him in and the Vision works to drain Mar-Vell of the radiation.  Meanwhile, Ronan activates the Kree Sentry and sends him against the Avengers.

For a single issue, that was a little convoluted, told partly in flashback.  The Skrulls aren't yet on the board and there appears to be dissension among the Kree, particularly the Supreme Intelligence and Ronan.  The art by Sal Buscema is pretty slick, though, and Roy Thomas' writing is better than Stan Lee's.  Three out of five stars.

Marvel Unlimited Find: Behold... The Vision!

Avengers #57
date: October 1968
writer: Roy Thomas
artists: John Buscema, Marie Severin, George Klein
rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

With my Marvel Unlimited subscription, I continue mining the history of the Marvel Universe for interesting moments.  After reading Vision #1, I thought it would be a good idea to see where it all began.


Named after an obscure character from Marvel's golden age, the Vision burst on the scene much the same way as Wonder Man, as a foe for the Avengers that has a change of heart.  Since the Vision was later revealed to share Wonder Man's brain patterns, I guess it isn't that surprising.

The Vision uses his phasing powers to enter the Wasp's apartment, only to collapse in battle. Black Panther, Hawkeye, Wasp, and Goliath examine the Vision in Hank Pym's lab.  The Vision recovers and leads them back to his creator, Ultron. The Vision defeats Ultron and saves the day.

There actually wasn't much to this story.  As I said, it was almost the same plot as Avengers #9.  My favorite part was the quoting of Ozymandias at the end with a kid kicking Ultron's head around like a soccer ball.  2.5 out of 5 stars.

Marvel Unlimited Find: Cap's Kooky Quartet!

Avengers #16
date: May 1965
writer: Stan Lee
artists: Jack Kirby, Dick Ayers
rating: 4 out of 5

I first read about Cap's kooky quartet in an issue of Marvel Saga.  The big guns left the team and were replaced by Hawkeye, Quicksilver, and the Scarlet Witch.  As a kid, I thought this was a tremendous step back.  More on that in a moment.

Fresh from a battle with the Masters of Evil, Giant-Man, Wasp, Thor, and Iron Man leave the team, leaving Captain America to pick up the pieces.  He replaces them with Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch, and Quicksilver, all former villains.

Now, as a kid, I thought this was a mistake.  With the wisdom of age, however, I see it as a good move for future storylines.  The original Avengers lineup was hugely over powered, so much so that Captain America seemed kind of useless.  What's the use of being in great physical shape when your teammates are a god, a flying piece of artillery, and two people that can change size?

With the new lineup, lots more possibilities are available.  Cap has to whip them into shape and they'll be the under dogs pretty much all the time.

While it's a transitional issue, it's also a milestone in early Marvel history.  Four out of five stars.

Marvel Unlimited Find: First Appearance of Wonder Man!

Avengers #9
date: October 1964
writer: Stan Lee
artists: Jack Kirby, Don Heck, Dick Ayers
rating: 2.5 out of 5

Wonder Man joins the Avengers!  But who is Wonder Man?

My first exposure to Wonder-Man was in an issue of West Coast Avengers when the Voice compelled the rest of the team to catch poor Hank Pym and kill him.  Good times.

The Executioner, The Enchantress, and Baron Zemo create Wonder Man and use him to infiltrate the Avengers.  Simon Williams, Wonder Man's alter ego, has a change of heart, save the Avengers, and winds up dead.  Dead for a while, anyway.

It's pretty standard fare for the time period.  Honestly, it had potential but felt very rushed.  It would have worked better as a two-parter.  On the plus side, Wonder Man stayed dead for at least ten years.  That's pretty long by today's standards.  2.5 out of 5 stars.

Uncanny Avengers, Vol. 1: The Red Shadow

Uncanny Avengers, Vol. 1: The Red Shadow by Rick Remender
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

1 - The X-Men bury Professor X. Captain America asks Havoc to lead a joint X-Men/Avengers team.

Uncanny Avengers is off to a good start. The battle with Avalanche was good and I liked the Scarlet Witch-Rogue confrontation. Red Skull stealing Professor X's brain was a little hokey, though.

2 - Rogue and Scarlet Witch try to escape the Red Skull.

Okay, this issue was mostly talk. So Red Skull used Xavier's brain to give himself super powers somehow? Okay...

On a side note, how powerful is this team shaping up to be? Captain America, Havoc, Wolverine, Thor, Rogue, and the Scarlet Witch. Why is Cap on the team if Havoc is supposed to be the leader? I guess I'll find out.

3 - The Red Skull uses his mental powers to set the human populace of NYC into a murderous rage against mutants!

This issue was one long fight scene. It also illustrates why having Cap on a team he's not leading is illogical. Thor taking out Wolverine was oddly satisfying, though.

4 - The chaos the Red Skull has sown comes to something of a conclusion.

Some brutal shit happens. Order is restored but not in a satisfying way. I like that the team is finally coming together but nothing was really resolved. The chilling vision of things to come makes me think I'll probably be reading the next volume despite my original intentions just to dip into this title.

5 - Wonder Man and Wasp join the team for PR purposes and Wolverine recruits Sunfire.

The fight with the Grim Reaper was pretty great. Wonder Man refusing to fight was an interesting moment. Havoc unmasking and his subsequent speech made him seem like the leader of the team for the first time in the series so far. I've been interested in Sunfire since I saw him on an episode of Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends so it was cool to see him here. I'm a little more interested in this team than I want to admit.

Closing Thoughts: I tried not to be impressed by this but I was anyway. Rick Remender and John Cassady did a great job on the first five issues. I'm not a fan of their being 147 different teams of Avengers but this one was damn good. I'm in for one more volume at least. Four out of five stars.

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