Comic Books 101

by Chris Ryall

  Here we meet Tony Stark, a millionaire industrialist who is demonstrating the power of his newfangled “transistors” to the U.S. Army. While in Vietnam to ground-test his new “transistor-powered” mortar cannons, Stark accidentally triggers an explosive booby-trap and is mortally wounded and captured by Wong-Chu, “the red guerrilla tyrant” of South Vietnam. When Wong-Chu's Commie doctors get a hold of Stark, who conveniently has papers identifying himself as “famous Yankee weapons inventor,” they determine that shrapnel from the explosion is traveling ever closer to his heart and will kill him within a week. Wong-Chu lies to the injured prisoner, telling Stark that if he builds a new weapon for them, surgeons will save his life. Stark sees through Wong-Chu's ruse, and sets to work creating a chestplate that will keep his damaged heart beating, while also powering a suit of armor that will liberate him from prison.

  Stark is assisted by Professor Yinsen, another of Wong-Chu's prisoners, who turns out to be, in the words of Stark himself, “once the greatest physicist of them all.” How absolutely convenient. With Yinsen's assistance, Stark completes the armored suit just before the shrapnel reaches his heart. Unfortunately, Wong-Chu and his men approach the cell while the armor is charging and Stark lies helpless. To prevent them from capturing Stark, Yinsen charges into the hallway, distracting the guards at the cost of his own life.

  Now fully charged and operational, and with the chestplate keeping him alive, Stark quickly learns to function within his gray iron shell. With the help of the many attachments he and Yinsen built into the armor, Stark eludes his captors in the prison, then goes on to face Wong-Chu. Stark lays a capitalist smackdown on the Commie warlord, and then puts away Wong-Chu for good, blowing up the guerrilla's ammo dump just as he runs toward it.

  More than any of the other Marvel comics of the era, Iron Man was caught up in the fervor of Cold War America — Iron Man represented the power of American technology and scientific know-how that would quash those backwards Commies. Iron Man's Silver Age rogues' gallery tells the tale, boasting such baddies as the Soviet armored doppelgän-ger the Crimson Dynamo, the Red Chinese warlord the Mandarin (sporting ten super-powered rings, one for each finger), the Soviet spy known as the Black Widow (who would later defect to the U.S. and become Iron Man's teammate), and another Russian armored-type, Titanium Man.

  CLOTHES MAKE THE MAN

  Along the way, Iron Man's armor evolves as well, starting in the second issue. Stark returns to the United States and his playboy lifestyle, and shows off the first of many upgrades, changing color from gray to gold. The most significant upgrade happens in Tales of Suspense #48 (December 1963), courtesy of artist Steve Ditko. He put together the sleek, streamlined red and gold ensemble, the most influential in the series' run. To this day, most new interpretations fall back on Ditko's as a template. For more than twenty years, the only significant alteration to the Ditko suit was in the helmet, which would occasionally feature a forked faceplate, visible rivets and, very briefly, a nose, thanks to artist George Tuska.

  The armor's abilities have stayed fairly consistent throughout the series: increased strength and resistance to harm, boot-jets for flight, “repulsor” beams of concussive force from the gloves and a “unibeam” laser from the chest. Occasionally special attachments or add-ons are utilized, from jet boosters for increased speed to roller skates for, well, increased funkitude. Specialized armor is also created for specific situations, such as outer space, underwater depths or stealth missions.

  In the 1970s, the Cold War angle is downplayed, and more emphasis is placed on Stark's business interests, and matters of corporate intrigue and sabotage. The issue of Stark's bad heart is finally settled; he receives a synthetic heart in an experimental operation. This takes away a fair amount of the series' central concept, however, namely “the millionaire playboy with the fatal flaw.”

  A CHINK IN THE ARMOR

  Writer David Michelinie and artist Bob Layton solved this problem with their landmark run in Iron Man #120–128 (March–November 1979), “Demon in a Bottle,” in which Tony Stark faces up to his alcoholism. In Michelinie's tense thriller, Stark's company is ever so slowly wrested from his grasp, while competing industrialist Justin Hammer frames Iron Man for the murder of a foreign ambassador on live television. Under constant pressure — he loses his company, and Iron Man's reputation is in ruins — Stark increasingly turns to alcohol. He eventually hits rock bottom, then finds the strength to turn away from the bottle. The subject is maturely handled, and Layton's art is clean and appealing. It was first collected in trade back in 1984, and is currently available in hardcover — highly recommended.

  His alcoholism is brought back in Iron Man #169 (April 1983), in a lengthy storyline by writer Denny O'Neil in which Stark completely loses control of his company (which he had regained after his last bout with alcoholism) and personal fortune to competing businessman Obadiah Stane. Stark suffers a major relapse, and even gives up his Iron Man identity entirely, passing the armor on to his longtime pilot James Rhodes.

  Rhodes remains as Iron Man for more than three and a half years, even after Stark sobers up and moves to California. Eventually, in Iron Man #200 (November 1985), Stark returns to the armor (albeit one of the ugliest armored suits Iron Man ever wore), and returns to his corporate glories at the helm of Stark Industries. Rhodes is eventually given his own armor and sporadically operates as War Machine.

  Tony Stark first confronts his battle with the bottle in an Iron Man run by David Michelinie and Bob Layton.

  IRON MAN #128: © 1979 MARVEL ENTERTAINMENT, INC. USED WITH PERMISSION. ART BY JOHN ROMITA, JR. AND BOB LAYTON. COLOR BY BOB SHAREN.

  8 The Avengers

  Earth's mightiest heroesDC Comics may have invented the concept of the “superhero team” with the Justice Society and later the Justice League, but it was never much on refining it. In the DC Universe, superheroes formed super-teams because, well, that's just what superheroes did. Sure, there are rare exceptions such as the Doom Patrol, but they were short-lived. DC had the JLA and its junior version, the Teen Titans, and that is pretty much it.

  Marvel, on the other hand, developed distinct identities and purposes for each of its superhero teams. The Fantastic Four are a family, first and foremost. The X-Men are outcasts, banded together by human society's hatred and mistrust. The Defenders, a successful 1970s team book, are a “non-team” consisting of misfits who find themselves hanging together out of a need to belong to something. And the Avengers? The Avengers are the varsity team, the first line of defense, the big guns of the Marvel Universe. Anybody could be a Defender, and no one wanted to be an X-Man, but if you were a superhero and were invited to join the Avengers, you'd made it to the big leagues.

  It's this air of prestige and responsibility about the Avengers that helps make them so consistently popular. While the Fantastic Four explore the cosmos and the X-Men look after their own, the Avengers are in the trenches, saving the world, year in and year out. Combine that with one of the best core memberships in comics and a frequently changing roster, and you get one of the best superhero team series ever published.

  Unlike most of Marvel's other Silver Age launches, the Avengers were created as a direct result of fan requests. By 1962, Stan Lee was besieged by requests for more Marvel team-ups, particularly a new collaboration of Marvel's solo stars. Never one to let a good idea pass him by, Stan put his head together with Marvel's master storyteller Jack Kirby, and the two put together their newest team. Here's how Stan tells it in Son of Origins of Marvel Comics: “After kicking it around for awhile, we came up with what seemed like a perfect combo. We'd start with the Hulk, just to make it difficult. Then, we'd include Thor, 'cause there's always room for a god of thunder. Iron Man would be able to supply them all with weapons and bread whenever they needed it, and we'd toss in Ant-Man and the Wasp just for the sheer lunacy of it.”

  Now that a team had been chosen, all that was needed was an origin. After all, said Lee, “it wouldn't make a terribl
y interesting story merely to have someone send the others a note inviting them to join a group of superheroes.” (This, by the way, was the origin of the 1940s Justice Society of America, until a more satisfying origin adventure was retroactively created for the team in the 1970s.) Since a suitably big menace was necessary to bring this powerful a group together, Lee and Kirby opted to use one of their biggest: Loki, the god of evil (or mischief depending on the day) from the Thor series.

  In The Avengers #1 (September 1963), “The Coming of the Avengers,” Loki frames the Hulk in an attack on a passenger train, with the hopes of provoking his hated half brother Thor to pursue him. When the Hulk's young sidekick Rick Jones contacts the Fantastic Four via ham radio for assistance in locating the Hulk, Loki jams the signal, diverting it to a frequency he knows Thor's alter ego, Don Blake, to be listening to. However, Loki doesn't realize that others could be listening to the frequency and might answer Rick Jones's call for help, namely Iron Man, Ant-Man and the Wasp.

  Soon, Thor, Iron Man, Ant-Man and the Wasp meet up at the southwestern clubhouse of the Teen Brigade, Rick Jones's club of ham radio enthusiasts (don't ask), ready to help track down the Hulk. When Thor is lured away by an illusionary image of the Hulk, he deduces that Loki is involved, and heads to Asgard to track down his half brother. Iron Man, Ant-Man and the Wasp brawl with the Hulk all across the Southwest, until Thor shows up with a captive Loki and reveals that they've all been manipulated.

  Before the heroes can go their separate ways, Ant-Man suggests that they continue to work together in the future. Iron Man and Thor agree, as does the Hulk, who remarks, “I'm sick of bein' hunted and hounded! I'd rather be with you than against you!” At the suggestion of the Wasp, the newly formed team dubs itself the Avengers, and there you have it.

  The Hulk's naturally suspicious and belligerent nature would eventually win out, and by issue #3, the Hulk is gone from the Avengers for good. With the next issue comes the arrival of the final “founding member:” Captain America. Even though he was not around when the team originated, Captain America has become nearly synonymous with the Avengers over time. In fact, in recognition of this important factor, Avengers writer Kurt Busiek later notes that the team has given Cap “founding member” status, granting him a permanent say in all Avengers decisions and policy.

  GUEST LECTURER

  JUD MEYERS, owner, Earth-2 Comics

  THE FIRST ISSUE OF THE AVENGERS I EVER READ

  Avengers Annual #7 (1977) — the Avengers in space, fighting Thanos, Lord of Evil. Epic battle scenes, souls sucked into jewelry and the death of Adam Warlock, who discovers that even in death, the answer to true happiness is love. I read it so much, the pages fell apart in my hands.

  When Captain America joins the Avengers in The Avengers #4 (March 1964), his arrival really solidifies the team. The book finds a renewed focus that it had lacked before, both in Captain America's relationship with honorary member Rick Jones, who elicits Cap's memories of his wartime partner Bucky Barnes, and in the team's struggle with Cap's World War II adversary Baron Zemo, who emerges from hiding in South America to seek out revenge on Captain America for the permanent damage to his face.

  As any reader of the ‘70s can tell you, Marvel used to place a caption at the top of the first page of every Marvel comic, giving the new reader a quick explanation of the series' premise. It was quick, elegant and unobtrusive. So rather than try to explain to you the Avengers' “mission statement,” as it were, we'll let you learn it the same way we did:

  “And there came a day, a day unlike any other, when Earth's mightiest heroes and heroines found themselves united against a common threat. On that day, the Avengers were born – to fight the foes no single superhero could withstand! Through the years, their roster has prospered, changing many times, but their glory has never been denied! Heed the call, then – for now the Avengers Assemble!”

  The debut issue of The Avengers, by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.

  THE AVENGERS #1: ©1963 MARVEL ENTERTAINMENT, INC. USED WITH PERMISSION. ART BY JACK KIRBY.

  Everything you need, right there at the top of the page.

  Captain America makes his triumphant, if a little damp, return, after decades on ice.

  THE AVENGERS #4 © 1964 MARVEL ENTERTAINMENT, INC. USED WITH PERMISSION. ART BY JACK KIRBY AND GEORGE ROUSSOS. COLOR BY JANET JACKSON.

  THE EARLY DAYS

  Over the years, different writers would take the “foes no single super-hero could withstand” in a few different directions. Let's take a look at a few influential Avengers writers and some of the important villains and concepts they brought to the table.

  First and foremost, of course, we have Avengers creators Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.

  Kirby's influence past the origin was minimal — only drawing the first eight issues of the entire series — however, those issues were some of Kirby's best action storytelling of the era, and The Avengers #3 (January 1964) set a surprising precedent for team books of the time: membership was not fixed. Anybody could leave the team at any time, as evidenced by the Hulk's turning on the Avengers after only three issues. The Avengers' unpredictable nature was reinforced in the very next issue, when the long-absent Captain America joined the team, reuniting Kirby with his most famous Golden Age creation.

  Lee and Kirby's Avengers #6 introduced another extremely long-running Avengers opponent, the Masters of Evil, made up of enemies of the individual members from their solo series, in this case Iron Man's foe the Melter, Thor's opponent Radioactive Man, and Giant-Man (the first of many name and costume changes for Ant-Man) and the Wasp's sparring partner the Black Knight, led by Cap's old foe Baron Zemo.

  After Kirby left, the Avengers art duties were taken over by Don Heck, a much maligned penciller who, in our opinion, never gets the respect he's due. Though his action sequences could be a little stiffer than Kirby's, Heck brought a leaner, less musclebound look to the characters, and rendered some of the most consistently gorgeous women in comics. Kirby returned to the series for layouts for one issue only, and what an issue. In Avengers #16 (May 1965), Stan set the tone for the Avengers for decades to come with just one story: “The Old Order Changeth!” All the members but Captain America quit the team, leaving Cap with a trio of reformed supervillains as Avengers, as well as some heavy expectations to fulfill.

  GUEST LECTURER

  JOE CASEY, writer, Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes

  THE FIRST ISSUE OF THE AVENGERS I EVER READ

  Probably The Avengers #161 (July 1977), “Beware the Ant-Man!” by Jim Shooter and George Pérez. This issue, detailing the Avengers' discovery of Hank Pym's breakdown, really hooked me in to the family vibe of the team. And of course the Ultron attack was brutal. Encephalo-ray, bay-bee! And that last-page, “light switch reveal” of Jarvis is as good as it gets. After reading that comic book, I never looked back.

  THE BEST CREATIVE TIME ON THE TITLE

  David Michelinie (with an assist from Steven Grant) and John Byrne. Maybe it's blasphemy to not say Englehart or Thomas or Buscema or Pérez here, but I know what I like. I'm sure it has everything to do with when you first read which creators, but these guys are it for me. Funny thing is, neither of these creators would consider this run his best work. I love it, though.

  THE BEST COVER

  The Avengers #181 (March 1979) by George Pérez. Just about every Avenger gathered at the classic “A” meeting table, with government stooge Henry Peter Gyrich telling them, “Seven of you will REMAIN as Avengers – the rest of you are OUT!” With Cap holding Iron Man back from punching him out. Times have changed, haven't they?

  THE BEST STORYLINE/ISSUE

  It starts with Gyrich's interference in how the team is run and ends with the court case that vindicates them. In between, you've got major events in Avengers history like the Korvac saga (The Avengers #167–177, 1978) and the origin of Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch (The Avengers #185, 1979). Is it the best? That's always debatable. Is it my favorite? Absolutely. />
  SCOTT SAYS

  The best thing about Roy Thomas's introduction of the killer robot Ultron and the Vision is the way it eventually ties up the Avengers into a sick little dysfunctional family. Follow along:

  Hank “Ant-Man” Pym creates Ultron, who, upon achieving sentience, immediately attacks his creator and subjects him to treatments that remove all memory of the incident.

  Ultron uses the defunct android body of the original 1940s-era Human Torch to create the Vision, and uses the brain patterns of the fallen Avengers ally Wonder Man (which are for some reason recorded by Hank Pym upon Wonder Man's death, in another example of Pym's somewhat cavalier approach to science) to create the Vision's personality and consciousness.

  Vision eventually falls in love with and marries his fellow Avenger the Scarlet Witch.

  When Ultron desires a mate, he kidnaps Hank Pym's wife Janet (the Wasp) in a plan to transplant her persona into an android body (no Oedipal issues here or anything), and although the plan is foiled, the resulting female android, Jocasta, briefly joins the Avengers.

  When Wonder Man returns from the dead, he and the Vision eventually declare themselves “twin brothers,” because of the whole “shared brain patterns” deal. However, things get complicated when Wonder Man finds himself attracted to the Scarlet Witch (which makes sense, since the Vision's brain is based on Wonder Man's).

  Ultron allies himself with another Avengers foe, the Grim Reaper, who is the brother of Simon Williams (Wonder Man). The Reaper hates the Vision for bearing his brother's brain patterns, and never accepts the resurrected Wonder Man as his real brother.

  “THE OLD ORDER CHANGETH”

  Stan's complete overhaul of the team set up a new dynamic for the series: not only could anyone leave the Avengers, but absolutely anybody could wind up a member. This fluidity of concept allowed the series to adapt to the changes in the industry and the culture far more easily than other team books, and no doubt guaranteed its longevity. In addition, the new team — Captain America, Hawkeye, Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch — had a “regular guy” persona (Cap, Hawkeye and Quicksilver weren't particularly musclebound) that perfectly meshed with Don Heck's leaner, slimmer figures and linework, and his art flourished.