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We’re back with more Silver Age Avengers. This time Avengers #’s 80-88 are collected as well as Incredible Hulk #140. The issues collected here are dated September 1970 to June 1971. All of these issues are written by the great Roy Thomas, with Harlan Ellison providing the plot for Hulk #140. There’re many artists who lend their artistic talents to this collection. John Buscema worked on #’s 80-85 while his brother, Sal, worked on #’s 86 and 88. Frank Giacoia worked on the other Avengers issue. Herb Trimpe and Sam Grainger worked on the Hulk together.
Roy Thomas writes the introduction and as usual he does a bang-up job. He discusses in depth all of the stories here, their inspiration, and how he went about writing them. He talks about his team-up with Harlan, the artists he worked with, and even noting how interesting it is that this collection ended with a Hulk tale. He said that they couldn’t go to Avengers #89 because it started something called a Kree-Skrull War? Hmmm, what could he mean there?
Spoilers Ahead
This collection starts of with a three-part storyline centered around Red Wolf and the Zodiac. #80 sets things up with the origin of the Red Wolf and why he wants to kill a certain man. It all ties into Van Lunt, a man the Avengers battled before last collection. This issue also features the Avengers going their separate ways to end threats they believe take importance. Vision, Scarlet Witch and Goliath head with Red Wolf to stop Van Lunt, something they are able to do in #81. The burgeoning Scarlet Witch/Vision romance is really teased here, too. This all ties into the events that takes place in #83. The Zodiac capture Manhattan and capture the Avengers in New York City. Only Black Panther and Daredevil remain free and they are enough to free the Avengers and quickly defeat the evil forces. The epilogue ties together the three different problems the Avengers were debating on which was more important and how they were really all connected. I loved the first two issues as the story really had time to develop, though I felt the last story was a bit rushed.
#83 was an interesting tale featuring the debut of the Lady Liberator’s, Roy’s response to the Women’s Lib movement of the time. Valkyrie brings together notable female heroes to battle the Masters of Evil after they subdued the Avengers at the annual Halloween festival. It turns out that Valkyrie is actually the Enchantress in disguise. She’s sent off to some unknown dimension at issue’s end. We find out in the next issue she shows up in Arkon’s world where the Black Knight happens to be. They fight and the Avengers cross dimensions to restore order. The Avengers return home but half of the group end up in another alternate dimension in #85. They see a vision of the future and a missile destroying the Earth. They soon realize they are not on their Earth when they fight the Squadron Supreme, hero versions of the Squadron Sinister. After the pre-requisite hero vs. hero fight, they find the real culprit in #86 and it is a super-smart kid named Brain-Child. He’s defeated and the Avengers return home, although Vision muses if it is really home or just an exact parallel replica of their universe.
#87 slows it down a bit with an origin of the Black Panther and it’s pretty much all things that’ve been repeated in other comics, including the Black Panther series from a few years back. #88 deals with some guy named Psyklop who kidnaps the Hulk. The Avengers square off with him and after a tussle the Avengers are transported home without a memory and Hulk disappears into a sub-atomic world. This is to be concluded in Hulk #140 and that is presented here, although the Avengers are in it for only the first page. I reviewed this in the Hulk: Heart of the Atom and you can check out that review by clicking the link. I don’t have anything to add to it because the Avengers weren’t in it at all. There is a bonus story included from Not Brand Ecch #5 with the Revengers, though it really failed to be that funny.
-The Bottom Line- I mentioned in the Vol. 8 review how I didn’t know what they would do with Volume 9, but it looks like I was right with the issues collected. Hulk #140 was in there just because of the To Be Concluded portion at the end of Avengers #88 though it didn’t even feature the Avengers. There were some good tales strewn in here and I really liked how the first three issues played out with the separate storylines converging at the end. It really speaks of Roy’s skill that he was able to string together these great 3-part stories while still keeping each 19-page issue full of action and keeping it so if you read one issue you would know what was going on. I have to say that Marvel knew this was a bit short on content and did knock $5.00 off the price tag. There are some cool house ads presented as extras, too. The introduction was great, the stories were all enjoyable, and getting 9 Silver Age Marvel titles for less than $55 is always a great value. Recommended.
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Questions? Comments? Shoot me an email.
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