This issue of AVENGERS was another book that fell into my hands from within the SUPERHERO GIFT PACK that I had been given for Christmas in 1978. And the story in this issue is interesting. It’s clearly a fill-in, designed to buy the series back some time on the schedule. But the story had been commissioned as part of then-EIC Marv Wolfman’s Marvel Fill-In Comics initiative. In order to combat the plague of late books and unscheduled emergency reprints that were ravaging the line. In essence, Marvel Fill-In Comics was a non-existent title added to the schedule, and each month a creative team would produce a story that could run in a number of different places. In this case, the tale in this issue was used for AVENGERS, but it would have fit just as well into IRON MAN or CHAMPIONS. That was the genius part of this whole initiative.
But accordingly, that means that this wasn’t a great issue of Avengers, as only two members of the standing team, Iron Man and the Beast, are even in the story. That’s buoyed a little bit by the fact that the Champions are represented by the Black Widow and Hercules, both of whom were former Avengers, as well as Iceman, who was not. Regular series writer Jim Shooter scripted this issue, but I’m not certain that he plotted it–Marvel sometimes only credited the person who put the words on the page, overlooking whoever had come up with the broad series of events that made up the spine of the story. Since the artist, in this case industry veteran George Tuska, took care of the specific pacing and much of the incident as he drew the issue, that’s almost understandable. And I don’t want to rob Jim of any credit here, so we’ll assume that he was responsible for the plotting of this tale as well. Just bear in mind that he may not have been.
But the question of plotting may be largely a moot one, as the vast bulk of this issue is dedicated to fighting, lots and lots of fighting. This was a hallmark of the Marvel books of the period, the prevailing wisdom being that readers wanted a ton of exciting action for their three dimes. But it also led to a whole lot of crummy comics in which there really wasn’t much more going on that a scuffle, with some banter and shoehorned-in characterization in the copy. Anyway, this issue opens with Iron man staging a dive bomb attack on the Champions, for reasons that seem vague for the opening of the story. Certainly the Champs are confused by his actions, two of them being old comrades of his. But they waste no time in defending themselves.
Shellhead is easily able to incapacitate the Widow and Iceman, but Hercules turns out to be a stubbornly-powerful foe. He pursues Iron Man through the streets, and takes the worst that the armored avenger can dish out without falling. And then, Tony Stark muses on what brought them to this point, and we get a flashback to earlier events at Avengers Mansion. There, he and the Beast were ambushed by the sudden mystical appearance of Typhon, an old Avengers villain with ties to Olympus and a mad-on for Hercules. Taking the Beast as a hostage, Typhon insists that Iron Man summon and subdue Hercules and bring him to Typhon, so that the villain can trade the Prince of Power to secure his release from Pluto’s underworld. So that’s the plot in a nutshell.
So what else is left? Would you believe fighting, fighting, fighting? Back in the present, a hard-pressed Iron Man is drawing Hercules back towards Avengers Mansion. His half-baked plan is that the other Champions will recover and pursue them, and then maybe they’ll have enough super heroes to take on the actual threat, Typhon. But Iron Man can’t tell any of this to Hercules for fear that Typhon is watching and this will cause him to kill the Beast. Consequently, the two heroes converse in the language of the pugilistic arts. Iron Man gives a good accounting of himself, but all the while bemoaning the fact that Hercules is simply more powerful than he is.
Iron Man just about makes it back to Avengers Mansion before Hercules is able to put him down. But Shellhead is able to dispatch his foe simultaneously by zapping him with the electrical current that powers the entire Mansion. Typhon is overjoyed to have his enemy fallen before him–but just as Iron Man had planned, here come the Black Widow and Iceman. Though, given how easily Iron Man trounced the two of them, what they’re going to be able to do against an angry Olympian God remains to be seen.
But the Beast has also freed himself, and joins in the fight, And this trio of heroes is able to stave off Typhon until Iron Man and Hercules can recover. Now facing a full-on fighting force, Typhon’s odds aren’t good, and he finds himself drawn back to Hades by Pluto, who has lost faith that his plan will reach fruition. It looks as though there was some editing or rewriting in the first two panels of this page, as a number of the balloons have odd spaces in them, indicating words that were taken out or changed. Anyway, the takeaway from this story is that the Beast realizes just how ineffectual he’s been in recent months, and determines that he needs to focus on improving himself. But that’s about it. It was a fun enough story, but very inconsequential, and not really up the the quality level of the surrounding issues, all of which were top-flight.
The Tom Brevoort Experience 
Tuska was a solid artist.
Tuska had drawn Iron Man for years, had drawn The Champions, he had drawn the Marvel Premiere issue that featured Hercules and the Avengers issue where the Beast joined,
Tuska and Sal Buscema were really ubiquitous in 1970s Marvel.
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Buscema and Tuska were always reliable too. I liked Sal’s style a bit more but both delivered solid storytelling that looked good. There were flashier artists and ones who would go on to be legends but most of them were at the beginning of their journey and delivering art that looked fantastic but was hard to follow.
It was nice to see the Champions despite the obvious fill in nature of this issue. Am I a minority in that I liked the kitchen sink membership of that team? Claremont had been turning the team around when it was cancelled, and I’ve always wondered if it’d have lasted as long as the Defenders if he’d just been given ore time. Certainly some things that appeared in X-Men would have appeared there instead. Something that’s always been part of my ‘what if’ musings.
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Put me down as another fan who enjoys these sort of “ex post facto” teams — ones that are assembled from existing characters, rather than created from scratch like the Fantastic Four or X-Men. But I suppose with the Avengers and Defenders already established, and The Invaders showing up around the same time, The Champions were just a bridge too far.
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Claremont only wrote one issue of the Champions (issue #4, during Tony Isabella’s tenure as the book’s writer). From issue #8 until it’s cancellation with #17, Bill Mantlo was responsible for writing the Champions. Mantlo also did the two-issue coda dealing with the team’s breakup in PPTSSM. Claremont wasn’t the one turning the team around in its final issues.
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That’s what a sixty-year-old gets for trusting his memory instead of Googling! Mantlo was a favorite of mine too. It’s a shame he wasn’t given the time to show the chops that would make Micronauts and Rom hits!
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George’s penciling was also so strong, and his faces and body language so distinctive, that he could survive a Colletta ink job without the work being especially diminished.
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Its a pretty solid issue for a a fill-in that manages to fit with the Beast’s subplot running in the regular issues.
Nice art by Tuska and a pretty sweet cover by Perez. Any Ironman fan would be thrilled….and if you’re not an Ironman fan to some degree you probably wouldn’t be that jazzed about the non-fill-in Avengers issues of this period since Ironman was frequently front and center.
Shooter generally wrote a decent Shellhead who was a tough and reliable asset….even in a fight against opponents who could give Thor difficulty.
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Was “missile speed” an actual setting? 😉😆🙄🙏
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Hah! If true you’d think Black Widow wouldn’t have enough time to say it and recognize who it is. “I think I know that bullet!”
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FYI, Typhon from Greek myth was a monstrous Titan, not an Olympian god. Without looking it up, I think he’s described as the having 100 snake tails as part of his massive body. Maybe 100 ugly heads (not snakeheads, I don’t think), too. He shook the very earth. And was Zeus’s greatest foe. But Zeus wrecked him. Typhon was long gone before baby Herakles (named Al-something, Alcides? at that time) strangled those snakes in his crib. “Typhoon” came from his name.Not just any storm ..
Tuska’s style reminded me of Sal Buscema’s, too, but crossed with Gene Colan’s. A little of Gene’s “Gene-atomy”, or “Colanatomy” distortion. But without Gene’s dramatic, film-noir lighting. George’s drawings look good under Pablo Marcos’s inks. There’s to a kinetic energy that pops.
I’m glad Herc was held in a slightly higher weight class than IM. If picking an elite roster, IM is more valuable because of his engineering mind, his flight, & his repulsors’ distance attack. But for sheer, raw, physical power, Herc is a pretty heavy hitter. One of the very 1st ancient precursors to superheroes that we know of. Much more than mortal, even one in a high tech battle suit.
I like the idea of an ongoing supply of fill-ins. I’m sad they ended those. Maybe was too hard to coordinate. Interrupting current arcs, etc.
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I agree. Ironman barely wins against Herc here… but it’s a tactical victory where he just manages to stay ahead of him, lead him where he needs him to go, and knock him out ultimately with help from the Avengers building current. As written Ironman is the underdog in terms of overall power as he should be…. he can only last in the fight for long. Thor without his hammer would have a hard time putting Hercules down for the count… but he also wouldn’t have to dash ahead of him to pull something out of his hat to beat him either… they would just hit each other til one of them falls for hours, days, or weeks.
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My favorite Tuska inker was Dave Cockrum, which as rare as it was I think was in office emergencies.
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Herakles was born Alkaios ( Alcides ): To bad no one gave his Mace the ability to alter its shape ( elongate its handle to become the Club he is known as having in Myths: In myths it was either wood or bronze ) or shape-change to a ancient Greek sword or shield or spear. Plus he an am archer.
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Thanks for the Alcides ref. I couldn’t remember beyond the “Al-something”. “Alkaios” doesn’t ring a bell, but it sounds true.
I like your idea of his adamantine club being disguised.
And yeah, Herc was established in myth as a great archer. I’d like to see him surprise Hawkeye (Clint) by matching him, in a humorous sequence where no one else in the scene expects Herc to be as good as Clint w/ the bow.
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Alkaios is the Greek spelling of his name Alcaeus, or Alcides Greek spelling is Alkeides– see his Heracles ( Herakles is Greek spelling ) wikipedia. I’ll never understand why never use his Greek name Herakles, calling him his Roman name Hercules is like DC calling Superman — Hyperion, Gladiator, Supreme, etc. Or the Egyptian gods by their Greek/Roman names and not their Egyptian names.
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Plus, “Herakles” was “glory of Hera”, meant to appease the goddess, who was angry about this “bastard” fathered by her husband/brother, Zeus. She supposedly tormented him, causing his worst crime- murdering his 1st wife & children in a rage. The Roman “Hercules” doesn’t translate the same. Hera was Juno to the Romans. Dan Abnett (I think) explained that Marvel’s Herc changed it from Herakles to try & move past his trauma connected to the name, in that series showing Herc with a “man-bun” hair-do.
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Interrupting arcs was very annoying. The Avengers vs. The Assassin in 145-6 is a competent enough story but it’s coming in the middle of Steve Englehart’s arc that introduced Hellcat and I found it jarring as hell.
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I never understood why the Beast during this issue and the next when it came to his intellect ( When Wonder Man was told by Tony Stark, Hank Pym, Black Panther & Alice a bio-chemist he didn’t die but was basically a caterpillar becoming a butterfly — they kept cutting him off before he could finish his thought ). The Beast was stronger ( Lift 1 ton — to bad he never used that machine created to increase Unus’s powers in The X-Men#8 ( November 1964 ) to increase his strength back then ) than Captain America & Black Panther and possesses superhuman agility, endurance ( how it compares to the Super-Soldier Serum or Heart Shaped Herb is unknown ), speed and dexterity and yet Cap & the Panther didn’t see themselves the way the writer had the Beast see himself among the other Avengers. Roy Thomas did the same thing to Union Jack ( Brian ) in the Invaders despite also having the Super-Soldier Serum in him ( Plus not having a shield ) put him at the same advantage as the Black Panther in the Avengers or one active during WW2. If Captain America & Hawkeye didn’t feel useless when Quicksilver was on the team ( Granted had a writer back then written Quicksilver like he had super-speed and had him take out all the armed henchmen or low-powered villains before the other even moved ) why did the Beast.
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Re Mr. Carrier’s note, I like the ad hoc aspect but I recall a number of letters complaining the team needed something more distinctive than “random group of heroes fight crime.” Claremont tried making them “the team that helps the common man” in #4 but nobody else followed up on that.
Possibly playing up what an odd mix they were—the same way JLA: Year One did with the League—would have worked better.
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