Post by owene on Jul 30, 2010 7:55:42 GMT -5
Avengers #236
I want to be an Avenger
By Roger Stern, Al Milgrom and Joe Sinnott.
Line Up: The Wasp, Captain America, She-Hulk, Starfox, Scarlet Witch, Captain Marvel and the Vision
Guest Stars:Spider-Man, The Guardsman
Villains: Lava-Men, Blackout, Moonstone, Rhino, Electro
So what happens?:
Most of the Avengers are in the Mansion, spending their time either brooding about the Vision’s injuries (Cap and Wanda), flirting (Jan and Starfox) or being waited on in the bath (She-Hulk) .
All of them are soon disturbed by the alarms of the mansions security system. Thinking they are under attack they are surprised to find it is in fact Spider-Man, hanging out in their dining room, and demanding to be brought onto the team.
This interruption doesn’t go down well, despite the fact that Thor had recently offered Spider-Man membership. The team no longer has a vacancy and the idea that Spider-Man could join the trainee programme doesn’t go down well with either spider-Man or trainee Starfox. Having gotten everybody’s backs up spider-Man has to leave when the Avengers get an emergency call.
Contritely hanging around outside spider-Man watches the team fly off in a Quinjet and manages to hitch a ride on the underside. The Quinjet, carrying just Captain America, She-Hulk and Starfox is responding to the latest in a long line of problems at Project Pegasus and on arrival there the security team quickly spots Spider-Man. His unauthorised presence in a secret Federal facility earns him a telling off from Cap but he is allowed to tag along when the facility is hit by an earth tremor and the Security Chief Mike O’Brien is underground in a locked down level.
They make their way down to the bulkhead and She-Hulk and Starfox tear their way inside. They find a decimated Pegasus security team including their leader, the armoured Guardsman. Pegasus’ research into geothermal energy had provoked an attack by Lava Men and O’Brien had barely managed to seal the level before he was overwhelmed by them. Hearing that the Lava Men endanger the plants nuclear core Cap puts out a call for the rest of the Avengers and the Wasp, Scarlet Witch and Captain Marvel soon arrive at the facility. Cap, Starfox and She-Hulk deal with the Lava Men fairly easily but Spider-Man’s reluctance to follow orders causes problems when he causes the panicking Lava Men to heat up even further.
Meanwhile in the confusion some Pegasus scientists accidentally free Blackout from a stabiliser container and he in turn frees Moonstone from her cell when she starts to work her psychological tricks on him.
Unaware of all of this the Avengers are still tied up with the Lava Men until Captain Marvel’s arrival in her energy form stops the battle and causes the Lava Men to fall down and worship her. With a moment of calm Captain America manages to talk to the Lava Men and learns they were only invading in retaliation for Pegasus’ drilling. They agree to return home if the drilling stops. The crisis seems to be averted but elsewhere in the complex Moonstone realises she needs more power if she is to break out and frees the Rhino and Electro.
So is it any good?:
Yes, like a lot of Stern’s issues it works a lot of characterisation into a story rich with Marvel Universe connections and forgotten villains. Spider-Man’s attempt to join is motivated by a financial and existential crisis over in his own title.
The Black Cat is racking up huge hospital bills and he has just had to quit his studies because of the demands of being Spider-Man. Seeing the Avengers as a bunch of people who get to do what he does without any of his worries he looks on membership as a way out of his problems.
Stern of course uses the story as a way of showing why Spider-Man doesn’t fit on the team while providing enough depth to Spider-Man’s thought bubbles for the reader to feel he has been a little hard done by and reinforce his misunderstood hero image. The behind the scenes truth is that Spider-Man’s own stories rely too much on the very lack of security that drives the character to want to join for it to be a good idea to sign him up to the team but Stern manages to provide in-story reasons why he, despite being one of the most experienced heroes around wouldn’t work out. As this is happening in the Avengers rather than Amazing Spider-Man he does it largely by showing the Avengers strengths.
I tend to associate Stern’s run with the Wasp in a leadership role but here he does an excellent job of showing Captain America’s leadership ability, something that is talked about a lot more than it is effectively shown. Here he immediately wants to know about spider-Man’s spider sense and then a few pages later puts it to use as an early warning system when breaking through the Pegasus bulkheads. His “play by the rules” lectures to Spider-Man manage to highlight the differences between them but manage to make Cap seem mature rather than simply officious. It is clear that Cap respects Spider-Man but at the same time the story shows how Cap is used to having reliable avengers follow his battle plans.
It is hard to show this with regard to as popular a character as Spider-Man without having Cap come off as fusty but here he is efficient and heroic and seems to be operating on a higher level than Spider-Man, immediately reinforcing the idea that the Avengers are the super hero big leagues.
She-hulk and Starfox are also used well, generally they are the team’s jokers but with Spider-Man around to fill that role they instead do Cap’s heavy lifting and follow his battle plans to the letter. They don’t get to say a lot but they are shown to be more serious and capable than their images might suggest due to the comparisons with Spidey.
Of the other Avengers Wanda is a bit vacant, only really commenting on Captain Marvel’s speed and not doing much else, while this is understandable given the demands for space from the guest star and in-book due to her worry over the vision she isn’t really a character who Stern ever seemed to want to use that much. Jan also has somewhat of a quiet issue.
Captain Marvel gets a few pages of personal subplot, she’s setting up a business, and also turns up and immediately saves the day when Lava Men start to worship her. This is quite a silver age resolution (and more of a silver age JLA one than anything classic Marvel), to the Lava Men’s threat and ties up the story very quickly. In some cases this sudden ending to a threat that was overcoming the team and guest star would seem a little like the writer’s pet character waltzing in and clicking her fingers and making everything ok but it’s clear by that point that the Lava Men are really only there to setup the conflict with the Pegasus escapees, including Captain Marvel’s villainous counterpart as Stern’s favourite, Moonstone.
I can’t remember much about the second half of the storyline but this sets up an intriguing match between an interesting assortment of Avengers and some quite mismatched villains.
Are there any goofy moments?
Not really, some of Spider-Man’s dialogue with the Avengers is a bit corny but Stern puts in thought bubbles showing that even he is wondering if he is overdoing it and it comes across as part of his public persona rather than anything too silly.
Trivia:
Spider-Man counters the idea that Project Pegasus is off limits to him by pointing out that he had been there and helped save the day in Marvel Team Up Annual 5, Gruenwald’s sequel to the Marvel Two-In-One Serpent Crown storyline.
Spider-Man mentions Thor inviting him onto the team, this happened in Avengers 221 when almost everybody was considered for membership.
Blackout was a minor Nova villain, appearing in Nova 19, who ended up under Moonstone’s control for a number of stories including Dazzler 32 one of the very few early Moonstone issues not written by Stern. He hasn’t appeared anywhere since the end of his and Moonstone’s involvement in the Mansion Siege
Is it a landmark?:
Not really, .
Where can I read it?:
It hasn’t been reprinted.
I want to be an Avenger
By Roger Stern, Al Milgrom and Joe Sinnott.
Line Up: The Wasp, Captain America, She-Hulk, Starfox, Scarlet Witch, Captain Marvel and the Vision
Guest Stars:Spider-Man, The Guardsman
Villains: Lava-Men, Blackout, Moonstone, Rhino, Electro
So what happens?:
Most of the Avengers are in the Mansion, spending their time either brooding about the Vision’s injuries (Cap and Wanda), flirting (Jan and Starfox) or being waited on in the bath (She-Hulk) .
All of them are soon disturbed by the alarms of the mansions security system. Thinking they are under attack they are surprised to find it is in fact Spider-Man, hanging out in their dining room, and demanding to be brought onto the team.
This interruption doesn’t go down well, despite the fact that Thor had recently offered Spider-Man membership. The team no longer has a vacancy and the idea that Spider-Man could join the trainee programme doesn’t go down well with either spider-Man or trainee Starfox. Having gotten everybody’s backs up spider-Man has to leave when the Avengers get an emergency call.
Contritely hanging around outside spider-Man watches the team fly off in a Quinjet and manages to hitch a ride on the underside. The Quinjet, carrying just Captain America, She-Hulk and Starfox is responding to the latest in a long line of problems at Project Pegasus and on arrival there the security team quickly spots Spider-Man. His unauthorised presence in a secret Federal facility earns him a telling off from Cap but he is allowed to tag along when the facility is hit by an earth tremor and the Security Chief Mike O’Brien is underground in a locked down level.
They make their way down to the bulkhead and She-Hulk and Starfox tear their way inside. They find a decimated Pegasus security team including their leader, the armoured Guardsman. Pegasus’ research into geothermal energy had provoked an attack by Lava Men and O’Brien had barely managed to seal the level before he was overwhelmed by them. Hearing that the Lava Men endanger the plants nuclear core Cap puts out a call for the rest of the Avengers and the Wasp, Scarlet Witch and Captain Marvel soon arrive at the facility. Cap, Starfox and She-Hulk deal with the Lava Men fairly easily but Spider-Man’s reluctance to follow orders causes problems when he causes the panicking Lava Men to heat up even further.
Meanwhile in the confusion some Pegasus scientists accidentally free Blackout from a stabiliser container and he in turn frees Moonstone from her cell when she starts to work her psychological tricks on him.
Unaware of all of this the Avengers are still tied up with the Lava Men until Captain Marvel’s arrival in her energy form stops the battle and causes the Lava Men to fall down and worship her. With a moment of calm Captain America manages to talk to the Lava Men and learns they were only invading in retaliation for Pegasus’ drilling. They agree to return home if the drilling stops. The crisis seems to be averted but elsewhere in the complex Moonstone realises she needs more power if she is to break out and frees the Rhino and Electro.
So is it any good?:
Yes, like a lot of Stern’s issues it works a lot of characterisation into a story rich with Marvel Universe connections and forgotten villains. Spider-Man’s attempt to join is motivated by a financial and existential crisis over in his own title.
The Black Cat is racking up huge hospital bills and he has just had to quit his studies because of the demands of being Spider-Man. Seeing the Avengers as a bunch of people who get to do what he does without any of his worries he looks on membership as a way out of his problems.
Stern of course uses the story as a way of showing why Spider-Man doesn’t fit on the team while providing enough depth to Spider-Man’s thought bubbles for the reader to feel he has been a little hard done by and reinforce his misunderstood hero image. The behind the scenes truth is that Spider-Man’s own stories rely too much on the very lack of security that drives the character to want to join for it to be a good idea to sign him up to the team but Stern manages to provide in-story reasons why he, despite being one of the most experienced heroes around wouldn’t work out. As this is happening in the Avengers rather than Amazing Spider-Man he does it largely by showing the Avengers strengths.
I tend to associate Stern’s run with the Wasp in a leadership role but here he does an excellent job of showing Captain America’s leadership ability, something that is talked about a lot more than it is effectively shown. Here he immediately wants to know about spider-Man’s spider sense and then a few pages later puts it to use as an early warning system when breaking through the Pegasus bulkheads. His “play by the rules” lectures to Spider-Man manage to highlight the differences between them but manage to make Cap seem mature rather than simply officious. It is clear that Cap respects Spider-Man but at the same time the story shows how Cap is used to having reliable avengers follow his battle plans.
It is hard to show this with regard to as popular a character as Spider-Man without having Cap come off as fusty but here he is efficient and heroic and seems to be operating on a higher level than Spider-Man, immediately reinforcing the idea that the Avengers are the super hero big leagues.
She-hulk and Starfox are also used well, generally they are the team’s jokers but with Spider-Man around to fill that role they instead do Cap’s heavy lifting and follow his battle plans to the letter. They don’t get to say a lot but they are shown to be more serious and capable than their images might suggest due to the comparisons with Spidey.
Of the other Avengers Wanda is a bit vacant, only really commenting on Captain Marvel’s speed and not doing much else, while this is understandable given the demands for space from the guest star and in-book due to her worry over the vision she isn’t really a character who Stern ever seemed to want to use that much. Jan also has somewhat of a quiet issue.
Captain Marvel gets a few pages of personal subplot, she’s setting up a business, and also turns up and immediately saves the day when Lava Men start to worship her. This is quite a silver age resolution (and more of a silver age JLA one than anything classic Marvel), to the Lava Men’s threat and ties up the story very quickly. In some cases this sudden ending to a threat that was overcoming the team and guest star would seem a little like the writer’s pet character waltzing in and clicking her fingers and making everything ok but it’s clear by that point that the Lava Men are really only there to setup the conflict with the Pegasus escapees, including Captain Marvel’s villainous counterpart as Stern’s favourite, Moonstone.
I can’t remember much about the second half of the storyline but this sets up an intriguing match between an interesting assortment of Avengers and some quite mismatched villains.
Are there any goofy moments?
Not really, some of Spider-Man’s dialogue with the Avengers is a bit corny but Stern puts in thought bubbles showing that even he is wondering if he is overdoing it and it comes across as part of his public persona rather than anything too silly.
Trivia:
Spider-Man counters the idea that Project Pegasus is off limits to him by pointing out that he had been there and helped save the day in Marvel Team Up Annual 5, Gruenwald’s sequel to the Marvel Two-In-One Serpent Crown storyline.
Spider-Man mentions Thor inviting him onto the team, this happened in Avengers 221 when almost everybody was considered for membership.
Blackout was a minor Nova villain, appearing in Nova 19, who ended up under Moonstone’s control for a number of stories including Dazzler 32 one of the very few early Moonstone issues not written by Stern. He hasn’t appeared anywhere since the end of his and Moonstone’s involvement in the Mansion Siege
Is it a landmark?:
Not really, .
Where can I read it?:
It hasn’t been reprinted.
). I think that if Milgrom hadn't been the first Avengers artists I had seen I probably wouldn't like him too, but he sort of "imprinted" on me and even now when I think about Cap or Thor I visualize them the way he drew them. Oh well...
