Know the Classics Avengers 98-100

[Nutcase65]

Ok this one fares a little better than the earlier review.

Some things of note.

1. Hawkeye back as hawkeye, except for the nice little mini-skirt he's wearing
2. The full contingent
Cap
Iron Man
Thor
Black Panther
Ant Man
Wasp
Black Knight
Hulk
Quicksilver
Scarlet Witch
Hawkeye
Hercules
and even the Swordsman

3. The reuturn of our currently most beloved selection for the current Mighty Avengers,... Ares.

4. enchantress

OK, problems in Olympus. Ares carrying the ebony blade. But it all starts with Ares trying to start global nuclear war. But he's so much nicer now

Hawk finds an amnesia ridden Herc. All eventually go to Olympus to meet the combined threat of Ares and Enchantress to save Olympus/Earth and Asgard.

We also see further developments in the romance of Vision/Scarlet Witch with Pietro's discovery of Wanda's feelings.

We also see the Black Knight reclaim the Ebony blade.

Decent fights. Not sooo crazy about the art. Plenty of action in all three issues. and the story moves along in a manner that makes sense and keeps you interested.

[Bored Yesterday]

Aww -- haven't read these yet -- I had to stop reading at "Ares carrying the Ebony Blade." I've got to get back to reading the Avengers and give Byrne's FF a rest already. That sounds pretty cool.

But do go on -- I like the "spoiler free zone" in the classics section, because it's the only way to have any discussion. You HAVEto refer to specific points.

[Nutcase65]

I forgot to give it my rating.

Despite the high points this one gets an average 6 Loonies out of 10.

I try to keep those flashes non-specific. Sort of like teasers to get you to lat down FF.

If anyone thinks I say to much, let me know, I'll put up a spoiler buffer. I don't want to ruin anyones fun.

[Tana Nile]

I'm curious how everyone feels about Barry Smith's art on those issues. While I liked his Conan and Dr. Strange work, I felt his style didn't work as well with traditional superheroes.

[Nutcase65]

that's one of the things that brings it down for me Tana. It just didn't fit very well in my opinion.

[sharkar]

His artwork was pretty terrible in those issues, except for a few pages here and there in #100. I liked how he drew a picture of Wanda looking at the Vision, there was such longing in her face (I believe it was in the pages inked by Sinnott)...that shot sticks in my mind. But for the most part, in #98-#100, he seemed to have trouble with faces, especially profiles.

I remember suffering though X-Men #53 a couple of years earlier, which was Smith's Marvel debut- -he was called plain "Barry Smith" then; and X-Men #53 was arguably the worst art job in a '60s comic. I was pleasantly surprised later on when I started hearing about the talented "Barry Windsor-Smith" (on Conan, etc.). Glad he stuck with it and developed his own unique style and worked in genres he was better suited for.

[dlw66]

There are still flashes of the brilliance that was to come in 98-100, however...

And once he got rolling on Conan, he was ROLLING!! Funny, though, that while his Conan was beautiful, Buscema's and Adams' was no less impactful, despite the different styles on the Cimmerian.

[Tana Nile]

For some reason, one of the things that sticks in my mind re: Smith's Conan was the way he depicted blood spatters -of which there were many. Just black, no red, but obviously blood and copious amounts of it.

[dlw66]

The black-not-red blood issue was, I believe, a Code or editorial decree. I believe I read that in The Legion Companion...

[von Bek]

In issues 98-100 B.W. Smith was in transition between being a Kirby Clone (or Klone and having a more realistic (in anatomy, proportions and perspective) style, that he refined later in Conan. His early issues of Conan weren´t very good either, though.

[ultron69]

I would probably give it more like a 7 out of 10. I thought it was a fun read. I always did hate the way Pietro reacted to Wanda & the Vision's romance. So hypocritical. It just seemed very illogical, even for a hothead like him.

P.S. Don't worry about the spoilers for me. I probably wouldn't have read this if I hadn't already read those issues.