The Avengers 1

I was planning on continuing Captain America but the Silver Age Cap is intrinsically linked to the Avengers: Earths Mightiest Superheroes! Captain America became leader of the Avengers in his very first appearance in the silver age, but he didn't start on the team. So here is the introduction to the Avengers. Stan Lee and Jack Kirby brought together many of their creations. The first team included Thor, Hulk, Ant-Man, Wasp and Iron Man, all characters not part of a team and all of them very new.

Badass cover ... Silly comic

The Avengers 1 begins with Loki, trickster god of the Norse, and Thor's nemesis on the Dreaded Isle of Silence which is punishment for something that is not explained in the comic. So Loki is stuck there but can interact with the world of mankind through mystic power. He spots Thor as his civilian self, Doctor Donald Blake, and decides to manipulate him into turning into Thor. He scours the world in search of someone to threaten the world. Loki finds the Hulk and manipulates him by making a railroad bridge appear to have dynamite on it. Hulk dives onto the tracks planning to stop the dynamite, but instead wrecks the bridge. An oncoming train goes there. The Hulk will be blamed, and he even though he saves the train by lifting the tracks, Loki has begun his plan. Hours later the newspapers all report of Hulk's attack on the train, and that they need to go after him. Rick Jones a boy who befriended the Hulk in his first appearance (which I will get to soon.) Jones has his newly created Teen Brigade, a group of amateur ham radio operators who happen to be teens, broadcast a message of help throughout the world. Iron Man(Tony Stark), Donald Blake(Thor), Hank Pym (Ant Man), and The Wasp (Whose Full name isn't used but is Janet Van Dyne). They meet up with the Teen Brigade as the Fantastic Four is currently busy on another case.

While this is of course fascinating, the rest of the comic isn't really helpful in using them to do interesting things. Thor goes after the Hulk by himself, but the Hulk is actually an illusion. Thor figures out that Loki is the only one capable of such an illusion and goes to meet with Odin. Back on Earth the heroes are trying to figure out where the Hulk is. Hulk turns out to be at a circus in makeup billed as Mechano the most life-like robot in existence. Ignoring the tons of robotic creations that will appear in comics, anyone who thinks that a giant green man in eyeshadow and white lipstick is a robot is a bit of an idiot. Ant-man learns of this through his telepathic connection with every ant everywhere(seriously?) so they go after him and cause a a cave in to slow the hulk down. Ignoring the stupidity of the hulk being injured by a cave in caused by ants, they then attempt to trap the hulk in a steel cylinder. The audience, being in a comic book, doesn't run screaming and instead they cheer and hoot. The hulk catches the Wasp, who is then saved by Iron Man, before the Hulk gets away.

We then get a break in the action after Hulk gets away, as Thor travels to find Loki. Thor is attacked by trees and a volcano, but manages to escape them and he confronts Loki who has the Island trapped with a Troll who attempts to drag him under before Thor uses his hammer to create lightning. As a side not Thor fixes every problem with his hammer in this comic. This is called by tvtropes.org When All You have is When All You Have Is a Hammer. Thor eventually captures Loki with the magnetic power of his hammer. Iron Man is still following the Hulk, they go into a tire factory where Iron Man and the Hulk fight. I would point out that at this point in Comics, Iron Man isn't that powerful, while Hulk can pick up and throw tanks! Thor finally flies in with Loki and ... turns radioactive. Really? Ok I didn't know people could just turn themselves lethally radioactive with having all of their cells not be dead, but sure whatever.

Hulk is immune to radiation, and Thor is a God!

They are rendered helpless by radiation, but Ant-Man and the Wasp create a trap door that lets Loki fall. He falls into a conveniently places truck made to contain radioactive waste, and they drop him in. They celebrate their victory, with Ant-Man and Wasp saying they should become a super team. Hulk reluctantly joins to avoid being hunted, and Wasp names them the Avengers.

Wow I don't like this comic. Besides the random subplots that are long and tedious, making this a 22 paged comic, they also don't really fight as a team. If Thor can beat up Loki, why take him to Earth? Why the heck can Ant-Man talk to every ant on the planet to spy on people? I would have liked to see them bond as a Team. To do that, they need Captain America. Next week I will review Avengers Issue 4, which has Captain America become part of the Silver Age, and continues with the Silver Age wackiness.

This comic is not a good read, and not that important in terms of understanding the modern day team. I do not recommend this issue, as you need to have backstory on Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, Ant-Man, and the Wasp to really understand what's going on in the comic, such as why Hulk is not trusted, why Loki is on the Isle of Silence, and how they got their powers. I got my copy in Marvel Firsts: The 1960's. 

Captain America Comics No. 1

As the 1940's began, many superheroes became quite popular. Some such as Superman have withstood the test of time. Others not so much. Captain America was one of the first major characters published by Timely Comics, the company that would eventually become Marvel comics. Some of the first charachters were Namor the Sub-Mariner, and the first Human Torch, an android covered in flames. While I will circle back to them, I think it is more important to talk about one of the first "patriotic" superheroes, and one who has become among the most influential in modern media. Captain America was the creation of Jack "The King" Kirby, who is famous as one of the premier comic book artists with titles ranging from Silver Surfer, The Fantastic Four, Thor. and The New Gods. His partner was Joe Simon created many comics, and helped Kirby create many comics such as Young Love, the first major romance comic, creating a genre that lived for many years, and while virtually unheard of today, they helped cement comic books major role in the 1950's.

Adolf socked in the jaw!

Captain America was written before WWII began in late 1940. The comic got a huge reaction, with over 1 million copies sold, but also provoking a mob of nazi supporters to threaten Kirby and Simon. It took the mayor of New York City, Fiorello La Guardia, to protect them with Guardia ordering police protection for Timely's offices. The comic itself was created very quickly, so some of it does look a bit rushed. Since the comic itself has four Captain America stories and two supplements I am going to cover the most important two, Meet Captain America and The Fantastic Tale of the Red Skull. 

 

We start our comic with something that I thought I wouldn't see again. That is a story without introducing the main character in the opening story. Just like both Batman origin stories, we don't get to see Captain America first, but instead get a weird intro. We see a bad guy at a munitions plant and then the next page he blows it sky high. In response Franklin Delano Roosevelt the current POTUS is commissioning a program to deal with the Nazi sabotage. We learn that the Nazi's have filled the armies ranks, and so the president has decided to deal with it. We then learn that the current head of the F.B.I. has arranged some sort of experiment. 

How many B-movies have this premise go horribly wrong?

The experiment is some sort of serum combined with Vita-Rays. The person in charge is a a Professor Reinstein. He has figured out how to make a man into a perfect specimen, increasing strength, reflexes and even intellegence. His guinea pig is Steve Rogers, who has been rejected because of his scrawny physique. The serum works and he grow bigger. This amazing serum however is about to vanish because a spy bursts out, shots Reinstein and shatters the serum. Many origin stories are actually very similar, with the results being unreplicatable. In recent years many comics in the Marvel continuity have even used this serum to explain the origins of other heroes, most notably the Ultimate Hulk, something that even made its way into The Avengers.

Because thats the definition of covert

Captain America is so named because he will safeguard America and represents America's strength. He demonstrates that, taking the assassin and punching him all over the building, eventually making the assassin land in some equipment which fry him to death. Steve sees no problem with this, and it shows the fact that Captain America is a soldier. He is willing to kill to get the job done, but doesn't go out of his way to kill people. He quickly does his job, smashing spy rings and keeping America safe from the Nazis. He is assigned to a military base undercover, namely Camp Lehigh. Bucky Barnes the camp mascot is enamored with the Captain. He wishes to meet him and he does, visiting Rogers at night and finding out that Rogers is Captain America. Of course Rogers decides to make Barnes his sidekick to keep his secret, because no Golden Age comic would be complete with a peppy young sidekick sent against firearms and thugs.

This comic is a good origin story, establishing why Captain America does what he does, as well as how he got his superpowers. Its a much more complete origin than Batman or Superman gets initially. This makes me much happier than the initial issues of Superman and Batman, even though I don't like Captain America quite as much as either of those, because I think he is a less interesting character.

Doomy Doom Doom Doom!

While I may like the first story for its excellent origin for the character, this one doesn't do that. We start with the cover image along with two panels inserted in the comic. I find this very frustrating, but it does get us into the story. Rogers is working with a Major Croy at the base, and has been threatened by someone called the Red Skull. Rogers and Bucky drive back to the base, leaving Croy to go to bed. As he is in the house, Croy is ambushed from behind. He is grabbed around the neck by what I can only assume is the Red Skull. The Skull stares him to death, and leaves him. The next day we learn that no one has been able to figure out why Croy is dead, and so Captain America and Bucky leave to go after the Skull, with Bucky deciding to go by himself. The Red Skull tells his henchman of his plan to go after officials while his team robs banks to fund the sabotaging efforts. Bucky eavesdrops but is caught and beaten up. The Skull having failed his evil overlords 101 class decides to use him as a hostage. The Captain bursts through the door and knocks out the thugs although the Skull escapes.

Private Rogers the next day witnesses a plane crashing on manuvers. The owner of the plane Mister Maxon laments the loss of the plane but not the men onboard. The general of the base gets a visit from the skull, who kills the general despite having a gun, and the Skull shows us a list of targets including Captain America and Bucky. The general's wife sticks up Red Skull, and instead of shooting the man with a red skull for a face and a swastika on his chest, she rushes over to her husband. Captain America bursts in and beats the Skull a bit before getting hit with a chair. Buck comes to save Captain America. They beat on the Skull, with Captain America breaking the red mask and learning that it is the airplane owner. I imagine this in about the same tone of voice as Velma from Scooby Doo. We learn that Maxon had used a hypodermic needle to inject people with a poison while he stared at them. This would create a myth about the Red Skull having a look of death. Maxon struggles to get his weapon but he rolls over his needle injecting himself. The next day military police learn that Maxon had been promised a position of power if Germany took over America. 

Why is this disappointing? Well Maxon isn't the actual Red Skull we know today. That goes to a Johann Schmidt, who is the Red Skull that we know today as Captain America's archnemesis. So the story serves as a bit of fake out for those who would expect an origin story for the Red Skull.

Overall I enjoyed these comics. They come in pretty large issues, unlike what I got with the Superman and Batman Chronicles, as they skip over any issue without those charachters. These have all the stories so include stories about Tuk Caveboy a pulp fantasy in stone age times and Hurricane, a character who looks like Hermes from the Greek mythologies, who is descended from Thor and yet is "the last living Greek God." While this makes no sense and he comes of as a copy of the early flash, it's not a terrible read.

I would recommend this comic for it's historical value and not really the artwork, but the writing is solid as well. It moves quickly, the plot is fairly reasonable. and they have a lot of ideas that will become really popular for the genre in the future, such as experimental superpower, superpowered prototype and a costumed villain rather than someone with an ominous name like Dr. Death. It's a pretty good read, and a good enough origin that I recommend this comic. I got my copy in Marvel Masterworks: Golden Age Captain America.