Avengers 1
Avengers 1
The Coming of the Avengers
September, 1963
Written by Stan Lee
Art by Jack Kirby
Brothers have issues.
Mischief complicates matters.
Loki will regret it.
Loki’s
previous schemes in Thor’s magazine have left him in exile, but he can monitor and
affect the universe with his godly powers. To draw out Thor, Loki tricks the
Hulk into destroying a railway trestle. Hulk saves the train, but news reports call
him a menace anyway. The Hulk’s pal Rick Jones doesn’t believe it, so he puts
out a shortwave radio call to the only hero group in the country that can prove
Hulk’s innocence, the Fantastic Four. Loki intercepts the radio signal and
redirects it to Thor’s location. Ant-Man and Wasp and Iron Man also overhear the
redirected signal and all four heroes go to investigate.
Loki
is perturbed by the extra heroes, so he lures Thor away with a simulated image
of the Hulk. Thor is all about Thor, so he leaves the group without saying a
word. The other three heroes get a tip from an ant about the Hulk’s whereabouts
and battle the real Hulk, but the Hulk gets away. Meanwhile Thor knows Loki’s
tricks and suspects him, because of course, Thor thinks it’s all about Thor and
his enemies. He visits Loki’s prison and captures him after an altercation.
The
earthling heroes track Hulk to an auto plant, and as they battle him
again, Thor arrives with Loki in custody, reassuring everyone that no one needs
to fight any longer. It was all about Thor—er, Loki. Loki spontaneously turns
radioactive to keep the heroes back, but a series of wild coincidences allow
Ant-Man to utilize ants in order to trap Loki in a lead-lined tank.
While the
five heroes bask in their victory, Ant-Man and Wasp suggest that the five of
them form a team, and the Avengers are born.
Thor: “You were expecting me, Loki! That means you have
committed some foul deed, knowing I would come to avenge it! And avenge it I
shall!!”
Wasp: “We need a name! It should be something colorful
and dramatic, like… the Avengers, or…”
Ant-Man: “’Or’ nothing! That’s it! The Avengers!!”
·
The Wasp doesn’t get any credit on the cover or
her picture in the corner box. She was really Ant-Man’s sidekick at the time.
She isn’t treated very well in the beginning, but she will go on to become a
mainstay of the team, become far more powerful, and lead the team more than
once.
·
Speaking of sidekicks, shortwave enthusiast Rick
Jones will become associated with several superheroes in the future and become
an honorary member of the Avengers. He gains superpowers temporarily a few times
and was most recently the hero A-Bomb until those powers were neutralized.
·
The Fantastic Four appear in a cameo in this
issue. Three of their members, Mister Fantastic, Invisible Woman, and the Thing
will later become Avengers members as well.
·
The team will go on to have many reformed
villains join. Many years later, in the middle of a confrontation, Ant-Man will
spontaneously offer membership to Loki, hoping it will help Loki reform. Loki
refuses, which is probably a good thing, since the other Avengers members present think
Ant-Man was crazy to even ask.
·
This issue was sold for 12 cents. If adjusted
for inflation, that would be 93 cents in 2014 dollars. Current comics sell for $2.99,
$3,99 on up.
·
A copy of Avengers 1 sold for $250,000 in
November of 2011.
·
The issue has been reprinted many times. I read
it in Son of Origins of Marvel Comics,
a soft-cover anthology by Stan Lee. Based on the 1975 publication date and the
fact that I wasn’t selecting my own comics when I was 4 years old, it’s likely
this was the first Avengers story I ever read from my father’s library. Recently it was voted by fans as the 12th best Marvel comic published in the first 75 years of Marvel's publication history.
·
I met Stan Lee once. I was introduced to him
along with the Malibu Art Department. The one memory I have of that meeting was
that Stan was looking at the poster art for our Mantra character and thought
she was pretty hot. There’s a reason his nickname is “The Man.”
·
Michael Douglas, set to play Hank Pym in the upcoming Ant-Man film, was the only actor playing a comic book Avenger character in the cinematic Marvel Universe to be alive when the first issue came out. He was only 19 years old, but his first starring role, Hail, Hero would be released in October, one month after this comic book. William Hurt
was 13 years old, but I doubt his Thunderbolt Ross character will become a member
in the films.
·
As was Stan Lee’s style at the time, every
statement ends with an exclamation point. For emphasis, he used two exclamation
points. They even shout when they’re thinking.
