Cover date: March 1972Writer: Roy Thomas
Artist: John Buscema
Inker: Tom Palmer
I love this cover!
This is the final part of the Kree/Skrull war, and Rick Jones has been hurled into the Negative Zone to be menaced by Annihilus. One quick, unexpected, mind-blast from Rick and Annihilius is beaten, before Rick is transported back to the Supreme Intelligence for an explanation of where the mind-blast came from. It appears Rick is exhibiting the ultimate expression of the evolutionary capacity of the human race – handy that, because he then whips up the Golden Age heroes that appear on the cover, to fight of some Kree soldiers and Ronan the Accuser!
Rick then puts an end to the war by immobilising all the Kree and Skrull troops, before collapsing. Never fear, Captain Mar-Vell is on hand to merge with Rick and restore him to good health.
The Avengers return home, minus one. Clint ‘Goliath’ Barton is missing, presumed dead!
A satisfying conclusion to the first real Marvel epic, spoiled only slightly by some questions regarding just what is going to happen once all those Kree and Skrull come around– the Skrull Armada is still floating around out there in space!
It’s a pity that Neal Adams wasn’t able to complete the story, but Buscema inked by Tom Palmer is more than palatable.
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My all-time favorite 'epic'! Though Rick Jones' 'deus ex machina' turn was a bit of a let down, this storyline had everything -from cosmic scale to a love story. What a blast!
ReplyDelete....and cameos from obscure Golden Age characters! That's always a plus.
ReplyDeleteKaren, just been reading your piece in Avengers Assembled!2 - great book! As a result of starting this blog and reviewing these Avengers issues I've really gotten back into being an Avengers fanatic. Don't think I'm ready to start reading Benengers, but I've been shopping like mad on ebay for Silver Age Avengers and enjoying every bit of it. I ordered both volumes of A Assembled! from Amazon; and I'm toying with buying up some very cheap copies of the later Bob Harras run.