In The Avengers #181
(cover date March 1979) The Avengers were up to 23 members and assorted guests,
prompting a revocation of their priority status and an intervention by Henry
Peter Gyrich. The result? A much diminished membership of 7, and one very
pissed off Hawkeye - rejected in favour of The Falcon and equal opportunities, a
federal government requirement for The Avengers priority status to be
reinstated.
It was an audacious twist on the Old Order Changeth theme, written by David Michelinie and superbly
drawn by John Byrne (inks by Gene Day), that gave us a series of classic reaction
shots, not least Hawkeye’s. Say it again Clint…
I love that panel with all of those Avengers (and Guardians) gathered. Tremendous artwork. This was really a Golden Age for the Avengers.
ReplyDeleteAh, yes. From the moment Shooter took over from Conway, with art from Perez and Byrne and stints by Michelinie and Steven Grant, The Avengers had an excellent run. Right up to the unfortunate #200, from which the book took a long time to recover.
ReplyDeleteMemory fails me as to what issue it was, but I remember once when the Avengers were literally tripping over each other while rounding up some bad guys because they had so many members and they were all going into battle at once. I don't think the number went as high as 30, so I can only imagine what's going to happen with that kind of membership load. Thank goodness they'll be split into different sub-teams--but, man, Thanksgiving is going to put Jarvis through the wringer.
ReplyDeleteI'd have loved that many Avengers, but then, I can handle the Legion. Mind. The Guardians would have gone home, anyway.
ReplyDeleteI imagine Thanksgiving will be a rather sedate affair now that Thor's given up the mead in favour of a nice latte.
ReplyDeleteI can handle the Legion too, but for me The Avengers always works best as a smaller unit of one or two from the big 3, a smattering of classic Avengers characters, and a wild card + some guests - and a roster change every few years or so.
ReplyDeleteAgreed, Terence. Cap, Thor, Iron Man, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, Carol Danvers (or Black Widow) and Squirrel Girl. These are all the Avengers I need at present.
ReplyDeleteTo answer "Comicsfan", the specific run you're referencing is from the late 1990s Busiek/Perez run.
ReplyDeleteThat just announced 30+ Avengers malarkey is directly due to fan fiction mindsets charting the course for a publisher that joyfully jumped the shark in recent years. Give me one Avengers title featuring a roster predominantly built around established (classic) team members with a few able upstarts included and produced by a topnotch creative team, and I will happily purchase a monthly sample.
Continue offering stuff that looks like "A vs X", and spread over a half dozen or more titles by infantile professionals who can't quite grasp the concept of a circle jerk, and I'll continue to spend money elsewhere (like the back issue bins).