Back Issue! 56 - The Mighty Avengers

[RSS]

Issue no. 56 of Back Issue! focuses on the Avengers, and contains a special treat for Megoheads. Our own Chris Franklin contributed an article titled Assemble Them All! Avengers Action Figures in the Back Issue! Era. The article can be found on page 69, and a preview panel is up for viewing at TwoMorrows Publishing http://twomorrows.com/index.php?main...oducts_id=1023 For a chance to win a free copy of your own, post a brief synopsis of your favorite Avengers story from the 70s and share what makes it special.

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[Mego Milk]

nice..

[emeraldknight47]

Thanks for the link, RSS! You Da Robot!!!

[Earth 2 Chris]

I'd like to publicly thank Brian, Bill McFarland and Tim Arnold for their immeasurable help with this article! You'll get to read their thoughts on Mego's Avengers and other Bronze Age toylines featuring the Mighty Assemblers! The museum gets a mention too, of course!!!

C'mon, share your favorite Avengers stories! I want to mail out some magazines to my pals here!!!

Chris

[madmarva]

Congrats. I've got a copy coming in the mail.

[EMCE Hammer]

OK, so I SUCK at coming up with contest ideas. Let's try this: Make up your own damn contest! Like is Vision or Mr. Data more anatomically correct, and why? Is archery a really a practical hero skill? Does Vision dream of electric sheep? Your favorite Avengers artist is ________ because....... State your case.

Chris can only afford to have so many of this issue bronzed, so win one for yourself!

[The Toyroom]

^ And I had my answers all ready...

Screw it, here's my list anyway of favorites issues from the 70s:



#151- Some early art by George Perez gives us a nice rundown on everyone that had
been an Avenger up to that point. The issue concludes with the new roster of
Captain America, Iron Man, Scarlet Witch, Vision, Wasp, Yellowjacket, and The
Beast...which is just a few characters shy of my ultimate team (Thor, Hawkeye
and Wonder Man would round it off).




#159- The Avengers vs. Graviton



#160- The Avengers vs. The Grim Reaper (who puts the Avengers on trial for the
death of his brother Wonder Man, who has been revived and joins the team at issues end)



#161- The Avengers vs. Ant-Man! Having recently been Yellowjacket, Henry Pym flips
out (wouldn't be the last time!) and resumes his Ant-Man identity to lay the
smackdown.

The above three issues were the first Avengers comics I ever bought, courtesy of those
old 3 for $1 packs.



#177- The end of "The Korvac Saga"! Nuff said!



#184- John Byrne supplies the art as the Falcon joins the team just in time to help
tackle The Absorbing Man.

[EMCE Hammer]

Ding! Ding! Ding! We have our first winner!

I vaguely remember thinking when I was a kid that the Grim Reaper looked way cooler on that cover than he really was.

[johnnystorm]

I love that Ant-Man cover...Perez drew the legs on every ant!

[Earth 2 Chris]

Come on guys, follow Anthony's lead and give us some Avengers love! I know this universally loved movie got your brains thinking about Avengers comics past!!! I got another issue to give away!


Oh, and on the cover to issue #177, I assume that's Don Blake trying to restart Hawkeye's ticker?


Chris

[The Toyroom]

^ Yes, good ol' Don Blake... A no-prize to you sir!

[emeraldknight47]

Here are some of my fave AVENGERS issues, Part the First....


Cap is resurrected to join the Avengers! What's NOT to love?!?


The introduction of Wonder Man!!!


The introduction of Ultron!


The first appearance of----The Vision!!! (I have one of these in my collection!)


Goodbye Giant Man, hello Yellowjacket (one of my fave Pym incarnations, actually)


Neal Adams!! Angry Vision!!!! First use of modern logo!!! It's a trifecta!!!!


Now THIS issue is really special to me personally because it marks the very first issue of THE AVENGERS I remember buying off of the newstand at Convenient Food Mart! I was already a HUGE Iron Man fan and seeing him "dead" on the cover made my 8-year old heart cry out "Noooo!!!" Luckily, he wasn't dead!!! ::laffs::


Swordsman and Mantis "join" THE AVENGERS! Nothing really special about this issue, it's just one of the ones that really sticks in my brain!


The first time THE AVENGERS meet THANOS!! Who knows---this could be a blueprint for the AVENGERS/THANOS big screen throwdown...

[Earth 2 Chris]

Ding-ding-ding! Another winner!!! I guess I should have let EMCE Hammer say that.

Please Hammer, don't hurt me!!!

Anyhow, Toyroom and emeraldknight47, please PM me your addresses, and then camp out at your mailboxes!!! Back Issue goodness awaits. It's a great issue for Avengers fans!

One thing I noticed on old Avengers covers: No one could decide if Scarlet Witch's hair was black or red/auburn, could they?

Chris

[Wee67]

Just got my copy and I got a little geeky seeing my name in print. I'm officially a collector! Great article, Chris.

As an Avengers fan, I am in heaven right now. Someone already posted the cover to 161, but that one always stuck out in my childhood mind. It was one of the first I had to re-collect as an adult. Another sticks out for obvious Mead reasons-

[Earth 2 Chris]

I think you are now the official expert on "Fly, Avengers Fly!" Bill!

Thanks again for all of your help. I have to admit I was pretty stoked to have a by-line in a book with a cover by George Perez!!!

Chris