Do You Remember The First Time? AVENGERS #79

In Do You Remember The First Time? we take a nostalgic trip back in time to discuss a seminal purchase that introduced us to a character, title, creator, or even a hobby.

During April, we're looking at our first Avengers comics.

Stewart R: My first experience of an Avengers comic is one that predates my birth by nearly a decade. I picked up my copy of Avengers #79 - originally published in August of 1970 - on a Sunday trip out with my family to an unrecallable indoor market somewhere in Dorset at some point in the late 1980s. If I were to make a guess it’d likely be around 1989 when I was reading Marvel UK comics on a regular basis and the American format was still something of a foreign novelty to me.

I certainly remember my choosing of this particular comic from the longbox it inhabited as a true case of judging a book by its cover! Take a look at it now; five scowling, crazy looking villains (complete with slight colour inaccuracy on the Living Laser) crowding around an hourglass containing five, evidently shrunken and panicked heroes, Captain America being the only one I recognised at the time. That cover in itself just shouts about how much danger the Avengers might be in and sets their foes - the excitingly monikered Lethal Legion - as a potent challenge indeed. It’s bright, multicoloured and screams ‘Read Me! Read me NOW!

From The Vaults: AVENGERS #66-68

While we spend a great deal of time engrossed in the current crop of comic books, let us not forget those fantastic tales from the past that still sit in amongst our collections and are always worth revisiting...

AVENGERS #66-68

Writer: Roy Thomas

Art: Barry Windsor-Smith, Sal Buscema, Syd Shores, George Klein & Sam Grainger

Marvel

Rob N: In Marvel's four-colour world of malevolent villains with grandiose schemes, Ultron offers us a very pure and clinical sense of evil, detached from human emotions and feelings that might cloud the motives of even the sinister Doctor Doom who, lest we forget, got all upset and emotional at 9/11 in Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 2 #36 and, despite having tried to murder millions of people himself many times in the past, helped with the rescue work on the ruined Twin Towers, because all Marvel villains that day seemed to agree that that was a step too far in villainy.

Though I didn't see Ultron there giving a hand at Ground Zero! And nor would we, because Ultron would simply have taken advantage of the dense configuration of sobbing and off-their-guard super-powered heroes and villains in one place to unleash a furnace like ion beam from a specially positioned orbiting satellite to cauterise the entire area. Ultron doesn't care if you're a hero or a villain – he doesn't care that you're taking a moment out to help the injured and the dying – he just wants to see you all dead. You can't reason with him and you can't offer him anything. All he wants is a mound of scorched human skulls high enough to touch the moon.

Screen Time: AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON

AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON

Cast: Robert Downey Jr, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, James Spader, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen
Director: Joss Whedon
Runtime: 141 minutes
Certificate: 12A
Release Date: 23 April 2015 (UK) 1 May 2015 (US)

Stewart R: Let us take a brief step back to 26 April 2012 - the day after the dust settled and the adrenaline had passed. That was the day we, with clear minds, knew - actually KNEW - that it was not only possible to bring an Avengers movie to the big screen, but it was, just one day earlier, brought to the screen in an engaging, neck-hair-raising manner which utilised an expansive cast, linked multiple plots spanning several properties together in one cohesive, fun-filled package and realistically set the new, elevated bar of blockbuster quality for the decade ahead. Our own Matt C gave the film a 10/10 score at the time and I would have matched that score then, and having seen the same film in the cinema again this very week I'm not sure my score would have changed at all.

Cover Story: TOP TEN ULTRON COVERS

Kenny J: The Age of Ultron is upon us and very shortly I will be seeing the movie of the same name. As is so often the case with these big bucks movie franchises, the tie-in marketing machine sprung into life over a year ago, but Ultron has been an integral part of the Avengers’ history for much longer. Sure, Earth’s Mightiest Heroes have far greater and fiercer foes but there are few that are so entwined with them on a personal level. That’s what makes the silver A.I. such a shoe in for the enemy-du-jour in the Avengers’ latest big screen outing. He is the villain that will most likely push the MCU into its darker third phase with his origin easily adaptable into Tony Stark’s not-so-futuristic experiments. It’s not just his beginnings that remain easily malleable though. As you’ll see from this selection of covers, Ultron likes to keep his appearance pretty fluid, making him one of the Avengers’ most durable and enduring enemies.

Do You Rememeber The First Time? THE ULTIMATES #1

In Do You Remember The First Time? we take a nostalgic trip back in time to discuss a seminal purchase that introduced us to a character, title, creator, or even a hobby.

During April, we're looking at our first Avengers comics.

Tom P: My first Avengers comic didn't even have the team name in the title! That would have to wait until New Avengers #1 a few years later. Let's face it, you can call a shovel a spade all you want but as far as I'm concerned The Ultimates is the definitive Avengers comic. Released in 2002, it was so popular many speculated that the newly formed 'Ultimate Universe' would replace Marvel's existing 616 Universe. That didn't happen though, as the Ultimate Universe flagged after multiple relaunches, and  it now looks set to implode soon, killed off by Jonathan Hickman and his work  - ironically - on the current Avengers and New Avengers titles.

The first issue is notable for featuring only one familiar character for the most part: Captain America. We hit the ground running with Cap leading an assault on a secret alien Nazi base in Iceland. We're introduced to him in silhouette as the troops talk amongst themselves: is he a super soldier or a clown in a costume cooked up by the recruitment people? A grunt asks "How's he going to help us on the ground when he ain't even wearing a parachute?" (in a scene later referenced in Captain America: The Winter Soldier). He gets his reply: "Parachutes are for girls."

Graphic Perception: AVENGERS: RAGE OF ULTRON

AVENGERS: RAGE OF ULTRON

Writer: Rick Remender

Art: Jerome Opeña, Pepe Larraz, Mark Morales, Dean White, Rachelle Rosenberg & Don Sanchez Almara

Marvel $24.99

Matt C: There was clearly no way Marvel were going to allow the release pass by of what may well be the biggest movie of the year, featuring some of their premier characters, without an attempt to cash in on the buzz (and we’ve come a long way from direct comic book adaptations making much of an impact). The most obvious method for doing this was, as we've frequently seen over the last few years, to introduce a storyline that in some way utilizes the exposure the movie is getting, usually by featuring a villain making their nefarious return. This option was off the table as Jonathan Hickman’s magnum opus running through Avengers and New Avengers was barrelling towards its conclusion in Secret Wars and there simply wouldn't be time to take a detour at this stage. Uncanny Avengers was the other possibility, but the mix of X-Men and Avengers in that title probably dilutes the potential to feed off the hype (and we’ve all heard the rumours about Marvel not wanting to push the X-Men franchise while 20th Century Fox retains the cinematic rights to the property). The canny thing to do would be to use one of the aforementioned writers to produce a one-off story featuring the homicidal robot, Ultron, and with Hickman a little busy setting up Marvel’s major comic book event for 2015, Remender is wisely allocated the task of penning something new (but in continuity) for the publisher’s latest original graphic novel venture.

Thought Balloon: AVOIDING AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON SPOILERS, THE END IS NIGH!

Stewart R's wait and journey draws closer to the April 23rd (UK) release day for Avengers: Age Of Ultron. Here he summarizes how his attempt has gone following his initial article back in October (which can be found here) and shares some final thoughts on the subject of modern teasers, trailers and our exposure to them.

Stewart R: And so here I sit, just 7 days away from entering my local cineplex with my PCG comrades to bear witness to the movie event of the year (no, not Star Wars!). Nearly 6 months ago I set out my plan to avoid any spoiler-related material for Avengers: Age Of Ultron, particularly video media, but also pictures, posters and written articles, interviews and news pieces, in an attempt to maintain the full shock and awe element of such a big screen endeavour. Compared to my similar efforts with Iron Man 3, this journey has been slightly easier in some respects and more frustrating in others. I have, in the main, managed to stay relatively untouched by Disney/Marvel's marketing push and side-stepped several social media 'landmines' on the way, but those unexpected 'shrapnel wounds' of knowledge, how hard have they hit?

Do You Remember The First Time? AVENGERS #213

In Do You Remember The First Time? we take a nostalgic trip back in time to discuss a seminal purchase that introduced us to a character, title, creator, or even a hobby.

During April, we're looking at our first Avengers comics.

Simon M: Growing up in the States, I had the luxury of being able to ride my BMX bike to the local general store and peruse the racks for comics. Up till this point my comic reading was mainly DC with Flash and Superman being the main culprits. I was would usually pick up digests which were reprinting stuff from the '70s and were of a very light-hearted nature. Then the store started to sell Marvel comics and that is where my passion for comics really started. I began reading Captain America and Iron Man and these characters just jumped out at me. They seemed more real and the stories were dealing with real world problems.

This brings me on to my first Avengers comic and wow, what a first issue it was! Avengers #213, 'The Court-Martial Of Yellow-Jacket', written by Jim Shooter with pencils by Bob Hall. It hits you straight away, first page, no hostages taken. We find Yellow-Jacket (Hank Pym) facing Iron Man, Thor and Captain America for his actions in #212 - if Hank can’t explain himself then he will face a formal court-martial. Now, for anyone who doesn’t know, Hank blasted a mysterious woman known as the Elfqueen in the back with his disruptor sting while Cap was starting to talk her down from a stand-off with the Avengers. Needless to say this did not go down well and she started to attack again, putting all of the heroes’ lives at risk.

Do You Remember The First Time? AVENGERS #88

In Do You Remember The First Time? we take a nostalgic trip back in time to discuss a seminal purchase that introduced us to a character, title, creator, or even a hobby.

During April, we're looking at our first Avengers comics.

Rob N: Issue #88 of Avengers (cover dated May 1971, but bearing in mind the idiosyncratic distribution system for US comics in the UK in the '60s and early '70s, it could easily have been purchased new by me at any time in the latter half of '71) was not only my very first Avengers comic at the age of seven years old (it cost me a whole schilling of my pocket money!), it was also my very first Marvel comic full stop, and will therefore will always have a special place in my collection. Boasting a typically overblown cover of the period, featuring the core members of the Avengers (and for some reason, the Falcon) crashing into a secret lair just as a sinister alien villain is in the process of shrinking the Hulk down to a subatomic particle level, we have Iron Man crying out, “Shrink him down any further and you're one dead alien!” to which the villain hisses back, “You are too late to help the man-monster, Avengers! TOO LATE!” For indeed we are presented with 'The Summons of Psyklop!', subtitled 'A Marvel Masterwork by Harlan Ellison'. And notice those exclamation marks, for this is the Silver/Bronze Age when characters! On covers! Would always! End sentences! With exclamation marks!

From The Vaults: AVENGERS Vol.3 #19-22

While we spend a great deal of time engrossed in the current crop of comic books, let us not forget those fantastic tales from the past that still sit in amongst our collections and are always worth revisiting...

AVENGERS Vol.3 #19-#22

Writer: Kurt Busiek

Art: George Perez, Al Vey & Tom Smith

Marvel

Matt C: It took me a good few years after discovering the Avengers for me to properly understand the importance of Ultron to their mythos. I first encountered the character via UK reprints of the original Secret Wars back in the mid-'80s and there he was more memorable for being a robot lackey to Doctor Doom rather than as a malevolent force with an unstoppable hatred of mankind. This perception lingered for quite a while until the gradual realisation of Ultron's centrality to the dynamic of Earth's Mightiest Heroes came into focus.

Ultron was/is the errant, petulant child taken to the extreme, a being that submerges his creator/'father' Hank Pym in guilt and provides his 'son', The Vision, with motivation to prove that artificial intelligence's default setting isn’t always to attempt to wipe out its inferior progenitor, humanity. It doesn't end there. Pym's erstwhile wife, Janet Van Dyne, becomes the mother, Simon Williams (Wonder Man) is revealed as the donator of brain patterns for the Vision in his original state, Scarlet Witch becomes involved through romantic entanglements with both the Vision and Wonder Man, which means Quicksliver also gets mixed up in things thanks to his sibling status. You imagine Captain America, Iron Man and Thor standing back and counting their blessings that they only need to enter the fray when Ultron needs to be put down.

Do You Remember The First Time? AVENGERS #500

In Do You Remember The First Time? we take a nostalgic trip back in time to discuss a seminal purchase that introduced us to a character, title, creator, or even a hobby.

During April, we're looking at our first Avengers comics.

James R: Somewhat surprisingly, I had remained immune to the charms of Earth's Mightiest Heroes for many years. Why? Well, as a boy I'd been swept up by Secret Wars, and as far as I was concerned, that was the apex of the Marvel team book. It wasn't just the House of Ideas though - I'd also never quite been won over by the JLA either. I just preferred solo books - or a team-up at best. Team books always seemed so unwieldily, and given that my selection of comics was extremely limited due to tight Randall family finances as a boy, I'd always go with the safe option. When I got back into comics at university, Marvel was in a pretty fallow period, and there didn't seem to be anything cool going on with the Avengers. I suppose my first issue featuring the Avengers was really The Ultimates #1, but if we're going for Avengers proper, then my first issue was issue #500 - the debut issue of Brian Michael Bendis on the book.

Do You Remember The First Time? AVENGERS #27

In Do You Remember The First Time? we take a nostalgic trip back in time to discuss a seminal purchase that introduced us to a character, title, creator, or even a hobby.

During April, we're looking at our first Avengers comics.

Andrew B: So in the foreground there’s this woman in pinky-purple (I later realise it’s supposed to be scarlet). She’s wearing some sort of four-cornered headgear that makes her face look like it’s on a TV screen and her arms are up in the air as if she’s either surrendering or about to start a pole dance. A guy I recognise as Captain America’s got his arm round her – I’m guessing personal space issues aren’t relevant when you’re battling to save the world. In the background two other costumed men look like they’re drunk in charge of a submarine. One of them’s Hawkeye – I remember him from an Iron Man story where he was the Bad Guy – while the other’s having a major bad hair day and looks a bit of a flash character. Water’s pouring in like Noah’s Flood and there are a few blue guys bobbing up and down in it with wide Kirby mouths.

It’s the cover of Avengers #27 (April 1966 issue). My first Avengers comic.

AVENGERS MONTH @ The PCG

Matt C: If you're reading this then I probably don't need to remind you that Avengers: Age Of Ultron is just weeks away from release. A sequel to the third highest-grossing movie of all time, one that many of us thought was an unimaginable pipe dream, a film that actually surpassed expectations, to say that anticipation levels are at fever pitch is perhaps an understatement. 

To celebrate the arrival of the next thrilling chapter in the game-changing Marvel Cinematic Universe, we at the PCG have decided to unleash a series of articles over the next four weeks or so to highlight our love of Earth's Mightiest Heroes, whether it's remembering our introduction to the team, waxing nostalgic on a seminal storyline, or praising the power of the comic book cover. It's over 60 years since several disparate heroes came together to form a superteam, and the Avengers are as popular as they've ever been (perhaps more so), so we hope you'll join us as we provide various example of why that remains the case.

Stay tuned...