Iron Mike's Legion: Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes 219

Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes #219 (September 1976)
"The Plunder Ploy of the Fatal Five"
Ken Klaczak/Jim Shooter-Mike Grell

Karen: If you've been reading the BAB for a while you might be aware that although both Doug and I grew up primarily Marvel readers, there was one DC book we both followed fervently, and that was Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes. There was just something special about that combination of teenage super-heroes and futuristic space action. Plus, there were just about a million characters each issue! It was absolutely irresistible.

 
Doug: Yep, as it was available, I managed to amass a spotty run of around 40 issues. As we all know about distribution woes, I might have five or six issues in a row and then miss three. No idea how or why. But when I saw an issue on the stands or racks, I snatched it up. I was also able, through flea markets, to put together a collection of quite a few earlier Superboy books.

Karen: For many of us who began reading Legion in the 70s, any thought of the book instantly brings to mind the art of Mike Grell. Grell came onto the title with issue #202 in 1974, inking outgoing artist Dave Cockrum's final story, and then became the regular penciler with the next issue. Grell brought a very sleek, sinewy look to the title, continuing the modernization that Cockrum had begun. These Legionnaires had updated costumes and hairdos, and the spaceships, planets, and aliens they visited were all updated as well, creating a much more visually appealing book than before.

Doug: I love Curt Swan, but there's no comparison to his Silver Age work and the revolution in this book wrought by Cockrum and Grell. Night and day.

Karen: You're not kidding. It's still stunning to look at those Silver Age Legion tales and then compare them to the 70s era resurgence. But although there were many changes, DC didn't ditch the things that kept the book great -- and that includes some of the Legion's great foes. Case in point: in this issue, the Legion squares off against one of their greatest set of adversaries, the Fatal Five.  Let's get to the 100 (or so) word review:

100 Word Review:

The Fatal Five commit a string of robberies throughout the galaxy. While stealing a factory from Imsk, Shrinking Violet’s homeworld, the Five critically injure Violet’s boyfriend, Duplicate Boy. The Legionnaires head off in pursuit, but are puzzled by the seemingly unrelated thefts: a miniaturized microcircuits factory, android parts, poisons, and half of a planet! Back at Legion HQ, Saturn Girl uses her telepathy to try to get the comatose Duplicate Boy to copy Superboy’s recuperative powers. Brainiac 5 discovers the Five’s hiding place -the chunk of planet was hidden behind a moon. Turns out, they used the stolen goods to make a home for themselves. They capture all except Tharok and Validus, who escape. Back on Earth, Duplicate Boy has recovered. (Doug: This is 121 words. Karen cheats.) (Karen: Hey, I said "100 (or so)" !!)

The Good:

Karen: First off, this was a full-issue story, so that was a real plus. Let me explain: it was very common, if not usual, for the Legion to feature two short stories per issue back in those days, so getting a complete issue-length story was a thrill. Also, seeing the Legion go up against a name group like the Fatal Five was truly exciting. I also liked the mix of Legionnaires in this issue: Superboy, Brainiac-5, Saturn Girl, Lightning Lad, Mon-El, Shrinking Violet, Colossal Boy, Light Lass, Sun Boy, Ultra Boy. It should seem crowded, but it didn't.

 
Karen: Certainly some of the Legionnaires seemed to be more important or 'special' than others -at least to my mind. I knew Superboy was important, his name was in the title! After him, you knew his copy-cat 'cousin,' Mon-El, was on that same level as a powerhouse. But Brainiac 5 and Saturn Girl always seemed to occupy important space as leaders and thinkers. Although not appearing in this issue, Wildfire was quickly elevated to A-List status.

Doug: That's a classic line-up, isn't it? Ten heroes, and you're right -- it should be crowded, particularly because this story isn't 20-21 pages, but only 17. Every team member had something to do, with of course a star turn for some -- no way for all because of limited space. You know, among that group you can see how the Legion might have had a A-list and then the rest: Brainiac-5, Superboy, Mon-El, Lightning Lad, and Saturn Girl would seem to me to get more screen time in general; the other five, while important, usually seemed to be a bit more in the background.

Karen: We also briefly got to see Duplicate Boy, from the Heroes of Lallor, who is probably the most powerful hero in the universe, since he can copy any super-power.

Doug: Duplicate Boy vs. Ultra Boy. That would be a rasslin' match for the ages.

Karen: There was some nice character bits with Brainy trying to figure things out, Violet distraught over Duplicate Boy, and Colossal Boy dealing with his unrequited love for Vi. Oh, and how about that sweet full page diagram of the Legion cruiser? I think that owed a huge debt to the Star Trek USS Enterprise blueprints which had come out in 1975. According to that diagram, the Legion cruiser has warp drive, impulse engines, and even a transporter room!

Doug: The cruiser really didn't seem all that big, if the characters were drawn to scale. I thought that was disappointing, as the basic design and diagram were cool. Execution was not. I tend to like the blueprints and diagrams of buildings and vehicles. But overall Grell's art was comfortable for me. Maybe now, in my advanced age, I am more cognizant of the so-called stock poses. It felt like a Legion story to me, though. I do have an additional comment about the presentation, but that will be in our next section.

Karen: I think you're right about the size of the cruiser -they must have been using Imskian micro-circuitry to fit all that technology in there! The design is fun though -  they basically slapped the Enterprise's saucer section on the front of a Klingon battlecruiser.

Doug: I always enjoy the consistency of Brainiac-5's personality. Maybe it's not difficult to write a

callous jerk, but the various writers always seem to pull it off. I also felt that the story's conclusion initially made me look on the Legionnaires as the bad guys, or over-reacting. Yet in the end the Fatal Five did steal much of what they needed... even if it was for leisure purposes. So that I had cause to think and rethink about the story was a good thing. 

Karen: 'Callous jerk'? Aw, come on, Doug, Brainy isn't that bad, is he? At least not at this point. He's certainly no Reed Richards when it comes to being cold and clueless. Later, when he goes insane and tries to murder everyone, well, OK. He was a little harsh with Vi, I'll admit. Maybe he didn't come off in the best light here? 

The Bad: 

Karen: It's not terrible, but I was a little disappointed that we got one-on-one battles...again. It seems like every time a DC super-team battles another DC bad guy team, they break into pairs and it's small units fighting. You never get a big battle. Here Superboy faces the Emerald Empress by himself and winds up fighting a bunch of androids. That was a little underwhelming. The Mon-El and Lightning Lad vs. Validus battle was more interesting, and actually fun at the end. I can understand why writers do this, I'm sure it's easier to break it down into these small fights. But it would have been a blast to see all the big guns slam into Validus.

Doug: Colossal Boy seriously went to the same tailor as Galactus. What's up with the bare legs, bro?

I also didn't care for the split up of the team members, but at the end of the story I was satisfied with why it happened. There was no way for the Legion to fight as a team simply due to the proximity of the Fatal Five to each other. Speaking of Gim, he was a little outward with his feeling toward Vi. Sort of uncool with her boyfriend clinging to life. 

Karen: Yes, you almost wondered if Colossal Boy was hoping Duplicate Boy wouldn't make it. But that wouldn't be very nice of him, would it? If they wrote this book today, that's exactly what he'd be doing!

Doug: I used the Legion of Super-Heroes Archives, volume 12 for this review. I found the inks to be a bit on the heavy side at times -- lots of cross-hatching. In many of the panels, backgrounds were completely void. While I don't know if this is due to the reprinting process -- I wouldn't think it would be affected by the paper upgrade (quite the opposite) -- it was noticeable. 

Karen: I used the original comic, and it is in probably VG-G shape. I didn't notice the blank backgrounds until you mentioned it. It looks like there were more of them towards the end, so I'm guessing that either Grell or the inker got rushed and just left them out as the deadline approached. I just consulted Comic Book Database, and they credit the inks to Grell, but I don't know that we can consider that 100% accurate.

Doug: Did you think it was odd that Validus spoke? That threw me, as my recollections had him as mute. The scene with the baby rattle struck me as odd, and I couldn't decide if Lightning Lad's suggestion that he and Mon-El play with the creature was sarcasm, or if he was serious! By the way, wasn't it revealed later on that Validus was the offspring of Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl? Did it happen in a Legion Annual in the 1980s? 

Karen: I did a double take when Validus spoke. At first I thought it was Tharok, using some sort of voice projection device. So yes, it threw me too. I'm still on the fence over it. Towering silent menace, or dangerous childlike giant? I don't know which I prefer. I do believe you are correct about that Validus origin, because I have the same memory. I didn't care for that at the time, and I still don't. It was a parting gift of Darkseid after the Great Darkness.



The Ugly:
Doug: The Emerald Empress aside, who's the ugliest member of the Fatal Five? Now that's a tough one!

Karen: I gotta go with Tharok. Creepy metal half-body. That's just weird.

A Bronze Age Civil War?

Redartz: greetings, one and all! This week brings the latest Marvel cinematic offering to our waiting eyes, "Captain America: Civil War". In honor of this event, we will today look at an earlier period of conflict between  Cap and his Civil War opponent, Iron Man; specifically, the arc involving Avengers 162-170. Plus, there'll  be a little poser afterwards for your consideration.

Jim Shooter was the Avengers' scribe during this period, and George Perez handled most of the artwork. Notable other illustrators included George Tuska (issue 163) and John Byrne (issues 165 and 166). Pablo Marcos was the inker for this run, I found him particularly effective over Tuska's pencils.

Reading this stack of books left me amazed at how much story was covered within the covers. There were plots and sub-plots which would extend all the way into the 180's! Foes included Ultron, Typhon, the Lethal Legion,  Count Nefaria and Korvac/Michael (this last storyline would run up to issue 177 by itself). Shooter was masterful at weaving many threads together, and packing a lot into a 17-page story. One of those threads is the subject we will look at today.
 
Throughout this arc, there was a fair amount of underlying tension among the Avengers. The Beast was having self-doubt issues and was frustrated by his seeming lack of contribution to the team's efforts. Wonder Man also had doubts (he questioned the usefulness of Hawkeye in one scene and was quickly chastised by Thor),  and struggled with fear of defeat. Iron Man was chairman, and his frequent absences were causing friction among the team as well (at this time his identity as Tony Stark was still unknown to the team). Captain America had recently lost his added strength (as told in Cap 218), a fact also unknown by the others. Hawkeye was still in the west, and Thor's inconsistent appearances were also a source of concern. Against the backdrop of all this, some tempers were beginning to fray.
We begin in issue 162, with the Avengers facing Ultron. In attempting to stop Ultron, Iron Man held the robot's intended bride (the newly-created Jocasta) and threatened to destroy her. His bluff worked, and Ultron left. But that action didn't sit well with the Black Panther, and when T'challa tried to bring it up, Iron Man brusquely stifled him...

Issue 163 was largely a fill-in, but a major plot point was the Beast's being held captive , forcing Iron Man to perform  Typhon's intended attack upon Hercules and the Champions. Again, the Beast was left questioning his actual value to the team.

This led directly into issue 164, when things start getting uglier. Opening this story, Tony Stark, Hank Pym and the Panther are analyzing Wonder Man.They do a great job of ignoring Hank McCoy's attempts to contribute, and the Beast leaves in a huff.

 




Shortly thereafter the Lethal Legion attack, forcing the Avengers into battle outside the mansion. The fight isn't pretty, the Wasp and Panther are both put out of action. The Scarlet Witch manages to stop the Legion, who then promptly escape. Tchalla blames himself, when Captain America tells him not to worry: the whole team has been underperforming lately.




Back at the mansion, a meeting is held, and Iron Man's absence as leader brings sharp comments form Wanda and Cap. Said meeting was abruptly interrupted by the returning Legion, however.

 






By 165, Count Nefaria has appeared, taking over for his flunkies (the now-defeated Lethal Legion). The Avengers are still short-handed, the Vision injured, Hawkeye still gone and no Thor or Iron Man. Nefaria is giving the team a rough go, dropping a building on them.  At this point Iron Man shows up, and tries to get the team to back off while he attacks. This causes Yellowjacket and Cap to question whether the team is actually functioning as such, and Wanda tells Stark to "Lead us...or step down"

In issue 166, Thor suddenly appears and joins the battle against Nefaria. Wanda lets him know she's had enough of his last-minute appearances. After the fight is over, Iron Man also takes Thor to task for his absences. This brings a scathing response from Cap, telling him "this team has hit bottom while you've been our leader in absentia". Yellowjacket steps in, though, and postpones the 'discussion'. By the way, apologies for the drastic difference in appearance of that page; all other pages are scans from the original books while the page from 166 comes to us via Comixology (lacking that issue in the longbox...).



Issue 167 opens with Nick Fury summoning the Avengers' aid in space, where a huge ship has appeared (containing the Guardians of the Galaxy, incidentally) , seemingly destined to collide with and wreck the SHIELD satellite. Iron Man is on board the satellite with Fury as Tony Stark, and so is delayed in joining the team. This holds up the mission, and when he arrives Cap reads him the riot act. Tony tells him to "shut up and get into the ship".

Cap is obviously still ticked; when they enter the mystery ship he proceeds to issue orders to the team, catching leader Iron Man off guard.
 Thor later tells IM not to let it trouble him, but Stark worries to himself that things are getting dangerously personal.

Things come to a head in 168, Cap and Iron Man sniping at each other on the way back to Earth. Upon returning to Avengers Mansion, the team finds agent Peter Gyrich waiting for them, having gained easy entrance to the headquarters. Gyrich blasts the team for it's lack of security, and even Wanda notes Cap's displeasure. Iron Man attempts to reassure Jarvis that Gyrich's entry wasn't the butler's fault, saying "it's nobody's fault". That does it for Cap: he lays into Iron Man for faulty leadership, even calling him a "low life mercenary".

He slugs the Golden Avenger, and the two square off. Thor holds Tony back, and Wanda separates the two. She then rakes Cap over for his own lack of effective contribution. Cap stalks off, and IM apologizes to the embarrassed Guardians (who had been uncomfortable witnesses to the whole display).

Finally, in 170, the tensions are resolved. Cap is grumpily exercising, and not having any of the Beast's small talk. Iron Man enters, stating that he wishes to say a few things. Cap figures he is about to get an earful about his own inadequacies. Instead, Tony apologizes, for his failings, and offers to step down as leader. They open up to each other about their mutual concerns, and Cap sums it up : "You lead, I'll follow".  

That's a lot of drama for a storyline covered in a few panels and scattered pages over 8 issues. Each member of the team was involved at some point, and the conflict over Iron Man's leadership manifested itself both in dialogue and in the action. Some of these stories qualify as classics, and the story and artwork were excellent throughout.  Jim Shooter did a fine job balancing Iron Man's frustration at being preoccupied with Cap's building resentment over IM and his own lack of effectiveness. And true to the characters, they resolved the fight with discussion and mutual trust. I must say reading up for this post was a pleasure; this title was definitely enjoying a high point creatively.

Which brings us to this question : how might this storyline have worked out differently? It featured Shooter and Perez both at the top of their games. If , say, Steve Englehart or John Byrne plotted this arc ,what might have been the result? Would the two teammates still have buried the hatchet, or might a wider conflict have broken out? Would it have held up if expanded and presented as a stand-alone series (such as Civil War)? Do they even read as the same characters about to square off on the big screen? Your thoughts, please...

BAB Classic: Nice Job, Hank! Bride of Ultron Part 4

This post was originally published on 16 August 2010.

Avengers #171 (May 1978)
"...Where Angels Fear to Tread!"
Jim Shooter-George Perez/Pablo Marcos

Doug: The End, kids! Yep, after our Hank Pym lovefest this month, we put the wraps on today with part four of the Bride of Ultron arc. It's been a fun romp, with wonderful storytelling from the words and pictures points-of-view. However, might this last installment leave us feeling a bit flat? Let's see...

Doug: If you recall, when last we saw our heroes, Cap and Iron Man had arrived on the scene to stop the ganging up of Wonder Man, YJ and the Wasp, Wanda and the Vision, Thor, and the Beast on the person of Ultron's chosen wife -- the metal construct that we'll learn in this issue is to be called "Jocasta". As Jocasta seemed intent on moving out and away from Avenger's Mansion, it was Cap's and IM's opinion that she would lead the team to their ultimate goal -- a final showdown with Ultron! We pick up the trail mere moments after the conclusion of ish #170.

Doug: What did you think of the first several pages of this story? I'll say one thing for Shooter -- he wasn't afraid to be unconventional. I guess my expectations when I first read this, and again on the re-read, would be to see a short chase scene and then WHAM! All-out super-heroing! But instead, we get an odd street scene with the good guys interacting with New York's general public. In order, we see the Beast beseiged by several women who want a piece of him (literally; and this would be a plotline for some time to come), Wonder Man surprisingly finding the cojones to stand up to and criticize Captain America, Wanda receive an offer to model (because you know, buxom was "in"), and the crowd react to Wanda's "my love" comment to the Vision. Now all of this is good stuff, and we've said a hundred times before that this sort of writing is part of what set Marvel and DC apart in the Silver and Bronze Ages, but it was just surprisingly somewhat out-of-context!

Karen: It was an interesting choice for Shooter to open this story the way he did. That being said though, I can recall plenty of other times where Marvel heroes interacted with "normal folks". Although this did seem to extend quite a few pages. We even get the store clerk thinking about her co-worker getting fired and she getting promoted! Now that was a bit much. I did enjoy Thor's remark to the Beast: "Thy wenching is ill-timed!"Doug: And then we head back into the dept. store from whence had come the lady with the modeling offer. Seems a customer had been left in the dressing room when the Avengers had kicked up a commotion. And in one of the first gratuitous a$$ shots that I can recall (I'm sure there had been some fine Black Widow moments in the pages of Daredevil before this), we are reacquainted with Carol Danvers. Is it just me, or was there really no point to that camera angle used by Perez?

Karen: Oh, I think we know what that camera angle was about!

Doug: So, the Avengers are tracking Jocasta, who's been picked up by a nun. A nun! Yep, Sister Eucalypta of the Order of Qantas. I made that last part up. Koala bear reference, no? Anyway, while the good guys close in, we see Wonder Man suddenly lose his cojones as he questions Ms. Marvel (of course Carol was going to factor into the story with more than just her curvy cheeks) on how she just jumps into a fight. I thought Wondy's self-doubting pity-party, too, was an odd storyline, but they managed to milk it for the better part of two years and I guess it kept things from seeming status quo. Finally, the team arrives at their destination -- a convent!

Karen: Wonder Man's discomfort around Ms. Marvel was another nice touch. Shooter really seemed to enjoy writing Wonder Man -probably because he was not an established character, so he was free to do whatever he wanted with him. At the time I was annoyed that he got so much of the spotlight, but now I can look back and see that Shooter was giving us another angle on superheroing -that of a scared hero!
Karen: There was also the interaction between Jan and Ms. Marvel, with Jan welcoming another "girl" to the group, and Ms. Marvel saying she stopped being a girl some time back. It wasn't really a harsh comment but it did point out some differences in the characters -and let's not forget, Ms. Marvel was being touted back then as Marvel's 'liberated' female hero.Doug: In two of the better scenes in Avengerdom of this era, we see the Beast address Sister Eucalypta in Latin, and Thor and Wanda muse on an Asgardian's place in a Catholic center of teaching and worship. Great stuff! And then... Wanda vanishes! But wait -- is this the same thing that's happened to the Two-Gun Kid and Quicksilver, which we saw earlier? Hmmm...
Doug: Coming to the end of the line, the team enters a chamber to stand face-to-face with Ultron. I'll tell you -- there are more words on this one page than are in some entire 21-page comic books of today! And it worked! It was exposition that moved the story, and it was not unbelievable that all of that could have been said in that single setting. Lord, I miss comics! Ultron doesn't waste too much time here -- he's told everyone what his goals are (basically to kill everyone starting with the Pyms), so it's encephalo-beam time!
Karen: I thought Ultron had a nice speech here:" I am your son! Do you not yet know the mind of your sole offspring? My desires are the same as ever! I want your death...I want your wife...and then...I want the world!" Well, that's pretty exact!
Doug: Ah, but daddy-Hank didn't come unprepared. The Avengers are now wearing shields inside their masks and helmets to ward off that specific attack. One of the pay-offs in this issue is that Simon finally snaps out of his scaredy-cat mode and takes it to Ultron, hard. Another pay-off is seeing Wanda assert herself. Early in the story she even suggested to Iron Man to brief Ms. Marvel on the goings-on. I know that seems very minor, but reflecting back to the days when she and Jan had to be told when and how to use their powers, it was noticeable. In this story's climax, it's Wanda (not Thor or Iron Man) who wins the battle. She was aggressive, confident, and very powerful, and I was happy to see her in the limelight.

Karen: Shooter's depiction of Wanda really picked up from the work Englehart had done previously, making her into her own person. Unfortunately, his Wasp was just as annoying as ever! Roger Stern managed to make her more likeable, although some would argue that he completely changed her personality.

Doug: However, I must declare that the story ended somewhat abruptly for such a build-up. I think part of the problem with Ultron is that he's too powerful. He just can't be beaten unless he's undone. Now maybe hex power is not playing fairly, but I would have liked to have seen some more scrapping, maybe Wonder Man go Round Two with Ultron. It was a nice bit of foreshadowing to see Jocasta turn on her creator (much as the Vision had a decade earlier) and then disappear right away (along with Cap). We'd of course see her ally with the Avengers later.

Karen: Yes, Jocasta turning on Ultron was nice, and made sense, since her mind was based on Jan's. While Hank has had to deal with his creation of Ultron and all the woe that has brought, Ultron has had his share of failures too, as both his 'son' and 'wife' have turned against him. Of course, Kurt Busiek brilliantly tied all this together in Avengers volume 3 when he revealed that Ultron's brain patterns were based on Hank's! Like father, like son...

Karen: I do think that Ultron's adamantium body did tend to overshadow his emotional impact on the team. He was just too hard to beat, and it seemed like it always came down to Wanda and her hex powers. Like most really good villains, Ultron should be used sparingly -like every three or four years.
Doug: So, overall a true classic. I don't have any major complaints. I felt that the team grew during Shooter's run, and he introduced some good elements, specifically the watchdogging of Agent Gyrich. I do wish, though, as we said earlier that there had been a resolution to Hank's breakdown in #'s 161-162. That dangling plot thread seems unforgiveable.

BAB Classic: Nice Job, Hank! Bride of Ultron Part 3

This post was originally published on 13 August 2010.

Avengers #170 (April 1978)
"...Though Hell Should Bar the Way!"
George Perez/Jim Shooter-Perez/Pablo Marcos

Doug: Greetings, Armadillos, and welcome back to the last two installments in our very-fun look at the Bride of Ultron storyline. You'll notice that George Perez gets a co-plotter credit for this story, and I think that shows actually in the artwork. I'm not privy to whether or not young George actually did any of the scripting, but I think it's obvious that Pablo Marcos had a greater hand in the art chores than he'd had back in the first two parts, Avengers 161 and 162.

Karen: I've read some interviews where Perez said that Shooter was not as familiar with the Marvel characters and that he (Perez) often helped by filling in background that Shooter was missing. Did you also notice that Shooter was the colorist on this issue?

Doug: I did not notice that! But there it is... Hey, I also saw that Terry Austin was the inker on the very nice cover art! Well, I can sum up this issue with one word: characterization. If Perez is the right man for the art, then Shooter is the master of the group dynamic. From the Legion to the Avengers, each character has their own mannerisms, voice, and he advances what becomes their backstory. This one starts off with a great deal of tension, as Shooter writes a very sullen, verbally aggressive Captain America. In the opening scene, as Cap works through some personal frustrations, we see the Beast in full character, and a side of Iron Man that's a bit softer than usual. Perez's lay-outs are top notch, as even though the entire scene is conversation there remain the elements of emotion and action. Perfect -- these guys got done in 3-4 pages what today's writers/artists do in an entire book!

Karen: Shooter was nothing if not efficient. He gets across his ideas easily and quickly. At this point in Avengers he was doing some things we hadn't really seen before, like having an insecure Cap.

Doug: No, you're right -- you'd have to go back to the Kooky Quartet to see a Steve Rogers brooding like he is here.

Karen: Yet it all worked. I especially liked the exchange between Cap and Iron Man, as these two friends had been really starting to go after one another. They resolve their issues here and Iron Man almost tells Cap that he's Stark, but Cap stops him before he can. But heck, I kind of figured he already knew.

Doug: There's also quite a bit of foreshadowing in this issue. You know, it's funny: This little four-parter has gone down in Avengers history as one of the must-reads, yet the next two scenes set-up what will become an epic on par with the Celestial Madonna or the Kree/Skrull War. Wanda gets a phone call (my, how times have changed technologically!) from Hawkeye, who is in Colorado. He tells her that the Two-Gun Kid has vanished, teleported away. Hawk's scoured the area, to no avail. When Wanda offers to come out to assist, Clint informs her that he will instead come to NY to take advantage of Tony Stark's technology. Right after, we're taken to the Hidden Refuge to drop in on Quicksilver. As he broods ('cause that's just what he does) and Crystal comes out to speak to him, he too disappears. Curiouser and curiouser... Oh, and let's not forget young Vance Astro, being guarded by his future-fellows, the Guardians of the Galaxy!

Karen: I know a lot of people love the Korvac Saga, but honestly, I thought it was fairly weak compared to the previous Avengers sagas. It did bring every Avenger imaginable -and then some -all in one place though.

Doug: I enjoyed "Korvac" because of the slow build-up, and as you said the vast array of characters involved. Meanwhile, back at the mansion a couple of delivery guys, working on the request and order of Hank Pym, bring the body of Ultron's bride to the laboratory. Even this scene has some nice, believable dialogue as the crate is hauled through the halls and into Hank's lab. However, when one of the men makes a crack about the robot, she seemingly responds by awakening! Right away, she remarks that it's Ultron who has awakened her, and she must go to him.

Doug: It's really eerie, because as the robot speaks the Avengers recognize that it's with Jan's voice that she communicates! While everyone had assumed that the life-transfer had been totally reversed back in issue #162, apparently it had not. Different Avengers attempt to subdue the robot, first and foremost the Vision. He is, in no uncertain terms, rebuffed. I found this to be an interesting scene, as it's apparent that Ultron took specific care to thwart an attack by this one Avenger. The robot throws off all attacks, and as she walks the Avengers plot another attempt at a takedown.

Karen: Both Jan and Hank are startled when the robot speaks, but the Vision ain't buying it. I love how he immediately attacks, saying that Ultron is playing a trick on them. The scene where Vizh is blasted away is fantastic. Ultron and his son still have a lot of issues to work out!

Karen: As the Avengers engage our metallic maiden, she displays a variety of powers, and is quite formidable. Although Hank and Jan are having a hard time engaging her, purely from a psychological standpoint.
Doug: Thor arrives, and it's interesting here that the team finds it quite odd that Thor speaks like he's been gone for quite some time, when in reality he had not. I almost had a Sentry-moment -- thought the dude was playing some sort of weird Bendis-game on me! Anyway, Thor slings Mjolnir at the robot, only to have it parried by Cap's shield. He and Iron Man arrive just in time to inform the team that no one is to impede the robot's progress, as she will most certainly lead them to a final showdown against... Ultron!