Giant-Size Avengers #4

[iamrman]

Three issues and one giant-sized book to tell us how important Mantis is. Well, at least it’s over now.

So many words!

Thus, Mantis was never seen again. She certainly wasn’t shoehorned in to everything else Englehart wrote.

Comments

[cainofdreaming]

Space Phantom could have at least waited until the wedding night before disappointing Kang like that.

[blues32]

Nah, then Mantis would remain stuck in Limbo and Immortis would have some explaining to do with the Avengers.

[cainofdreaming]

I'm sure they'd understand if he took them in on the joke.

Edit - And, hey, it's all free time from having to deal with Mantis' rubbish.

[mazway_75]

It's always odd how so many Avengers writers seem to think this is on par with Dark Phoenix Saga with fans when so many readers never cared for it.

[scorntx]

Much like Dark Phoenix, pretty sure it's because most of them haven't actually read it.
Or if they have, they've forgotten it pretty quickly.
Busiek obviously has, and from the looks of it, weren't terribly impressed.

(Speaking as someone not terribly fond of DPS even without the mess it caused, it's still a damn sight better than this story.
At least stuff happens in it...)

[jkcarrier]

I read it while it was coming out, and I think it's great. Maybe not as good as Dark Phoenix, but easily beating the Kree-Skrull War (my choice for "most overrated Avengers story").

[leahandillyana]

Are Heather and Mantis canonically still like pushing eighty or has this 12/31/1953 date been retconned since?

[iamrman]

Sliding timescale and all that, so I guess the date is no longer canon.

[scorntx]

Good grief...
That was a lot.
So many smart-arse remarks that could be made about this... er, story.
Slideshow would be more accurate, actually.

I just don't think Mantis's destiny of falling in love instantly with a tree and then having its tree baby is quite the impressive, life-affirming action Englehart seems resolutely convinced it is.
And then she becomes a deadbeat mother to a whiny genocidal twerp of a son.
Hooray for destiny(!)

Think Moondragon got the better deal being rejected, all things considered.
(Sure, she ends up possessed by the Dragon of the Moon, twice. But still the better deal!)

It's never a good sign when even the characters are commenting on the ridiculousness of the plot, such as the Avengers pointing out they've been reduced to glorified extras in their own freaking title.
(Except for Wanda.)

Avengers: Forever would later say this Kang is not actually The Kang, just A Kang, at least as far as Kang's concerned.
And who can blame him for wanting to keep this and all the other times Englehart wrote him off the CV?

Still, Englehart's gotten his actually kind of alarming Mantis obsession out of his system for the moment, so the Avengers no longer have to deal with someone forcing their way onto the team and being really obnoxious about it.
Except Moondragon.
But the narrative's not on her side.
Oh, and Patsy Walker...

[shakalooloo]

So... many... words...

If you've gotten to the point where a talking head in a panel only takes up a quarter of the space, dwarfed by their own paragraphs of speech, you should maybe think about finding a different way to deliver your exposition.

[giraffesforever]

So many words, but which were the best words?

"Woman, have you not seen you are to marry that tree?"

"Completing his mental powers till he is the perfect plant"

"If there's any mingling going on, the Vision and I want in on it!"

[lbd_nytetrayn]

Well, that sure happened.

I forget, is this the character MCU Mantis is based on, or was that another Mantis?

And maybe I missed it in my eyes glazing over, but did they explain what this Celestial Madonna actually is? Is it just being treewife? And why did Kang want in on that so bad, if that's what it was?

[iamrman]

MCU Mantis is based on this Mantis.

The Celestial Madonna is fated to give birth to the Celestial Madonna, but that does basically boil down to being a treewife, yes.

[scorntx]

MCU Mantis is based on this Mantis in the same way a chop was once a sheep.
Awful lot got cut out.


Kang wanted in on marrying the Celestial Madonna so she could be his babymama, and use the resulting Celestial Messiah to conquer the universe.

Instead of just cutting out a lot of middlemen and doing it himself.
By conquering.
(Ravonna? Who dat?)