Mighty Avengers #11

[arbre_rieur]

'There was a vogue in the late eighties and early nineties for reforming villains -- you had the Sandman reforming, the Rogues Gallery going straight, and Kaluu was one of those as well. He was still doing the black magician thing, and being very sinister and creepy, but he was using his sinister creepiness for good purpose. Anyway, I always found these types of stories very optimistic -- they showed growth and change, and that even the bad guys were human beings who could redeem themselves, and it was nice to see the arc of the universe trending towards some form of absolution.

'As you can imagine, when they all got reversed a few more years down the road it was quite depressing, so, at least in the corner of comics I can reach, reformed bad guys stay reformed. Kaluu, at least, is still fighting the good fight, even if he's doing it in quite a "villain" sort of way.' -- Al Ewing



November 7, 1972: Detective James Lucas investigates a dead bat-man in an alley...









Meanwhile, the bat-man corpse has also attracted the attentions of others:







Finally, the last member of the soon-to-be-team arrives:





To Be Continued...

Comments

[violetclm.livejournal.com]

Beyond the first page, I don't know who any of these characters are or what they're doing.

[freezer]

The guy in the green visor is Original Recipe!Blade. Don't recognize the guy with the mohawk (though he looks familiar(. I don't know if we're supposed to know who the blonde is.

[silicondream]

She actually is called the Bear; she was one of that group Tony Stark's dad put together to steal Recorder 451 from the Greys. Dunno if she was a preexisting character, though.

[doctor_spanky]

Pretty sure she was created for that Iron Man story

[thehood]

The guy with the Mohawk is Kaluu, master of the dark arts and rival to Doctor Strange.

[coldfury]

I recognize Blade and Blue Marvel. Other than that?? No clue.

[freezer]

I must've skimmed past the part where Blue Marvel ID'ed himself. I was just left wondering why Linc from The Mod Squad was standing behind Cage's dad.

[althechi]

Adam Brashear is the Blue Marvel.

[wizardru]

The 70s 'Mighty Avengers' are:

Det. James Lucas (Father of Luke Cage)
Kaluu (former Dr. Strange villain, childhood rival of The Ancient One)
Dr. Adam Brashear (a.k.a. The Blue Marvel)
Constance Molina (reporter - New Character)
The Bear (from Iron Man, member of the Stark Seven)
Blade (Original Funky 70s version from Tomb of Dracula)

And I love this comic SO. DAMN. MUCH.

[icon_uk]

I keep forgetting to buy the TPB's of this, I MUST remember to do so, because every time I see scans on here, I hear myself saying "THIS is what I want my Avengers team to be about, not cosmic posturing or mindwiping heroes after each mission"

[wizardru]

Sadly there's only one, so far. I picked it up and loved it so much, I've been getting the monthlies on Comixology. It's everything that's RIGHT with comics, as far as I'm concerned. Solid characters, FUN, heroes fighting villains, an appreciation for continuity without being chained to it and even Land's art doesn't bother me.

I just LIKE these guys.

Also, it has the best in-universe explanation for people's tolerance of SpOck that I've read and in my head-canon it's the official reason. It's also a very funny joke, IMHO.

[halloweenjack]

Got it myself and likewise loved it. Even LAAAAAAAND has made up for many sins.

[freezer]

So Cage's dad is Shaft. Everything makes so much sense now.

[q99]

Cage's dad is one bad-

[scelestus]

Shut yo mouth! :)

[q99]

I'm just talkin' about Mr. Cage!

[pwiggins]

Then we can dig it! :) Although it's Mr Lucas, not Cage.

[espanolbot]

Hey, someone remembered that Blade's technically immortal (he was born in London in the 1920s, I think), neat!

[big_daddy_d]

So The Bear...can she turn into a bear or something? Or does she handle people so violently that the end result looks like a bear mauling?

[bizarrohulk]

She's a literal werebear, created by the same magics that created the bat-man (ha!) she killed.

[shadowpsykie]

huh... heh... i think i like her

I'm not sure, but...

[bewareofgeek]

I think "Yao" is a reference to The Ancient One.

Re: I'm not sure, but...

[starwolf_oakley]

It seems likely. "Young Ancient One" by Rob Worley was in the 2004 Marvel Epic Anthology. Steve Englehart was going to do another Yao story at some point.

http://www.robworley.com/2006/01/young-ancient-one-returns-sort-of/

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&old=1&id=3098

Re: I'm not sure, but...

[arilou_skiff]

"Young Ancient One" Heh.

Re: I'm not sure, but...

[bruinsfan]

Particularly since he would have been about 500 in that tale set in the Wild West, so not all that young.

Re: I'm not sure, but...

[sir_mikael]

I read that Young Ancient One story. It was really fun!

[philippos42]

This is pretty cool. I like the quote about keeping reformed villains reformed.

[icon_uk]

I like it and agree with it completely. I'd like to see more interchanging, of heroes actually becoming villains too, when they just get fed up with saving an ungrateful public or the like.

[ablackraptor]

Well, while it would be an interesting idea to see a hero become a villain, there's the obvious problem of pissing off that character's fans, especially if they're a fairly popular character. I know it often bugs people when seemingly good characters suddenly become evil, even if it was a relatively new character, especially if it includes changing their personality.

[starwolf_oakley]

I think that's why we have stories like "the Scarlet Witch going crazy was Dr. Doom's fault."

[pwiggins]

Y'know, it's too bad Momma Cage from the Marvel Adventures universe doesn't exist in 616; this would've made a great "How I Met Your Mother" story too, with young Momma Cage as an ass-kicking Coffy/Foxy Brown type who met and fell in love with Shaft -- I mean James Lucas, sorry -- during this adventure. It would probably mean overhauling Cage's backstory as a petty street crook -- Momma Cage and Shaft-Lucas together wouldn't raise no criminal! -- but it would be SO worth it, just to have Momma Cage around in 616, because Momma Cage was made of awesome. Plus, Greg Land could do his best Pam Grier tracings! Everybody's happy, including the people who love to pick apart Land's art and complain loudly about it!

[ablackraptor]

That would have been a pretty awesome thing for them to have; at the very least, it would've been a much better story than how HIMYM ended.
(Apologies to those who enjoyed the finale, of course)

[akodo_rokku]

You are apologizing to mythical creatures.

[ablackraptor]

Well, actually, I have met people who enjoyed the finale, and not the whole delusional 'my favourite show has no flaws at all' type of people, but those who acknowledge the flaws but enjoyed the ending non-the-less. Its mostly why I felt the need to include the apology, just in case one read and got annoyed at me bashing it.

[akodo_rokku]

I assume hardcore Robin/Ted shippers enjoyed it... but otherwise IdisbelieveIdisbelieveIdisbelieve

[starwolf_oakley]

I want to see Pam Grier in a Marvel Movie as Monica Rambeau's mother, since that is who Monica looked like in the comics at first. Sylvester Stallone can play her father to give a pun on her last name.
So far, the only actress I can think of to play Monica as a result of my fan-casting is Paula Patton.

[cainofdreaming]

So, if Blade was active at the same time as Luke's father then how old does that make Frank Drake? He's still young at current continuity, right? And doesn't have extended lifespan.

[bruinsfan]

Of course, since he's one of Dracula's descendants there's no telling what kind of age-retarding shenannigans might be going on.

I love that Blade dressing in day-glo 70s wear is now proven as still explicitly canon despite Marvel's sliding timeline!

[starwolf_oakley]

"Will They or Won't They" existed in the 1970s? I thought that started in the 1980s.

Unless Kaluu read a lot of Jane Austen novels, which is where that trope arguably started.

[bruinsfan]

That might be likelier than someone who just got back from 500+ years of exile in the dimension of Raggador being up-to-date on 1970s culture.

[starwolf_oakley]

A lot of this is a pretty clever "modern" look at the world before the Fantastic Four made their big debut. People think mutants don't exist and the Sub-Mariner is spotted at a soup kitchen. And yes, Namor was given amnesia by villain Paul Destine.

[pwiggins]

No connection to the ClanDestine. We think.

[arilou_skiff]

Although the fact that Molina has the same face as Monica a couple issues ago is distracting.

[skemono]

Yeah, the art isn't that bad for Land, but it's still really hard to tell any of his women apart.

[lieut_kettch]

Who's the NYPD Dick that's a sex machine to all the chicks?

CAGE!

Can you dig it?

[lorriek]

Land's art doesn't repulse me, although there's a bit of same-facing going on. Seems like a good comic. Hope to read it someday.

[shadowpsykie]

i noticed that too, normally his art is like LAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNDDDDDD... Right now it's just LAND!