Apparently Marvel is revving up to have their two superteams clash this year. Since I gave up reading the Mighty Mutants regularly nearly two decades ago, and I gave up reading the Awesome Assemblers nearly four years ago now, I doubt I'll be checking out this super war save online in samples and whatnot.
For me the ultimate clash between these two teams came in the Spring of 1968 when they met up in a single issue of The Avengers, specially issue #53, to duke it out after being lured together by the machinations of the then-still-a-villain Magneto.
The storyline had been unfolding in both the X-Men and the Avengers when former Assemblers Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver had left the team. They became involved again with their former boss (not yet revealed to be their daddy) Magneto and the mix-ups started popping in batches as the two teams battled it out.
Bing! Bang! Boom! It was done in a single issue (with a few clever crossovers) and then the teams could repair to their lairs to recuperate and await the next big baddies. This year's clash I'm sure will lumber along through countless comics and cost the dedicated fanboy a fortune to gather up a battle not half as exciting as the one that still tickles my memory.
Some years later in the late late summer of 1970 I got hold of X-Men Annual #1 which offered up the tasty reprint of the original battle between these two teams, both still in their mostly original line-ups. It was a hoot, and again a single awesome issue told the tale totally and for true.
Imagine a mere twelve cents giving up such ideal pleasure. It's not what comic books are about anymore. Delivering quality entertainment for a fine price has long ago been abandoned as the model. Perhaps it was necessary and the modern comic is a relic, but it's still a shame.
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Avengers 49 is a hell of a cover, isn't it? As a little kid, I found the image of Magneto's headgear floating in the sea at the end of that storyline very unsettling.
ReplyDeleteNice survey of events of a better time, Rip. Like you, I'll stay away from the next "big event" (and for that matter, any "big events" after that!).
ReplyDeleteDoug
Dougie - Yep. It was still early in my reading before I realized that villains always come back. When he creeped out in the X-Men some months later it was a surprise.
ReplyDeleteDoug - It's not just nostalgia, which it is surely is. It's value for money, and these days comics aren't good value for money most of the time sadly.
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