TreasuryCast #52 – The Mighty Avengers

TREASURYCAST #52 – THE MIGHTY AVENGERS

Rob welcomes comics pro and Ben-10 co-creator Joe Casey to discuss MARVEL TREASURY EDITION #7 starring THE MIGHTY AVENGERS!

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12 responses to “TreasuryCast #52 – The Mighty Avengers

  1. Is it just me, or do these shows keep getting better? This episode is such a perfect storm of a fantastic book and the perfect guest to talk about it.
    I have to say, I share many of Joe’s views on many topics covered herein: I don’t dislike Colletta’s inks across the board, I completely agree on the similarities (perhaps deliberate) between the Vision and Spock, and yes, the Michelinie/Byrne run on Avengers is so awesome.
    As for this specific treasury, I never had it, but I’ve read all the stories it contains elsewhere. It’s a really good sampling of a great period for the Avengers. Again, I agree with Joe about how the title became solidified with Thomas doing the writing, and Buscema (mainly) doing the art. (And yeah, Joe’s also right about the ‘sophistication’ Buscema brought to the art.)
    The discussion of Black Panther was also interesting; I’d never head that explanation for his half-mask, but it sounds plausible. There was, by the way, a brief period not long after that when he started to call himself ‘Black Leopard’ to disassociate himself from the political movement. Thankfully that didn’t last long. Something that also struck me as I was listening is why the first story, from Avengers #52, wasn’t included in the recent Marvel digest that focused on the Avengers with Black Panther (instead of a bunch of stories that don’t really have BP doing anything significant).

    By the way, Rob – yes, I was definitely around in the ’70s (born in ’68), so I witnessed some of the cool s**t I mentioned first hand, but also learned about so much more of it later (not just the Wrightson coloring book, but also, e.g., Gil Kane’s Blackmark, Eisner’s first graphic novels, Star Reach, or the various books put together and published by Byron Preiss…).

  2. Thanks for another terrific show, this was a treasury advertised in UK Marvel reprints, at 6p, but I never did see it anywhere. I really like the Kirby cover – but never thought much of that second logo, I’m glad they changed back to the original for a couple of years.

    What a great collection of tales; the minute you did the rundown, Rob, I knew why Joe Casey was there – I loved his Earth’s Mightiest Heroes comics. He did a great job of making the Avengers not look like idiots in regard to Jan’s wedding. I loved all the chat, Joe is obviously as big an Avengers fan as any of us.

    I agree with Joe about the Mr Spock connection to the Visiom – I knew exactly where he was going as he started.

    Poor John Buscema, not a fan of super heroes and still the Marvel method forced him to spend ages thinking about them in order to fill out Roy Thomas’ plot.

    I’ve just spent a very happy hour going through the Grand Comic Database trying to work out where that brilliant pin-up was first printed. No luck, I just can’t find it listed for any of the Avengers books in the period with that collection of members, not in regular issues and not in the Annuals. The nearest I could get was the Sal Buscema/Sam Grainger final page of Avengers #71, which was obviously intended as a pin-up ‘cos Jan is wearing a different outfit… I mean, I know she changed her look a lot, but halfway through a sentence? It’s very similar, almost the exact same line-up (#71 has a very squeezed-in Black Panther), similar poses… Someone will know off the top of their head!

  3. Lovely show. This was my first Marvel Treasury, purchased from a drug store on my lunch break with change from my accumulated lunch money. Usually on Fridays, I was able to accumulate enough to visit the store after they’d rolled out the new titles. As it was oversize, I had to be concerned about bullies on the school bus, so I rolled it in half and slid it up the sleeve of my jacket. The ruse worked.

    I felt that this was a great choice of stories, and I have a theory as to why. There were reprint titles on the shelves at that time, and for the Avengers – it was Marvel Triple Action. At that point, MTA were on the Thomas-Heck run with the kooky quartet, so presumably the Lee-Kirby run was in recent memory as well in that reprint book. These stories wouldn’t be seen in MTA for quite a while, if they ever were. But at least this choice of tales gave me, a thong newcomer to Marvel, a peek into the history and allowing my Swiss cheese knowledge to have a few of the holes filled.

  4. Just a perfect issue. It was extremely interesting to hear Mr. Casey’s connection to these stories and how he tried to retcon the wedding a smidge decades later. It reminded me of Howard Chaykin’s rejected Superman reboot post-Crisis. In it, everyone in Metropolis knew Clark was Superman. But they loved him so much they just went along with his ruse to amuse him.

    This does sound like a tremendous collection of classic Avengers stories. As you say Rob, this is the perfect starter platter to get a sense of the heroes.

    For me, I could picture all the covers of the stories as you were describing them. And given how many homages I have seen of them over the years, it is clear these are iconic and important tales.

    This show does seem to get better each time out!

  5. Another great discussion with another great comic pro! I really enjoyed Joe’s insights, particularly his need to “fix” the rather wonky characterization in the Yellowjacket debut story. I really dug that first Earth’s Mightiest Heroes mini, and I had no idea there was a sequel! I must search it out.

    I have a pretty good idea who your next guest is. He’s no Joe Casey, I tell you that!!!

    Chris

  6. Impressive Podcast. Most impressive. I don’t know I like the half mask. It can be seen as representation…. yeah I know can’t believe I said that. Still I have heard Some Afro American tv folks say when you can see the man’s face it means more to them, but this was on tv. So who knows. Most of my friends that are Afro American that I know are more into Vader. And the women I know like Storm. So who knows. Sounds like a cool comic. Moving on. I read this comic. Was at a comic store I hung at. No how much it would have cost. I ended up buying a Cap and Falcon re print issue. Ware Yellow claw was putting a Mummy’s mind in his daughter or nieces body since she had bitrade him cause she was in love with Jimmy Woo.

    Any way, I liked the Vison issue. I was a fan at the time. I don’t know he looks more like Yule Brinner to me than Spock. Kind of like West World. Granted I didn’t see West Wood till like a year ago. On a streaming service. But, he kind of fit. Any way. Big John has great art. And Roy was great. The Ramsey quote was great. And it fits. The kid kicking it and moving on fits. And walking off. Em, Cap knowing it was Hank works same with Jan. But, yeah I don’t think Clint did. Him losing to the Crucis is fine. After all he is out numbered by a lot. But , glad Hank figures out who he is at the end.

  7. Great guest, great episode. I’ve enjoyed Mr. Casey’s work, and now I know about more of it I can hunt down. I agree with all the praise heaped on these stories and this era, but it sounds like Joe made some important (and necessary) improvements.

    The Ultron story covered herein was my first Ultron tale. I missed this treasury and read it in regular-size reprint form. Roy could come across as a little pretentious because he wasn’t afraid to reach for greatness, and he certainly reached here. The Ozymandias bit with the kid was effective when I was in elementary school, and the ignominy of it made Ultron seem even more chilling. Now, of an age to have seen empires rapidly rise and fall, it seems inspired. When I carved an Ultron jack o’lantern a few Halloweens ago, I had this story in mind.

  8. Great episode. I got this treasury edition at a car boot sale back in 1989 and have loved it since. The treasury format was perfect for Buscema’s art as it was always a little too good to reduce in size. Like Joe I think George Klein is the best inker in this book but he is only my second favourite Buscema inker. My favourite is Al Williamson. Weirdly considering how different there styles are Williamson and Klein are also my one/two for inking Curt Swan. Now I’m wondering how Buscema would have looked inked by Murphy Anderson or Swan inked by Tom Palmer.

    The front and back covers were apparently designed by Al Milgrom. I read an interview with him recently about designing covers for Kirby and he shared the sketch for the back cover. Apparently Kirby didn’t follow the books so he wouldn’t know who to draw or how their costumes looked without a sketch. I don’t think having Yellowjacket and Goliath together was an error. I think Goliath is intended to be Hawkeye-as-Goliath.

    I would recommend searching out the issue of Joe Casey’s Deathlok drawn by John Buscema and Tom Palmer. It’s a really quick moving action oriented issue and therefore plays to Buscema’s strengths and he seems inspired. Another later Buscema job that’s worth finding is the issue of Thor inked by Jerry Ordway. It’s a duller story and John is more on autopilot but don’t forget John on autopilot is better than many guys best work.

    My main remembrance of this treasury is my stupidity. I took it to Portsmouth Comicon in 2019 to get it signed by Roy Thomas but his queue was endless and there were so many other people to talk to and buy comics from that I never joined the queue. After all I’ll get to see Roy again at another convention someday. Obviously with hindsight I’m kicking myself. How long is it going to be before we can safely have conventions again and even if we do will they be allowed US guests considering your level of Covid compared to ours? That may have been my only opportunity to get that beloved comic signed.

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