The Avengers Project - Vol. 1 No. 12
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jkcarrierTHE AVENGERS Vol. 1 No. 12
January 1965
"This Hostage Earth!"
Written in the Marvel manner by Smilin' Stan Lee
Illustrated in the Marvel tradition by Dazzlin' Don Heck
Delineated in the Marvel style by Darlin' Dick Ayers
Lettered in the nick of time by Swingin' Sam Rosen
Giant-Man is working in his lab (again!) when he receives a Cybernetic Alarm from the ants living far below the surface. The ants are in a panic, indicating some great danger. Giant-Man decides to call an Avengers emergency meeting, although the Wasp suspects that the other heroes won't take well to being summoned on account of a bunch of ants. Sure enough, when Thor, Iron Man (travelling via his built-in roller skates!) and Captain America arrive, they are highly skeptical of this alleged emergency. Giant-Man points out that it could have something to do with the Fantastic Four's enemy the Mole Man, but Thor reminds him that Mole Man and his entire underground kingdom were destroyed in his last battle with the F.F. Irritated, Giant-Man finally tells the other Avengers to get lost, and that he'll investiate this situation by himself.
Miles below the surface, we see that Giant-Man's hunch was correct: The Mole Man survived his battle with the Fantastic Four, and has rebuilt his underground empire. Now he and his subterranean slaves have built a gigantic Atomic Gyroscope, which will cause the Earth's rotation to gradually speed up, eventually destroying all life on the surface. It was this acceleration that the sensitive ants picked up on.
Back in his laboratory, Giant-Man tells the Wasp to shrink down to ant-size with him so they can investigate. But it turns out that she is just as skeptical of the situation as the other Avengers were, and doesn't think it's worth missing her hairdresser appointment. So Giant-Man goes alone to the ant-hill where the alarm came from. As he enters, he feels the entire hill start shaking and then collapse, sending him tumbling down a vast chasm. He's able to stop his fall by growing to giant-size and bracing himself against the walls of the tunnel. Giant-Man works his way down to the bottom, where he hears the sound of a massive turbine, and sees a barrier made of beams of light blocking his path.
Not far away, the Mole Man's sensitive ears pick up the sound of Giant-Man pounding on the barrier, and he leads his mindless minions to investigate. The dwarf-like Subterraneans swarm over Giant-Man like Lilliputians over Gulliver. He grabs a slab of rock to block the energy-rays they fire at him, then uses it to smash the tank they send after him. But the Mole Man sneaks up behind and fires a stun gun that brings the giant Avenger down. The Subterraneans bind him and carry him away.
On the surface, the effects of the Atomic Gyroscope are becoming noticeable. Office workers in a skyscraper feel the building swaying; seismographs all over the world are going berserk; even the famous Tower of Pisa is leaning farther than usual. At their headquarters, the Avengers realize that they should have listened to Giant-Man's warning. They have to find him, since he may be the only one who knows the nature of the menace. As acting chariman, the Wasp decides to use their Image Projector (seen in issue #3) to quickly search for Giant-Man's whereabouts. While her real self is safe in Avengers' HQ, a projected image of her is sent below the surface, following the signals from Giant-Man's antennae. She soon spots the light-barrier, and the Mole Man's rebuilt kingdom. The Mole Man detects this new intruder, but the image vanishes before he can intercept it. Knowing that he's been found, the Mole Man decides to strike first, and he sends a squad of Subterraneans to the surface in a mole-like tunnelling machine.
At the Avengers' mansion, the team is trying to figure out the best way to reach Giant-Man at the Earth's core. Captain America remembers Tony Stark's new transistorized fox-hole digger, and Iron Man says he can modify it to reach the Mole Man's lair. But before they can act, the Subterraneans come bursting up from the floor. The Mole Man's soldiers are puny, but armed with high-tech weaponry. One uses a magnetic device to grab Captain America's shield, but Cap is unfazed; he simply lays into them bare-handed instead. The Wasp targets another Subterranean, but he sprays her with choking gas; luckily, Iron Man is able to disperse the gas with a blast of compressed air. But then Iron Man is menaced by a Subterranean with a flame-thrower; the Wasp returns the favor by using her "sting" to make the enemy drop his weapon. Thor, meanwhile, is smashing weapons right and left with his hammer, and Cap's ricocheting shield takes out several more. Just as the Subterraneans seem on the verge of surrender, they are surrounded by a blinding mist. Rick Jones (where'd he come from?) manages to turn on the exhaust fan, but by the time the mist clears, their foes have vanished.
The Avengers decide to continue with their original plan, and Cap and Rick go to Tony Stark's warehouse to get the transistor tubes they need to boost the power of the fox-hole diggers. When they arrive at the warehouse, they see a group of thieves making off with Stark's equipment. Cap lays into the thugs, but gets caught by surprise when a big brute named Monk emerges from the shadows and tags him in the jaw. Rick jumps in to help, but is no match for the burly crook. But by this time, Cap has recovered, and takes out Monk with a couple of well-placed punches. Rick is embarrassed at being taken out so easily, but Cap assures him that the important thing is to learn from his mistakes.
At Tony Stark's weapons factory, Iron Man is working on the machinery, while Thor is anxious to get moving; he feels guilty for not heeding Giant-Man's warnings earlier. Captain America and Rick Jones return with the transistors, and soon the device is completed. Thor has used his hammer like a divining rod to pinpoint the location where they must dig. He and Iron Man fly the machine to the proper spot, while the others follow in a chartered jet.
Down below, the Mole Man is angered to see his defeated troops return. He can't understand why they gave up, or how they escaped the Avengers. Suddenly, a figure appears and announces that he is the one who brought the troops back. It is the Red Ghost, the communist agent who fought the Fantastic Four on the Moon many months ago. He has the power to become unsolid, and has since learned how to use that power on others as well, which is how he slipped the Mole Man's troops back under the surface. The Red Ghost has decided that the Super-Apes he employed in the past were too unpredictable, and he wants to form an alliance with the Mole Man instead. An alarm goes off, signalling the approach of an enemy, and the Mole Man says that the Red Ghost can prove his worth in the upcoming battle.
The Avengers' makeshift tunnelling device carries them to the Mole Man's domain, and Iron Man leads the charge with a cry of "Avengers Attack!". Thor easily clears the light barrier with his hammer, but then Captain America spots the Red Ghost aiming a ray gun at them from a ledge above. Iron Man uses his magnetic repulsor to deflect the shot, which leaves a smoking crater in front of the heroes. Before the Red Ghost can fire again, Iron Man hits him with a sound blast that staggers him and causes him to drop his weapon. A tank enters the fray, with what looks like a giant fly-swatter mounted on the front. Iron Man holds the weapon back and tells the others to go look for Giant-Man.
But the Wasp has already flown ahead and found her partner, trapped by an anti-cybernetic ray. She dodges the gunshots of the Subterranean guards, and then flips the switch to free Giant-Man. He brushes aside the Mole Man's guards with a sweep of his hand, then he and the Wasp rush to rejoin their comrades.
Meanwhile, the Mole Man unleashes a barrage of Hyper-Ionic Missiles at the Avengers. Thor deflects them back to the source with his hammer, but the Red Ghost uses his power on himself and the Mole Man, so the missiles pass through harmlessly. Iron Man wrecks the missile launcher. More Subterraneans show up, but he and Thor tear up a slab of the metal floor and wrap the enemy soldiers up in it. By this time, the Mole Man and the Red Ghost have reached the controls of the Atomic Gyroscope, with which they can destroy the Earth. The Mole Man says he will kill all but one of the Avengers, and the remaining hero will deliver his demand for unconditional surrender to the surface-dwellers.
Unknown to the villains, however, an ant-sized Giant-Man is crawling around inside the Gyroscope controls, switching connections and causing the device to short-circuit. The Gyroscope stops moving, and the Avengers move in to capture their foes. Unfortunately, the Red Ghost's power to become unsolid makes it impossible to stop their escape. But Thor uses his hammer to destroy the Subterraneans' war-machines, and the Avengers seal the tunnel behind them, which will prevent them from invading the surface again.
The next day, the Avengers meet up again, and the Wasp says that they'll have to give an official apology to Giant-Man for doubting him. Back in the ruins of the Mole Man's empire, the two villains argue over which of them is to blame for their defeat.
--
Plot-wise, this is a pretty standard issue; the "underground invaders" theme is reminiscent of the Lava Men from issue #5, and the Red Ghost seems to have just been tossed in for the heck of it. But the emphasis on characterization helps it to stand out, with Thor's arrogance and Giant-Man's anger over not being taken seriously (another foreshadowing of the inferiority complex that will cause him so many problems in the years ahead). Don Heck continues to do nice work on the art side. His high-tech gadgets aren't as inspired as Kirby's, but he's very good at staging action. The Red Ghost has this great arrogant sneer plastered to his face; appropriately, he resembles a long-haired Nikita Kruschev.
Wasp Watch: Jan comes across pretty well this issue. She rather rudely dismisses Giant-Man's warnings of impending disaster, but so does everyone else (and she's the one who rescues him later). I love the scene where she and Iron Man take turns heping each other out, which makes her seem like an equal part of the team. We even get to see her taking her turn as Chairman, although she doesn't actually get to do much in the way of giving orders (the Charimanship will eventually become a much more significant job, and Jan will have a turn at it again in the 1980s).
On the "All About the Avengers" page, there's a letter from none other than George R.R. Marin, who went on to become a well-known author (anyone who's read his "Wild Cards" books will not be surprised to find out that he was a comics fan!). He praises the Heck/Ayers art team, and lists his favorite and least favorite villains, suggesting that the likes of the Thinker, the Mole Man, the Puppet Master, and Diablo not make any more appearances (Stan responds that it's too late, as most of those guys had either already reappeared or were about to). In the "Special Announcements" section, we're told that in the debate over whether they were using too many guest-stars, the pro-guest-star contingent was slightly ahead. We also find out that Rick Jones and the Teen Brigade will be playing a bigger part in future issues (personally, I think they're kind of lame... the Newsboy Legion could totally kick their butts). The "Mighty Marvel Checklist" includes FANTASTIC FOUR #35, SPIDER-MAN #21, X-MEN #9, THOR #112, STRANGE TALES #129, SUSPENSE #62, ASTONISH #64, and SGT. FURY AND HIS YOU-KNOW-WHO'S #14.
January 1965
"This Hostage Earth!"
Written in the Marvel manner by Smilin' Stan Lee
Illustrated in the Marvel tradition by Dazzlin' Don Heck
Delineated in the Marvel style by Darlin' Dick Ayers
Lettered in the nick of time by Swingin' Sam Rosen
Giant-Man is working in his lab (again!) when he receives a Cybernetic Alarm from the ants living far below the surface. The ants are in a panic, indicating some great danger. Giant-Man decides to call an Avengers emergency meeting, although the Wasp suspects that the other heroes won't take well to being summoned on account of a bunch of ants. Sure enough, when Thor, Iron Man (travelling via his built-in roller skates!) and Captain America arrive, they are highly skeptical of this alleged emergency. Giant-Man points out that it could have something to do with the Fantastic Four's enemy the Mole Man, but Thor reminds him that Mole Man and his entire underground kingdom were destroyed in his last battle with the F.F. Irritated, Giant-Man finally tells the other Avengers to get lost, and that he'll investiate this situation by himself.
Miles below the surface, we see that Giant-Man's hunch was correct: The Mole Man survived his battle with the Fantastic Four, and has rebuilt his underground empire. Now he and his subterranean slaves have built a gigantic Atomic Gyroscope, which will cause the Earth's rotation to gradually speed up, eventually destroying all life on the surface. It was this acceleration that the sensitive ants picked up on.
Back in his laboratory, Giant-Man tells the Wasp to shrink down to ant-size with him so they can investigate. But it turns out that she is just as skeptical of the situation as the other Avengers were, and doesn't think it's worth missing her hairdresser appointment. So Giant-Man goes alone to the ant-hill where the alarm came from. As he enters, he feels the entire hill start shaking and then collapse, sending him tumbling down a vast chasm. He's able to stop his fall by growing to giant-size and bracing himself against the walls of the tunnel. Giant-Man works his way down to the bottom, where he hears the sound of a massive turbine, and sees a barrier made of beams of light blocking his path.
Not far away, the Mole Man's sensitive ears pick up the sound of Giant-Man pounding on the barrier, and he leads his mindless minions to investigate. The dwarf-like Subterraneans swarm over Giant-Man like Lilliputians over Gulliver. He grabs a slab of rock to block the energy-rays they fire at him, then uses it to smash the tank they send after him. But the Mole Man sneaks up behind and fires a stun gun that brings the giant Avenger down. The Subterraneans bind him and carry him away.
On the surface, the effects of the Atomic Gyroscope are becoming noticeable. Office workers in a skyscraper feel the building swaying; seismographs all over the world are going berserk; even the famous Tower of Pisa is leaning farther than usual. At their headquarters, the Avengers realize that they should have listened to Giant-Man's warning. They have to find him, since he may be the only one who knows the nature of the menace. As acting chariman, the Wasp decides to use their Image Projector (seen in issue #3) to quickly search for Giant-Man's whereabouts. While her real self is safe in Avengers' HQ, a projected image of her is sent below the surface, following the signals from Giant-Man's antennae. She soon spots the light-barrier, and the Mole Man's rebuilt kingdom. The Mole Man detects this new intruder, but the image vanishes before he can intercept it. Knowing that he's been found, the Mole Man decides to strike first, and he sends a squad of Subterraneans to the surface in a mole-like tunnelling machine.
At the Avengers' mansion, the team is trying to figure out the best way to reach Giant-Man at the Earth's core. Captain America remembers Tony Stark's new transistorized fox-hole digger, and Iron Man says he can modify it to reach the Mole Man's lair. But before they can act, the Subterraneans come bursting up from the floor. The Mole Man's soldiers are puny, but armed with high-tech weaponry. One uses a magnetic device to grab Captain America's shield, but Cap is unfazed; he simply lays into them bare-handed instead. The Wasp targets another Subterranean, but he sprays her with choking gas; luckily, Iron Man is able to disperse the gas with a blast of compressed air. But then Iron Man is menaced by a Subterranean with a flame-thrower; the Wasp returns the favor by using her "sting" to make the enemy drop his weapon. Thor, meanwhile, is smashing weapons right and left with his hammer, and Cap's ricocheting shield takes out several more. Just as the Subterraneans seem on the verge of surrender, they are surrounded by a blinding mist. Rick Jones (where'd he come from?) manages to turn on the exhaust fan, but by the time the mist clears, their foes have vanished.
The Avengers decide to continue with their original plan, and Cap and Rick go to Tony Stark's warehouse to get the transistor tubes they need to boost the power of the fox-hole diggers. When they arrive at the warehouse, they see a group of thieves making off with Stark's equipment. Cap lays into the thugs, but gets caught by surprise when a big brute named Monk emerges from the shadows and tags him in the jaw. Rick jumps in to help, but is no match for the burly crook. But by this time, Cap has recovered, and takes out Monk with a couple of well-placed punches. Rick is embarrassed at being taken out so easily, but Cap assures him that the important thing is to learn from his mistakes.
At Tony Stark's weapons factory, Iron Man is working on the machinery, while Thor is anxious to get moving; he feels guilty for not heeding Giant-Man's warnings earlier. Captain America and Rick Jones return with the transistors, and soon the device is completed. Thor has used his hammer like a divining rod to pinpoint the location where they must dig. He and Iron Man fly the machine to the proper spot, while the others follow in a chartered jet.
Down below, the Mole Man is angered to see his defeated troops return. He can't understand why they gave up, or how they escaped the Avengers. Suddenly, a figure appears and announces that he is the one who brought the troops back. It is the Red Ghost, the communist agent who fought the Fantastic Four on the Moon many months ago. He has the power to become unsolid, and has since learned how to use that power on others as well, which is how he slipped the Mole Man's troops back under the surface. The Red Ghost has decided that the Super-Apes he employed in the past were too unpredictable, and he wants to form an alliance with the Mole Man instead. An alarm goes off, signalling the approach of an enemy, and the Mole Man says that the Red Ghost can prove his worth in the upcoming battle.
The Avengers' makeshift tunnelling device carries them to the Mole Man's domain, and Iron Man leads the charge with a cry of "Avengers Attack!". Thor easily clears the light barrier with his hammer, but then Captain America spots the Red Ghost aiming a ray gun at them from a ledge above. Iron Man uses his magnetic repulsor to deflect the shot, which leaves a smoking crater in front of the heroes. Before the Red Ghost can fire again, Iron Man hits him with a sound blast that staggers him and causes him to drop his weapon. A tank enters the fray, with what looks like a giant fly-swatter mounted on the front. Iron Man holds the weapon back and tells the others to go look for Giant-Man.
But the Wasp has already flown ahead and found her partner, trapped by an anti-cybernetic ray. She dodges the gunshots of the Subterranean guards, and then flips the switch to free Giant-Man. He brushes aside the Mole Man's guards with a sweep of his hand, then he and the Wasp rush to rejoin their comrades.
Meanwhile, the Mole Man unleashes a barrage of Hyper-Ionic Missiles at the Avengers. Thor deflects them back to the source with his hammer, but the Red Ghost uses his power on himself and the Mole Man, so the missiles pass through harmlessly. Iron Man wrecks the missile launcher. More Subterraneans show up, but he and Thor tear up a slab of the metal floor and wrap the enemy soldiers up in it. By this time, the Mole Man and the Red Ghost have reached the controls of the Atomic Gyroscope, with which they can destroy the Earth. The Mole Man says he will kill all but one of the Avengers, and the remaining hero will deliver his demand for unconditional surrender to the surface-dwellers.
Unknown to the villains, however, an ant-sized Giant-Man is crawling around inside the Gyroscope controls, switching connections and causing the device to short-circuit. The Gyroscope stops moving, and the Avengers move in to capture their foes. Unfortunately, the Red Ghost's power to become unsolid makes it impossible to stop their escape. But Thor uses his hammer to destroy the Subterraneans' war-machines, and the Avengers seal the tunnel behind them, which will prevent them from invading the surface again.
The next day, the Avengers meet up again, and the Wasp says that they'll have to give an official apology to Giant-Man for doubting him. Back in the ruins of the Mole Man's empire, the two villains argue over which of them is to blame for their defeat.
--
Plot-wise, this is a pretty standard issue; the "underground invaders" theme is reminiscent of the Lava Men from issue #5, and the Red Ghost seems to have just been tossed in for the heck of it. But the emphasis on characterization helps it to stand out, with Thor's arrogance and Giant-Man's anger over not being taken seriously (another foreshadowing of the inferiority complex that will cause him so many problems in the years ahead). Don Heck continues to do nice work on the art side. His high-tech gadgets aren't as inspired as Kirby's, but he's very good at staging action. The Red Ghost has this great arrogant sneer plastered to his face; appropriately, he resembles a long-haired Nikita Kruschev.
Wasp Watch: Jan comes across pretty well this issue. She rather rudely dismisses Giant-Man's warnings of impending disaster, but so does everyone else (and she's the one who rescues him later). I love the scene where she and Iron Man take turns heping each other out, which makes her seem like an equal part of the team. We even get to see her taking her turn as Chairman, although she doesn't actually get to do much in the way of giving orders (the Charimanship will eventually become a much more significant job, and Jan will have a turn at it again in the 1980s).
On the "All About the Avengers" page, there's a letter from none other than George R.R. Marin, who went on to become a well-known author (anyone who's read his "Wild Cards" books will not be surprised to find out that he was a comics fan!). He praises the Heck/Ayers art team, and lists his favorite and least favorite villains, suggesting that the likes of the Thinker, the Mole Man, the Puppet Master, and Diablo not make any more appearances (Stan responds that it's too late, as most of those guys had either already reappeared or were about to). In the "Special Announcements" section, we're told that in the debate over whether they were using too many guest-stars, the pro-guest-star contingent was slightly ahead. We also find out that Rick Jones and the Teen Brigade will be playing a bigger part in future issues (personally, I think they're kind of lame... the Newsboy Legion could totally kick their butts). The "Mighty Marvel Checklist" includes FANTASTIC FOUR #35, SPIDER-MAN #21, X-MEN #9, THOR #112, STRANGE TALES #129, SUSPENSE #62, ASTONISH #64, and SGT. FURY AND HIS YOU-KNOW-WHO'S #14.
