"Jollity in a Jocose Journal!!"
Avengers 30 (July, 1966)
After the initial opening event of Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch believing that they are becoming de-powered and taking a leave of absence, “Frenzy in a Far-Off Land!” features two never-seen-before items in Avengerdom. Firstly, the story does not kick off with a villain shaking his fist at thin air and declaiming ‘I must have mine reuenge upon the accursed… Avengers!” or even some villains deciding that before their Master Plan is implemented they must make sure that the accursed Avengers are out of the way. No, the main plot motivators this episode are, firstly, Captain America deciding that the Avengers must track down the Black Widow, the Swordsman and Power Man and, secondly, Hank ‘Goliath’ Pym deciding to track down one Dr Anton, who has been conducting experiments in the growth of humans and may, therefore, be able to shrink him back down to normal size from the ten feet he became stuck at recently. This latter, of course, is only after Pym has moaned to himself about his pitiful plight and refused to speak to his wife Jan now that he is a mere freak. Goliath does find Dr Anton before the story ends: by getting captured by the same group of villains who have captured Anton, the Keepers of the Flame from an underground kingdom who have deposed their rightful ruler. Hawkeye, if you were wondering, more or less disposes of the Swordsman and Power Man on his own, with a little help from the Black Widow now that the Evil Communists’ brainwashing is beginning to wear off.
The second mighty Marvel innovation is that instead of the overused trick of having the heroes fight each other - presumably because half of the villains have reformed and become members of the Avengers - they have the villains fight each other, in this case the Swordsman and Power Man bickering over the Black Widow, as they prepare for their latest doomed attempt to defeat the Avengers. The high point for me is the Swordsman’s classic to Power Man, which starts the fight: ‘She is too lovely… and far too intelligent, to prefer a muscle-bound clod like you to a man of my finesse!’
The art is once again by Don Heck and Frank Giacoia, but this time around is not at all bad. I don’t think that it’s just me getting used to it, either.
After the initial opening event of Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch believing that they are becoming de-powered and taking a leave of absence, “Frenzy in a Far-Off Land!” features two never-seen-before items in Avengerdom. Firstly, the story does not kick off with a villain shaking his fist at thin air and declaiming ‘I must have mine reuenge upon the accursed… Avengers!” or even some villains deciding that before their Master Plan is implemented they must make sure that the accursed Avengers are out of the way. No, the main plot motivators this episode are, firstly, Captain America deciding that the Avengers must track down the Black Widow, the Swordsman and Power Man and, secondly, Hank ‘Goliath’ Pym deciding to track down one Dr Anton, who has been conducting experiments in the growth of humans and may, therefore, be able to shrink him back down to normal size from the ten feet he became stuck at recently. This latter, of course, is only after Pym has moaned to himself about his pitiful plight and refused to speak to his wife Jan now that he is a mere freak. Goliath does find Dr Anton before the story ends: by getting captured by the same group of villains who have captured Anton, the Keepers of the Flame from an underground kingdom who have deposed their rightful ruler. Hawkeye, if you were wondering, more or less disposes of the Swordsman and Power Man on his own, with a little help from the Black Widow now that the Evil Communists’ brainwashing is beginning to wear off.
The second mighty Marvel innovation is that instead of the overused trick of having the heroes fight each other - presumably because half of the villains have reformed and become members of the Avengers - they have the villains fight each other, in this case the Swordsman and Power Man bickering over the Black Widow, as they prepare for their latest doomed attempt to defeat the Avengers. The high point for me is the Swordsman’s classic to Power Man, which starts the fight: ‘She is too lovely… and far too intelligent, to prefer a muscle-bound clod like you to a man of my finesse!’
The art is once again by Don Heck and Frank Giacoia, but this time around is not at all bad. I don’t think that it’s just me getting used to it, either.