The Nefarious Castle of Stan Lee
The Avengers No. 13
February, 1965
‘The Castle of Count Nefaria!’ (20 pp.)
Stan Lee, Don Heck and Dick Ayers
This issue represents a vast improvement over the last three, thankfully, after a very ropey start in the opening scene where the Avengers, Earth’s mightiest heroes, foil a robbery at a fur warehouse. Obviously there was a shortage of aliens and mad scientists attempting to take over the world at the time. At any rate, it transpires that the robbers were members of the worldwide criminal network the Maggia - ‘the Avengers are puttin’ us out of business!’ moans a criminal overlord in an orange check jacket. On being advised of this, a senior criminal overlord in Europe who rejoices in the name Count Nefaria shoots the messenger and determines ‘I must deal with the meddlesome Avengers!’ A plan is already beginning to form in his mind, which he believes that no-one will suspect because the world knows him only as Europe’s wealthiest nobleman. Accordingly, he enacts stage one of his master plan: disassembling his castle, transporting it to the United States of America (via a shipping line which he owns) and re-erecting it in ‘a matter of weeks.’ My congratulations to the building contractor involved. More. My congratulations to Stan Lee pulling off a story in which Europe’s wealthiest nobleman and owner of a castle and shipping and haulage companies earns some pocket money on the side as a criminal genius.
At any rate, Nefaria eschews the traditional tactic of luring the Avengers to South America and instead lures them to his castle, where he places them in a trance, creates hologram duplicates of them and sends these duplicates to the Pentagon to announce that the Avengers are taking over America. Accordingly, the government declares war on the Avengers, with uncomfortable results for the Avengers after they leave Nefaria’s castle, i. e. the opportunity for a fight scene of the U. S. Army and Air Force vs. the Avengers.
Meanwhile, Rick Jones and his Essex Soul Boy squad take the opportunity of searching Nefaria’s castle, presumably in the belief that it is actually a night club in Romford with the women and lager teasingly hidden from their eyes. The truth reveals itself to them when a band of Maggia hired hands pounce on them and place them in a dungeon.
The Avengers work out that the Teen Brigade must have been captured by Nefaria and go back to his castle on a rescue mission, the initial phase of which ends up with Thor, Iron Man, Giant-Man and the Wasp trapped by Nefaria’s super-glue, essentially. Oh, alright, that’s merely what it looks like; they are actually paralysed - as Rick Jones and his friends will be if they touch the walls of their cell. Cap deduces what has happened and enters the castle without touching any of its external surface or grounds, thusly evading the paralysis, and finds the Teen Brigade, at which point Rick points out that the antidote to Nefaria’s paralysis is in a spray can just out of his reach, which Nefaria had been taunting the Brigadiers with but which Stan and Don have not mentioned to us before, possibly because they are making this stuff up as they go along and are up to page 18 already. Thus, after Rick runs off with the spray can to free the four trapped Avengers, flashing his white socks at us in the last panel of page 18, we are given the following in rapid-fire succession over a mere two pages: Cap signalling to a destroyer cruising up the nearby Hudson river, then being captured by Nefaria, then being rescued by the freed Avengers; the Avengers rounding up Nefaria and his underlings; Nefaria saying that he only sent some holograms of the Avengers to the pentagon as a harmless prank; a General overhearing this confession to conveniently clear the Avengers’ names of treason (‘I should have known the Avengers could never be guilty of treason!’ - yes, you should); Nefaria being told that he is to be deported and responding ‘I’d have gotten away with it, too, if it weren’t for those pesky kids!’ I may have made that last bit up.
Then, in the last two panels, a cliffhanger - the first in Avengers’ history. Giant-Man wonders where the Wasp is. In the final panel, Rick Jones is carrying the Wasp in his arms and explains that she was hit by a stray bullet trying to protect the Teen Brigade. Stan gives us a final caption telling us that as one adventure ends, another begins, and that ends the Avengers story for this month. It also ends the synopsis portion of my Avengers reviews for another installment, except for one last remark: Rick Jones may not have found any lager, but he did get to pick up a chick.
Unlike the previous issue, where some material seemed to have been shoved in to force the page count up to 20, this issue appears to suffer from the opposite problem: the story seems camped at 20 pages and could have done with about five more, airing a scene or two towards the beginning, where there are more panels on some pages than is conventional for a Marvel of the Silver Age, and expanding that rushed two pages at the end. In fact, these two issues - 12 and 13 - read much like a writer learning to write, which is rather preposterous when one considers that Stan Lee had been at it for two decades at this point. One is almost forced to conclude that he was having to learn to write the Avengers after Jack Kirby had left after issue No. 8...
9 August, 2008
February, 1965
‘The Castle of Count Nefaria!’ (20 pp.)
Stan Lee, Don Heck and Dick Ayers
This issue represents a vast improvement over the last three, thankfully, after a very ropey start in the opening scene where the Avengers, Earth’s mightiest heroes, foil a robbery at a fur warehouse. Obviously there was a shortage of aliens and mad scientists attempting to take over the world at the time. At any rate, it transpires that the robbers were members of the worldwide criminal network the Maggia - ‘the Avengers are puttin’ us out of business!’ moans a criminal overlord in an orange check jacket. On being advised of this, a senior criminal overlord in Europe who rejoices in the name Count Nefaria shoots the messenger and determines ‘I must deal with the meddlesome Avengers!’ A plan is already beginning to form in his mind, which he believes that no-one will suspect because the world knows him only as Europe’s wealthiest nobleman. Accordingly, he enacts stage one of his master plan: disassembling his castle, transporting it to the United States of America (via a shipping line which he owns) and re-erecting it in ‘a matter of weeks.’ My congratulations to the building contractor involved. More. My congratulations to Stan Lee pulling off a story in which Europe’s wealthiest nobleman and owner of a castle and shipping and haulage companies earns some pocket money on the side as a criminal genius.
At any rate, Nefaria eschews the traditional tactic of luring the Avengers to South America and instead lures them to his castle, where he places them in a trance, creates hologram duplicates of them and sends these duplicates to the Pentagon to announce that the Avengers are taking over America. Accordingly, the government declares war on the Avengers, with uncomfortable results for the Avengers after they leave Nefaria’s castle, i. e. the opportunity for a fight scene of the U. S. Army and Air Force vs. the Avengers.
Meanwhile, Rick Jones and his Essex Soul Boy squad take the opportunity of searching Nefaria’s castle, presumably in the belief that it is actually a night club in Romford with the women and lager teasingly hidden from their eyes. The truth reveals itself to them when a band of Maggia hired hands pounce on them and place them in a dungeon.
The Avengers work out that the Teen Brigade must have been captured by Nefaria and go back to his castle on a rescue mission, the initial phase of which ends up with Thor, Iron Man, Giant-Man and the Wasp trapped by Nefaria’s super-glue, essentially. Oh, alright, that’s merely what it looks like; they are actually paralysed - as Rick Jones and his friends will be if they touch the walls of their cell. Cap deduces what has happened and enters the castle without touching any of its external surface or grounds, thusly evading the paralysis, and finds the Teen Brigade, at which point Rick points out that the antidote to Nefaria’s paralysis is in a spray can just out of his reach, which Nefaria had been taunting the Brigadiers with but which Stan and Don have not mentioned to us before, possibly because they are making this stuff up as they go along and are up to page 18 already. Thus, after Rick runs off with the spray can to free the four trapped Avengers, flashing his white socks at us in the last panel of page 18, we are given the following in rapid-fire succession over a mere two pages: Cap signalling to a destroyer cruising up the nearby Hudson river, then being captured by Nefaria, then being rescued by the freed Avengers; the Avengers rounding up Nefaria and his underlings; Nefaria saying that he only sent some holograms of the Avengers to the pentagon as a harmless prank; a General overhearing this confession to conveniently clear the Avengers’ names of treason (‘I should have known the Avengers could never be guilty of treason!’ - yes, you should); Nefaria being told that he is to be deported and responding ‘I’d have gotten away with it, too, if it weren’t for those pesky kids!’ I may have made that last bit up.
Then, in the last two panels, a cliffhanger - the first in Avengers’ history. Giant-Man wonders where the Wasp is. In the final panel, Rick Jones is carrying the Wasp in his arms and explains that she was hit by a stray bullet trying to protect the Teen Brigade. Stan gives us a final caption telling us that as one adventure ends, another begins, and that ends the Avengers story for this month. It also ends the synopsis portion of my Avengers reviews for another installment, except for one last remark: Rick Jones may not have found any lager, but he did get to pick up a chick.
Unlike the previous issue, where some material seemed to have been shoved in to force the page count up to 20, this issue appears to suffer from the opposite problem: the story seems camped at 20 pages and could have done with about five more, airing a scene or two towards the beginning, where there are more panels on some pages than is conventional for a Marvel of the Silver Age, and expanding that rushed two pages at the end. In fact, these two issues - 12 and 13 - read much like a writer learning to write, which is rather preposterous when one considers that Stan Lee had been at it for two decades at this point. One is almost forced to conclude that he was having to learn to write the Avengers after Jack Kirby had left after issue No. 8...
9 August, 2008