Avengers #1
The Coming of the Avengers
By Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and Dick Ayers
Line Up: Thor, Iron Man, Hulk, Ant-Man and the Wasp
Guest Stars: the Fantastic Four
Villains: Loki and some Trolls
So, What Happens?
Loki is trapped in Asgard after another defeat by Thor, although he can still influence Midgard with his magic he wants to bring Thor to Asgard to get revenge. Tricking the hulk into smashing a railway line he plans to lure Thor into battle with the monster. As Rick Jones radios the FF for help Loki takes the radio message and sends it to Thor instead.
Unbeknown to Loki the other founder Avengers also hear the message and they all seperately head for the Hulk's stamping grounds in the South West. The soon-to-be Avengers meet up with Rick Jones but Loki doesn't want to clash with all of them and lures Thor off with some illusions. Thor sees through these pretty quickly and heads off to Asgard to find Loki.
The other heroes continue their search for the Hulk which leads them to a local circus where the Hulk is hiding out as a juggler. They attack but Hulk outfights them and leaps away, followed quickly by Iron Man who gets some directions from a passing jumbo jet.
Over in Asgard Thor has made quick work of Loki and his Troll henchmen, defeating him on the Isle of Silence. He brings Loki back to Midgard to explain to everyone how he tricked them and interupts a battle between the Hulk and Iron Man who has tracked him down to an autoplant. Loki breaks free and turning radioactive tries to kill the three heroes, luckily he happens to be standing on top of a trapdoor and Hank gets some ants to open it dumping Loki in a lead lined tank.
Hank suggests that they stick together and combat evil and Jan comes up with the name Avengers. Thor and Iron Man love the idea but the Hulk is more reluctant, joining to stop being hounded by the authorities.
So is it any good?:
I think so, the early Avengers got a rather bad deal in the art stakes but Kirby/Ayers is a great team that was obviously extremely familiar with Thor and the Hulk. They do a good job on those two and on Loki, Odin and the other Thor cast members. They aren't as suited to Iron Man but basically the art is very good.
The action is very well handled, fitting in an imaginative magical battle in Asgard and a classic slugfest from Iron Man and the Hulk.
If there is one down side it is that the big hitters rather overshadow Hank and Jan but they, or their ants, do save the day and come up with the idea for the group. They get a real chance to shine on the last page but less so elsewhere.
Basically it is an extremely well done Silver Age action issue with all the excitement and plot holes that entails, personally I liked it a lot.
Are there any goofy moments?
Plenty of them, you get the Hulk hiding out at a circus and juggling elephants, seals and horses, one of my favourite Kirby images.
There is also a section where ants, tunnel under the Hulk causing the ground to cave in underneath him and another where the ants drop a steel drum over the hulks head and he stumbles around, still in a clown outfit. I love those kind of moments although I guess some people might find them corny.
Trivia:
The Isle of Silence where Loki fights Thor was also the site of a battle between Loki and the Avengers at the conclusion of Acts of Vengeance. In fact that whole cross over stemed from Loki's inadvertant creation of the team.
Loki's troll servants turned up again in #1 of the current series.
Hulk used the name Mechano while under cover in the Circus. I'm not sure how a giant green guy who lifts elephants with one hand is under cover but Stan and Jack loved Circus stories.
The Hulk gets a lot of attention in the first few issues, possibly because he was the only Avenger who didn't star in his own series at the time.
Is it a landmark?:
Of course it is, the team gets formed, you can't get more historic than that.
Where can I read it?:
It was reprinted in the recent Essentials volume, the hard and soft cover masterworks collections, Marvel Tales #2 and the Sons of Origins TPB.