Monday, October 6, 2008

Who's in Charge Here? Monday!

From Avengers v.1 #10. In the early days, the Avengers were nothing if not sticklers for Parliamentary Procedure:


Boy, they're stiff. They made the Justice Society meetings look like 1940's version of Animal House.

But I love Giant-Man's long-winded blah-blah. I yield the floor of this meeting of the Earth's Mightiest Heroes to the Golden Avenger. Our transistor-powered friend has something on his mind, and far be it from me to force my brother in combat to bear with the burden he carries upon his soul one moment longer, lest it consume his heart with despair!

Or, he coulda just said, "Okay, Iron Man, you go."

Science types loves to hear themselves talk. They loves it.
________________________________________

So, finally, we hear what's on shellhead's mind:


Are you kidding me? They wouldn't ask Spider-Man to join, but they want to put a costume on Rick Freakin' Jones????

On the other hand, I love how Iron Man compares Rick to the Wasp in the same sentence. That's a refreshing bit of candor right there! Tony probably had just had one too many martinis and was in the mood to call someone out. "Why does Giant-Man always have his bitch over here? We might as well put a costume on that punk Rick Jones!"

So, blah blah blah, Cap disappears, presumably to have a good laugh:


Cap was your weakest member? Giant-Man, look to your right. Go ahead. Take a look. We'll wait.

Yeah, right there. The girl who spends the big fights hiding on your shoulder? You remember her.

Now, then. Anything you want to say? Anything you might want to amend?

To be fair to Giant-Man, I'd be slow to say, "That person has the worst attitude I've ever seen. Except Beloved," if she were sitting right there.
_____________________________________

On to Avengers v.1 #11:


Yeah, really. Sit down and shut up, Rick. Thanks, Cap!

Do you see what happens when you encourage people you shouldn't, Iron Man? Do you? Now you'll never get rid of Rick Jones. It's like feeding a stray cat.
_____________________________________



So, let me get this straight. Cap can't let Spidey into the Avengers unilaterally. But he can let Rick Jones in with a nod of his head? I'm starting to think the Avengers aren't as organized as they think they are, especially during the early days.

Case in Point: We all know the famous war cry, "Avengers Assemble!" But they didn't have that one straight out of the gate:


Nice try, Cap. Keep working at it.

That was the saddest excuse for a battle cry ever. "Avengers, awaaaaaayyyy!" What does that even mean, anyway?

Yikes. And we're not even through the first year.

See you tomorrow!

8 comments:

Gene Phillips said...

"They wouldn't ask Spider-Man to join"

Well, now, they did EVENTUALLY get around to it, Adam. It just took Stan Lee a couple of years, who didn't want his tragic teen given such validation, a couple of years to think up a good reason to prevent Spidey joining up.

But I love that snippet of dialogue where Iron Man accidentally compares the useless Rick Jones to the almost-useless Wasp.

I *think* the idea regarding Cap being the only one who could let Rick in meant that the avengin' ones considered that Cap was like an unlegal guardian to the orphan kid-- though the nomination still makes no sense since at that time I don't think Jones had even showed any athletic prowess worthy of making him a super-doer. Guess Stan wanted him to be stuck looking in the window with his hangdog face on, too.

SallyP said...

That...was one strange meeting. And I never EVER thought that I would say this, but give me Snapper Carr any day.

D.B. Echo said...

Hah! I had that one as a kid! If I recall correctly, a whole bunch of things happen, and then unhappen, courtesy of the Scarlet Witch (or did she just erase everyone's memories?), and then that opening meeting scene takes place again - verbatim!

Sea-of-Green said...

"Well, every team needs a pet, right? And we always have that Jones kid hanging around, so why don't we make him a 'member'? It takes care of the whole 'pet' thing -- and, besides, the JLA has that Snapper Carr kid, who is SO much more annoying. I mean, we CAN'T get a dog. We just CAN'T. If anything happened to the dog, I'd CRY. I mean, I CRIED at Old Yeller. Didn't you cry? I did! No dogs!"

"How 'bout a cat, then?"

"Shut up! I hate cats!"

De said...

Cap's battle cry reminds me of the wormhole scene from Star Trek: The Motion Picture:

"Phoooooootoooooon Toooorpeeeedoooes..."

"Awaaaaaaaaay!"

Anonymous said...

I remember the substitute legion that someone referred to as a bunch of rejects -- how about "The Useless League" with charter members Rick Jones, Wasp, Snapper Car, Jimmy Olsen, Wendy and Marvin? They don't don't ANYTHING, because they are... wait for it... USELESS! But they could hold meetings, feel important, while the other 'real' superheroes, um, hold meetings...

Thomas Fummo said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Thomas Fummo said...

Mermaid Man and barnacle Boy.... ....

...

AWAAAAAAAAAAAY