Random Review #3, Avengers #17, June 1965
“Four Against The Minotaur!”
Stan Lee, writer
Don Heck, artist
Dick Ayers, inker
This issue marks the very first adventure of “Cap’s Kooky Quartet”, the second major Avengers line-up. Powerwise, the team of Cap, Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver are a far cry from the days of Thor, Hulk, Giant Man, Wasp, and Iron Man, but the Kirby-drawn cover depicting the new guys squaring off against a rock-rending monster while an ethereal image of the Hulk looms behind them was probably enough to sell plenty of books all by itself.
A scene similar to the cover (minus the Hulk) is used for the splash page. The story really gets underway on page two, with Captain America concluding his new charges’ introductory tour of Avengers Mansion. Quicksilver and Hawkeye both think that they will soon replace Cap as leader. Cap observes the group is obviously short on raw power, and suggests they seek out the Hulk to provide the strength they need to replace that lost when Giant Man, Iron Man, and Thor left. Cap is also canny enough to realize the newcomers doubt his ability to lead them, and is forced to quash Hawkeye’s suggestion that the right of leadership be put to a vote. The Scarlet Witch speaks out on Cap’s behalf, citing his experience as his primary qualification.
Soon, reports of the Avengers’ search for their former ally appear in the media. The Hulk, though, is involved in his own fantastic adventure, as indicated in a panel form Tales to Astonish #69.
Cap ushers the three new Avengers into the mansion’s “Play Room”, designed to serve as their training facility. Hawkeye and Quicksilver put on an admirable display of their abilities, but a sudden attack by a huge green robot interrupts the session. Cap pits himself against the intruder first, expertly avoiding the machine’s blows, but proves unable to damage it, even with his shield. The other three Avengers come to his aid: Scarlet Witch causes the thing to fall with her hex power, Quicksilver pries open a control panel, and Hawkeye fires an arrow into the exposed innards, destroying the robot. As it lies in wreckage, the robot informs the Avengers they will find the Hulk in the desert.
The reader learns that the robot was sent by the Mole Man, who is still smarting from his last run-in with the heroes in Avengers #12, January 1965. He orders his subterranean subjects to prepare his Minotaur to await the arrival of the Avengers.
The team flies west in their “newest model jet-stream cruiser” (this was some time before the introduction of the Quinjet). Their search initially proves fruitless, and readers discover why in a panel showing the Hulk smashing through a glass-like partition to go after the Leader, presumably again from Tales to Astonish #69.
Without warning, the Mole Man springs his trap, opening a concealed pit directly under the Avengers’ feet. They arrest their fall thanks to Hawkeye’s suction-tipped cable arrow, and lower themselves to the bottom of the hole. Quicksilver speeds off to investigate the cavern but returns moments later scared out of his little green booties.
The cause of his consternation soon follows, a gigantic ape-like monstrosity with huge horns. Cap’s shield proves ineffective against the thing, as does Hawkeye’s blast arrow (in spite of his bravado). The monster pursues them, causing a rockslide that cuts Quicksilver off from his sister and the others.
Cut back to the Hulk’s battle with the Leader. Nothing seems capable of slowing the Jade Giant’s progress as he tears after his quarry, “less than one mile away”.
Quicksilver attempts to breach the rockslide and is attacked by the Mole Man’s slaves. His eludes their grasp with his super-speed, but is felled by a gas gun and brought before their ruler. Displeased with the white-haired mutant’s defiance, Mole Man orders Quicksilver thrown in the dungeon.
Back on the other side of the cave-in, Cap orders Hawkeye to hit the Minotaur with his flare arrow, reasoning that a subterranean creature would be vulnerable to intense light. Sure enough, the monster is blinded by the flare and Cap follows up the attack by hurling his shield at overhead rocks which drop onto the Minotaur. As anticipated by Cap, the creature butts at Cap with its great horns, and, with a timely hex-powered assist from the Scarlet Witch, the horns get hopelessly stuck in the rocky wall.
Meanwhile, Mole Man subjects Quicksilver to “ultrasonic vibro-waves” in an effort to force Quicksilver to reveal the secret of his super speed. Quicksilver bravely endures the torture long enough for his teammates to come to his rescue. Hawkeye frees Quicksilver with a pair of arrows and Scarlet Witch destroys the vibro-wave device with her hex power. Mole Man is forced to dodge Cap’s shield and sends his little yellow slaves after the red, white, and blue Avenger, but Hawkeye’s stun-blast arrow stops them cold. The Mole Man then falls back to his control panel and sends the four fighting mad Avengers back to the surface within a glass-enclosed elevator. As they leave in their jet, the Avengers realize that although they never found the Hulk, they did learn that with proper teamwork they were “strong enough for any foe”.
In one last aside, Bruce Banner is shown being examined by military personnel in a wrecked laboratory. They pronounce that he has “no pulse at all”!
This story marked the debut of the Avengers’ second-generation lineup, and showcased their abilities quite well. All four of them played an integral part in the action, something that was not always the case when Thor and Iron Man were around to overshadow the others.
Stan Lee’s ability to give each character their own personality and voice made this an enjoyable stretch in the Avengers series. Reading Hawkeye’s dialogue and thought balloons, the reader can easily recognize that this is indeed the same cocky hothead Iron Man previously battled in the pages of Tales of Suspense. Cap’s doubts about his ability to keep the three ex-villains under tight rein made him seem all the more human, and the scene where the young and still relatively inexperienced Quicksilver came running into Cap’s arms in fright was a nice contrast to his swell-headed thoughts of replacing Cap as leader back on page two.
The Don Heck art is serviceable, but he was never one of my favorites. Still, he does deliver some splendid action stuff like Cap against the robot on page six, and the renewed assault on the Minotaur on page sixteen.
Bottom Line: A landmark book in a lot of ways, but not an especially memorable story in and of itself.
“Four Against The Minotaur!”
Stan Lee, writer
Don Heck, artist
Dick Ayers, inker
This issue marks the very first adventure of “Cap’s Kooky Quartet”, the second major Avengers line-up. Powerwise, the team of Cap, Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver are a far cry from the days of Thor, Hulk, Giant Man, Wasp, and Iron Man, but the Kirby-drawn cover depicting the new guys squaring off against a rock-rending monster while an ethereal image of the Hulk looms behind them was probably enough to sell plenty of books all by itself.
A scene similar to the cover (minus the Hulk) is used for the splash page. The story really gets underway on page two, with Captain America concluding his new charges’ introductory tour of Avengers Mansion. Quicksilver and Hawkeye both think that they will soon replace Cap as leader. Cap observes the group is obviously short on raw power, and suggests they seek out the Hulk to provide the strength they need to replace that lost when Giant Man, Iron Man, and Thor left. Cap is also canny enough to realize the newcomers doubt his ability to lead them, and is forced to quash Hawkeye’s suggestion that the right of leadership be put to a vote. The Scarlet Witch speaks out on Cap’s behalf, citing his experience as his primary qualification.
Soon, reports of the Avengers’ search for their former ally appear in the media. The Hulk, though, is involved in his own fantastic adventure, as indicated in a panel form Tales to Astonish #69.
Cap ushers the three new Avengers into the mansion’s “Play Room”, designed to serve as their training facility. Hawkeye and Quicksilver put on an admirable display of their abilities, but a sudden attack by a huge green robot interrupts the session. Cap pits himself against the intruder first, expertly avoiding the machine’s blows, but proves unable to damage it, even with his shield. The other three Avengers come to his aid: Scarlet Witch causes the thing to fall with her hex power, Quicksilver pries open a control panel, and Hawkeye fires an arrow into the exposed innards, destroying the robot. As it lies in wreckage, the robot informs the Avengers they will find the Hulk in the desert.
The reader learns that the robot was sent by the Mole Man, who is still smarting from his last run-in with the heroes in Avengers #12, January 1965. He orders his subterranean subjects to prepare his Minotaur to await the arrival of the Avengers.
The team flies west in their “newest model jet-stream cruiser” (this was some time before the introduction of the Quinjet). Their search initially proves fruitless, and readers discover why in a panel showing the Hulk smashing through a glass-like partition to go after the Leader, presumably again from Tales to Astonish #69.
Without warning, the Mole Man springs his trap, opening a concealed pit directly under the Avengers’ feet. They arrest their fall thanks to Hawkeye’s suction-tipped cable arrow, and lower themselves to the bottom of the hole. Quicksilver speeds off to investigate the cavern but returns moments later scared out of his little green booties.
The cause of his consternation soon follows, a gigantic ape-like monstrosity with huge horns. Cap’s shield proves ineffective against the thing, as does Hawkeye’s blast arrow (in spite of his bravado). The monster pursues them, causing a rockslide that cuts Quicksilver off from his sister and the others.
Cut back to the Hulk’s battle with the Leader. Nothing seems capable of slowing the Jade Giant’s progress as he tears after his quarry, “less than one mile away”.
Quicksilver attempts to breach the rockslide and is attacked by the Mole Man’s slaves. His eludes their grasp with his super-speed, but is felled by a gas gun and brought before their ruler. Displeased with the white-haired mutant’s defiance, Mole Man orders Quicksilver thrown in the dungeon.
Back on the other side of the cave-in, Cap orders Hawkeye to hit the Minotaur with his flare arrow, reasoning that a subterranean creature would be vulnerable to intense light. Sure enough, the monster is blinded by the flare and Cap follows up the attack by hurling his shield at overhead rocks which drop onto the Minotaur. As anticipated by Cap, the creature butts at Cap with its great horns, and, with a timely hex-powered assist from the Scarlet Witch, the horns get hopelessly stuck in the rocky wall.
Meanwhile, Mole Man subjects Quicksilver to “ultrasonic vibro-waves” in an effort to force Quicksilver to reveal the secret of his super speed. Quicksilver bravely endures the torture long enough for his teammates to come to his rescue. Hawkeye frees Quicksilver with a pair of arrows and Scarlet Witch destroys the vibro-wave device with her hex power. Mole Man is forced to dodge Cap’s shield and sends his little yellow slaves after the red, white, and blue Avenger, but Hawkeye’s stun-blast arrow stops them cold. The Mole Man then falls back to his control panel and sends the four fighting mad Avengers back to the surface within a glass-enclosed elevator. As they leave in their jet, the Avengers realize that although they never found the Hulk, they did learn that with proper teamwork they were “strong enough for any foe”.
In one last aside, Bruce Banner is shown being examined by military personnel in a wrecked laboratory. They pronounce that he has “no pulse at all”!
This story marked the debut of the Avengers’ second-generation lineup, and showcased their abilities quite well. All four of them played an integral part in the action, something that was not always the case when Thor and Iron Man were around to overshadow the others.
Stan Lee’s ability to give each character their own personality and voice made this an enjoyable stretch in the Avengers series. Reading Hawkeye’s dialogue and thought balloons, the reader can easily recognize that this is indeed the same cocky hothead Iron Man previously battled in the pages of Tales of Suspense. Cap’s doubts about his ability to keep the three ex-villains under tight rein made him seem all the more human, and the scene where the young and still relatively inexperienced Quicksilver came running into Cap’s arms in fright was a nice contrast to his swell-headed thoughts of replacing Cap as leader back on page two.
The Don Heck art is serviceable, but he was never one of my favorites. Still, he does deliver some splendid action stuff like Cap against the robot on page six, and the renewed assault on the Minotaur on page sixteen.
Bottom Line: A landmark book in a lot of ways, but not an especially memorable story in and of itself.
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