Avengers #89 (June 1971)

With the dawn of the 1970s, Stan "The Man" Lee had been stepping away from writing the titles that would lay the foundation for the Marvel Universe as we know it. After he stopped chronicling the adventures of Earth's Mightiest Heroes, "Rascally" Roy Thomas would step in as the storyteller for the Avengers.

In 1971, Thomas (alongside artistic titans Neal Adams and the Buscema brothers Sal and John) would lay the groundwork for what would be regarded as the Avengers' first epic storyline, a tale of two alien races in an ancient war that was threatening to engulf Earth. The tale...of the Kree-Skrull War.

According to an afterword in the first trade collection of the story, Thomas drew inspiration for the storyline from the 1952 novel This Island Earth. The storyline also contained parallels to the anti-communist hunts of Joseph McCarthy as well as HUAC and the Arab-Israeli War. The storyline would be regarded as a classic, establishing the Avengers as one of Marvel's premier superhero teams.

It's understandable why the story is revered by Avengers fans. It was arguably the first Avengers storyline that was truly epic and cosmic in scope. Its effects would echo in the Marvel Universe for decades afterwards. It would be revealed that this was the event that lead to the formation of the group known as the Illuminati, and that the Young Avenger known as Hulking was conceived during this event. It also would be a spiritual inspiration to the (criminally-underrated in my opinion) storyline Avengers: Galactic Storm. The story was even used as inspiration for the Captain Marvel film.

But how did this storyline start? After all, even the most epic stories have to start somewhere. Let's find out in Avengers #89!

The cover is a Sal Buscema and Sam Rosen piece. It's pretty good. It depicts what looks like the Mar-Vell Captain Marvel being executed in an electric chair. We see the Avengers members Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, Vision, and their ally Rick Jones looking on in horror. The text also gives the idea that Mar-Vell is being murdered, even though in the actual story, that's...not quite the case.

"The Only Good Alien..."
Writer: Roy Thomas
Penciler: Sal Buscema
Inker: Sam Grainger
Letterer: Sam Rosen
Colorist: Unknown
Editor: Stan Lee
Editor-in-Chief: Stan Lee

The story begins with the Avengers discovering a man skulking around the city of Miami.

The Avengers in attendance (Quicksilver, Vision, and Scarlet Witch) want the man to come along peacefully. They have no desire to fight him. The man angrily throws off his coat, revealing himself to be Mar-Vell, aka Captain Marvel. Pietro, being the impatient speedster he is, tries to charge the Kree warrior...only to get a free knuckle sandwich for his trouble.

Vision tries to explain to the alien that he's in danger, but Mar-Vell is in no mood to hear it. He disables Vision with an alien gadget, and tries to make his escape (He doesn't believe in hitting women, which is why he doesn't try to engage the Scarlet Witch). However, he gets blasted out of nowhere, knocking him out. Who fired the knockout laser?

That's right, Rick Jones! Sidekick to the superhero stars! He and Mar-Vell were also buddies, so he feels guilty about the Avengers recruiting him to help catch Mar-Vell. The four take Mar-Vell to their ship and fly off. In transport, Wanda notes something about him. She can identify with the alien superhero a bit. He's an outcast, a being that doesn't "fit in" with Earth. At the time, Wanda believed she and Pietro were mutants, outcasts in their own way. All of them strangers in a strange land. It has an effect on Vision, who stays silent.

The Avengers arrive at a hospital, where a Dr. Donaldson is waiting for them. He tells them to put the Kree man in a special chair.

Looks like an electric chair to me. The switch is thrown, and energy flows through the alien's body. The Avengers hope that whatever is going on here, it is able to help save the Captain. Rick is especially pulling for Captain Marvel to pull through. Because if Mar-Vell dies...it's his fault. We flash back to Rick performing for a small crowd in Bleeker Street, when he gets a migraine.

Rick goes outside, sayin he needs to take five. Mar-Vell is contacting him. You see, at the time, the two were bound together. They could switch places by clinking together the golden bands around their arms. When one was out in the world, the other was in the Negative Zone. The transformation was evocative of DC's Captain Marvel, aka Shazam. The Kree warrior has something to show Rick.

It's Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four, trapped in the Negative Zone. He's found a way to go in and out of the Zone, and Mar-Vell wants out. He instructs Rick to head to the Fantastic Four's headquarters. The young man clinks his wristbands together and switches places with Mar-Vell. He makes he way to the Baxter Building and finds the room where the FF keep their portal to the Negative Zone.

The FF are away, and most of the Avengers are dealing with a villain called Psyklop. But the Vision is on monitor duty, and he gets the alarm about Mar-Vell's little break-in. He summons Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch, and the three Avengers find that the Baxter Building has erupted in a lightshow that would make Broadway jealous.

Mar-Vell is having a bit of trouble figuring out Reed's machinery, as it's surprisingly advanced for Earth. He still manages to figure it out, and activates the portal. Jump in, Rick! Jump for it, man! Jump!

The Avengers arrive just as Rick Jones escapes the Negative Zone. Finally, he and Mar-Vell can exist in the same place at the same time. Kind of easy. However, someone followed Rick out of the Negative Zone.

"WOOOOOGIE-BOOGIE-BOOGIE!"

Meet Annihilus, one of the warlords of the Negative Zone. The Avengers engage him, but the insectoid maniac is quite powerful. Only the Vision is able to really stand up to him. Rick activates the portal to drag Annihilus back to the Negative Zone. The monster tries to drag Vision in with him, but the synthezoid is saved by his power to become intangible. Annihilus is sent back to the Zone. Meanwhile, Mar-Vell had used the fracas to escape.

The Avengers prepare to pursue him, but then notice a device going off. It's a Geiger counter. It's calmed down, but it detected a ton of radiation where Mar-Vell stood. Rick believes the Kree warrior may have gotten his body saturated with radiation from the Zone that might end up killing him. They have to find him.

Mar-Vell tries to head towards Cape Canaveral, so he can head back to his people. And that's how we got here. Yup, the issue started in medias res, and we'd just caught up. They managed to almost completely decontaminate the Kree hero, but there's a problem. There's not enough power to finish the job, and if the job fails, the Negative Zone radiation in Mar-Vell's body will build back up, potentially poisoning him.

Vision suggests that the doctors use solar power. But where can they get that kind of power? No problem! Vision himself is a walking solar battery, as the jewel on his head allows him to collect solar power to power himself. They hook him up to the machine that is decontaminating Mar-Vell.

Virtual reality got WEIRD in the Marvel Universe.

Boosted by the energy from the Android Avenger's solar power stores, the machine is able to decontaminate the Kree man. However, Mar-Vell still needs to recover from the procedure. Rick Jones is still afraid. All Mar-Vell wanted was to go back to his homeworld, but he still may never get to do so.

In Kree space, a coup is going on. One Ronan the Accuser (you may know him from the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie, and he cameoed in Captain Marvel) has decided that maybe he'd be a better leader for the Kree Empire than the Supreme Intelligence. And his first task as the new head of the Empire? There's a deactivated Kree Sentry hidden in Cape Canaveral. It's been there since the events of Captain Marvel #2 (June 1968) and Ronan's reactivated it.

The story ends with the Sentry making its way to the hospital where Mar-Vell lies in recovery from his decontamination. It's mission: Kill Mar-Vell...and anyone else who stands with him.

Heeeeeeere's SENTRY!

This comic was...it was fine. I admit, I can't think of a lot to say about it. There is the trope of the heroes fighting each other over some misunderstanding. I would have liked if Thomas tried a little harder to show that Mar-Vell was panicking

One thing I have to point out, though. Roy Thomas seemingly did not know much about radiation. The cliffhanger was pretty exciting. Kree Sentry robots are supposed to be pretty tough, and the Avengers at this point were not at their strongest, with Vision presumably still recovering from saving Mar-Vell, and Wanda presumably not exploring the full potential of her powers yet.

Thomas seems to also be trying to imitate the bombastic style of Stan Lee with the narration and dialogue. It makes sense, as "The Man" edited the book at the time. I like Sal Buscema's art. It's rather dramatic.

If you want to read this for yourself, I recommend tracking down the 2000 trade paperback The Avengers: Kree-Skrull War. I have the 2000 one, but it was reprinted in 2008. The 2008 one might be easier to find. Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you liked it, spread it around! Join me next time, as we join Wonder Woman when she starts undergoing her 12 Labors...