Marvel 1978 Week--Avengers #178

Well, it's been a while since we've had a special week around here, and as the clock is ticking down on 2008, we should take another peek back into Marvel's past. But this time, instead of hopping back forty years, let's settle on 30 years--to the halcyon days of 1978!!

This is especially exciting for me, as I got into comics big-time in 1976, so (most) of these I'm presenting this week were comics that I read "live" at the time--so I can see how they've aged for me.

December 1978 was a weird month for Marvel...it almost could have been called "Fill-In Month," as 2 (or 3, depending on how you count) of the 7 comics we'll be looking at were fill-in stories.

In the past few years, Marvel had been forced to run reprints in a number of their magazines when writers and artists ran afoul of the "Dreaded Deadline Doom" (leave it to Stan to make "not getting your job done" sound awesome and portentous). Jim Shooter had just become editor-in-chief, and instituted a "no reprints" policy. If a writer and artist weren't going to be done on time, he'd replace one of them for the month...or he'd just run a "fill-in issue," a story by another team entirely, usually not connected to the current run. Shooter preferred to call them "inventory" stories, commissioning stories for virtually every title to have on hand in case of deadline problems, or to fill the gaps between creative teams. And he was always ready to use them to keep Marvel comics shipping on time. Quite the contrast to 2008, eh?

Which leads us to Avengers #178:

An obvious rush-job by of a cover by John Buscema, basically a collage of stuff Shooter had told him was going to be in the story, with marginal coherence and no background. And the insides?

Yup, a fill-in all right. The Avengers had just wrapped up the epic "Korvac/Michael" storyline, and the title had some time to kill until David Michelinie and John Byrne were ready to start their run. So Shooter put the surprise team of Steve Gerber and Carmine Infantino in the driver's seat for one of the oddest one-offs in Avengers history. Gerber and Infantino?? Strap yourselves in, kids...

We start with one of the Marvel Universe's most self-evident premises: the ladies love Hank McCoy:

One of the more human patrons doesn't take kindly to striking out with those same ladies, though, so...


Well, it ends predictably enough, with Hank whooping him after a series of anti-mitant, anti-monkey and anti-Avenger slurs. His evening ruined, Hank skulks off into the stormy night, moping about his life, when he's confronted by an odd apparition:




OK, you don't see that everyday...Hank, quite naturally, freaks the hell out...and skedaddles back to Avengers Mansion, where he finds that his "friends" are none-too-helpful:

So Simon calls him a drunk, and Jan can't even be bothered to stop reclining in her comfy chair. Gee, it's really too bad she "died," isn't it?

His experience has McCoy growing increasingly cranky with his fellow Avengers...

...and even is wrecking his love life...


Well, all this philosophizing with a women we've never met before (and as far as i know, will never meet again) leads her to ask him an unusual favor...but it's all a set-up!!

Hmmm...who the hell is this costumed buffoon selling "mind-control" to a bunch of crime lords?

Why, he's the two-faced (literally!) Manipulator. Don't ask too many questions, because I don't have any answers...as far as I know, he never appeared anywhere again!! [CORRECTION: As commentator Menshevik noted, the Manipulator DID appear again, in Captain America #242 (1980), yet another fill-in issue where it was revealed that he was a robot (although he didn't know it!) Cap #249 it was revealed that that he was a creation of Machinesmith.]

Anyhoo, they entrap the Beast, and trick him into looking inside the MacGuffin box, and...


Which leads, of course, to the famous panel I teased last month:

Well, the dons are impressed by the ability to brainwash crime fighters, so they promptly hand over $10 million (in a check!!)...but it won't turn out well!!

Why would he betray them??

Of course, the CIA...you've got to remember, kids, in 1978 we thought the CIA was responsible for every bad thing ever...and it's all a 28-year-old set-up for the Civil War:

Surprisingly enough, it turns out that this has all been a very beneficial experience for Hank McCoy, as he recovers from the dancing and stream-of-consciousness poetry...

...and feels better than 10 years of psychotherapy!!

So it's all's well that ends well?? What about our CIA operatives? Well, they're about to experience a little bit of CHEAP IRONY THEATER:

O......K.....And so endeth a fill-in issue. No real ties to current continuity, which also means that it would never be followed up on in the future, so we'll just have to wonder to ourselves about the Manipulator's two-faces and odd-ass costume.

But it also shows that, in the right hands, a fill-in issue could be so much more...weird and funky and fun, focusing on heroes who might not be getting enough spotlight, and ideas that are just...weird.

ELSEWHERE IN THE MARVEL UNIVERSE:

It was all-dinosaurs, all the time. First we lead off with the end of an era: the final issue of Devil Dinosaur!!

Don't worry, though, as Devil (and Moon Boy!!) would get a guest-starring role in this fella's comic in a few months:

Ah, Doug Moench and Herb Trimpe, what a delightfully silly series. In this issue, Dum Dum Dugan uses Pym particles to shrink Godzilla down to manageable size...so they can take him back to New York City for study!!! SPOILER ALERT: That wasn't a good idea...

And finally, we have (also by Moench and Trimpe!!) Shogun Warriors #11--featuring giant Japanese toy-based robots beating up multi-headed giant lizard-thingies.

Man, when I was 14, the Marvel Universe was the coolest place EVER!!!