Vaguely?? Really? I mean, Quicksilver was front page headlines all over the world when he joined in the first Avengers roster turnover.
And when the Scarlet Witch, Black Panther, and Hawkeye-As-Goliath show up, well, he's still going to be making snarky comments:
What an ungrateful buffoon, eh? You'd think the fastest man alive (Marvel version), a hyper-powerful android, a mutant with power over probability, a super-strong giant, and a master strategist and fighter (and king!) would be enough to satisfy him. And indeed, these "yardbirds" do manage to turn back the Hulk (although they can't capture or defeat him), despite Ross' misgivings.Roy Thomas was writing both Hulk and Avengers at the time. I wouldn't be surprised if he meant Ross' whining to be a veiled response to the many fans at the time who were bemoaning that the Avengers "didn't have enough power" and "weren't stars" and wanted the Big Three back on the team. You got that a lot in the Avengers letters column at the time, and Roy using this team to beat back the Hulk may have been his answer to that.
Or, just maybe, Roy somehow saw through the mists of time to the distant future, when a writer of Justice League would be complaining loudly about not being allowed to use DC's Big Three, and attempting to demean the remaining Leaguers as "Cap's Kooky Quartet."
So Thunderbolt Ross--jerk, allegory for certain fans, or prophet of the future? Maybe all three...
From Incredible Hulk #128 (1970)
Who's the artist? Blech! I thought for sure it was something from the 90s!
ReplyDeleteHerb Trimpe, inking himself, apparently.
ReplyDeleteWhat JLA writer said that?
ReplyDeleteDwayne McDuffie was quite frank and open on the DC Message boards about how his plans for JLA were constantly stymied by big events and DC editorial mandates.
ReplyDeleteThe particular quote in question was "So as we wait for things to settle down in the other titles, I'm doing 'Cap's Kooky Quartet.' Of course, in this case Captain America isn't available, either." Said openness resulted in his being canned from the title.
The thing was, when it all shook out, McDuffie still had a formidable line-up of members: A Green Lantern Honor Guard member (and one of the 4 most well-known GL's); a master of light manipulation; Firestorm, who could transmute elements and generate power blasts; the female equivalent of Animal Man; and one of the top 5 martial artists in the DCU who also possessed the power of the sonic scream. All they needed were a super-strong guy/girl and a techie, and Icon and Hardware from the Milestone books would have been cool additions.
ReplyDeleteOh, yeah, and they had Zatanna, too.
ReplyDeleteOld Thunderbolt Ross, what an arse - that's one of the best Avengers line-ups ever.
ReplyDelete