Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Great Moments In Bad Cover Blurbery--Iron Man #114

Iron Man comes to the rescue, with a bold declaration:

Way to go, Shellhead....Hey, wait a minute!!

Arsenal just declared that "The Avengers Must Die!"

Shouldn't your response be something along the lines of "Not today, Mister!"? Or "Not so quick, giant robot!"? Or "Not if I have anything to say about it!!"?

I mean, c'mon, Tony--"Not all of us, Mister!"?? Doesn't that imply that at least some of the Avengers must die? That you're willing to settle for any number of casualties less than 100%?

I mean, sure, if Arsenal had said, "I have defeated all of the Avengers!", then your riposte would make sense. Or maybe "I have beaten everyone who can stop my plan!!"

But as a response to "The Avengers Must Die!", "Not All Of Us, Mister" is pretty lacking, conceding that some of your comrades are toast, while not actually threatening the bad guy at all ("not all of us, Mister" would be equally applicable if Iron Man were running away).

So, Tony Stark should probably hire a writer or something, is what I'm saying...
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7 comments:

  1. MOCK!January 18, 2011 at 10:03 AM

    Bwah-ha-ha-ha! I have seen this cover for YEARS and never noticed that!

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  2. snellJanuary 18, 2011 at 10:24 AM

    Neither had I, until I was skimming covers last night looking for something to blog about...

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  3. Mark EngblomJanuary 18, 2011 at 3:34 PM

    I just miss the use of the word "mister" on comic book covers. It seems every third Marvel Comics cover had the hero sticking a sassy "...,mister!" at the end of their defiant retorts.

    Great post, MISTER!

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  4. AlanBryan2112January 18, 2011 at 6:44 PM

    I thought the same thing when I saw this cover the week it came out. I never expected anyone else to ever comment on this.
    I recall showing it to an English teacher who agreed it was a dumb thing to say...and no Mr. Young did not take away my comic book.
    He, too, was a fan.

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  5. I, WarrenJanuary 19, 2011 at 3:42 PM

    it would've been a perfectly understandable, even acceptable, statement if he had made it during the Doctor Druid era.....

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  6. ErichJanuary 20, 2011 at 1:30 PM

    Maybe Arsenal was simply making a factual observation that the Avengers are mortal and must one day die, while Iron Man was pointing out that his claim was incorrect (due to the Vision being a non-living entity).

    I'm reminded of a scene from a Spider-Man story where a would-be assassin attacked Silver Sable, shouting "Silver Sable must die!" As she easily defeated him, she replied "True, Silver Sable must die SOME day, but not today."

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  7. DaveOctober 20, 2011 at 9:01 PM

    I have to say, I'm an avid reader of your excellent blog and have laughed out loud at many of your posts, but this one holds a particular place in my heart. This cover has bothered me literally since it came out on the newstands over 30 years ago because of everything you said. Classic. I too thought it smacked of Shellhead selling the rest of the Avengers down the river to save his own skin. I'm pretty sure that's not what the writers intended. This must have just been one that got past the Bullpen.

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