Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Inappropriate Parent-Child Interactin' Wednesday!

One of the lamest things to happen in a comic is when a character uses a power they've never had before, nor would there be any logical reason for them to have it now. Cue Avengers v1 #111:


You know, I like Daredevil as much as the next guy, but once you've taken down Thor, Iron Man and the Vision, I don't share the Black Widow's bubbling optimism. Shut up, Natasha.

Anyway, this is the end of a crossover event between the Avengers, the X-Men and Daredevil titles. That was back when an entire storyline of a crossover could be bought for under a buck and was over within 30 days or so. And, before you go hitting ebay to get a copy of this, while the X-Men are in this issue, they are zombies and don't do much.

Why are they zombies? Because Magneto is using his magnetism to control their minds, natch! See for yerself:


Is it just me, or is it a little creepy to have your daughter dance for you like that? I'm not a parent, but I can tell you that if/when I have a daughter, I'm not even letting her take hip-hop classes, much less put on a little bump and grind for daddy. That's just wrong.

And while we're on weird parent/child relationships:


That's some good dating advice, fellow nerds! Chicks love it when you want them to become a surrogate mother for them. Love it.

Of course, magnetism does not equal mind control no matter how you slice it. How do we get out of this one?


Well, of course. If you can become intangible, you have the ability to take over someone's body. It stands to reason, doesn't it? It's automatic. It's like being able to do long division in your head. Don't ask me for the particulars.

Fortunately, both the Vision and Magneto forgot they had the corollary ability to control the bodies of others and, to my knowledge, this sort of thing was never seen again.

That wasn't the worst thing of this issue. Sad to say, the Avengers offered the Black Widow membership for the first time. Even sadder to say, she accepted.


My heart goes out to everyone suffering in this ice storm. Cue the inspiring music!:



See you tomorrow!

9 comments:

Mike Reeves-McMillan said...

Why is Wanda's thigh talking like that?

Anonymous said...

Don Heck also gave her Mr. Fantastic's bend-a-ble-ness, too. Check out that lower right leg. Yeesh.

Wasn't the obstensible explanation of Magneto's "mind control" the idea that he could control the iron in human blood ? I guess that vaguely makes sense, if you assume that causing sudden anemia would naturally make the victim super-malleable and... Oh, forget it. :/

-- cleome45

Elie said...

I remember being bothered by both the sudden appearance and the implausibility of Magneto's mind-control power back when I first read this, at age ~10! Even if he could control iron-flow to the blood, he could maybe cause people to black out, but not to perform specific actions! As you like to say, Shenanigans!

But at least the father-daughter aspect didn't apply back then, since the idea of Wanda and Pietro being Magneto's children was a much later retcon.

Booksteve said...

I could be wrong but I don't even think the X-MEN had a non-reprint title during this period so it was technically just an AVENGERS/DAREDEVIL crossover.

Anonymous said...

I think that voice was coming from Scarlet Witch's vagina? I used to know a girl that could do that, but she ran away with the circus....sigh

SallyP said...

Well see, at the time, Magneto didn't KNOW that Wanda and Pietro were actually his children...and...and, regardless, it's a bit squicky.

Adam Barnett said...

Booksteve, I think you're right. I think that this took place relatively soon after the X-Men went belly-up. Good eyes!

Mike said...

Worse yet, rawn by Don Heck..ugh.
Sorry guys, no ice here in FLORIDA!

Unknown said...

Did that song really describe Namor as an 'erotic' superhero?