In a Pig's Eye Tuesday!

Despite the kind of weird line-up, the late #200's of V1 of the Avengers was actually pretty decent. Granted, the new Captain Marvel, the Black Knight, and Dr. Druid weren't exactly "Earth's Mightiest Heroes," but you'll note they had dropped that qualification from the cover. I mean, even Thor was walking around in a suit of armor during those days because all of his bones were broken:


Still, there was the She-Hulk, who has always been surprisingly awesome, and Namor, who has grown on me a lot over the years. Heck, even the new Captain Marvel was about as good as she ever was. But Dr. Druid, although it's always awesome to have an unattractive older guy as a super-hero, was looking pretty lame on this cover. Here's a close-up:


See? Mental powers just aren't that interesting to watch, because it's just someone thinking really hard, which isn't much of an attention-grabber. Dr. Druid was also pretty physically capable, but this ain't exactly a showcase for that. It was years before I really appreciated Dr. Druid.

Since it was the 80's, I think it was the Comics Code Authority demanded your least capable female character lead the team. Zatanna was in charge of the Justice League over at DC, while running-joke Susan Storm-Richards was leading the Fantastic Four. The Wasp was in charge of the Avengers until someone realized that we had an even lamer, less-experienced female character on the team. You guessed it:


You know, "Avengers Assemble" was never the most badass of battle cries, but it was sure better than what she came up with. That sounds like something Beloved would say. Her favorite expletive is "good gravy!"

Ah, the 80's. Luckily, the 90's would come along later and make the 80's look great.

See you tomorrow!