The legendary John Buscema took over the regular art chores on The Avengers a few issues prior to this one, and quickly makes the series his own.
In this second part of the story that introduces the Red Guardian to the Marvel Universe, we present a terrific action page that pretty much captures the melee madness of the cover.
(Spoiler alert: Turns out the Black widow wasn’t really a widow. But, as always, we digress.)
Welcome to the 60th anniversary (!) of the Avengers, who debuted as a team in 1963.
Fallen Son: The Death of Captain America #3, July 2007
“Classic” Hawkeye (Clint Barton) — briefly takes on the guise of Captain America, while Kate Bishop’s Hawkeye looks on disapprovingly in this terrifically moody page by John Romita Jr. (With the Patriot — Eli Bradley — in the mix for good measure.)
Confused? You might have to catch up to a few storylines to get this point including the first Young Avengers series, as well as the Civil War and Death of Captain America stories and follow-ups. Ultimately, the resolution of this story leads to some additional key plot points in Hawkeye’s modern career.
Given Kate’s star billing in the new Hawkeye series, along with the other character intros we’ve already seen in the MCU, I have a feeling we will be hearing from the entire “Young Avengers” team in the near future.
Hawkeye has his Television debut today, and if the show lives up to its trailer, it should be good fun.
Here we have a terrific Hawkeye page from the Silver Age Avengers, illustrated by his co-creator, Don Heck. (This is from the period of Avengers where the majority of the team, including Hawkeye, was comprised of reformed villains. I always loved that.) The page is fun combo of action and snarky dialogue, and it completely (and unexpectedly) breaks the fourth wall in the first two panels.
As a bonus, this might be the only page I own where the sound effect is actually then classic word “Pow.” I wonder how many newspaper headlines during the years have used that sound effect as part of a headline discussing any sort of comics-related story. (“Bam! Pow! Comics are not for kids anymore!” Here’s my personal sound effect for those: Ugh.)
Hawkeye’s first appearance —as a villain — in Iron Man, followed later by his reformation and entry into the Avengers.
This 1993 photo pops up in the ether from time to time, and I may have even published it on the blog previously. Don Heck and Walter Simonson look terrific, and I look… about 12.Cool tie though.
