Avengers #203
January 1981
Cover art by: John Romita & Dan Green
Story: Night of the Crawlers
Writer: David Michelinie
Pencils: Carmine Infantino
Inks: Dan Green
Most of the Avengers have returned from defeating Ultron. Yet, they think nothing of leaving his body were it lays. It isn't like the murderous robot has ever come back before! Idiotic.
Well, Wonder Man and the Beast weren't on that mission and they are walking back to Avengers Mansion when they get lost, somehow. They are attacked by some young men, who think they are the Crawlers. Once the youths realize who they actually are, they enlist the heroes to stop the aforementioned Crawlers. Juanita Lopez shows up explains that her brother Hugo has been abducted by the Crawlers. The Beast and Wonder Man head into sewers to search for them.
They easily stumble upon Hugo (who actually ran away). He tells the pair that the Crawlers were created by...all together now...lab experiments. They are actually the waste of those experiments that were thrown into the sewers. These are creatures that don't need to breathe. Don't have mouths, but apparently still need the same food as humans do to survive. These creatures are also telepathic, so that is how the communicate with Hugo.
The young men who attacked the Avenging pair have followed them back to the Crawlers lair, and attack. Wondy and Hank take Hugo away from the fighting and escape. The Crawlers eventually repel the youths as well. Once back home Hugo's mom berates him for leaving, and there is implied child abuse, and shown. Wonder Man and Beast do nothing to stop it.
Later that night Hugo runs away again, and Juanita tells Simon and Hank. They once again go back to the Crawlers home. In the meantime the punks have gotten some explosives and rig it up to the outside of the Crawlers lair, and it will spill them into a river. They then attack again, this time with molotov cocktails. This sets the chemicals in the sewers on fire as well as some of the Crawlers. Oh by the way it also cause the placed explosives to go off, and the rushing water sweeps Hugo and the Crawlers into the river.
Since the Crawlers don't need to breathe I assume they live. Hugo on the other hand dies, and I would have liked to have seen Wonder Man or the Beast make any sort of effort to rescue him. They did not. As a bonus downer, Hugo's mom is glad he is never coming back.
Kind of depressing...
It is always weird for me to see Carmine Infantino doing a Marvel book. It was pretty decent looking here. It is the coloring that really bears mentioning here. As some panels are monochromatic. Others look kind of like a negative. Very interesting look to some of them.
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To me, this was the start of the decline of the series. I saw Avengers #93-202 as the book's apex and afterwards both the quality and the scope seem to diminish.
I really don't remember this issue.
I don’t agree fully with that assessment, but I do think the title was in a definite slump #201-210. You know, every issue of the Avengers from #1-196 has been collected in hardcover format (or in color, anyway), except for #169, 178-179. I was going to start a discussion of “Avengers Red-Haired Step-Children” until I realized I’d likely end up having to re-read #201-210 as well.
The above review of #203 makes me glad I didn’t.
I like the David Michelinie issues with John Byrne doing the art (#181-187, 189, 191). When Byrne left the book felt like it took a nosedive - even with George Perez doing some of the art - and reaches a nadir with #200. Even at the tender age of 11, I knew it was a stinker. After that one, I skipped the book until #211 (and stuck it out until #300).
I haven't read this issue and have no desire to seek it out. It sounds awful.
So, Philip, I take it you didn't like the Stern era?
Oh, I liked the Stern era a lot, especially with the John Buscema/Tom Palmer artwork. But it never felt like it was the best the book could be. Hercules and the Black Knight were poor substitutes for Thor and Iron Man and splitting the team in two prevented them from presenting the strongest line-up they could. That said, I did enjoy Englehart's West Coast Avengers.
Before Stern, I hated what they did to Henry Pym. After Stern, I hated what they did with Monica Rambeau.
The constant crossovers were a pain and some of the newer members made little sense. Starfox was a stretch and Namor would never have joined such a structured team. And don't get me started about Doctor Druid.
I liked Sersi as a character but her powers were too undefined.
I guess what I liked the least about the Stern era was that nothing seemed that original. Terminus was an attempt to create a Galactus-style threat for the Avengers. The Masters of Evil storyline had no real long term consequences except for Blackout dying. The Olympian War lasted three issues. And the support team they introduced was never elaborated on.
A lot of untapped potential was ignored to play it a bit safe.
IMHO, of course.
I remember hating the title as a wasted oportunity for so long after this point.
I have come to appreciate the stuff after #211 a bit but I agree with above that #203 to #210 were a low point and they remain unreadable today!
I may have told this story before ...
The first issue of Avengers that I bought was #188, the Elements of Doom story. It triggered an interest in the periodic table for me, and I thought it was pretty cool the villains of the story were actual elements, not made up ones. I started to imagine what other elements that had not been used would be like. Sometime later, the teacher covered up the table one day and asked us to name as many elements as we could on our own. I ended up naming the most, by far, which lead to this exchange:
Teacher: You know your elements! How did you become so interested in them?
Me: I recently read a comic book where elements came to life, and were villains.
Teacher: (blank stare for 10 seconds, then says) You do know that comic books aren't real, right? (in a very sarcastic tone)
Me: You do know that I named more elements than anyone else thanks to that comic, right?
The teacher just ignored what I said, and moved on to something else. He was my grade 6 teacher, and probably one of the worst teachers I ever had in my life - and certainly not just based on that amusing exchange.
So, back to Avengers, after #188, I picked up a random issue here and there, and started collecting the book with #211, the first issue of Jim Shooter's second run. I liked the stories at the time, but I'm saddened that Henry Pym hitting Jan still echoes to this day, as he was in the midst of a mental breakdown when he struck her *once*. He still paid a heavy price for that, even though Janet eventually forgave him, their marriage was over.
I thought Roger Stern's tenure on the book was great - am I the only one who thinks so?
Jim Shooter wanted a long time Marvel hero to "go bad" with the consequences that went along with that, probably in response to the Dark Phoenix story from X-Men.