The first issue of Avengers I bought new was Giant-Size #1, which featured (among others, of course) Mantis. I just finished reading Fantastic Four (1st series) #323-325, which likewise featured Mantis. It put me in mind to re-read what followed. Before I get to that, though, here are a few key appearances...
AVENGERS #114:
Her first (full) appearance, off to a great start with a nice John Romita cover.
GIANT-SIZE AVENGERS #4:
She becomes the Celestial Madonna and flies off into space to concieve the first of a new race.
JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #142:
She next shows up at DC, pregnant, and calling herself Willow. "This One has come from a place she must not name, to reach a place no man must know!... This One is not the woman she was! Her friends are not what they were! They--would not know her now!... Once, she was an Earthwoman--one among two billion. Once, she lived an Earthwoman's life--until she met a man from beyond! Then, the woman and the life she had known fell away like a cocoon! She left this world, to travel with her man to the far stars! Her mind and soul opened wide, as she saw things she never knew existed! She became one with the stars, one with the void--and one with her man! Their union bloomed!"
SCORPIO ROSE #2:
From DC she went to Eclipse Comics, where she appeared as a single mother of a six-year-old son, living in Willimantic, Ct. and calling herself Lorelei. "Many know This One, under many names! She touches many lives! But she is ever... This One! No one here knows that her man was an alien--that he was, in fact, a perfect intelligence from beyond the stars--All the neighbors know is that the union bore fruit! This One's child must grow free and strong--thus we have come to America! This One's child must know normalcy--for there will come a time, when the child will come of age--and nothing will be normal again!"
MARVEL FANFARE #51:
Back inthe '80s it was decided that the Silver Surfer would get a 12-issue limited series, each issue double-sized just like back in the '60s. It was assigned to Steve Englehart and John Buscema, and they got right to work on the first issue. But then Marvel editorial decided to give him a continuing series instead. While the editorial staff haggled over the direction and plotlines, John Buscema dropped off the book and was replaced by Marshall Rogers. Editor Al Milgrom eventually published that original first issue as Marvel Fanfare #51. Englehart developed Mantis, along somewhat different lines, first in Silver Surfer, then in West Coast Avengers, then in Fantastic Four. After that he took her to the eight-issue Celestial Quest limited series. Here is what the author himself has to say about it...
"Third time around on THE AVENGERS. The main point here was to resurrect Mantis from the drek forced upon her at the end of WEST COAST AVENGERS and FANTASTIC FOUR, but I also wanted to provide the vast epic Marvel no longer knows how to do.
"That was an interesting challenge because I had eight issues, no more, and the original Mantis epic had run more than twice that. In addition, that first epic had run long because new avenues kept opening up and I followed them wherever their stories led; this time, eight issues, no more, so I had to consciously cover over new openings in a way that, hopefully, no one would notice.
"But the reader response showed a real pent-up hunger for a story that would stretch the current limits, even with constrictions. People want a 'House of Ideas.'"
I wil pause now in case anyone would care to comment on Celestial Quest or Mantis or anything else I have touched on above.
Replies
ISSUE #1:
Thanos is in the process of traveling to to five different points of the globe (Bombay, Willimantic, Melbourne, London, and Alaska), slaughtering five different versions of Mantis (representing freak, mother, prostitute, priestess, and...? respectively). Each time he kills one, her "essence" is transferred to the next victim. None of the Mantises are aware of the others until each, in turn, receives the collective memories of the last one murdered. The fourth one, the priestess in Londen, gets off a "brain blast" of pure information to the Vision, sending the Avengers to Alaska. It has been five years (Marvel time) since Giant-Size Avengers #4 (27 years real time). None of them has seen her since. On the way, Thor relates the events of Avengers #114 through G.S. #4 to Silverclaw, the newest Avenger. They arrive at roughly the same time as Thanos. Haywire (of the Squadron Supreme) is also there, coincidentally, and a fight ensures. A star shines in the sky, just as one did when she became the Celestial Madonna. Suddenly, the essense of the four other Mantises merge with the last. "The star proclaims it!" she says. "The time of dispersion is ended! The power has multiplied by five -- by five times five -- and This One is once again -- ONE!"
This is not exactly what I expected when I first read it nearly a quarter century ago, but I will say the Steve englehart is the only person other than Jim Starlin I trust to write Thanos, and the only one to write Mantis.
There may be a point to writing Mantis if one is not Steve Englehart (or Jim Starlin, who briefly wrote her in an issue of "Captain Marvel" at the close of the original Thanos storyline), but I sure don't know what that would be.
For better or worse, she is a very personal character for Englehart.
Like Elektra and Frank Miller.
ISSUE #2:
The star that appeared in the sky has nothing to do with Mantis, the Celestial Madonna, but rather her son, Quoi (short for "Sequoia"), the Celestial Messiah, signaling that he has now come of age (in roughly one third the time it would have taken a human being). The "Mantis" who had appeared alongside the West Coast Avengers and the Fantastic Four was only a "phantom" aspect, and once she had left their prescense, they forgot about her. Essentially, the only "real" Mantis stories are the ones from Englehart's original run on Avengers, plus his Silver Surfer run, up until the point at which she "dies." The five aspects (the one being "Avenger") would have come together eventually, anyway, but Thanos set about killing them in order to hasten the process and lead him to the Celestial Messiah.
Thanos disappears from the midst of the Avengers to pursue a different course. Quoi has been living with his father, the Supreme Exemplar of the Cotati, fot the past few years, and the Avengers (plus Haywire) agree to accompany her to protect him, but the journey will take three days. Meanwhile, Thanos has kidnapped and tortured a Priest of Pama (the sect which trained Mantis) to learn of the whereabout of Mantis' son. He then appears before Eternity, Death, Lord Chaos and Master Order to announce his intention to destroy the Celestial Messiah, whom he considers to be his own cosmic opposite. (He also considers himself to be of equal standing with the other cosmic entities, although they do not agree.)
As a newcomer and an outsider, Silverclaw and Haywire are drawn together. Now that Vision and the Scarlet Witch are no longer a married couple, Mantis propositions the Vision. He is receptive.
IIRC, Englehart had established in Silver Surfer that reveals that Mantis can in effect travel among long distances (even to and from deep space) in a manner similar to Swamp Thing's - by letting go of her current body and building and occupying another one somewhere else. I don't know for certain, but I believe her former body vanishes in dust or ashes in a few seconds.
The bit about phantom Mantises is unconvincing and technically unnecessary, but I suppose Englehart wanted to make a statement. In any case, that too is similar to what we saw in Swamp Thing after Alan Moore's run.
A few years ago I realized that I don't think Vision and Scarlet Witch quite work as a couple in love. It will be interesting to see how Mantis mixes with him (I don't actually know) once finally given the chance. Englehart is, if not disregarding, at least liberally interpreting the consequences of the marriage between Mantis and the Supreme Exemplar that he himself established nearly thirty years before, but then again marriages don't come much more unusual than that one and apparently no one is being disrespected by her interest in Vision. For all I know Supreme Exemplar considers that Mantis' marital duties revolve around the conception and protection of Quoi and his role and has no issue if Mantis has earnings to find a mate of her own species (or a synthezoid) now that this does not hinder Quoi's role. There may even be a subtle implication that Mantis' motivations include providing further encouragement for protecting Quoi.
Good to see Englehart using Kurt Busiek's Silverclaw and one of the Squadron Supreme characters that Busiek had previously used in Avengers. I don't know how close exactly Haywire and Silverclaw will become, but let's wait and see.
ISSUE #3:
Vision and Mantis have sex, then he talks it over with Wanda (because this is a Steve Englehart book). Silverclaw is flummoxed how Mantis and the Scarlet Witch can be so civil toward one another. Silverclaw and Haywire have had an abrasive releationship with each other so far, but it's obvious that she is attracted to him. He tells her that the reason he joined this mission is for the opportunity to confront Death and petition for the return of his deceased lover, Inertia. the Avengers repel an attack from the pirates, Cap'n Reptyl, Kid Syn and Raptra, then proceed on to Tamal, the Cotati planet. Vision makes a joke. Mantis sees her son for the first time since he was a child. He is going through a rebelious teenage phase and now goes by the name "Q." Even his father refers to him as a "weed." Englehart fills in some backstory for newcomers and refreshes it in the memories of longtime fans. He even addresses readers directly as "True Believers," something I hadn't seen for a while even back then. Mentor enters the story. Thanos forges an alliance with Cap'n Reptyl, using the lifeforce of Kid Syn to turn him into a "god." Vision is (unnecessarily) jealous of "Swaordsman" until Mantis sets him mind at ease. Meanwile, Death lurks in the background.
Oh, right. Supreme Exemplar is still in the form of Swordsman, isn't he? Perhaps with a green tint even?
Correct.
ISSUE #4:
The scene shifts to Titan, as Mentor assigns Starfox to lead a squad of Eternals to "deal with" Thanos. Reptyl recruits Primo to be the second of Thanos' "pantheon" of gods. Q is a brat. Scarlet Witch challenges Thor to mock combat to work through her issues with Vision and Mantis. Vision is as releaxed as we have ever seen him. the relationship between Silverclaw and Haywire continues to develop. Starfox and his Eternals approach Thanos' space ship while Death looks on. Thanos defeats starfox in hand-to-hand combat. In the confusion, Raptra (who has refused to join Thanos) escapes. Both Thanos and Raptra are heading toward Tamal, the Cotati homeworld.
ISSUE #5:
Vision and Mantis are sleeping together buck-nekkid in the woods when they are alerted to danger facing Quoi. The "Swordsman" is also alerted (by the Cotati), but they all arrive too late to prevent him from being kidnapped by Raptra, who hopes to trade him to Thanos in return for her guaranteed safety. Thanos refuses to deal, and sends Reptyl and Primo after her. The kidnapping of Quoi brings the Avengers in conflict with the Cotati. Silverclaw and Haywire fight their way to the quinjet to rescue the others. She makes a play for him, but he rebuffs her. New details of Thanos' childhood are revealed. Montor makes his way to the Rot, which has been steadily growing since #2. Raptra (and evolved dinosaur) and Quoi (an evolved ape/algae hybrid) form an alliance. Vision and Mantis begin referring to each other as "Loved One." Silverclaw and Haywire resue the other Avengers and set out after Raptra and Quoi, but Thanos is on his way as well.
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