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 #6:
This issue is dedicated by Steve Englhart to "Big John, who drew my first Avengers." Also, "Jammin' Jim Starlin" is credited with the creation of Thanos.
Enroute to The Rot, the Avengers attempt to contact Eternity. Thor thinks that he and Mantis are the best candidates to make the attempt, but the Vision objects. Thor concedes, stating behind to safeguard the quinjet from outside attack. Ahead of them, Quoi puts the moves on Raptra (because this is a Steve Englehart book), and she does not object (ditto). She regrets her previous plan to sell him out to Thanos (which Quoi is unaware of). Elsewhere in the Rot, Thanos encounters Mentor, who is dying. Rather than let him die, thanos kills him first. Back on the quinjet, Haywire kills an insect he brought from the planet Tamal in hope of luring Death. In the cargo hold, Silverclaw and the Scarlet Witch work out and discuss men (because this is a Steve Englehart book). Death appears before them, then disappears. Meanwhile, Vision and Mantis contact Eternity, who refuses their plea for help. Mantis attempts mental contact and learns that the Rot is like a cancer to Eternity. Suddenly, Thanos mounts a sneak attack, taking Vision and Mantis by surprise. Elsewhere, Reptyl and Primo have caught up with Raptra and Quoi. Quoi defeats Primo, but Reptyl defeats Quoi. Then Thanos arrives, having captured Mantis and the Vision. Thanos again gives Raptra the opportunity to betray Quoi for her own life, but it's just a ploy to show Quoi that he cannot trust her. (She really should have known better; Thanos held all the cards at that point, and such a deal would be against his nature, which is why he didn't accept it when she offered it in the first place.) The Avengers are almost upon them.
I'm going to try to wrap this up today, so stay tuned.
ISSUE #7:
Joe Staton is this issue's "special guest artist." No disrespect intended toward Jorge Santamaria, but I would have preferred it if Staton could have drawn the whole thing.
"They fought the God of Death -- and they lost." Now Mantis, Vision, Quoi and Raptra are being held aboard Thanos' ship. His plan is to torture Mantis in or to learn how best to kill Quoi, then to kill Quoi. Raptra he will kill last, but he plans to keep the immobilized Vision alive for eternity to record his "pageant." Raptra tells Quoi that agreeing to turn him over to Thanos was a ploy, but he doesn't believe her. As Thanos begins his torture of Mantis, she fights back on the psychic plane. Suddenly the Avengers attack, and Thanos leaves her to kill Quoi, no wiser than he was before. Death appears at her side, but takes no action. While the Avengers fight Reptyl and Primo, Thanos tells Quoi that he has killed Mantis, but Quoi knows it is not true. Raptra escapes from her cell and frees Vision. As the battle rages, the Rot completely envelops Thanos' ship. It is then Death appears... and speaks. thanos had observed that they were surrounded by the rot, and Death added, "Trapped, in fact... with Death."
TO BE CONCLUDED!
ISSUE #8:
Mantis and Quoi combine their powers to hold off the Rot. Haywire takes this opportunity to petition Death for Inertia's release; Death completely ignores him. Thanos and the Avengers form a temporary alliance. Raptra convinces Quoi that she was sincere in her ploy to free him from thanos' clutches. The Avengers who can operate in space plus Reptyl leave the ship to combat the rot directly to no avail. Convinced that Mantis can hold the shielf alone, Quoi attacks the Rot, also to no effect. Mantis psychoanalyzes Thanos. Death announces that the Rot is her and Thanos' child. then she becomes positively chatty explaining hiow that can be. the Thanos battles the Rot for seven metaphysical pages. When the battle is over, the rot has been defeated and all of the lives it has consumed are restored. Death accepts Thanos as a mate, but Thanos refuses on the grounds that "Mating is an affirmatiojn of Life... If you will have me, you are not worthy!" Haywire again petitions Death for the release of Inertia, and Death agains ignores him. Haywire then hurls himself into the form of Death, leaving Silverclaw to explain that he didn't love Inertia, he was obsessed by her. Quoi goes off into space with Raptra, and Vision "breaks up" with Mantis because he is unable to provide her with children.
And that, I think, is the last we see of Mantis. If ever she has turned up in the last quarter century, those appearances were merely "phantoms."
NEXT UP: BIG TOWN
Some aspects of this story are followed up much later in the "Empyre" event of 2020.
Much earlier than that, other aspects will be significantly retconned in "Infinity Abyss", just a few months later.
Interesting how closely Steve Englehart follows the status quo established at the time by Kurt Busiek's Avengers run. I assume the two of them were on good talking terms.
Thanks, Luis. I had a vague feeling about Infinity Abyss, but I didn't take the time to look it up. I am wholly unfamiliar with Empyre.
I have Celestial Quest slotted (following The Ultrom Imperative), between Avengers #37 & #38, which is where I determined it took place at the time. There are several "Avengers" mini-series from around this time: Maximin Security, Avengers Two (Wonder Man & the Beast) and Avengers: Infinity. All of these I have slotted between Avengers #35 and #36 (whether they strictly belong there or not). Avengers #35 is labeled as a Maximum Security crossover. You just don't see cross-continuity like that anymore. (I don't include "line-wide" crossovers such as "One World Under Doom.")
EDIT: Oh! I just found a note to myself tucked along with Avengers Infinity indicating reading order.
Avengers Infinity
Again, this is not a "crossover" per se; just the order in which these tightly woven events occur.
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