Hawkeye recently quit The Avengers because he was crushing on Scarlet Witch, who only had eyes for Vision.
Quicksilver misses him.
And then, a crowd of people start acting violently.
It is all mind control from the pipes of Pan.
Not sure why Captain America is quick to blame skrulls–they don’t have mind control.
Faced with an angry civilian mob, the team tries to quell the rioters.
The Avengers quickly realize their power set doesn’t work too well on crowd control.
But it turns out, Hawkeye can do it!
No sooner did he quit, then he’s back–in new clothes.
Also, he’s still a dick. But he’s got a story to tell.
Clint Barton literally ran off to join the circus, where he found Hercules with amnesia as the strong man.
He brings him back to Avengers Mansion and while they try to restore his memory, Hawkeye sings his story.
He relates a tale of Greek Gods coming to Earth and messing with people–after he helped stop the skrulls (in his Goliath persona).
He may have been giant but he was using his bow and going by Hawkeye.
While Clint recounts his story, the Greek Gods attack.
Yeah, Hawk. They’re gonna be real scared of you when they just threw Thor across the room.
Ares’ early look ain’t great.
Ares kidnaps Hercules, and just about anyone who ever was in the Avengers assembles to save him–including Hulk, even.
And look at his haircut!
Enchantress teams up with Ares–helping him hide the kidnapped Hercules.
Black Knight and Swordman are in this too, making it a gang bang of just about every Avenger. I’m sure there’s at least one missing, but I can’t identify who.
The Avengers do save the day, in the end, invading Olympus and saving their friend.
On the personal side, Wanda and Vision are doing well, and Quicksilver is not happy about it.
It’s kinda uncharacteristic for him to lower his head and suffer in silence, but I love how Barry Smith puts the slight shadow on Pietro’s face in the image above.
He’s not the only one who doesn’t like Wanda being interested in Vision. Hawkeye doesn’t, either. It’s why he left the team–after Vision expressed jealousy at catching Clint hitting on her…
Jarvis, on the other hand, has a sympathetic ear for the synthezoid.
A fun romp, and Barry Smith’s art is, of course, amazing.
1) Captain America’s concern that the Skrulls could be behind the newly-brewing trouble was not unfounded, or without merit. The Skrulls may not have mind-controlling powers ( at least as far as we know ) but they have been known to be master manipulators of massive populations, ( as we have seen in various ‘FF’ storylines, not to mention the earliest chapters of the Kree-Skrull War- issues 89-95 of the Avengers ) thanks to their shape-shifting powers, and apparently military-level rabble-rousing tactics. 2) The unaccounted-for Avenger in issue#100 you couldn’t think of was Wonder Man, who was in his infamous ‘dormant-state’ during the events of Avengers#’s 98-100. 3) It’s not very Politically Correct, or fashionable to note this, but Quicksilver and Hawkeye’s misgivings about Wanda’s love for the Vision were right on target. ( npi, of course ) We all saw how that relationship turned out. Why would a synthezoid ( arguably a higher form of life ) require a biological mate-?? From the Vision’s point of view, this was probably just an extension of his desire to be a human being. All, or most, human beings take mates and breed, right-?? I have always wondered just exactly how the Vision satisfied Wanda’s very human sex drive. An android would not be capable of sexual lust. ( this was heavily explored on “Star Trek: The Next Generation”, with the “Mr. Data” character ) As for the overall story in this legendary three-parter, I have yet to read a story featuring Ares/Hera/The Enchantress’ latest attempt at a coup-takeover of Olympus, Asgard, the Earth ( “Midgard” ) or any combination thereof which was not highly-entertaining. Marvel Comics excels at writing these types of mythological epics. Ares is, at his core, a bully, and it’s always really great to see Hercules ( a reformed bully/the “good bully” ) put his evil half-brother in his place. As we saw in the second Bob Layton “Hercules” mini-series, it will be another couple of centuries before Zeus finally gets around to putting Ares in his place, once and for all, but, in the meantime, it’s fun to watch Hercules handle the job in the short-term. How Ares and Hera and Amora the Enchantress must despise us mortals. ( we already know how they all feel about Hercules- I always enjoyed that line that Zeus delivered to Hercules on the Nineties “Hercules: The Legendary Journeys” show about how he has always protected him from Hera’s and Ares’ wrath from behind the scenes, which makes a helluva lot of sense, otherwise, Hercules would have been a dead duck thousands of years ago ) Finally, the most enjoyable aspect of this trilogy, for me, was how Thor proved himself-once again-to be the team’s Most Valuable Player, by single-handedly beating off most of the threats/monsters/muscle-men/enforcers thrown at our heroes. Thor truly IS the Planet Earth’s greatest defender ( npi ) and nowhere does that come through better than in this titanic three-part tale of gods, monsters, and superheroes!! ( although Hercules, bless his noble, Herculean heart, tries his level-best to keep up with the even nobler Asgardian Avenger!! Keep trying, Herk!! Everybody needs a goal in life!! ) Avengers Assemble!!