Look at that cover. It’s so old school. Nobody advertises issues of comics like that anymore. And admit it: You want to read it! Great work by Al Milgrom.
Most annuals suck. This one is extraordinary.
It starts with Spider-Woman rescuing a mystery woman, who is falling to her death from the Brooklyn Bridge.
Turns out, she’s no less than Carol “Ms. Marvel” Danvers.
She’s been missing for a while. Knowing her association with the X-Men, Spider-Woman calls them.
Michael Golden’s art is great. I have no complaints–and at the same time I note that he went to the Disney school of drawing kids (note the size of Kitty’s eyeballs).
At Jessica’s request, Professor X visits the comatose Danvers at bedside.
And then it’s on to Chapter Two…
Where Cap gets the crap kicked out of him.
And thrown through the window of Avengers Mansion.
From there, Rogue goes after Thor.
And the rest of the Brotherhood also attack Avengers, one by one.
It’s a little too easy for them to take out Earth’s mightiest heroes, but all of it is done well.
Once defeated, the team regroups with Spider-Woman to try to figure out what’s going on.
And now it’s on to the centerpiece of this Annual–the big prison break. Which starts with the Brotherhood using the frozen Iron Man as a human battering ram.
Boom.
The rest of the team show up to stop them.
They’re losing at first–perhaps because they don’t really know their enemies, or perhaps because their strategic leader, Captain America, is in the hospital (see above).
Avalanche and Pyro attempt some power-based synergy…
But they are foiled by Wanda…
Or not…
I love how the real point of this issue is to spotlight Rogue.
Annuals are often used to introduce new characters, but rarely as well as is done here. I note that another example that immediately springs to mind is the issue of Marvel Team Up that gave us Karma. And (not) coincidentally, it was also written by Chris Claremont and also paired him with an artist he doesn’t usually work with.
Eventually, of course, the heroes win.
Pyro and Avalanche also wind up back in jail. The rest of the Brotherhood escape.
I love the use of Spider-Woman in this annual. The best characters here–and the real drivers of the action and the story–are all female: Carol Danvers, Jessica Drew, Rogue, and Mystique.
And speaking of women…
Carol finally gets to tell the story of her rape.
To now, she hasn’t talk about what happened to her at the hands of Marcus back in Avengers #200. Yeah, before Brian Michael Bendis had Purple Man do it to Jessica Jones, David Micheline did it to Ms. Marvel–and got her pregnant at that. It’s still a controversial story.
Interesting to note that the story doesn’t end with the usual “everyone is together and happy” conclusion made almost mandatory by Stan Lee. Instead, it ends in bitterness and the recognition of the implications of their actions.
My copy of this annual is signed by Mr. Golden, who is a hell of a guy. This is one of my favorite comic books of all time, and it’s one of the top 10 stories of the ’80s. It also is one of the 100 best single-issue stories of all time, according to this objectively accurate list.
Finally, I love the cover, as I said up top. And the overall annual is very fondly remembered. Here are some (much lesser) tribute covers courtesy of this site:
I am not going to try to minimalize the power and importance of this Annual, because it IS important, in that it’s primary purpose was to undo the unfortunate events of ‘Avengers’#199-200, while simultaneously entertaining it’s readership with the obligatory ‘superhero versus supervillain’ battle. ( The Avengers versus the newly-reconstituted- improved??-Brotherhood of Evil Mutants ) My only complaint-such as it is- is the introduction and development of Rogue- the quintessential “Claremont Chick”, who shows up and basically just annihilates the mightiest of all the Avengers without even really trying, like Iron Man, the Vision, Captain America, and, yes, even Thor. It seems to me that just because Rogue conveniently possesses all of Ms. Marvel’s Kree superabilities, she still shouldn’t be able to just brutalize these particular super-jocks with such wanton impunity. This is, of course, just symptomatic of Claremont’s legendary propensity to create women who are considerably more powerful than the men around them, which is not overly-realistic. This is not to say that there are not capable women in the world, there are- I understand that the Israeli Army, in particular, produces some seriously capable women- it just seems to me that Brother Claremont goes out of his way to showcase them. Maybe if I were a feminist, myself- an Alan Alda, a Phil Donahue, ( who just mercifully and finally passed away this past week ) or a Chris Claremont, I could warm up to this relentless emasculation of male superheroes, but- I can’t. Maybe in a few more decades. ( after I am mercifully dead ) I did, however, appreciate Mystique’s gizmo which incapacitated Iron Man’s armor, because, many years prior to this Annual, I had been wondering what was taking some smart super-baddie like the Mad Thinker, the Mandarin, Magneto, Egghead, and, most especially, Dr. Doom, so long to invent this thing! I do not believe for one second that Mystique herself actually invented it- her technological acumen just simply isn’t that sharp- ( it’s above her scientific pay-grade! ) but she IS “connected” enough within the world of terrorists to find somebody who CAN invent it- and buy it off of them! That, I had no trouble with, and actually enjoyed witnessing. I believe it is safe to assume by now that ol’ Tony has probably figured out a way to counter that technology- this story first appeared in 1981, and that was a long time ago, even by the standards of “Marvel-Time”! So, Tony has probably figured out a way around this nullifier-gizmo, by now. Good! That realization makes me sleep easier. Two final points on the story: 1) I found Carol’s escape from Limbo to be just a little too convenient. Just because her son/captor Marcus ( also ) conveniently croaks out, doesn’t mean that there’s any scientific explanation for Carol “inheriting” Marcus’ knowledge on how to travel back and forth from Limbo! To my mind, following Marcus’ ultra-convenient death, Carol should have been hopelessly stranded in Limbo! ( not that we could ever have been that fucking lucky ) Carol tells the Avengers that, following Marcus’ death, she “inherits” Marcus’ knowledge on how to come and go from Limbo- and that’s that!! Rather convenient, I’d say. The final point is how much I enjoyed Michael Golden’s incredible artwork on this tale, and as Mr. Ekko touched upon, I enjoyed his interpretation of Sprite with big, beautiful eyes! I think that Marvel should have KEPT that look on Miss Sprite- it WORKS for her!! Marvel- the “House of Ideas”- could have explained away Miss Sprite’s unnaturally huge eyeballs by simply-and I mean, SIMPLY- explaining them away as a benevolent genetic mutation!! If there is one thing in life that I hate, it’s missed opportunity!!! I have never historically been a big Sprite/Shadowcat fan, ( in spite of her marginal mutant power and natural scientific genius, I just have never considered her to be X-Men material!!! Sorry!! ) but had this detail of her appearance been established as artistic policy, it would have undoubtedly softened my evaluation of her. I hate missed opportunitity!!! However, in spite of all these grievances with the 1981 Avengers Annual, I nevertheless have to agree with Mr. Ekko that this epochal issue most definitely deserves an “A+”, if for no other reasons that, 1) It got the ball rolling to “fix” the damage done to Carol Danvers by David Michelinie, 2) Claremont’s level of writing was as intelligent as the art-form can get, 3) This Annual was Michael Golden’s career masterpiece, and 4) Sprite’s one-panel appearance as an adorable Hobbit! X-Celsior, and ‘Nuff said!!!