The Avengers take Quicksilver home to Attilan.
Where he learns that his wife, Crystal, is pregnant.
During the flight back to New York, Beast reads over the Book of Darkhold, which was part of the last big arc.
Given that it turned Scarlet Witch evil, she has strong feelings.
After, the team goes to Russia to fight some elementals. They’re called The Elements of Doom. But it’s not like Earth, Wind and Fire. It’s actual elements…
I’ve given them a collective tag because in the late 1990s, they appear in the Thunderbolts comic. If I’m still doing this blog when I get to that era, I’ll use the tag again.
The Elements arise in Russia.
Origin.
Scarlet Witch moves the Russian Army out of the way.
Falcon needs rescuing.
Etc. The Avengers win.
Bill Mantlo filled-in for Dave Michelinie, based on a Jim Shooter plot, but Byrne still provided pencils. Mantlo was known for his ability to turn scripts around overnight, so he was a go-to guy for these done-in-ones. Perfectly fine story, but not much of import occurs.
“C-“-??? My good man!!! Even if this were one of the weakest issues of ‘Avengers’ ever written, the absolutely, almost once-in-a-lifetime artwork combo of John Byrne, the unbelievably underrated Dan Green, and Frank Springer, thrown in for good measure, makes this awesome one-shot from 1979 deserve a full “A” ( for ‘Avengers’!! ) at least!! This one-shot, standalone story was, in fact, so STRONG, that I STILL remember it, quite well, a solid forty-six years later!!! ( too bad none of us can say that about EVERY funnybook we read- right-?? ) This story had so many great “elements”, ( see what I did with that-???!!! ) between the political skirmishes, ( “……….when the Avengers save the world, do we ever stop to consider that we are saving it for the Soviets, as well-??” ) the ‘horror’ elements of people being crammed into transformation cabinets and turned into monsters, ( as damn nearly happened to the Falcon, here- I actually hate to see this kind of shit- I am very sensitive, and it gives me the willies ) to Wonder Man’s continuing efforts to sell and convince the team- and himself- on his usefulness as an Avenger, to the awesome demonstration of the Scarlet Witch’s power against the Russian soldiers, ( although I am struggling to understand as to how sending a company of soldiers flying through the air can be explained by “probability manipulation”- how high are the odds of THAT not happening-???? ) to the Falcon’s meditations on his “tokenism”, which are totally, 100% founded- Gyrich, the US Government, and “Affirmative Action”, in action! ( fortunately, that horseshit has just been put to a screaming HALT in the real world we live in, although it unfortunately took a whopping FORTY-SIX YEARS from the time of this great story for it to happen! As Iron Man once put it to Gyrich: “The Avengers will NOT be subjected to quotas!!!” ( issues #168, and 181, I believe ) Speaking of ‘The Tokened One’, one of the only things which I did not care for in this otherwise superb tale was how, at the top of the final page, Falc is hauling Cap out of the underground facility with ONE HAND, while the bionic wing on his other arm is, somehow, generating enough “flap-lift” to carry them BOTH to the surface-???-!!! One word, here, please- HOW-???-!!! This defies all logic known to Man, even for Marvel-Physics!! I will settle for a reasonable explanation for this, which Marvel Editorial USED to refer to as a “No-Prize”!!! So- how about it, fellow cognoscenti-??? Exactly just how DID Sammy-Boy “pull this one out”, no pun intended, I’m sure-???-!!! Anyway-overall- “C-“, you say, Mr. Ekko-??! Nay!! I sayest unto thee- “A”, by the All-Father!!! Yea, verily, and ‘Nuffeth Said!!!