As you can see from the splash page, they already have their round table, but no “A” on it yet. And no chairs. And it’s pretty damn small.
Storywise, this is a forgettable tale where the team fights a body-possessing villain known as Space Phantom, who enters the bodies of each member causing lots of conflict and misunderstanding, until he tries to enter Thor.
The Asgardian’s physiology rejects Space Phantom, and he is vanquished. This may be the earliest example of proof that Thor is actually Thor, a God, and not some kind of rearranged Don Blake form.
This is the second issue in a row where Hulk got possessed. It’s used as the excuse for Hulk to leave the team. They didn’t really need an excuse for that, did they? Kind of a deus ex machina. Which is how Space Phantom would be used in the future, as a source of conflict and an explanation for weird, uncharacteristic behavior.
Frankly, if I were Hulk, I would have left because being in The Avengers messed with his body. Check out the panel above, where he has four toes, and then look at the splash page: Three toes????
Those go under the category of typographical errors!
The team is also still getting to know each other.
Even when they’re bad, these issues are fun.
Jack Kirby was really in a hurry, I suppose, but Hulk still looks great no matter how many toes Kirby gave him.
Agreed!
That splash page by Kirby is awesome even if the Hulk only has three toes. The original Iron Man armor is so cool. Made him look as tough as Thor and the Hulk. I first saw this issue watching the Hulk 1966 animation Space Phantom episode. They recolored Iron Man’s armor with the red and gold for that episode. I was so confused because I never saw that bulky armor before until then. Just the sleeker version.