This is "From a Different Point of View," a feature where I discuss a comic book series with another writer. In this case, it is CBR's own Eileen Gonzalez who will be going over the history of the Avengers with me, story by story!
We continue with Avengers #18, "When the Commissar Commands" by Don Heck, Stan Lee and Dick Ayers
Brian Cronin: Of course, I can't help but get "Der Kommisar" stuck in my head at this point.
Brian Cronin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBfFDTPPlaM
Eileen Gonzalez: Time for a good old-fashioned propaganda extravaganza
Eileen Gonzalez: I've never heard that song. Maybe that's for the best
Brian Cronin: It's super catchy.
Brian Cronin: But also super dumb.
Brian Cronin: I love how the splash is built around the idea that some giant guy is able to knock down Hawkeye.
Brian Cronin: "No, not Hawkeye!"
Brian Cronin: "When some giant guy can knock down Hawkeye, what hope do any of us have?"
Eileen Gonzalez: And the others just hang out in the corner, watching like it's a sporting event.
Eileen Gonzalez: "C'mon, Hawkeye, I've got five bucks riding on you!"
Brian Cronin: "Oh man, I bet when I saw the Commissar at a distance. My perspective was off! I thought he was a tiny dot!"
Eileen Gonzalez: My favorite panel is the next one, where Cap is just sitting alone in a mansion with a candelabra on the table like he's in a broody Victorian novel.
Brian Cronin: That page is nuts.
Brian Cronin: I have to think that Heck's romance comic influence is big here.
Brian Cronin: The over the top emotional stuff works well.
Brian Cronin: But it's so out of nowhere.
Eileen Gonzalez: Yeah, Cap being all sad because Nick Fury never called him back is... something. At least they remembered about Cap writing to him a few issues ago!
Brian Cronin: And him worrying about how he is a big moocher.
Brian Cronin: Dude, you're the leader of the Avengers. Chill out.
Brian Cronin: You're no moocher.
Eileen Gonzalez: But he will soldier on! Because he is a soldier.
Brian Cronin: Stan even cleverly uses the word billet in the caption to hit the soldier theme even harder.
Brian Cronin: Pietro and Wanda then have one of the more inane arguments.
Brian Cronin: "Always with the circus with you, Pietro!"
Brian Cronin: I don't think we've ever heard this dude mention the circus ever, Wanda!
Brian Cronin: Just like your love of theater is also out of nowhere.
Eileen Gonzalez: I'm glad you said that, because I didn't either and was very confused.
Brian Cronin: Some quick, "Shit, we really should give these two some characterization beyond jerk and...woman."
Eileen Gonzalez: Also, did these two have secret identities back then? I thought they didn't, since Cap is just calling Scarlet Witch "Wanda" all over the place, but then wouldn't everyone have been able to figure out who saved the trapeze artist?
Brian Cronin: This is the Marvel Universe.
Brian Cronin: They think everything is a stunt.
Brian Cronin: So they were quick to believe that the rescue was, in fact, a stunt.
Eileen Gonzalez: Right, what was I thinking.
Brian Cronin: Heck was sure to draw some hot chicks into the background of the one panel.
Brian Cronin: I adore the idea of Hawkeye "spending weeks in the lab working on an arrow."
Eileen Gonzalez: I love the idea of Hawkeye as some kind of arrow scientist.
Eileen Gonzalez: I guess someone has to be science-minded now that Iron Man and Giant-Man are out.
Brian Cronin: He can't think to shoot out a rope arrow while falling down a hole
Brian Cronin: But can defy the laws of physics in his spare time.
Brian Cronin: The ultra-sonic arrow doesn't make ANY sense, right?
Brian Cronin: "The right frequency makes things weightless"
Brian Cronin: Huh!?
Eileen Gonzalez: I'm no scientist, but that does sound awfully fishy.
Eileen Gonzalez: Then again, this is the world where transistors can do anything, so I guess sound can too?
Brian Cronin: I guess he DID spend a few weeks in a lab
Brian Cronin: You could achieve anything if you spend that much time in a lab
Brian Cronin: That takes us into "Wow, communists are awful, right?" segment of the issue.
Brian Cronin: Seeing the citizens of Sin-Cong defending "the capitalists" was hilarious.
Eileen Gonzalez: I'm honestly just grateful the Asian characters aren't drawn worse. I mean, it's not GOOD, but it could have been so much worse.
Brian Cronin: Yeah, good call. We're now in, what, 1965? They had gotten a BIT past the worst types of caricatures by this point.
Eileen Gonzalez: They actually look like people here.
Eileen Gonzalez: Also, thanks for explaining the symbolism of the Commissar's giant shadow. Never would have picked up on that!
Brian Cronin: Cap daydreaming about how overthrowing a communist country will get Nick Fury's attention is ay-freaking-dorable.
Brian Cronin: "If I shoot the president, THAT'LL get Nick Fury to notice me, right?"
Eileen Gonzalez: He looks so happy in that panel where he's got the Fury thought bubble! That's probably why he didn't think this plan through.
Brian Cronin: When he alerts the other Avengers, is he talking to them through a comm link or do they have an alarm that just blares "Avengers Assemble!"?
Eileen Gonzalez: Good question. I don't think comm links have been established yet here, so could go either way.
Brian Cronin: And good luck with a secret identity when your Avengers Assemble alert can go off at any moment!
Brian Cronin: Also, let us not look past Hawkeye's H ring
Brian Cronin: That's amazing.
Eileen Gonzalez: He loves his bling.
Eileen Gonzalez: And then Hawkeye flipping his gourd over communism further down the page. I assume he's so up in arms because he still feels bad for helping the Black Widow back in his criminal days.
Brian Cronin: It's fascinating to me that Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver not only have a great point here.
Brian Cronin: But that Stan actually allowed their alternate opinion to be voiced.
Brian Cronin: Because, yeah, this plan really doesn't make any sense.
Brian Cronin: Cap' Kooky Quarter Overthrows a Government!
Eileen Gonzalez:Too bad their good idea is quickly shot down. I half expect Hawkeye to start asking us to buy war bonds now
Brian Cronin: Ha!
Brian Cronin: And then when Cap thanks him, he's a bizarre jerk to him.
Brian Cronin: His insult of Cap makes NO SENSE.
Brian Cronin: Stan flopped there a bit.
Brian Cronin: He could have just left it with "Insert insult here," with as little thought as he gave the insult printed.
Eileen Gonzalez: Hawkeye is too manly to accept praise like a normal person, so he threw out the first insult he thought of.
Eileen Gonzalez: It's also weird how Hawkeye hates "commie guns" more than regular guns. Both kinds of guns will kill you, Hawkeye!
Brian Cronin: He's not the brightest. Then again, the whole gang is a bit dim-witted.
Brian Cronin: "What's that sound? It's like steel moving - was the obvious trap that we walked into an obvious trap?"
Brian Cronin: Also, holy shit, Scarlet Witch, you were destroying robots and boulders like they were nothing last issue and now it's "What can we do against steel doors?"
Eileen Gonzalez: Cap taking out three guys at once is pretty cool, though.
Eileen Gonzalez: But yeah, Wanda seems oddly weak here.
Eileen Gonzalez: She tampers with a few of their guns, but then she can't deal with the rest? Can't you just cast another hex??
Brian Cronin: Their power levels in general are weird.
Brian Cronin: "I can't outrun a closing door!"
Brian Cronin: Like, wha? Huh? WHY can't you?
Eileen Gonzalez: Why can't Hawkeye open the door with one of his magic safe-lifting arrows
Brian Cronin: Also, Hawkeye's "You should have let me start fighting an hour ago"
Brian Cronin: "You mean when we were all on the plane, moron?"
Brian Cronin: What's up with the panel where Hawkeye says "No time for my arrows"?
Brian Cronin: That doesn't look like Hawkeye, right?
Eileen Gonzalez: I wondered if that was some miscommunication between Heck and Lee.
Eileen Gonzalez: Either Hawkeye's mask disappeared or Quicksilver took up archery when we weren't looking
Brian Cronin: That's got to be one of the bad guys, I think
Brian Cronin: Shouting, "Fire!"
Eileen Gonzalez: That makes way more sense.
Brian Cronin: Scarlet Witch's obsession with Cap's leadership is hilarious.
Brian Cronin: Or should I say, "Stan Lee's obsession with Scarlet Witch being obsessed with Cap's leadership"
Eileen Gonzalez: Quicksilver is surprisingly civil in that panel.
Brian Cronin: Yeah.
Brian Cronin: Then his sister is promptly captured!
Brian Cronin: "My hex powers don't work when I'm blindfolded!"
Brian Cronin: Uhh....okay?
Brian Cronin: Why?
Eileen Gonzalez: And Hawkeye wants to blow up the floor she disappeared through. The floor they are standing on.
Brian Cronin: The Avengers like to do that. Remember #14? They did the same thing to the ice floor they were standing on.
Eileen Gonzalez: Well, it worked before, so what could possibly go wrong?
Brian Cronin: That seems to be their strategy on everything.
Brian Cronin: "Just stumbling into everything worked before, let's stick with it!"
Eileen Gonzalez: And now they stumble right into some sleeping gas and a fight with the Commissar. All according to plan!
Brian Cronin: Luckily, the Commissar's plan is moronic, too.
Brian Cronin: "Each fight me one on one."
Eileen Gonzalez: In front of a live audience, no less!
Brian Cronin: He also "wins" each time despite the fight clearly not being over in any of the three instances.
Brian Cronin: Unless the rules were "first person to throw the other person to the other side of the room wins."
Eileen Gonzalez: Well they didn't say those WEREN'T the rules.
Eileen Gonzalez: Kinda sad that Hawkeye doesn't notice something's wrong with his arrows until he's shot several of them.
Eileen Gonzalez: Some arrow scientist he is.
Brian Cronin: Quicksilver's "wrap him in a drape" wasn't much brighter.
Brian Cronin: Luckily, the dirty, dirty commies were sexist so that the Avengers could win.
Eileen Gonzalez: Not sure they really needed Wanda to tear down a curtain, but at least she gets to do something.
Brian Cronin: Her powers now can destroy machinery easily.
Brian Cronin: No one knows how her powers work.
Brian Cronin: No one.
Eileen Gonzalez: That's mostly what she's done so far, isn't it? Wrecking robots?
Brian Cronin: That's the weird thing, right? They just defeated a robot LAST ISSUE.
Brian Cronin: So why did the Commissar kick their ass so much?
Eileen Gonzalez: Clearly Communist technology is superior after all.
Brian Cronin: So, did the Avengers seriously just overthrow a country here?
Eileen Gonzalez: Looks that way! I'm sure this will turn out fine and will have zero unintended consequences whatsoever.
Brian Cronin: It's kind of depressing that the whole country was just taken over by a robot.
Brian Cronin: Then again, I guess Ultron sort of did the same thing.
Brian Cronin: But the Commissar is no Ultron, ya know?
Eileen Gonzalez: Oh, definitely not!
Brian Cronin: I love how the Communists losing face is the worst thing for them.
Brian Cronin: Suuuure, Stan.
Brian Cronin: Then Cap gives a big ol' anti-Communist speech.
Eileen Gonzalez: Maybe that was more Stan's idea of Asian culture?
Eileen Gonzalez: Time to buy more war bonds.
Brian Cronin: One of the few times I was like, "Okay, good call, Hawkeye."
Eileen Gonzalez: Even a broken Hawkeye is right twice a day.
Brian Cronin: Scarlet Witch continues her weird Cap obsession.
Eileen Gonzalez: I assume she's in love with him. All female characters need a male hero to crush on, dontcha know
Brian Cronin: Good point.
Brian Cronin: But then she has to start mooning over different guys in every issue to make him jealous.
Eileen Gonzalez: And love triangles! Can't forget those love triangles.
Brian Cronin: Scarlet Witch better not expect the Avengers to treat her nicely when they return to the States!
Brian Cronin: Overthrowing a country doesn't get her special treatment at home.
Brian Cronin: Honestly, while the story was a bit hacky (Heck is still new to this plotting thing), the whole thing was relatively inoffensive as far as these things go.
Eileen Gonzalez: You'd think they'd give Cap some credit, since he's the one who really figured it out. Or maybe he's trying to shunt the blame to Wanda for when this all goes wrong.
Eileen Gonzalez: Yeah, this story could have been way worse.
Eileen Gonzalez: The Avengers were all kinda dumb here, and the plot got my eyes rolling, but overall, not as bad as feared.
Brian Cronin: And the other Avengers sitting around while Hawkeye gets hit in the splash page actually makes sense!
Brian Cronin: They tied it together well.
Brian Cronin: Next issue, things kick up a notch where we meet the guy who even Hawkeye would say, "This guy is a bit much."
Brian Cronin: And of course, he's Hawkeye's mentor.
Brian Cronin: "From you, dad. I learned it from watching you."
Eileen Gonzalez: The blurb at the end is weird. What do you mean, the Avengers will have bigger problems back in the States? I guess Hawkeye's mentor issues are bigger than overthrowing a government.
Brian Cronin: I am 80% certain Stan had no idea what the next issue was when he wrote that, as Heck was plotting it, ya know?
Eileen Gonzalez: True!
Brian Cronin: A less-publicized aspect of the Marvel Method that Stan did his best to downplay back in the day - the fact that he couldn't hype up every next issue because he didn't always know what the next issue WAS!
Brian Cronin: So lots of, "Next issue, wow, you won't believe what happens next!"
Brian Cronin: "The Avengers fight someone who is...bigger than a bread box!"
Eileen Gonzalez: We all get to find that out together!
Brian Cronin: Huzzah!
Feel free to write in if you have stuff you'd like to see us discuss in future Avengers issues (or questions about the stories)! You send your questions, requests and/or comments to me at brianc@cbr.com!