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 Eileen Gonzalez who will be going over the history of the Avengers with me, story by story!

When last we checked in with our heroes, Avengers #61, "Some Say The World Will End In Fire, Some Say In Ice," by Roy Thomas, John Buscema and George Klein had kicked off with the Avengers testing the Vision's capabilities when Doctor Strange burst into Avengers Mansion needing the Avengers' help in saving the world. First, though, he reveals that their fellow superhero, the Black Knight (who had recently become a magic-based hero after adopting the cursed Ebony Blade as his main weapon of choice), had previously been aiding him and was now gravely injured.

We continue as the Avengers and Strange race to save Black Knight's life (oh, and save the world from a fire demon and a frost giant).

First off, the Avengers help save Black Knight's life with a device known as the "rejuvenator," which we had never seen before. I asked Eileen, "When the heck did the Avengers invent a rejuvenator? Why has this not come up before?" Eileen replied, "They're pulling all kinds of fancy tech out of nowhere lately. Tony Stark must have gone on an inventing spree. Or Hank Pym--I think he had the random memory jogger from a couple issues ago." I continued, "True. Perhaps a psychotic break was all he needed to get some real good stuff done. By the way, an interesting commentary in last issue from Hank, while in his psychotic break, suggested that he was holding himself back by not using Jan's money to finance his experiments, something that "Yellowjackt" had no problems doing. That's an interesting take, because it's like, dude, you and Jarvis need to both learn to ask Tony Stark for money." Eileen replied, "That whole money thing, like several recent plotlines, felt really underdeveloped. Was it a pride thing? In which case, maybe that could have stopped him asking Tony for money. But also, he's a famous scientist and a superhero. You'd think people would be falling all over themselves to give him grants." I added, "And Tony DID help him by getting him Bill Foster. But that then introduces the intriguing question of - 'Who was paying Bill Foster?' And the corollary, 'how does Hank Pym make money?' The stuff he invents don't seem to be stuff you'd see in regular usage. Like shrinking particles and killer robots. But the memory-jogger machine would be useful. And so would that hovercraft he quickly threw together. And, of course, this rejuvenator machine. However, just like how Wakanda is hiding their technology from the rest of the world, so, too, does the rest of the Avengers, apparently." Eileen noted, "They were literally able to preserve Wonder Man's brain waves on tape. You'd think a lot of people would be interested in that!" I pointed out, "Steve Englehart did a miniseries called Fantastic Four: Big Town from about 20 years ago that looks at what the world would look like it Reed Richards and Tony Stark shared their technology with the rest of the world. As you might imagine, it is a lot different. And it really does sort of make you wonder about these guys when the Marvel Universe is basically the same as our world, despite these guys constantly inventing fantastical new inventions. Like, why aren't unstable molecule clothing on sale for everyone to buy? They give unstable molecule costumes away to strangers who become superheroes." Eileen theorized, "I guess they're afraid those things will get into the 'wrong hands.'" I replied, "But who decides what the 'wrong hands' are? It's like, 'Well, Silhouette from the New Warriors - we don't know anything about her, but she can have one, but not Joe Schmo down the street.' Heck, clearly there are plenty of supervillains who have unstable molecule costumes, right?" Eileen noted, "I mean, Scarlet Centurion was basically calling out all superheroes--for his own purposes, admittedly--in the last Annual for not being able to change the world. It seems like they CAN change it but just don't feel like it. I guess it's one of those things you just have to shrug and accept in superhero comics." I conceded, "Yeah, that's fair."

We then turn to the main plot of the issue, which is that Surtur and Ymir the frost giant are on Earth and they are slowly destroying the world by both setting it on fire AND freezing it. Hawkeye and Black Knight are sent to deal with Surtur, while Vision and Black Panther had to deal with Ymir.

We joked about how odd it is to see Doctor Strange sending Hawkeye, of all people, to take on Surtur, but Eileen noted, though, "Although it turns out in the end that he basically just needed some people to serve as bait or distractions. I guess he figured even Hawkeye could do that" I replied, "Good point. Hawkeye IS good bait. We've even seen that before in issues." I wondered, "How does Dane Whitman have money for a private plane? Oh wait, never mind, I forgot, family fortune. That's why he was so dismissive of his scientist colleague who wanted to make money off of their experiments." Eileen added, "He was a real snob back then. Being almost killed seems to have made him a little more polite, at least for now."

On the next page, we see Vision and Black Panther head off to fight Ymir.

I explained the importance of this page, "Major piece of Avengers history! T'Challa introduces the very first Quinjet! And, as in keeping with Avengers lore, on the very first page that the Quinjet is introduced, we get our first destroyed Quinjet. The 'Quinjet crashing' trope has begun already!" Eileen joked, "'Gee, I sure am proud of this shiny new Quinjet! I hope nothing happens to it in the next thirty seconds!' And it's all for naught, as Ymir survives the crash really easily. Oh well."

I noted that, "I just adore the sight of Hawkeye and Black Knight taking on Surtur. 'Shoot a blast arrow at him!' Eileen joked, "It's such a David and Goliath situation. The scrappy underpowered heroes taking on a Norse fire demon. Good idea, Doctor Strange!" I added, "I'm not sure if I like the use of Surtur here. I think he should probably be a much bigger threat than Ymir." Eileen said, "Surtur shows up a lot more in Mighty Thor as a threat, right? So yeah, you'd think he'd be played up a little more than Ymir. And I'm pretty sure all the Avengers do in this issue is get their butts handed to them while Strange stares at that crystal."

As it turns out, the Avengers are just meant to get Ymir and Surtur into a specific position where they are each about to attack...

I explained my issue with this aspect of the plan, "It sure would have been nice had Strange been ready the FIRST time they were each in the midst of an attack. In other words, the same basic plan should have worked before any Avenger was actually in real danger, right? But I guess Strange just wasn't ready yet. Convenient, Doctor Strange! You sadist!" Eileen replied, "Strange did a whole lot of monologuing for a guy who insisted everything was so urgent. We get it! This is important! So move!"

I continued, "Again, though, this whole thing only works if you put Ymir on the same level as Surtur. Which seems like it doesn't follow. But honestly, while it doesn't match Marvel continuity, I bet it does match some Norse mythology. And Thomas is so well-read that I'm sure there is some Norse text that puts Ymir on Surtur's level. So whatever, it's all good." Eileen replied, "Yeah, Ymir was basically the father of all the giants, so he was pretty important in Norse mythology. I bet you're right about Thomas getting the idea from there."

I finished, "As far as forgettable crossovers with books about to be canceled, this was fine. Very nice artwork and a major piece of Avengers history with the introduction of the Quinjet and the first Quinjet crash! Good news! Next issue we finally get to visit Wakanda! Bad news! It involves Man-Ape!" Eileen replied, "I was just gonna say how nice it was to move on from the terrible plot ideas of last issue, and then I saw the cover of Issue 62...time to start face-palming again!"