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 in Avengers #69, "Let the Game Begin," by Roy Thomas, Sal Buscema and Sam Grainger, the Avengers had rushed Iron Man to the hospital after saving his life after Tony Stark almost died at the end of Iron Man #18 (a sort of kind of crossover with this issue) by placing him into a never-before-mentioned Avengers machine known as the ultra-rejuvenator. It kept Tony alive for a specialist to show up and try to save his life.

However, a giant artificial being known as the Growing Man showed up at the hospital and began to implement its mission, which was to capture Tony Stark! The Avengers fought against The Growing Man, but he escaped. The Avengers followed in hot pursuit and they realized that this was all a ploy to bring the Avengers to their old foe, Kang!

I opened with, "I have to give Buscema credit for the introduction of Kang's palace - that was a really nice double-page splash." Eileen replied, "Yeah, Kang does have a cool-looking pad." I continued, "And man, seeing Cap and Thor throw their weapons at Kang's minions? Once the series got past Cap's Kooky Quartet era, I really think that it needed to go back to a more well-known roster for the best effect. I get the appeal of Cap's Kooky Quartet, with the characterizations available to them that you couldn't get from the bigger names. And it was just, like, 'Here's four minor superheroes on team. Woohoo!' But then they left. So if you were no longer developing these characters, what was the point of having a relative no-name roster? Adding Vision helped, of course, but the team really sings with the bigger names added to the mix, like this issue. A proper mix of stars and less famous characters is really the way to go.

Before the Avengers and Kang could start to fight even more, though, Black Panther shows up and reveals that the heroes actually are on the same side as Kang! I noted, "It's good to see the Black Panther back with the team, but it's funny how he has to remind Kang to not, you know, insult the heroes Kang brought her to help him." Eileen replied, "Kang's people skills are a little rusty. Apparently he spends most of his free time alone in his throne room being sad about Ravonna."

I noted, "First of all, how cool of an entrance did the Grandmaster get? But secondly, how weird of an idea was it that Thomas added in that Grandmaster made his offer to Kang a year earlier? What's the point of that? Especially since Kang is a time-traveler. Why have is that Kang waited a year before putting together a plan that basically ended up just being, 'Get the Avengers to bail me out at the last minute'?" Eileen replied, "I think there's a line implying that it took Kang this long to figure out what the rules of the game even are. But still, he knows the Avengers were smart enough to outwit him, if nothing else. He had nothing to lose by calling them earlier." I replied, "What a weird bit that is, too, where Kang learned the rules by absorbing them from the tri-sphere. Why not just tell the dude the rules? You had a YEAR to do so! It really doesn't make any sense. I also continue to enjoy the fact, as I always mention when we get Kang stories, that Kang always fights the Avengers in chronological order, even though he is a time traveler who could attack them at any time he wanted, but he also fights them in 1964 followed by 1965 followed by 1969, etc. It makes no sense, but it has to be done that way for the sake of continuity."

Eileen also wondered, "I'm also not sure the bits with Tony Stark as bait for the sake of the Avengers coming to Kang were necessary. Why didn't Kang just go with the tried-and-true plan of kidnapping the Wasp for bait? It just felt like a plug for Iron Man comics." I replied, "TOTALLY. Not to mention that it adds in the bizarre extra bit where Cap, Thor and Goliath are sent to fight the Grandmaster's fighters. But 'to be joined by a fourth'...who is Iron Man!! So yeah, it was probably really just to promote Iron Man's comic, since Tony Stark's health problems did not play a role in the comic in any real sense of the matter."

I noted, "Thomas' use of the multiple Earths was a clever nod to the DC Multiverse. As this whole thing is setting up a surreptitious DC crossover and so Thomas is sort of calling back to the classic first meeting of the Justice League and the Justice Society, in one of the first major Multiverse stories in the DC Universe."

I continued, "The crossover is here now, as the issue ends with the three (soon to be four) Avengers facing off against the brand-new villains, the Squadron Sinister! The fight will be with Just Us Leaguers next issue!" Eileen replied, "I love the way the Squadron politely introduce themselves. And they've all got such awesome names... and then there's Whizzer, which is just unfortunate." I noted, "And the Whizzer is the only one who was an established comic book character! Character name-wise, that is." Eileen replied, "He worked with Cap back in the day, right?" I responded, "Well, eventually we'll learn that. But I don't recall if they actually worked together in the actual Golden Age. I think that was just something that Roy Thomas came up with later on." Eileen replied, "Ah, okay. I didn't realize that was a retcon!" I continued on Eileen's point, "They really did rehearse their introductions really well. it's like they're professional wrestlers. And we'll get to their inter-company grudge match next time!"