Avengers #305: Review

Jul 1989

John Byrne, Paul Ryan

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Story Name:

Avengers Assemble!

Synopsis

Avengers #305 Synopsis by T Vernon

On Avengers Island, Captain America calls, “Avengers, assemble!” and there comes nearly every Avenger from the team’s history. Cap announces that the Avengers is considered to be one team and everyone who has been a member of any of the former teams, no matter how briefly, is an Avenger forever. Some short-lived members express their thanks to Cap but Tigra takes the opportunity to make a catty remark about Hellcat being a poor imitation of her (Tigra) and the two women need to be separated. Monica Rambeau, still recovering from the loss of her Captain Marvel powers, shows the team spirit in offering to do what she can. Hawkeye steps in to tell the team he won’t be an Avenger until he receives the respect the claims to have earned; Mockingbird rebukes him, reminding him he is an Avenger. And so the team comes together….

Beneath the Earth’s crust, Jinku, the Lava Men’s shaman, summons the ancient power to raise up new Lava Men….

Most of the Avengers head home. Namor rejoins the team but he has some business to take care of first. Cap welcomes She-Hulk, Black Panther, and Quasar to the current lineup. Thor and Gilgamesh are in the workout room, testing one another’s powers as there are many similarities between them though Cap says they can never have too many heavy-hitters. Cap, T’Challa, Jen, and Quasar join the other two in their workout as they each test themselves against the others. Jarvis serves tea and biscuits—and then the island is shaken by a mighty tremor. They discover that a massive crimson pillar has lifted the island (actually a floating platform) hundreds of feet into the air. They head outside to find hundreds of faceless Lava Men, finding that the monsters, when hit break up into smaller pieces, each of which grows into a new Lava Man. The heroes fight valiantly but the Lava Men surround them, flowing into each other and creating a massive sphere with the Avengers trapped inside, which then rolls to the edge of the giant pillar and drops into the sea….

Review / Commentaries

Rating:

Avengers #305 Review by T Vernon (August 9, 2024)

Comments: Part one of three parts. Avengers answering Cap’s call who do not make it into the new team (or in the synopsis) are Beast, Black Widow, Falcon, Firebird, Thing, Invisible Woman, Mr. Fantastic, Moondragon, Hank Pym, Scarlet Witch, Vision, Starfox, Wasp, and Wonder Man. Conspicuous by their absence: Iron Man and Hulk. Captain Marvel (Monica R) recovers her powers in her self-titled 1989 one-shot. The Lava Men were introduced in JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY #97, followed by AVENGERS #5 and MARVEL TEAM-UP #26; Jinku, the shaman, was seen in the latter two. She-Hulk paraphrases her famous cousin, “I pity the fool who tries to mess with us” which is more Mr. T than Hulk. Marc Siry contributed to the inks.

Review: John Byrne takes over writing the series and his first action is to set up his own lineup. Step One: Boot the two FF members who never really belonged. Step Two: Boot Hawkeye who no one really likes. Step Three: Add Quasar who only first met the team in issues #302-303 as a cosmic replacement for Captain Marvel (Monica R, who gets a nice send-off). Step Four: Explain why Gilgamesh and Thor are both on the team and fail at the task. Then bring back She-Hulk and Black Panther who are always cool and Sub-Mariner who is an oddball choice for return but maybe John Byrne owes him money or something. With the team still on a shaky footing, the Lava Men attack in a pretty incredible sequence, believably nightmarish and we leave our heroes plunging from a cliff into the ocean. It gets darker from here.

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