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Avengers, The (1963 series) #325

Mark Gruenwald | Rik Levins

Avengers, The (1963 series) #325 cover

Story Name:

Party Games


Synopsis

Avengers, The (1963 series) #325 synopsis by T Vernon
Rating: 4 stars
The Avengers (Captain America, Sersi, Vision, Quasar) return to the Mansion from their latest adventure. They are met by security chief Michael O’Brien who surprises them with a new conference table; Cap mentions that Thor wanted to rebuild their old table. Michael is upset but on the way out, he plants a bug in the room….

Later Cap has the team at the table, demonstrating that voice processors on their laptops will convert speech to text making it easier to fill in their case histories. They are unaware they are being watched by the villainous trio Mother Night, Minister Blood, and Machinesmith who have mind-controlled the Avengers support staff into planting bugs throughout the Mansion, hoping to have something to present to their leader, the Red Skull. ‘Smith switches channels to ensure all the bugs in the Mansion are working properly. MN and MB, sister and brother, hypnotically alter their garb to look less conspicuous as they go out to lunch to celebrate….

Later, Sersi invites Cap and Quasar to a party at her apartment over the weekend and she won’t take no for an answer. Vision overhears and assumes he is not invited as a Synthezoid would look out of place at such a gathering. Quasar then tells Cap that in his civilian identity he runs a security firm and asks if it would be all right if he ran a check on the new security systems. Machinesmith, watching, finds that concerning. He switches over to the kitchen to see Sersi inviting Jarvis and the support staff to the soiree as well. He also looks in on Vision talking to Fabian Stankowicz who doesn’t have a life outside the Avengers and doesn’t need one; Vision thinks there is something missing in his life but he doesn’t know what. But Vision has detected the bug in the room and enters Machinesmith’s lair where he confronts the bad guy; there is a brief fight but both are androids and both have failsafe systems so they are incapacitated simultaneously. Mother Night and Minister Blood return and find the two apparently dead. But Machinesmith then greets them from the computer, having beamed his consciousness over to the other device as he electrocuted Vision. He is having another robot body delivered from HQ. The two android bodies are dumped in the East River that night….

The next day, Wendell Vaughn (that’s Quasar in his other identity) and his associate Kenjiro Tanaka arrive; they are introduced to Michael O’Brien and the group moves along. As the villainous trio watches, Wendell shows them an anti-eavesdropping device which is activated—and immediately cuts off all of Machinesmith’s devices. Panicked, they start running though means of salvaging the operation because they don’t want to go back to the Red Skull empty-handed. Then Machinesmith remembers Sersi’s party that night…..

The soiree is in full swing at Sersi’s loft apartment; She-Hulk is there with Wyatt Wingfoot. Jarvis has brought his girlfriend Glory Garsen and Peggy Carter is there with Gabe Jones. Wendell shows up with Kayla Ballantine and Ken Tanaka. Steve Rogers arrives with a blonde RachelDiamondbackLeighton and Sersi embarrasses him by giving him an overly affectionate greeting….

But Minister Blood and Mother Night, disguised as delivery men, hypnotize two of the caterer’s staff and impersonate them so they can go through the party and lure the Avengers support staff members to the kitchen. They are told there are disguised enemies at the party and are given guns that the baddies claim are Neuronic Neutralizers and they are ordered to shoot the enemies when their disguises are removed in two minutes….

And then it happens: Jarvis and the others see their friends as villains and they pull their guns to shoot. Most are disarmed by an Avenger but John Jameson shoots his date. MB and MN take their leave but are caught by the Vision who is immune to their hypnotic tricks and he incapacitates them. The Avengers quickly figure out that their support staff were under hypnosis and learn that the guns held only blanks; John’s date had merely fainted. Vision appears with the culprits and he learns Sersi had invited him to the party but he had spent a few days underwater repairing his damage. And Sersi has some dire threats to encourage the baddies to remove the posthypnotic suggestions from the staff….

Characters:

Avengers
Captain America
Diamondback
Jarvis
Peggy Carter
Quasar
Sersi
She-Hulk
Vision
Plus: Fabian Stankowicz, Gabe Jones (Gabriel Jones), John Jameson, Kayla Ballantine, Ken Tanaka, Machinesmith, Michael O'Brien, Minister Blood, Mother Night, Wyatt Wingfoot.

> Avengers, The (1963 series) comic book info and issue index


 

Review / Commentaries


Avengers, The (1963 series) #325 Review by (December 28, 2024)
Comments: Kenjiro Tanaka frequently appeared in QUASAR, starting with issue #5; this is one of his only appearances outside that book. Second appearance of Glory Garsen, introduced in AVENGERS #298 and next seen in AVENGERS 1999 #1. Kayla Ballantine was also a regular in QUASAR. Marvel Database identifies Louise “Blonde Phantom” Masson and the Marvel version of Clark Kent among the guests but I couldn’t spot them. Machinesmith and Mother Night return in CAPTAIN AMERICA #387 onward; Minister Blood has only one further appearance: CAP #394. D. Hands (for Diverse Hands) is credited with inking assists. No letters.

Review: The previous six issues’ back-up stories come together for this comic romp featuring a trio of baddies who are not as smart as advertised. Hypnotizing the support staff to distribute bugs throughout the Mansion is a decent idea but one too easily foiled, even by accident. It’s the second scheme—having the staffers shoot partygoers with fake guns—that royally fails. What was the point of that? Well, two-thirds of the baddies are nabbed easily and they return in Cap’s comic where they are serious threats.




Elektra


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Main/1st Story Full Credits

Rik Levins
Fred Fredericks
Ed Lazellari
John Byrne (Cover Penciler)
John Byrne (Cover Inker)
Unknown (Cover Colorist)
Additional Credits
Letterer: Brad K. Joyce.
Editor: Howard Mackie. Editor-in-chief: Tom DeFalco.



Thor

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