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Solo Avengers #6: Review

May 1988
Tom DeFalco, M. D. Bright

Story Name:

Algeria is for Archers

Review & Comments

Rating:
3.5 stars

Solo Avengers #6 Review by (March 15, 2022)

Review: Hawkeye’s tale is another action packed secret agent tale with a couple of characters one never expected to see here, the faux Red Skull and Sandman. Everything goes a little too easily and the story is fun but a mere trifle.

Falcon’s story is an attempt to be gritty and relevant while still allowing the hero to fight monsters. The social message would have been more effective a decade or two earlier; here it just seems late. An oddball beginning, an incomprehensible plot by the bad guys (what was Meachum after? Wasn’t it just to sell the property to the realtors? What part was Scatterbrain supposed to play? All he did was cause havoc, which is hard to fit into any kind of scheme. Why was there one cop there who did nothing until after Falcon calmed everyone down?), a vague idea of Scatterbrain’s powers, and an oddball ending (turning down Meachum’s offer wasn’t Sam’s decision to make; the congregants would likely have jumped at the offer) sink this one.

Comments: First story: Title seems to be a play on the “Virginia is for Lovers” state tourist campaign.  Peregrine was introduced in the first CONTEST OF CHAMPIONS event. Second story: Sole appearance of Scatterbrain. Sole appearance of Victor Meachum who is apparently not related to the Meachum family from IRON FIST. Avengers Mansion was relocated to Hydrobase in AVENGERS #288. Cover layouts by Dave Cockrum, finished art by Joe Rubinstein. Colorist Janet Jackson is not the person you’re thinking of; at least I don’t think so. Letters column has one by future Comics 101 writer Scott Tipton.





 

Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Solo Avengers #6 Synopsis by Peter Silvestro

In Paris, Silver Sable tells Hawkeye about the impostor Red Skull in Algeria who has stolen a timing device for nuclear warheads; Sable had sent an agent but he has disappeared. She would like Hawkeye to accompany a second agent on the mission to recover the timer and then she will intercede with the French government to allow him to go home….

In Algeria, Hawkeye meets up with the other agent, Le Peregrine, after Clint has already made his presence clear by battling some baddies. Following clues left by the missing agent, the two heroes enter a home, open a hidden passageway, and descend into a secret lab where they find the Red Skull, gloating over his plans to blackmail the world. Hawkeye and Peregrine jump in, fight the bad guys and break open a vat of sand, revealing Sable’s missing agent—the Sandman. The three agents mop up Red Skull’s men but the sinister leader sets the timer on a nuclear warhead and tries to escape. Hawkeye disables his escape craft with a well-placed shot and the problem of the bomb is solved by Sandman inundating the timer with an armful of sand. They turn the bad guys over to the authorities and worry about informing Silver Sable they destroyed the device instead of retrieving it….  

“Scattered Lives” 2.5/5
Writer: Dan Mishkin. Pencils: Tom Grindberg. Inks: Joe Rubinstein. Colors: Steve Buccellato. Letters: Jack Morelli.
Synopsis: Falcon and Redwing head to Avengers Mansion and Sam is shocked to see it gone, until he remembers that the heroic team has relocated. He flies to Harlem where he sees an ugly situation developing. A real estate company has bought a church and is planning to demolish it to build a mall. The neighbors and congregation members don’t like it and neither does Sam, whose grandfather built the church and whose father preached there. Sam persuades the mob not to react violently when a local crazy dude calling himself Scatterbrain threatens the real estate guy. A cop tries to arrest Scatterbrain but the dude just hypnotizes him into claiming the area is CIA headquarters. Able to turn the voices in his head into reality, Scatterbrain transforms a couple of the neighbors into monsters, attacking the others. Two cars become flying saucers, pursuing Falcon away until suddenly they turn back into cars. Falcon realizes that Scatterbrain’s power ends when he isn’t thinking about things. He returns to the neighborhood where more monsters are wreaking havoc; Sam has Redwing fly at the bad guy’s face; he is distracted and Falcon punches him out. Mob boss Victor Meachum, who owns the church property, offers to deed the land to the congregation. Falcon turns him down, knowing that Meachum is doing it only to hide his connection to Scatterbrain. Sam would rather build a new church then be beholden to a slug like Meachum.



M. D. Bright
Joe Rubinstein
Janet Jackson
Dave Cockrum (Cover Penciler)
Joe Rubinstein (Cover Inker)
? (Cover Colorist)
Letterer: Jack Morelli.

Characters

Listed in Alphabetical Order.

Falcon
Falcon

(Sam Wilson)
Hawkeye
Hawkeye

(Clint Barton)

Plus: Peregrine (Alain Racine), Red Skull (Albert Malik), Silver Sable.

> Solo Avengers: Book info and issue index

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