April 1982: Avengers 221- Or, none of those ladies were going to join, so there for free food?

Synopsis: Avengers 221 was written by Jim Shooter and David Michelinie with art by Bob Hall and Brett Breedings and opens with the Avengers deciding that they need more than four members and try to find another two to fill their ranks. Captain America wants a team player, Thor wants bravery and Wasp wants more girls and Iron Man will never turn that idea down.

Edwin Jarvis, the Avengers butler and house manager gets Thor a mead (I get the impression this is the morning, bit early for booze?) who tells Thor, when asked (Jarvis would never be so presumptuous as to offer his unsolicited opinion) that the best Avengers have often been more indivdiual and less conventional, Thor sees an image of Spider-Man on a magazine and thanks Jarvis  for his insight. After helping Spider-Man with a group of robbers in Central Park, well not so much help as take the credit and soak Spidey and the two have a talk about Thor’s offer. Once again, Spider-Man declines the offer, not being a joiner.

Cap and Iron Man visit Hawkeye at his job at Cross Technological Enterprises and offer him his old position on the team. Hawkeye thinks that the smartest thing is to stay where he has job security and respect, but lets be honest, once an Avengers….

Meanwhile Wasp has gathered Alison (Dazzler) Blaire, Jessica ( Spider-Woman) Drew, Natasha (Black Widow) Romanoff, Sue (Invisible Girl) Richards and late arrival Jennifer (She Hulk) Walters to discuss one of them joining the Avengers. They are swiftly attacked by Fabian (The Mechano Marauder) Stankowicz. The girls make short work of him, but Sue, Jessica, Natasha and Alison have neither the time, or desire to join the Avengers currently, but after punching the Mechano Marauder into the scrap heap, Jennifer decides to join.

Later after the paper work is sorted, Hawkeye and She-Hulk get into a bit of road rage incident, before they both learn that they will be working together and a new Avengers roster is born.

Notes: I enjoy the roster change issues, seeing who gets to join, who leaves and all that, Avengers and Justice League are the two teams that you think of when this happens, but the Avengers make it more of an event. Adding a seasoned pro and a rookie is a great mix and a team you’d want to read about and the use of a pseudo-comedic villain is a great touch. The art and writing are not fantastic, but there is more of light-hearted throwaway feel to the story and it sort of works.

This is not a great comic, but I prefer it to the Thor and on average these comics are getting better and better.

Next Time: He is the best there is at what he does, but what he does is very marketable