Issue(s): Avengers #225, Avengers #226
Cover Date: Nov-Dec 82
Title: "The fall of Avalon" / "An eye for an eye"
Credits:
Steven Grant - Writer
Greg LaRocque - Penciler
Chic Stone - Inker
Mike Carlin - Assistant Editor
Mark Gruenwald - Editor

Review/plot:
Dr. Druid shows up at Avengers Mansion and sends the Avengers back in time without much of an explanation.

They arrive in Avalon and meet up with the Black Knight.

There's a D&D style adventure that follows that isn't very important...

...but the upshot of it is that the Black Knight is returned to the present.

This is also the first (published) appearance of Valinor...

...the Knight's current flying horse, and he returns to the present as well despite not having a crumbled old statue waiting to hold his soul.

One of the evil residents of Avalon, Bres, makes it to Earth as well..

...and he'll have exactly one more appearance. That Balor (which, for what it's worth, is what TSR called Balrogs to avoid complications with the Tolkien estate, and it seems like Marvel is following suit) will also appear again in the Black Knight's solo series.

The writing in this issue isn't exactly great.

Quality Rating: C-

Historical Significance Rating: 3 - Black Knight returns to the present.

Chronological Placement Considerations: This has to take place before Contest of Champions, since the Black Knight participates in that series.

References:

• There's a montage scene of the Black Knight's history. No footnotes. But it's his first appearance in Avengers #48, the "All Avengers" scene from Avengers #100, the time he was turned to stone by the Enchantress in Defenders #4, and when he was sent back in time in Defenders #11.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

Balor is the name of one of the Fomorians from Celtic mythology. They were sort of the Celtic equivalent of the Titans. That's what Grant is working with here.

Hawkeye says "After all these years, he made it", meaning The Black Knight. I thought with the sliding timescale, it wouldn't have been that long ago.

Clyde- the question is, what's the ratio of years real time to Marvel Time? The Black Knight was turned to stone in 1973 and this story is in 1982. If you use a 3:1 ratio, which wouldn't have been out of question at the time, then the Black Knight's been gone for 3 years.

What does TSR stand for?

TSR stood for Tactical Studies Rules, according to Wikipedia, but those of who grew up in the 80's knew it as the company that made Dungeons and Dragons (and, for a lot of us, I'm guessing) also the company the produced the Dragonlance books (which started out as game modules for D & D).

Certain things that were original to Tolkien, like "hobbit" and "balrog" couldn't be used by TSR, so they had to work around it.

Or more appropriately for this site, TSR were the ones who published the original Marvel Superheroes Roleplaying Game.

They released their Basic Set in 1984 and their Advanced Set (their much revamped and improved 2nd edition) in 1986. They continued releasing products for a few more years, before scrapping the line (and then eventually losing the rights).

TSR eventually went bankrupt, and sold most of its assets to Wizards of the Coast (aka the company that became huge from Magic: the Gathering).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marvel_Super_Heroes_%28role-playing_game%29

Balor will also reappear in Thunderbolts many many years down the line: https://66.media.tumblr.com/4ad73df81e6b9f933fd87776fa4c4284/tumblr_o7agrdVgzD1tms107o1_540.jpg