Issue(s): Avengers #256, Avengers #257
Cover Date: Jun-Jul 85
Title: "This power unleashed!" / "Holocaust in a Hidden Land!"
Credits:
Roger Stern - Writer
John Buscema - Breakdowns
Tom Palmer - Finishes
Howard Mackie - Assistant Editor
Mark Gruenwald - Editor

Review/plot:
I'm sorry guys. I'm still just very pleased to have Buscema and Palmer on the Avengers. I'll get to the story in a second. For now...

Beginning with this issue, Buscema is credited with breakdowns and Palmer with finishes. The art doesn't look substantially different from the last issue, but any way you look at it, it's a winning combination.

This is an arc dealing with the return of Terminus (see the caveat at the end of this post)...

...but before we get there, Roger Stern starts us off with some nice character moments. The Black Knight is adjusting to all the changes that have happened in the Avengers since he got stuck in the past way back circa Avengers #118, especially the fact that the Vision and the Scarlet Witch have gotten married and the Wasp and Yellowjacket got divorced.

I'm of two minds regarding the way the Wasp poses in these scenes.

On the one hand, it could just be pure (80s style, which is pretty tame) cheesecake. On the other hand, it could represent Jan sub-consciously flirting with Dan, which will have implications in later issues. And it also serves as a nice contrast when Jan runs into Starfox, since she's still freaked out after learning about his "pleasure power". It's a clear shift in body language.

But Jan and Starfox start to work things out. Starfox says he'd never use his powers on an ally ("...unless they want me to!").

Then they bump into Hercules, who has a new costume, created by Hephaestus and delivered by Apollo.

I prefer the skirt. He-Man was popular around the time this comic was published (i had plenty of the toys), and you can't tell me that wasn't an influence here. The lettercol says the costume was designed by John Byrne (who also earlier created Black Goliath and Valkyrie's stinkers).

Then the team gets into a meeting. The Wasp is restored to chairwoman, on the grounds that the Vision's mental manipulations interrupted her term. Hercules agrees with the move but looks a little doubtful.

Hercules never really seemed to have a problem with the Black Widow's leadership of the Champions, so it must be Jan specifically that has him concerned, although a chauvinistic attitude wouldn't be all that out of character for him. It's going to be a problem in the future.

While the Avengers are meeting, a pair of men - who got their idea of how to dress like government agents by watching the original Untouchables TV show - case the mansion.

When the Avengers first get called in by SHIELD to investigate the shipwreck that Terminus causes, there's a comment about SHIELD being "unusually close-mouthed about this affair". That's most probably just due to the impending fallout related to the Vision's attempt at taking over the Pentagon's computer systems, but there's also the slight possibility that it was related to the much delayed SHIELD mini-series, like we saw with the references in Hulk #297-300.

Terminus goes on a disastrous tear through the Savage Land, killing the entire crew of the ship that was transporting his staff, and exterminating all the races of Pangea.

Let's face it. Mr. Fantastic really dropped the ball here. After sending Terminus to the center of the Earth, he just left him there and did nothing to prepare for his inevitable escape. So from a certain point of view, all the deaths in these issues are on his head. This is why you never call in a team of "imaginauts" to do the work of super-heroes.

Anyway, all the deaths give the Avengers the opportunity to live up their name for once.

I believe this is the first time any of these Avengers have been to the Savage Land. They have to be informed by a scientist about what's in the "mists beyond the mountains", and they have to formally introduce themselves to Ka-Zar.

John Buscema had apparently never been to the Museum of Natural History. His dinosaurs are vaguely weird. They're cool, though.

When Terminus makes his way from the Savage Land to Pangea, his reaction is "Yet another tropical jungle within this polar region?!".

I know i'm kind of splitting hairs and this is something i probably should have raised in an entry for Ka-Zar the Savage, but i never really got the big deal about Pangea. For all intents and purposes, it just turned out the Savage Land was bigger than initially thought, right? I mean, it's just more jungle, not another jungle.

Anyway, Terminus is searching for technology. He first finds a device in the Savage Land...

...and then is disappointed with the "elementary climate control equipment" he finds in Pangea. "There's nothing more on the order of the Celestial artifact I uncovered earlier."

By the time the Avengers catch up with him, he's turned the land into an inferno.

The Black Knight is able to sever Terminus' arm, separating him from his staff.

Then, as the removal of the Atlantean climate control devices turn Pangea back into an arctic wasteland, Starfox delivers Hercules to Terminus 'fastball special' style.

Hercules alone witnesses the "truth" about Terminus...

...which may have been a deliberate choice. Despite the call for vengeance, the Avengers aren't really killers. Hercules specifically, however, has slain his share of monsters.

Despite everything you've just read, due to a later retcon in the very bad Terminus Factor annual event, the actual Terminus does not appear in this series. The MCP gives the real one a "behind the scenes" appearance and i'm listing him as a character appearing, but whatever it looks like in any of the screenshots above, that's not actually him. It's really a Deviant called Jorro.

Starfox was aware of Terminus. "A loathsome scavenger of worlds!" "For decades in my travels among the stars, I have heard rumors of this world-pillaging creature..." Worth noting the singular noun and the descriptions, considering the Terminus Factor retcon.

I've always wondered if Terminus was actually supposed to be the same species as the slave creature he was carrying around in his first appearance, but i guess the retcon makes that a moot point.

Really an epic battle and a significant event (we'll learn in issue #258 that Terminus' actions have completely destroyed the Savage Land; of course, nothing is forever). Buscema & Palmer live up to the challenge of John Byrne's Terminus. And as always, Roger Stern blends great characterization with cool super-heroics. We also get to see a little of Ka-Zar and Shanna, who we of course miss since Bruce Jones' run on Ka-Zar the Savage ended.

I do want to say that despite the fact that some people, mainly Marvel editors, like to say things like "No one's coming to your house and taking away your old comics" while defending a sweeping (and often bad) retcon, there is definitely an additional unwanted layer while you're reading a story like this (or, to take another example, knowing that every appearance of Alicia Masters for the next seven years is actually a Skrull) that kind of spoils your enjoyment to a degree. Just a degree, though. These issues are strong enough that they can withstand the future attacks of Roy & Dann Thomas.

While all of this is going on, Captain Marvel is stuck in deep space with the "Interstellar Bowery Boys", as she puts it. She meets their leader, Nebula, in issue #257.

Monica had been pretending that she was still powerless, but Nebula calls her bluff.

Trapped with no way to get home, she plays along with the offer to join Nebula's crew, and does it convincingly enough...

...although anyone who has heard of the Avengers (and Nebula has) is bound to be suspicious.

The Stern/Buscema/Palmer Avengers, people! And it's just getting started.

Quality Rating: B+

Historical Significance Rating: 5 - destruction of the Savage Land (for now). First Nebula

Chronological Placement Considerations: Captain America remembers that the Vision was upset that the President called in the Fantastic Four instead of the Avengers to deal with Terminus' first appearance, but when the Wasp tries to reach the FF or access their data files, she finds that there's no response. "It's like their Baxter Building headquarters had vanished off the face of the Earth". So this arc takes place concurrently with Fantastic Four #278-279. Most likely the launch of the Baxter Building hadn't happened while the Avengers were still in New York, or they would have heard about it. Avengers #258 takes place soon after the end of this arc, so this group of Avengers shouldn't appear anywhere else in the meantime.

References:

• Hercules' old costume was destroyed in Avengers #252.
  
• The Wasp has to let the Black Knight know that she and Hank Pym have been divorced since around Avengers #217, since Dane had been trapped in the past at that point.
  
• The Wasp and Starfox broach the subject of Jan's discomfort regarding Eros' pleasure power, which she learned about in Avengers #250, but the conversation isn't finalized.
  
• The Vision manipulated the Wasp's mind to get her to give up her leadership post in Avengers #243, but the footnote instead focuses on when she found out about it in Avengers #254.
  
• Ka-Zar discovered Pangea in Ka-Zar the Savage #1 and explored it until Ka-Zar the Savage #15, after which they started their trek back to the Savage Land proper.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

As you'll find out when you review Secret Wars II 2, Web of Spider-Man 6, Amazing 268 and Amazing 269-270, all those issues take place after FF 279 in rapid succession and Amazing 270 is a crossover with Avengers 258. So if this issue takes place before the Avengers learn about the Baxter Building being blown up, all those issues have to take place during Avengers 256-258. When did Peter find time to sleep?

Nebula has hair. Why is Karen Gillan playing her as bald?

She has a shaved head when she shows up again, way down the time-line, in the pages of Silver Surfer.

I have nothing of merit to add here... except that fnord is absolutely right: This artwork kicks ass. I didn't fully appreciate it as a kid. Sometimes I wish I had a time machine so I could go back and kick myself in the face.

I had just started buying the Avengers around this time. The switch from Milgrom/Sinnot to Buscema/Palmer was like an atomic bomb going off in my brain. My ten year old self immediately knew this was awesome.

Terminus was a great villain, and I think John Byrne's reason for inventing him was valid. Having a near Galactus level threat whose a complete scumbag, yet not baggaged with the whole "importance" spiel of Galactus was something the Marvel Universe needed. Technically, we don't see Terminus die, and another writer could have resurrected him and somehow revived him in the suit, but I'm not sure how much of a threat he'd seemed once we knew he was just a giant slob guy. I wonder if Byrne always intended Terminus to be this way since Stern and Byrne were close, and I can imagine Stern checking with him before using Terminus.

Avengers #255-261, Annual #14 & FF Annual #19 has now been reprinted in The Legacy of Thanos TPB.

If Hercules objected to the Wasp's leadership position (which he didn't) why would it be because of his "chauvinistic attitude?"

Where in the Wasp's past has she shown any position of leadership? She flirts with nearly all of the male Avengers, tricked her husband into marrying her and obsesses over her looks.

She's a great character but not a leader.

I had objections about Hawkeye becoming the leader of the WCA. Nothing in his past suggested leadership either.

It may not convince you of anything, A.Lloyd, but just to answer the historical question: Jim Shooter had the Wasp take on the role of Avengers chairperson in Avengers #217 as a way of showing her mature out of her flighty persona after enduring the trouble with her husband Hank. So her taking that role during the Stern run was her second turn at leadership.

Hawkeye had been jockeying for leadership of the Avengers since the Kooky Quartet days, and putting him in that position was a way for him to evolve and realize what an ass he had been in those days, now that the weight of responsibility was on his shoulders.

I like the way both changes allowed for character development, but of course your mileage may vary.

Being the leader of The Avengers should be like being the CEO of Apple, not just anybody can do it.

Hawkeye whining and complaining about being better than Captain America just shows how immature he was.

(But I like that about his character BTW. It was a contrast to Thor, Iron Man and Cap and it works.)

I believe issues with both Hawkeye and the Wasp arose later in WCA and The Avengers.

Still, this era of The Avengers is great no matter who is leading it and I do agree that Hawkeye and the Wasp showed much more depth after they were named chair people.

I just didn't agree with it.

This was the same time that issue 8 of the Transformers came out and it also took place in the Savage Land. It even had an editor's note saying that Ratchet and the Dinobots had packed up and left prior to this story.

Of course, the Transformers take place in an alternate reality. Or something.

"Have at thee, Monster!" writing dialouge for Herc must be a hoot.

One thing I find interesting about Nebula, particularly after seeing her in the GotG movies, is she really is an example of a character not created by Starlin that he does ultimately make do with and work in his mythos. The two other characters that he did it with basically had their situations that he just made work out: Mar-Vell had no direction to begin with and he finally focused him in a way that made him at least work for a while; while Adam Warlock sort of gained a direction with the "Jesus metaphor" that was thrusted upon him during his original book and that sort of furthered along with a different intent due to his connections that lead to characters like Thanos and Gamora. Nebula, though, is a Roger Stern creation, someone who he figured would at least allow for Thanos' legacy to remain active within the Marvelverse with the big guy out of the picture for some time when she was introduced. (and as seen here, to give a rival to someone like Monica who was the legacy of Mar-Vell at this point) Ultimately when Starlin returned to revive Thanos and start the path to the Infinity Gauntlet, he seemed to have some resentment it appears in Nebula appearing thus leading to her near-obliteration, but still found her enough to be a threat to make her a spoiler in the Infinity Gauntlet story. Obviously it seems that while she probably wasn't part of his plans, Starlin was still able to make Nebula work for him (which probably could be her ultimate direction in the movies)