Issue(s): Avengers #60
Cover Date: Jan 69
Title: "...Till death do us part!"
Credits:
Roy Thomas - Writer
John Buscema - Penciler
Mickey Demeo - Inker

Review/plot:

Oh Ringmaster.

You're just... If you would just stick to stealing from rubes in the mid-west, you'd be ok. Maybe occasionally try your luck with Spider-Man or Daredevil, or take advantage of really dumb super-heroes like the Hulk. But really, trying to take on the Avengers? At a wedding where you know there will be other super-heroes (basically everyone but Thor, the Hulk, and the Sub-Mariner)??

And what kind of plan did you have? What were you hoping to accomplish? Let's say you managed to kill all the Avengers with your wedding cake surprise? Then what? What's the financial upside to a move like that?

And what was your strategy? You went running out into a room full of super heroes with a gun?!? Why didn't you hypnotize anyone?? That's your damn super-power, isn't it? You had Hawkeye all alone in the kitchen, so what did you do? Hypnotize him and have him bring the other heroes one by one into the kitchen so you can hypnotize them too? No, you tied him up and ran out into the room full of super heroes with a gun and some guys that really know how to juggle.

Out. Of. Your. League.

The best part was when you attacked, and the other guests, like the FF and Daredevil, were like: "Hey, um... you don't... you don't need help with this, do you?"
Avengers: "Nah, we're good. You go on home."
FF: "K. We'll check you later. Have fun."

Maybe crazy was just in the air on that day. Certainly Janet and Hank were waist-deep in batshit fucking insane. Pym basically has a nervous breakdown, goes totally multiple personality disorder, and Janet figures it's a good time to take advantage of it and manipulate him into marrying her, because - and she looked this up - it's still binding by law no matter what name he uses when he marries her.

I don't know whether to file that under Roy Thomas' disdain for women (Thomas wrote part of this story while on his honeymoon) or Roy Thomas' disdain for logic.

Ooooh, what an issue this was. What an issue.

Finally, and i don't mean to interrupt the festivities with a geeky concern, but the Black Knight now has his enchanted sword. Previously he'd been using his uncle's high tech lance, and the sword he did occasionally use was melted in a battle with the Masters of Evil, but he picked up his ancestral blade in Marvel Super Heroes #17.

Quality Rating: D

Historical Significance Rating: 7 - marriage of Janet Van Dyne and Henry Pym

Chronological Placement Considerations: Needs to fit into gaps for the FF, Daredevil, Dr. Strange, Captain America, Iron Man and the X-Men. Dr. Strange is still wearing his original costume. The biggest concern here is the FF, who around this time are away from New York for an extended period of time, first in Atillan, then Latveria, and then into outer space on a Skrull planet.

References:

• Alright, so the Ringmaster is really here because he wants vengeance on Thor for what happened in Thor #147. But he's still pretty stupid.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: Marvel Super Action #21

Re the FF's appearance: though Avengers #60 was released at the same time as FF #83, this story probably takes place just after FF #81 (when Crystal joined the team and started wearing a blue FF uniform, hence Sue's description of Crys as "the newest member")...and prior to #82 when the team went to Attilan.
Re the X-Men: Avengers #60 was published at the same time as X-Men #52, which was the concluding story in a 4-issue arc...so the wedding probably takes place after X-Men #52 and prior to #54 (start of a new multi-issue arc).

I remember this, too, from when I was 14, in a reprint. I think Buscema was the real Marvel House style, to a greater extent than Kirby was. Less quirky.

There is always the 'stupid or brave' thing...much as I want to call the Ring Master stupid I think he has some serious stones.

Events of AVENGERS: EARTH'S MIGHTIEST HEROES (VOL. 2) #6 takes place during this issue. You might want to check it out.

The third of four in my Marvel Treasury Edition. The group shot by Buscema looks even better in the Edition, as it's enormous (I think part of why I didn't sell it is that it didn't fit in my comic boxes and I might have forgotten about it when I sold my collection).

It's strange to think that Hank was Yellowjacket for something like five times the amount of time he was Ant-Man / Giant-Man / Goliath combined.

File this under "anachronism". This issue found it's way onto an episode of M.A.S.H.. I can't recall the season or the episode, but Radar is lying on his cot reading a comic, and it's Avengers #60! Apparently the prop department didn't think it mattered what book he was reading, no one would notice! Has anyone spotted this? Maybe Kang left it in Korea at the 4077th?

There's a screenshot of the scene here. It was episode #91, broadcast Jan.6th, 1974.

Maybe instead of Kang, it was Immortus, cleaning up some Sliding Timescale problems.

You know, I've read this Yellowjacket story a number of times, and I must have been distracted by all the other Freudian bugfuck going on, cos it never sunk in before that Ringmaster is trying to get revenge on Thor? What the hell? I could understand them fighting Daredevil and then thinking maybe they'd win a rematch, but THOR? How different could that possibly have gone? If you're a bunch of carnies and you fought a god, just be glad you got out alive. And they want to get revenge on Thor by aiming to fight basically the entire MU? Strength of numbers is literally the one advantage they ever have, and now they're throwing that away too!

Like fnord said, it would have made sense if they had the Ringmaster hypnotize the heroes into attacking Thor or something.

My No-Prize explanation:

Someone really wanted to disrupt the wedding. Whoever it was considered actually taking part in the disturbance to be beneath them.

Call it Egghead, Doctor Doom, the Thinker, the Puppet Master, whoever...

They kidnapped the Ringmaster and actually hypnotized/brainwashed him and his associates to take this ridiculous action as revenge for their encounter with Thor.

This is why the Ringmaster doesn't hypnotize Hawkeye or anyone else. Because he's "under" himself, he either can't successfully hypnotize anyone else or attempting to do so would break his own enthrallment. So he's given a hypnotic command not to attempt to use his powers. Obviously he snaps out at some point before his next appearance and maybe he's even successful at pleading that this was an involuntary act, but the true culprit is never identified.

Basically, whoever masterminded this just wanted to break up the "happy" occasion. Any actual injuries or death would just be gravy.

Yeah, I know it's stupid, but it's certainly better than taking the Circus' actions at face value.

You know, that first panel with the circus is similar to one from ASM#22. Not similar enough to warrant a swipe charge but enough to make you wonder if Buscema maybe looked at that issue as a reference since (I think) this is the first time he's drawn them.

Is Ben Grimm channeling Jack Kirby (with his signature stogie) in that last panel?

One thing that's always bugged me is something the Black Kinght says in that last scan: 'Tis enough. 'Twill serve. That's a quote from Romeo and Juliet. One of the characters says it as he's dying, observing that while his wound is not that big, it's big enough to kill him. It's an odd thing to say at someone's wedding. It must have stuck in Bob Harras' mind as well; one of the characters quotes it at a key moment in his Gatherers saga.

"Dick an' Liz"=Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor.

Jonathan, the reason that Maynard and the boys think they can take Thor is because the Thor they fought in Thor #147 was a semi-depowered Odinson, ol' Longhair not getting his full Asgardian mojo back until #150, IIRC. That's why he has to hitch a ride on Spider-Man's web in FF#73, for example.

So to the Circus, Thor's just another Daredevil-level foe, all puffed up with the "god" shtick, but not that different than their usual opponents. And heck, they've fought the Hulk! Compared to him, Thor's a nobody.

This is a serious mistake and hardly excuses the incredibly poor tactics noted in the review. But it's why "ah, Thor ain't so tough" isn't completely bonkers from the Circus's p.o.v. They're lucky they don't get slapped in the face by reality here, obviously.

Another example where the review and comments are more entertaining than the actual comic.