Issue(s): Avengers #7, Avengers Classic #7

Original Material
Cover Date: Aug 64
Title: "Their darkest hour!"
Credits:
Stan Lee- Writer
Jack Kirby - Penciler
Chic Stone - Inker

Avengers Classic #7
Cover Date: Feb 08
Title: "Dimension 6.5"
Credits:
Macon Blair - Writer
Michael Avon Oeming - Artist
Mark Beazley & Alejando Arbona - Editor

Review/plot:
Iron Man is suspended from the Avengers for a week because he recently ignored an Avengers summons. The sentence is issued by Thor and you get the sense that he is sort of "playing Odin" as directly after this we see Odin issue a sentence banishing the Executioner and the Enchantress to Earth for recently attacking Thor.

    

Neither sentence makes much sense. Why de-power the Avengers unnecessarily? Make Iron Man pull some extra monitor duty or something. And why, oh, why, would you send a pair of super-powered criminals to stomp around amongst the mortals?

The Asgardian criminals figure they need a mortal ally to help them navigate the human world, so they contact Baron Zemo. They figure they'll help Zemo get rid of Thor's human allies so that they can get their vengeance on Thor.

The Enchantress casts a spell on Thor that makes him think the other Avengers are evil.

He stomps Giant-Man and then Iron Man breaks the spell by reflecting the sun off his armor into Thor's eyes. Thor then zaps Zemo, Enchantress and the Executioner into another dimension.

In the reprint, a back-up story by Macon Blair and Michael Oeming depicts the three criminals in the dimension Thor put them in. They fight a giant jelly fish...

...but the focus of the story is on the interactions between these egotistical and dangerous characters, and it is pretty damn good.

Quality Rating: C-

Historical Significance Rating: 3 - Enchantress and the Executioner join the Masters of Evil, although they don't call themselves that this issue.

Chronological Placement Considerations: Takes place after Tales of Suspense #56. A newspaper headline in this issue informs the public that Zemo has fled the country, information that will be relevant to the Radioactive Man in Untold Tales of Spider-Man #16.

The back-up in the reprint takes place directly after the main story.

References:

• Iron Man ignored an Avengers summons in Tales Of Suspense #56 (referred to here as Iron Man #56).
  
• The Enchantress and the Executioner attacked Thor in Journey Into Mystery #103.
  
• Captain America is moping about the death of Bucky, as depicted in Avengers #4, when Rick Jones shows up wearing Bucky's old costume, resulting in more angst.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? P - reprint back-up story is continuity insert

My Reprint: Avengers Classic #7

"Neither sentence makes much sense. Why de-power the Avengers unnecessarily? Make Iron Man pull some extra monitor duty or something."

I completely agree. That was my first thought on this issue. It's like in high school, where someone skips school and they suspend him - you just gave the person what they already wanted - not to be in school. Why suspend Iron Man and hurt the team?

Zemo should have gathered his original Masters and combined them with Enchantress and Executioner. I can't see the Avengers beating a team like that.

Odin really seems to think banishing people to earth is some kind of humiliating punishment, even though it never really works.

Or maybe Stan Lee got in touch and let him know that the Avengers needed some powerful villains; the Enchantress and to a lesser extent the Executioner stop being Thor foes for a while after this.

Indeed, the Enchantress arguably becomes on of the bigger recurring threats to the Avengers from here all the way through issue #100. Interestingly, Stan writes her as a powerhouse, and not as a "Stan Lee female," and Roy Thomas keeps that going when he takes over the book.

Zemo does just that in Avengers #15-16 (minus the Radioactive Man), and it spells the end of the original MoE.

Even though it doesn't remotely match, I like the backup art a lot, the chunky lines and watercolor-style colors are very pleasing.

The back-up stories in Avengers Classic were very hit or miss, but "Dimension 6.5" was definitely one of the highlights.