Avengers #30

as my pal Tim left off with the Avengers here (and check out the rest of his blog, it's pretty darn great) with #29, I decided to proceed with the rest of the series from that point.

"Frenzy in a Far off Land"

our story begins with Wanda and Pietro deciding to leave the Avengers.  their powers had been fading for some time and they think traveling back to their homeland could help restore them.  how this would affect a mutants powers is beyond me, and Pietro even wonders if they are not true mutants.  I think this might have been addressed later on in the series, but for now, we'll leave it at that.  Cap overhears their conversation and grants them a well earned vacation.

Hank Pym, now "Goliath" is stuck at ten feet tall and moping about it, with some justification.  he sends Jan away and then sees an article in the paper (oddly enough, not the Bugle) about his old professor Dr. Anton, who's in South America.  he borrows the last air car Tony Stark invented and heads south.  good thing it recharges itself by using it's own energy.  that Stark is a genius!

meanwhile, Cap, Hawkeye and the Wasp are searching for the Black Widow, Power Man and the Swordsman.  the Wasp overhears where the Widow is and reports back.  Hawkeye wants to go it alone with them, and Cap gives him permission.  given that Power Man is as strong as Wonder Man who's almost as strong as Thor, this seems a bit odd, but it's good drama.

Hawkeye battles the three villains and manages to hold his own, due to the fact he and Natasha can't really fight each other properly.  she comes to her senses, telling him the Reds had brainwashed her.

we leave the story with the Wasp seeing the air car on the news, and we all know where the Avengers are headed.

good artwork by Don Heck, aping Kirby a bit here and there.  Stan's love of soap operas is apparent in the schmaltzy romance dialog, but it's not bad.  it's a cool story in that Hawk and Hank are the only ones to see action, but the rest of the Avengers get plenty of development.