The Bitter Taste of Defeat
By Stan Lee, Don Heck and Wally Wood.
Line Up: Captain America, Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch and Hawkeye.
Villains: Power Man and the Enchantress.

So what happens?:
Hawkeye and Cap still can't get on and when Hawkeye aims an arrow at his leader Quicksilver and Wanda get involved. Wanda gets upset when Clint insults her brother and sends him to the floor with a hex bolt. Cap and Pietro start arguing when Cap tries to reprimand Wanda. All in all the team aren't really getting along.

In South America Eric Josten stumbles from the jungle to the safety of Zemo's abandoned base . Coming across the machines that created Wonder Man he considers using them on himself. Amora the Enchantress has been monitoring him magically and arrives on the scene offering to use the machines to give him super powers.

He agrees and after deciding on a name and costume, Power Man btw, the pair travel to New York and set about destroying the Avengers. Their first strategem works very well, the Avengers answer a call from the teen brigade about a monster smashing up the city. Shield's arrows and hex bolts dont have much affect on the monster but do cause a lot of property damage. When the cops turn up it seems that nobody else saw the monster, just the Avengers on the rampage.

Tony Stark pays for repairs but the Avengers are out of the public's good books. Next the team gets a call about damage to a subway train line. When Pietro goes to investigate he is knocked out by Power Man and left in front of an approaching train. In order to save his team mate Hawkeye derails the train with a blast arrow damaging the Avengers reputation still further.

The team retreats back to the Mansion and when Cap states the obvious about someone trying to frame them Clint blows his top once again.

Next the Enchantress engineers a theft by some crooks dressed as security guards. Power Man shows up and stops the theives but Cap, drawn to the scene by Amora's magic, thinks he is robbing legitimate guards and attacks. Amora slows him down enough for Josten to knock him out. Power Man is praised for stopping a robbery while Cap and the Avengers get lambasted in the press.

After making fun of Cap's incompetence Hawkeye goes to see Power Man at the address he had given to the press. He accuses him of setting up the deception with the security guards but gets knocked out by Josten. Wanda and Pietro have both independently decided to check out Power Man as well. Pietro gets beaten by Josten and Wanda is arrested for trespassing on Josten's property.

The city has had enough of the Avengers and issues a court order forcing them to disband. The team is united in feeling that the new line up has disgraced the Avengers name and aren't up to the task of carrying on from real heroes like Iron Man and Thor.

So is it any good?:
Yes, it holds up very well and has some of Lee's best writing on the title. I have been impressed with the plots of the various Avengers villains. These days villains just tend to show up or invade the teams headquarters to be met with violence from the heroes. In these early issues the villains took the time to come up with actual plans that often left the Avengers unable to simply lash out in response.

The Enchantress' plot is reasonable, the city doesn't turn on the Avengers immediately but waits for a number of mishaps all of which are fairly logical. In fact this is one of the best uses of magic wielding opponent I can think of. She manages to destroy the Avengers reputation via spells and a lackey without the team even knowing she is involved. It would probably be dull if villains always acted so intelligently, the team wouldn't stand a chance but it is nice to see now and again.

Josten comes across as a common thug given a shot at the big time and like the Swordsman before him he is interesting because he isn't a campy villain intent on ruling the world. He is someone who is just looking to get out of the jungle alive and thinks that code names and costumes are a bit silly. When he gets his powers he is an effective and competent villain. That wouldn't last but you can see the roots of his Thunderbolts appearances in this story, he is a trained soldier who does whatever is needed for his boss.

Wood's inks mean that this is one of the best looking issues in Heck's run. Very nice stuff indeed especially their depiction of Wanda.

Hawkeye being on Cap's back at every opportunity reminded me of the latest run. He is a jerk here but you can't help but like him more than the straight laced Cap. The fact that the occasional thought bubble shows that he realises he is being a jerk adds another level to him.

Pietro and Wanda are still being overshadowed by the others, the villains dont even deal with Wanda they simply have her arrested for tresspassing. It would be a long while before they were a genuinely interesting part of the book.

I liked the fact that the Avengers felt they had let down the founders and that they weren't worthy of being Avengers. Lee did a good job of keeping this quartet as the underdogs and used the books history to keep them in the shadow of more powerful heroes like Thor and Iron Man. This and the squabbling meant that when they did prove to be a formidable team it had far more impact. Lee took a JLA clone and humanised it.

Are there any goofy moments?
No it is a fairly straightforward story.

Avengers Facts:
Considering he got through so many identities Eric is rather reluctant to take up a code name. At first he wants to use his real name and tells the Enchantress he doesn't want anything childish like Wonder Man. He isn't that impressed with Power Man either.

The Enchantress was shaping up to be one of the teams most persistant foes, her last appearance before this story had been in FF annual 3 where she battled Hawkeye of all people. No wonder she had it in for the team.

Is it a landmark?:
It has become one recently. Until Thunderbolts created a new interest in Eric Josten I would have said no but these days it is becoming a key issue.

Where can I read it?:
In the Essentials or Masterworks volumes, Marvel Triple Action 15 or the Thunderbolts: Marvel's most Wanted tpb