Avengers #239

'Late Night Of The Super-Stars'

Welcome back everyone, it's been a long time since my last post here.  My "offline" life got hectic last Fall and I let this go.  Since the Avengers movie comes out this week, I figured it was a great time to restart this blog, with a look at what is likely the best-remembered issue published during Assistant Editors' Month: The Avengers' appearance on Late Night With David Letterman.  Assistant Editor Mike Carlin once again "took over" for regular Editor Mark Gruenwald.
Danny Fingeroth interviewed Carlin about this issue in Back Issue #19: 

FINGEROTH: Was it your idea to try to get the
Letterman show in The Avengers?
CARLIN: Yeah, it was my idea, because I was a big fan of
it. Roger Stern, who was writing Avengers at the time,
also loved Letterman. I called up Letterman’s agent and
they said, “Sure.” It was that simple. We sent a letter,
they signed it, and in the indicia we just had to say, “all
the characters in this book are copyright Marvel Comics
except David Letterman and Paul Shaffer.”

(Carlin wasn't kidding, click on the above image to see the indicia)

FINGEROTH: Now, in the AEM Avengers issue, it’s not like

there was a backup where Letterman met the Avengers

and they shook hands. He was integral to the story itself.

CARLIN: The story involved a running villain, a lightweight

villain for the Avengers, called Fabian Stankowicz.

The Avengers were on Late Night with David Letterman

when Fabian attacked (because it was easier then to

get tickets to David Letterman, I guess). [laughs]

FINGEROTH: Was the issue in the middle of a storyline?

CARLIN: This one did not interrupt a major storyline,

but it used all the regular series characters and it was

in current continuity at the time.

'Late Night Of The Super-Stars' was written by Roger Stern, Penciled by Al Milgrom and inked by Joe Sinnott.  

We open with Hawkeye returning to the Avengers' mansion for the first time in months.  He's brought his new wife Mockingbird to meet his teammates.  Hawkeye is startled at the Vision's appearance, they both recount their recent adventures (Note: On my other blog, I recently reviewed a reprint book that details how Hawkeye met and fell for Mockingbird, read that review here).

When Hawkeye steps out, Vision gets a call from his "brother"  Simon Williams, AKA Wonder Man. Wondy's acting career hasn't been going well, so his agent arranged for him to appear on Late Night With David Letterman!   But, Letterman's people want him to bring along other Avengers.

With most of the team away in California, Vision calls several reserve Avengers to see if they (along with Hawkeye) can appear on Late Night.  Black Panther, Beast and Black Widow agree to accompany Wonder Man on the show.

Bumbling "genius" inventor and wanna-be super-villain Fabian Stankowicz (who was easily defeated by the Avengers in issues 217 & 221) learns of the Avengers booking on Letterman and thinks 'Late Night' will be a good place to exact revenge.

The Avengers all arrive at NBC Studios at 30 Rockefeller Center in New York and exchange pleasantries.

Meanwhile, Stankowicz disguises as a repairman and rigs up trap for the Avengers before joining Letterman's studio audience.

Hawkeye is nervous about how ex-girlfriend Black Widow will get along with his wife Mockingbird, but they get along fine.  Hawkeye is also fretting over the fact that he's having hearing problems (as a result of a recent battle).  He doesn't want this to become common knowledge (it would tip off his enemies that he's not 100%).

Finally, it's show time!  Letterman appears on stage for his monologue.  Bandleader Paul Shaffer is wearing a Captain America t-shirt in honor of the Avengers.

The Avengers join Letterman, their interview begins with a surprise announcement from Beast: He's quitting the Avengers to devote more time towards making the Defenders a "real" team.  Stankowicz is angry, these "Avengers" aren't the same group of heroes who previously defeated him.

Stankowicz figures, "An Avenger is an Avenger", and decides it's time to attack; he activates a camera that shoots laser beams at the Avengers!

Elsewhere in 30 Rock, a dumpster turns into a "metal roller" (Roger Stern's words, not mine!) and attacks the Avengers...destroying Beast's favorite shirt in the process!

Black Panther & Wonder Man try to stop the roller, while Hawkeye & Black widow deal with the laser camera.

Stankowicz believes the Avengers are doomed and decides to introduce himself to Letterman and his viewers.  He says he invented the gizmos that attacked the Avengers, just to prove it could be done....and to make a name for himself.  Letterman realizes he's dealing with a disturbed individual.   Stankowicz goes on to detail how his devices work.  

Hawkeye shoots an arrow at Stankowicz, but he and Letterman are protected by a forcefield.

Finally, Letterman snaps into action and knocks out Stankowicz with the Giant Doorknob!

FYI:The "Giant Doorknob" was frequently featured on early episodes of Late Night

The Avengers make quick work of Stankowicz's machines.

Stankowicz makes a run for it, but runs into Mockingbird, who hands him over to the police.

Wonder Man eagerly anticipates the show hitting the air, but the telecast is interrupted by an emergency news bulletin!  That Wonder Man won't get the exposure from the Letterman show.    But then he listens to the report, and hears that a ship carrying chemicals is on fire in the East River.  The Avengers (led by Wonder Man) rush of to rescue the ship.

I'll "zoom in" on the last two panels and give Beast the last word!:

If you check the "funny credits" (a trademark of AEM) above, you'll see it reads "Stan Lee, Jim Shooter & Mark Gruenwald All On The West Coast", and Larry "Bud" Melman is credited for inspiration.

In case anyone reading this doesn't get the reference, "Bud" Melman was a very funny recurring character on Late Night played by actor Calvert De Forest.  He later followed Letterman to CBS and made appearances on the show until his death in 2007.

Calvert DeForest, AKA Larry "Bud" Melman

Following the story, we get "Michael Carlin's Page O'Avengers Stuff" (similar to a feature Carlin wrote in Crazy magazine) instead of the normal letters column.

Carlin schools a fan who wants a Marvel "No-Prize".  He also holds up a sign that displays the shoe sizes of the Avengers creative team.  At the bottom of the sign, there's another reference to Larry "Bud" Melman.  With two mentions in the same issue, I'm wondering why Melman didn't make an appearance in the story.  Maybe he didn't sign a release?

All in all, this is a very funny issue, probably the high point of Assistant Editors' Month.  I was a big fan of Letterman and Marvel Comics when this came out, so this has long been one of my favorite comic book stories.  I'd like to thank Roger Stern, Al Milgrom, Joe Sinnott and Mike Carlin for making this story happen back in '83!

That's all, next time:
Dazzler visits the San Diego ComiCon!

The Further Adventures Of Indiana Jones #13

Massachusetts Brown:Raiders Of The Lost Book
(Disclaimer:"Indiana Jones", "Raiders Of The Lost Ark" and all related characters are property of Lucasfilm Limited.)
Welcome back, today we look at Marvel's short-lived Indiana Jones series, featuring another appearance by Assistant Editor Eliot R. Brown.

The Further Adventures Of Indiana Jones was published by Marvel from 1982-85, 34 issues total. It was a generally fun series that captured the feeling of Raiders Of The Lost Ark (the only "Indy" movie released at that point). The series featured work by comics luminaries like Denny O'Neil, John Byrne, Terry Austin, Steve Ditko, David Mazzuchelli, Archie Goodwin, Herb Trimpe, David McElinie and Jackson Guice. Dark Horse currently owns the rights to the reprints of these stories, you can buy them here if you're interested. I e-mailed Brown about AEM last month, he was kind enough to write me back. He mentions this issue of Indy:

"I could not interject myself into an Indiana Jones Adventure or a Star Wars episode. Even comics has rules about time, space and realities... well, you know! It was probably Louise Jones, an unsung genius of comic craft-- who was also my boss at the time, who suggested I tell an associated story. And that worked out very well for Indy, Star Wars and even the X-Men-- which was right in the middle of some galactic space opera"

So, just like AEM's Star Wars issue, Brown shows up at the end in a one-page story titled Massachusetts Brown:Raiders Of The Late Book.
It was written by Brown with art by Brown and Mike Carlin.
Let's break down the story:

Brown is trying to deliver the new issue of Indiana Jones to Virginia Romita, Marvel's long-time Traffic Manager (and also wife and mother of John Romita Sr. and Jr., respectively). His fellow Assistant Editors are preventing him from getting the book to her on time by throwing pies at Brown! Instead of Indy's whip, he only has a T-square to defend himself.

Brown is already running late and wants to make a good impression while the regular Editor is away.

He's almost arrived a Virginia's desk, when suddenly, he trips over a pie! Brown is officially late! Virginia orders Mike Carlin to "Hiddim Widda Pie!"

That ends another installment of AEM Online, I want to thank Eliot R. Brown for writing me about this issue, and thanks to him and Mike Carlin for a nice little Indy parody!

'Bullpen Bulletins':'Assistant Editors' Month' edition!

I'm still working on the next "real" post about AEM, but here's the 'Bullpen Bulletins' column from that month. Editor In Chief Jim Shooter normally wrote these at the time, but this month it's his assistant, Lynn E. Cohen at the helm. It's nice that Cohen puts the (Marvel) spotlight on some of the unsung heroes of 1980s Marvel:

'Marvel Fanfare' #12

'Marvel Annfare'

(Above:Back cover for 'Marvel Fanfare' #12)

Since the multimillion blockbuster 'Captain America' movie was released last weekend, I thought it was a good time to look at another AEM story that (sort of) featured Cap.

A little background on this series:

'Marvel Fanfare' was launched in late 1981 (#1 was cover dated March 1982). It was an anthology series printed on glossy Baxter paper. Most issues contained more than one story.

The Editor for the series was long-time writer-artist Al Milgrom. At the beginning of every issue, the inside cover featured a comic strip called 'Editori-Al', where Milgrom(who also drew the strips) spoke directly to the reader. Here's one, from 'Marvel Fanfare' #5:

And Milgrom was usually featured in the corner on most issues of the series too:

Since the book's Editor also served as its "mascot", 'Fanfare' was more AEM-ready than any other title!

But back to #12, starting with the cover. The Black Widow is the main attraction(since the first story of this issue is part 3 of a 4-part Widow story), and it's a "normal" story.

But the corner box shows Milgrom getting pushed aside by Assistant Editor Ann Nocenti, who was featured in an earlier post.


With Editor Milgrom "away" at the Comic-con, Nocenti also takes over his strip, renaming it 'Editori-Gal'. We get appearances from several Marvel creators pitching ideas for future 'Marvel Fanfare' stories. She approves all the story proposals and acting as Editor of 'Fanfare' seems to come naturally and easily to Nocenti.
Check out the "sketch" of Longshot behind Nocenti in the 2nd panel, 2 years before the character mad his debut!

After the Black Widow story, we get to 'Marvel Annfare', written by Nocenti and Roger Stern, with Milgrom providing the art. It sort of picks up where 'Editori-Gal' left off.
Stern rushes in to Nocenti's office.

Stern's upset because no Editors are present and he has ideas he wants to pitch to them. The Assistant Editors don't have the authority to approve of future storylines beyond AEM. Stern is worried he won't be able to get ahead of schedule, which was rare in those days. Nocenti points out that he has extra time to work on an upcoming Captain America story that will be published in 'Fanfare'.
Stern is too depressed to write the story, so Nocenti decides he needs inspiration. She (literally) breaks out a Captain America costume for Stern to wear, hoping to spark his creativity.
Check out panel 3 on the above page for a horrible pun about Thor's Uru Hammer!

Stern dons the Cap suit, and Nocenti is impressed with how great it looks on him!


Until she realizes she was looking at the real Cap, who pops in for a cameo. Stern looks silly in the ill-fitting costume, but Nocenti keeps offering encouragement:

Stern used to write Cap's series and remembers that Cap's principles not his strength & agility were his defining characteristic. He waxes poetic about Cap being a symbol for the qualities that make America great. Stern then gets a little gung-ho and throws Cap's shield around the Marvel offices.
The shield bounces off walls and eventually out the window into the garbage. After debating about what sound effect the shield made when it hit the dumpster, they go outside to retrieve it, but are frightened by what they see.


They stumble on a gang of tough, scary looking vandals who are defacing Marvel's exterior walls! One of them pulls the shield out of the dumpster and Stern is reluctant to ask him to give it back. Nocenti tells him to embrace his inner-Captain America and reason with the vandals.

Much to his surprise, "Captain Ameri-Stern" is able to talk down the vandals and actually convinces them to take pride in their city. They proceed to clean their graffiti off the walls!

They return inside, Stern takes off the suit. He is ready to write the Cap story and thanks Nocenti for aiding the creative process. But suddenly a package from Al Milgrom arrives. It's a stack of Avengers stories for Stern, so the 'Captain America' story is pushed to the back burner.

Feeling a sense of accomplishment, Nocenti returns to her desk. Suddenly, another writer rushes in with a similar problem:It's Bill Mantlo! His proposal for a Rocket Raccoon/Jack Of Hearts team-up has been turned down by Marvel. Nocenti realizes that she's in for a long day, and she has learned that being a full-time Editor is hard work. The end.

Another funny story from AEM. I love the "Orphan Annie" eyes that Milgrom gives Nocenti. It was nice to flashback to the old Marvel Bullpen and the cameos of 80s creators (including the late Frank Springer).

And while we're on the subject of Stern & Captain America, I recommend all readers pick up the Captain America tpb called 'War And Remembrance', written by Stern. I contains some of the all-time best Cap stories!

The issue ends with 'Robbie's Page'. 'Fanfare' normally ended with 'Shooter's Page', a column written by Editor In Chief Jim Shooter. He would talk about the industry, offer commentary on comics, storytelling techniques, stuff like that. But since it's AEM, this month's edition was written by Marvel Colorist Robbie Carosella. He talks about his work in the Marvel Stat room and the Marvel Softball team, which he managed at the time.

Coming up next:
Indiana Jones And The Raiders Of The Late Book!