Avengers: The Private War Of Doctor Doom

Reprints Avengers #150-156, Avengers Annual #6 and Super-Villain Team-Up #9

Written by Steve Englehart,Gerry Conway,Bill Mantlo & Scott Edelman.
Penciled by George Perez, John Buscema, Jim Shooter, Sal Buscema, Herb Trimpe & Jack Kirby.
Inked by John Tartaglione, Joe Sinnott, Pablo Marcos, Sal Trapani, Duffy Vohland, Mike Esposito, Herb Trimpe & Dick Ayers.

The time has come, once again, for the Avengers to select a new roster. Iron Man will be the new chair, with Captain America, Beast, Scarlet Witch,Vision, Wasp and Yellowjacket filling out the ranks.

The Avengers meet the press to announce their new line-up, when Wonder Man suddenly shows up. But he's dead?! Wonder Man is walking and talking like a brain-dead zuvembie (see below for an explanation about zuvembies). He accuses the Vision of stealing his mind before passing out. Vision is upset since this is somewhat true: his android brain is patterned after Wonder Man's dead brain.

They figure out that Wonder Man was in Louisiana before he showed up, so the Avengers fly their Quinjet to New Orleans. They learn that Wonder Man was sent to their mansion by the Black Talon, an evil fake voodoo priest who directs Wonder Man and a gang of zuvembies to attack the Avengers.

But it turns out that the real culprit behind Wonder Man's reappearance is the Living Laser. He's found the Serpent Crown and is more powerful than ever! Living Laser has a company of U.S. Army soldiers under his control and he's revived the nuclear-powered mutant man-child called Nuklo! Luckily for the Avengers, Wonder Man recovers his memory and he's able to help the Avengers in battle. Nuklo's father, the Golden Age Whizzer also plays a vital role in this conflict.

Alternate Cover

The Avengers are able to defeat Living Laser and confiscate the Serpent Crown (dumping the crown in the Pacific Ocean), but as soon as that battle is over, Vision is captured by Attuma, the barbarian warlord from Atlantis. He sends his super-powered henchman Tyrak to capture the rest of the Avengers.  But the Beast and Wonder Man get away. It turns out Tyrak's strength has been medically enhanced by Atlantean science.

The Whizzer lashes out at the Vision

Attuma places control collars on the Avengers and forces them to go after the Sub-Mariner. However, when they look for Namor at his Hydrobase, they are instead met by Doctor Doom! The collars make them a bit sluggish, so Doom easily defeats the Avengers.

Captain America stands up to Tyrak!

Beast, Wonder Man and Whizzer head off to rescue the Avengers. Unfortunately, Namor and Attuma arrive at the same time.  

Iron Man falls against Doctor Doom!

The Avengers learn that Attuma plans to make an army of super-powered Atlanteans in the mold of Tyrak. They ask Doom to join them (and Namor) in an alliance against Attuma. Will he join them? Can their combined might stop Attuma and Tyrak?

And if that isn't enough, we also get a solo story starring the Vision. The Whirlwind, an old foe of the Avengers has returned, and it's up to Vizh to stop him!

Review:

Some notes and background info on the issues reprinted in Avengers: The Private War Of Doctor Doom:
-Doctor Doom doesn't actually show up until page 141. That doesn't bother me, but the title might give you the impression that it features all Doom all the time.
-When these stories were published, Namor had recently sworn an oath of loyalty to Doom. In exchange, Doom promised to revive the population of Atlantis from a toxin-induced coma. That's why Doom was on the Hydrobase when the Avengers arrived.

-The reason why Wonder Man is a "zuvembie" rather than a zombie is because zombies were considered taboo in comics at this time and Marvel didn't want to risk offending the Comics Code Authority.  

Also, I should mention that the first issue that's reprinted here (Avengers #150) was running behind schedule when it was originally published, so 12 pages of  the story are reprinted from Avengers #16, which was published during the Silver Age (so it doesn't get reviewed here!).

Story:
There's a lot going on in this hardcover, but the multiple stories all lead into one another very smoothly. The formation of the new team leads right into the story about Wonder Man, which leads to the Serpent Crown, which leads to Attuma and Doom.  

Gerry Conway writes the bulk of Private War, with the last two parts being written by Bill Mantlo and Jim Shooter. 

I like the portrayal of Doom here (by Conway and Mantlo).  Just the right amount of arrogance, dignity, and evil, but not without a twisted moral code.  

 Attuma is also well-written here. He's not an A-list villain, but here, Attuma is enough of a threat that Doom considers teaming up with the Avengers. If there's anything wrong with this story it's Tyrak. He defeats all the Avengers (except Beast, who flees) in a few pages. I guess Conway was trying to build up Tyrak as a monster-level threat, but it seemed to easy.  

And this is an interesting team of Avengers. With Scarlet Witch, Vision, Wasp & Yellowjacket, we have two married couples on the roster.    

Art:
The art here is outstanding. George Perez is still developing his style, but his pencils look great here. John Buscema and his brother Sal are just as good. Jim Shooter penciled 17 pages too. He's not in the same league as the other artists, but his work here is okay. There's also a short Vision solo story penciled by Herb Trimpe that also looks fine. Most of the inking is done by Pablo Marcos and Joe Sinnott. Their work nicely compliments the pencils here.

How does it look?:
As good as the original issues, only better. Check out this great fight scene, scanned from the book:

Extras:
We get a reprint of the letters column from Avengers #151. This column explains why half of issue # 150 was a reprint.

My rating:
The story isn't the best ever, but the pencils of Perez & the Buscema Brothers (three of the definitive Bronze Age artists in one book!) make it worth purchasing. Here's another great page from the book, in case you need any more convincing:

.5

3 and half Sals.