The real Hawkeye

As Game of Thrones writer/creator George R. R. Martin noted in his review of The Avengers, the movie was mostly great, but one of the big issues we both had was that the character of Hawkeye got a bit shafted (ooh, my blog's first pun).

Hawkeye fans like myself were hoping for some of the tension that shows up between him and Captain America in the early Avengers comics.

(Avengers #28, May 1966)

Instead we got a rather bland and undefined Jeremy Renner.

Just...whatever...

For now I'll just be hoping we get a more interesting Hawkeye in future films. Seeing him sporting his trademark mask might be a little too much to hope for though.

On a related note, I found an interesting article detailing the supposed world-greatest-archer's lack of good technique in the movie. Check it out.

Cyclops is a dick

Superman isn't the only superhero capable of superdickery:

(The X-Men #26, Nov. 1966)

C'mon, Cyclops--did being a dick really save you that much time over just going around him? By the way, superdickery.com was definitely a partial inspiration for starting these scans, so be sure to check out the site if you're into this kind of thing (no affiliation). 

Oh, and Cyke gets his ass kicked on the next page:

I like to think the guard came over and kicked him in the back of the head while he was unconscious.

Nazis are dicks

We all know Nazis were dicks. It's in the history books.

But Captain America's WWII sidekick Bucky experienced it firsthand:

 Luckily, these Nazis weren't very intelligent--showing your prisoners that your guns aren't loaded--?! Do people get any dumber than that?

But what comes next doesn't make a ton of sense:

(Tales of Suspense #67, Jul. 1965)

Wait--they were using blanks? I thought their guns weren't even loaded--but you can see their guns firing here--but then when the prisoners take the guns and start shooting back...are they firing more blanks?? Whaaaat?????

And what do they mean that Bucky "heard of dot trick from somevon"? Didn't they just tell him they were blanks? But then the guy in the last panel says "That's right! He knew--and he told us!" 

I'm guessing this is one of those times were writing a billion different comics each month started to catch up with Stan Lee.

The Red Skull gains the upper hand

Going through my older Essential volumes (which reprint years' worth of a particular title, natch) is what gave me the idea for doing these comic scans in the first place--there's a lot of great stuff to be found here, and the fact that they are in black-and-white makes them easier to scan.

Anyway, here are a few panels from some early Captain America stories. Forgive the smearing from the center of the book; it was the best I could do.

First up, the Red Skull shows his softer side:

(Tales of Suspense #66, Jun. 1965)

 After the Red Skull gives Cap a "chemical" that puts him under the Skull's control, he gives Cap "the Final Test":

(Tales of Suspense #67, Jul. 1965)

That proves it, huh Skull?