QUESTION 1: If you were Henry Peter Gyrich in Avengers Volume 1, #181, who would you have chosen from the Marvel Universe to make up the seven member team roster?
QUESTION 2: What was your first job and what was your worst job?
Wednesday, March 29, 2017
Two Questions: The Gyrich Directive and the Employment Adjective!
QUESTION 1: If you were Henry Peter Gyrich in Avengers Volume 1, #181, who would you have chosen from the Marvel Universe to make up the seven member team roster?
QUESTION 2: What was your first job and what was your worst job?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
18 comments:
I really liked the line-up at the end of ish 151, just remove Hank McCoy and put in Hawkeye. So it's IM, Cap, Vish, Wanda, Hank, Janet and Clint...
Worst job..? 2am kitchen staff at a supper club, washing dishes, then later in college doing book-keeping for a jewelry store with annoying salesmen all looking over your shoulder at their percentages from sales.
Best job..? Working in a Green Giant canning factory 30hrs a week with fun people.., job was essentially watching blanchers and keeping the bean flow coming to the canners. I did it for 4 summers.., wasn't a lot of cash for college, but the long hours made up for it. Even the 6pm-6am 12hr shifts weren't bad at all.
Ooops, read the question again, the 'first job'..? Three summers of delivering both morning and afternoon editions of the Milwaukee Journal/Sentinel.
I actually rode my bike on the interstate for a mile just to deliver papers to a trailer park almost every day. The guy at the Journal office couldn't believe I did that for three years, snow/rain you name it.
(they used a car after I quit..)
That Avengers issue was the first one that I owned (up to then I just read my older brother's). I'm going to answer that line-up question based on what my 7-year-old self would have hoped for:
Beast
Wonder Man
Quicksilver (or if weren't around, The Whizzer)
Vision
Iron Man
Yondu (I always liked that guy...even more than Hawkeye)
and...upon learning he was an option, why not The Falcon? He was one of my favourites, too.
also would've liked Captain America, Black Panther, Yellowjacket and, if we really needed a "girl", Scarlet Witch.
First job: lifeguard
Worst job: telemarketer
-david p.
1. That was one of my favorite eras of the Avengers. Some really awesome stories came from that Michelinie / Byrne run. (I especially love the Absorbing Man 2-parter).
Anyway, if I was a picking a 7 man (and/or women) team of Avengers I would personally go with:
Captain America
Quicksilver
Hawkeye
Scarlet Witch
Iron Man
Wonder Man
Ant-Man
(Runners-up: Vision, Beast, Thor, and Wasp)
2. My first job was working at a dog kennel in which the bulk of my duties consisted of picking up dog crap all day. This was mostly outside during the summer in South Florida, btw. I also cleaned out the inside cages, and fed the dogs as well, (of which there were about 200 or so). I was only 12-years old at the time, and I was only paid $12.00 a day for an 8-hour day. I used all the money to buy comics. Only later in life did I realize I was basically being abused and working for slave wages. I'm sure the owner of that place was breaking every child labor law on the books, but she was a friend of my family so my parents let it slide. Which is kind of messed up when you think about it.
Now you might think that must have also been my worst job as well, but you'd be wrong. My worst job was as a telemarketer for AT&T. A job I held for awhile I was attending art school. My best friend got a job there as well at the same time as I did, so if we had the same shift we would carpool to work together. One day, about 3-weeks in, we were riding up in the elevator and it stopped on our floor (the 6th I believe) and the doors opened, and without a word we both just stood there. The doors closed and the elevator went back down to the 1st floor. So I pushed the button for the 6th floor again and we rode back up. When the doors opened again by friend turned to me and said, "I can't do this anymore, dude." and I replied "Me neither." And the doors closed and we got the hell out of there.
First job of any kind: yard work (mowing lawns and raking leaves for neighbors). First "real" job: janitor in an office building, part time (5-9PM, five days a week) after school.
Worst job: the Army.
For the Avengers line-up: Thor, for raw power; Iron Man, for power, and for Tony Stark's technical and financial resources; Captain America, for experience and leadership; Black Widow, for experience and training in espionage and counter-insurgency. After that, any other members seem superfluous. But Henry Pym (whether as Giant-Man, Ant-Man, or Yellow Jacket), the Wasp, and Hawkeye were all experienced as members of the team. So, if it ain't broke, don't try to fix it.
Avengers line-up from that era:
Captain America
Falcon
Charlie-27 (always liked Charlie)
Vision
Scarlet Witch
Yellowjacket
Wasp
First job - paper route/working for my parents for a weekly advertising circular they owned. Had to spend time stuffing inserts, delivering the papers, etc. Hated it.
First real job -- working at a Brown's Chicken. Hated the closing/cleaning aspect of it. I was not very good at following orders when I was 16 and was fired after 30 days. A true life-changing experience. Talk about a wake-up call. I've been a much better employee ever since.
Best job -- my summer contract work for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. We are always treated and valued as true professionals, asked for our input (which is then considered), and entrusted with much responsibility. This, too, has been life-changing for me. Two things I've been taught by Museum personnel have resonated with me in many aspects of my life, and I think are true life lessons for anyone doing anything related to a vocation:
1. When you compose an email that might in any way be construed as controversial, let it marinate on your screen for as long as 30 minutes. Go away and then come back and read it with unemotional eyes. If it's still what you want it to say, hit "send".
2. Don't do anything to embarrass the Museum.
So there.
Doug
Wonder Man (in his old costume)
Vision
Scarlet Witch
Captain Marvel
Ms Marvel
Moondragon
Beast
Wow, that's a tough selection. Picked mainly for the complex, tangled personal histories and chances for story development.
Some favorite characters, some cosmic characters and the Beast/Wonder Man buddy routine. I would have really enjoyed reading 20 or so issues with this team.
First job? A daily morning paper round from 12 years old with an additional Saturday Assistant job at the local library from age 14.
Worst job? A couple of college holiday weeks working the mechanism releasing clay pigeons for shooting. My hands were ripped to shreds and it was a very wet summer.
Hmmm, you said anybody in the Marvel Universe, right? I'd probably go with Cap, Spidey (yeah, I know, people don't like him as an Avenger, but I thought he was great), Vision, Scarlet Witch, Beast, Black Widow, and maybe Jessica Drew, because I think she was underused.
First vaguely steady job was probably painting ... mostly interior, but some outside stuff too. I liked it for the most part, and I was pretty good at it.
Worst job ... I used to help a guy who did carpet cleaning house to house; it wasn't a bad job overall, but some days were terrible, usually ones where I had to haul the water a long distance, or up a bunch of stairs. And in the summer it was brutal, between the heat and the hot water and having to move all the furniture ... I don't miss that.
My Gyrich-mandated team would be:
Captain America
Iron Man
Black Panther
Vision
Scarlet Witch
Beast
Wonder Man
My first job was mowing lawns in town and doing work on greens at the local golf course. Later on, I added stock boy at the local grocery a couple of days a week. Pretty busy summer that year.
My worst job was probably the month or so after I graduated from college. I wasn't having a lot of luck in the job market, so one of my friends hired me at one of the local chicken processing plants as a cost analyst. It was a month of learning about the business, including a couple of weeks of seeing how the chickens were processed. I only worked there for a few weeks, but I didn't eat chicken for about six or eight months.
My boys would be
Cap
Goliath
Hawkeye
Iron Man
Thor
As an aside, I think the visuals from having a really big guy, whether Giant Man /Goliath or Validus when he fights Legion of Superheroes, are powerful and really stir the imagination.
First job: Newspaper boy. They don't seem to exist now, due to abductions / crimes?
Best job: U.S. Army - parachuting out of jets and airplanes, driving/commanding/shooting 105 mm guns on a 100,000 pound battled tank, or flying CH-47 helicopters in Germany. Best 5 years of of my life... a long time ago.
Worst job: Working for the Federal Govt later on. Should have stayed private sector.
Tschuss, Charlie
1. My Avengers list:
Captain America
Iron Man
Scarlet Witch
Vision
Beast
Wonder Man
Black Panther
Much of the lineup from that period on the book. I can't improve on it...
2. First job: mowing lawns around the neighborhood. First 'real' job: flipping burgers at McDonald's. I drank soooo many orange drinks.
Worst job: like David P and William, I had the misfortune to be a telemarketer. One summer in college, trying to sell a lame product to folks who didn't need it. Got fired because I wouldn't stick to the script cards. Similar to William's story, there were two friends working there with me. When I got canned, they both quit, and we all practically danced out the door.
Thanks all for playing along. One side question - which version of that Avengers' table scene do you like the best? The cover Perez version or the Byrne interior version? I've always enjoyed comparing and contrasting the two.
I like the Avengers suggestions, particularly the strange outlying characters that some included. I too think some of the original Guardians of the Galaxy would make interesting Avengers. I always thought they were going that direction during that era, but it never materialized.
My picks: Captain Marvel (Mar-Vell) for galactic threats, Nick Fury for strategy, Beast for humor, Wonder Man for strength, the Wasp for stealth, Yondu for skill, and Deathlok for the inhuman outsider. I guess I am going with an alternate universe Avengers!
Regarding jobs, I too worked an early age paper route, stuffing and delivering the Sunday Tribune and Times. I also cut lawns around the same age. My first job collecting a regular paycheck was working at a public pool as an attendant and janitor. The worst job I had was working for a short film distributor. I worked there for three days and have enough stories to fill almost three days - from a wild and corrupt boss to a deserted warehouse to a strange starting time schedule. Funny now but extremely disconcerting then. Never in my life have I known of any other job where you had to supply your own toilet paper. I kid you not.
Marti - I really, really look forward to hearing about that job!
OK here's my magnificent 7 for the Avengers roster -
1) Captain America - of course, the Star-Spangled Avenger, the world's first super-soldier has to be here.
2) Iron Man - Tony Stark has always been the bankroller behind the Avengers (nifty mansion!)
3) Thor - rounding out the big three, the Son of Odin is another easy pick.
4) Janet Pym - the Wasp is here despite her ever changing outfits!
5) Hank Pym/Giant-Man- or Goliath, or even Yellowjacket.
6) The Vision - c'mon, it ain't the Avengers without our favourite red faced density-altering android!
7) The Scarlet Witch - Wanda makes the cut, although up to this day I can't exactly define her powers.
As for first job, I was a clerical worker at a local bank after college. Worst job? I once taught IT part time; it wasn't so bad, but I realized it wasn't my cup of tea.
- Mike 'what about X-men and Defenders rosters?' from Trinidad & Tobago.
Charlie, thank you for your service.., sorry you only stayed in 5yrs.
I'm heading into retirement next year with 32yrs in; mainly Army Reserves, but my 'Cold War' tour in Germany with the Artillery for the Fulda Gap protection, plus a few deployments to Kuwait and Iraq.
Just the opposite experience in public sector for me. I got paranoid keeping up with all the private sector IT work, started my fed work in 2002. Best decision ever (especially with retirement coming up...).
Dave B you going to check back here tonight? I'll follow up with some thoughts if you do.
My team would be:
Captain America
Discovered frozen in suspended animation since the death of Bucky at the end of World War Two by the Avengers in the truly classic #4, Cap became the leader but more importantly the heart of the team very quickly. Brave, inspirational, wise and tactically astute he embodies what it is to be an Avenger.
Thor
Founder member Thor is the powerhouse of the team who learns to respect and revere his team mates. The other Avengers are awestruck at the presence of a legendary god in their company, they certainly appreciate that he is on their side. Thor provides the team with the ability to span space and time, giving them the opportunity to adventure anywhere in the universe in any era.
Iron Man
Another founding member, Iron Man provides the funds to run and house the team in Avengers Mansion. Often elected Chairman, but usually deferring to Captain America in the heat of battle, Iron Man provides the technology to aid the team in its quest to protect Earth from threats no one hero could withstand. Iron Man also provides Jarvis, the Avengers' butler and confidante.
Scarlet Witch
Joining the team as a member of "Cap's kooky quartet" in Avengers #16, along with her brother Quicksilver and Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch became a mainstay of the team. Her mixture of magical and mutant abilities made her extremely powerful, arguably the most powerful Avenger of them all. Her romance with Vision provided huge scope for sub-plots that ran for years.
Hawkeye
Clint Barton also made his debut as a team member in Avengers #16 as Hawkeye. He also served in the Avengers as Goliath when he took Hank Pym's growth serum. In his early career on the team he constantly clashed with Captain America, due to his difficulties dealing with authority, and Quicksilver, due to his interest in Pietro's sister Scarlet Witch. He experienced feelings of inadequacy due to his lack of super powers, hence his switch to the Goliath persona. Hawkeye demonstrated his worth to the team many times, memorably when he singlehandedly saves the entire team from the Collector in Avengers #174. Hawkeye eventually becomes an authority figure himself and he establishes the West Coast Avengers. Hawkeye is the bravest of all Avengers as he has no super powers or protective technology to aid him in his battles.
Vision
My sixth and final spot on the team is filled by the Vision. Vision is my favourite Avenger and he symbolises the team for me. When I was buying the Avengers in the seventies the Vision's picture was always in the top left corner of the book. The Vision was synonymous with the Avengers in my mind and he still is to this day. I greatly enjoy tales before the Vision appeared and subsequent Silver and Bronze Age adventures when he was not featured in the book but to my mind it was always somehow better when he was there. His ability, as a synthetic being, to be wraith like and phase through solids or become denser than diamond when required are unique. His developing emotions and personality as he comes to terms with his artificial origins and his love for Scarlet Witch provided writers with a depth of storytelling that was very appealing.
Others who could have made the cut:
Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne almost make my six and would certainly be first reserves.
If the Hulk should be on a team it should be the Defenders, Wonder Man and Beast made a great pair in the seventies and I enjoyed the contributions of Hercules, Black Panther, Quicksilver and Black Knight but you have to draw the line somewhere.
My first job was washing test tubes in a science lab and my worst was probably digging graves for an undertaker!
Post a Comment