Avengers (1st series) #159

Issue Date: 
May 1977
Story Title: 
Siege by Stealth and Storm
Staff: 

Jim Shooter (writer), Sal Buscema (penciler), Pablo Marcos (inker), Denise Wohl (letterer), Doc Martin (colorist), Archie Goodwin (editor)

Brief Description: 

Graviton is proud to have defeated the mighty Avengers, but as he tries to impress his love interest Judy he realizes that she is does not care for him at all. In exchange for the safe return of all the other scientists of the research station, including her husband Joe, Judy agrees to do as Graviton demands. Later the hovering island reaches New York, where Graviton blackmails the UN. For the whole time the Avengers have to watch helplessly as they are pinned to a large wall. Jarvis doesn’t know what to do, as help arrives in the former Avengers Thor and Black Panther. They invade the island and Thor keeps Graviton busy for the Panther to free the Avengers. However soon Graviton defeats the assembled team for a second time. Checking on his bride Judy, he finds her gone. A trail of jewelry leads to the edge of the island; apparently Judy could no longer stand it and jumped off. Boiling mad Graviton unleashes his full might, but his power backfires as all of the island’s mass crashes in on himself and hardens into a giant heavy ball of concrete. The Avengers deal with it by dumping it into the ocean. Returning home they find out that Judy had been rescued by their butler Jarvis with a sky-sled.

Full Summary: 

The Avengers lie battered and unconscious. Graviton raises them in the air while boasting. “"Did you see how easily I beat them?" He turns to speak to Judy, but Judy has been knocked out by Raquel. Graviton smacks Raquel who protests that she was the only one who remained loyal. Shots ring out and Graviton turns to see that the former employees of Research City have escaped from their guards and are now armed. Joe (Judy’s husband) is leading them. They open fire on Graviton who creates an intensified gravity field around his body to deflect the bullets. Graviton states that he has no further use for them and sends them flying over the edge of the flying city! Judy revives just then and tells Graviton that she’ll do anything he says as long as he spares Joe. Graviton then sends Raquel flying over the edge to join the rest of the employees. Judy screams, but Graviton assures her that they will simply float to the earth unharmed.
Hours later, a strange shadow starts to cover New York City. Graviton has taken his flying island city to America and he is hovering over New York. An interceptor squad of Airforce Fighters tries in vain to blast through the force field surrounding the floating chunk of Canadian real estate, but to no avail! Jarvis is watching the news on the television. Graviton has demanded that world power be surrendered to him or he will destroy the great cities of the world one by one starting with New York. The news also states that the eight Avengers who attacked Graviton have not been heard from. Jarvis raises a toast to the fallen heroes when the Black Panther, who sneaked into the mansion, asks him if he truly believes they are dead. T’Challa decides that he will fly up to the island using one of the Avengers’ one-man sky sleds. He is not sure about how he will penetrate the force field, but then Thor appears and offers his help. The two then streak off towards the island. Jarvis once again stands alone.
Back on the island, we see that Graviton has immobilized the Avengers and pinned them to a slab of concrete. Judy is now decked out in the queenly garments that Graviton gave her. She stands there in complete emotional agony while Graviton continues boasting. "The UN won’t dare defy me! I expect their answer any moment." Thor arrives and slams into Graviton, but the force field holds and Thor is knocked back. He then summons the lightning with his hammer but Graviton is still standing! Thor can’t believe it! Graviton throws a building at Thor, but Thor knocks it to pieces with his hammer. He sends an energy bolt from his hammer, but Graviton manages to send it back to Thor, thus stunning him.
On the slab, Iron Man is trying to use the power of his jet boots combined with his repulsor rays to break free. Once past the artificial gravitation field, he is able to step down. He is not sure whether he should help Thor on his own, or try to release the rest of the heroes. Black Panther then shows up and tells Iron Man to go help Thor, because he has a device from Stark’s lab which (he hopes) will free the rest of the group. Iron Man flies off and tries to knock Graviton over by impacting the ground at the edge of the gravity field. He then lands a mean left that actually dents the field. Unfortunately, it is not enough and Iron Man is sent reeling again. Once again Graviton stands triumphant!
The rest of the Avengers have now been released, and are on the attack. Graviton however, merely gestures to encase them in another sphere of gravitic energy. He turns to see what Judy thinks of his power. Judy is nowhere to be seen, but Graviton spies the tiara he had given her and then follows a trail of discarded jewelry to the edge of the island. Judy has jumped off! Graviton blames the Avengers and goes wild! He decides to release ALL of his power at once in order to blast the Avengers into atoms. Graviton’s power goes haywire and chunks of the island start breaking off and flying towards Graviton. Captain America states "Everything is being pulled toward Graviton... as if he’s become a living black hole!" The Avengers decide they had better leave the island while they still can! The island continues to compact until it is a small, incredibly dense sphere which falls to Earth. Thor, Vision, Iron Man, and Wonder Man catch the falling sphere and toss it into the ocean. The city has been saved!
They return to Avengers mansion where they are saddened by the death of Judy which, more than anything else, caused the defeat of Graviton. They are surprised to find her sitting in the mansion taking tea with Jarvis! He confesses that he only wanted to help, and took the liberty of borrowing one of the sky sleds to see if he could at least create a diversion. He explains that as he approached the island, Judy fell out of the sky and Jarvis was able to save her. Well done Jarvis!

Characters Involved: 

Beast, Black Panther, Captain America, Iron Man, Scarlet Witch, Thor, Vision, Wasp, Wonder Man, Yellowjacket (all Avengers)

Jarvis, the Avengers’ butler
Daredevil
Graviton
Joseph, Judy, Raquel (former colleagues of Frank Hall)

Story Notes: 

none

Written By: