Avengers #54(cover July 1968, on newsstands on May 9, 1968, 12¢) — “The New Masters of Evil!” », Roy Thomas on screenplay, John Buscema on drawing, Marvel Comics. Rare feature: the character appears there in disguise and under another name. His identity is only revealed #55 (kiosk on June 11, 1968), which constitutes his first appearance openly.
Most first appearances pose a question of degree: how many squares, how visible. This one asks a different and more interesting question:can we speak of an appearance when the character is present but no one, neither the heroes nor the reader, knows who he is?
The market has decided in its own way, and its response determines what you should buy.
A masked apparition, not a partial apparition
This case must be distinguished from the much more common case where a character appears briefly before returning to full light.
Here the character is present throughout the number, he acts, he speaks, he directs. But he wears a hood and presents himself under a borrowed identity, already used before by someone else. The reader of May 1968 believes he is witnessing the return of a known adversary.
The revelation comes in the next issue. What then changes is not the quantity of presence, it is the nature from what we read: the enemy was not who we thought, and he is not even human.
This configuration produces a particular purchasing situation. #54 does contain the first physical appearance. #55 contains the first appearance identifiable. Both fight back, and both sell — at different levels.
Practical advice: on this file, an announcement mentioning “first appearance” without a number is unusable. Ask which one, and check it in the cover photo.
An opponent made by a hero
Here's what really sets this character apart from his contemporaries, and what explains his longevity.
He is not a criminal, nor an invader, nor an accident. He was built, deliberately, by a member of the team whom he then spends his existence destroying. Its creator is a scientist from the hero camp, and this authorship can never be undone.
The narrative process is extremely effective. Each confrontation replays an original fault, and the hero concerned cannot exonerate himself: he did not suffer this threat, he produced it. No other major opponent of this team has such leverage.
We must add an idea which, in 1968, was not self-evident in a superhero comic: that of an artificial intelligence which improves itself. The character rebuilds itself, updates itself, comes back stronger. This characteristic makes it structurally impossible to eliminate definitively, which obviously served successive authors.
This characteristic also has a narrative significance that the authors have exploited tirelessly: each successive version has a number, like a software update, so that the character presents itself as a series of iterations. Few fictional figures so openly assume their own planned obsolescence.
For the collector, this conception explains one thing: the character has never disappeared from the summaries for more than a few years. A threat that cannot be closed is a permanent resource.
Thomas and Buscema
Roy Thomas signs the script for the two issues,John Buscema the drawing. The coupling then held the series and gave it a clear graphic identity.
Buscema builds his pages on broad figures and stable poses, with a sense of mass that is perfectly suited to a metallic antagonist. The character is drawn as a heavy object, not as an agile robot — and this heaviness contributes to the impression of threat.
Thomas, for his part, belongs to the generation of authors coming from fandom, very attentive to the coherence of the published universe. This is a useful reading key: the issues he writes deliberately exploit the past of the series, which explains the resumption of an already known criminal identity to mask the novelty.
The context of 1968
The number appears at 12 cents, a price which precisely locates the period and constitutes a simple authentication mark in the face of a reprint.
The series was then going through a phase of renewal. The composition of the team had changed a lot, and the authors were looking for opponents who could put them in difficulty collectively rather than individually. An enemy designed by one of the members fulfills exactly this function: he knows the team from the inside.
Good news for the buyer: unlike other issues of the same decade, these two issues do not have a version at an increased price or a foreign edition likely to create confusion. We do not find only one print listed for each of them. Identification is greatly simplified.
The neighboring number that should not be missed
A point rarely mentioned to beginners: this character himself made another team member, just a few months later.
This creation appears in an issue close to the same series, published on August 8, 1968. This is another major first appearance, and it belongs to the same publication arc.
The practical consequence is twofold. On the one hand, fans of the two characters covet adjoining issues, which elevates the entire period. On the other hand, it becomes possible to put together a short and very coherent set: four or five consecutive issues which contain two lasting creations and one of the densest sequences of the series.
This is, in my opinion, the best way to approach this issue. Buying the founding number alone is like owning an isolated piece; buying the sequence is like owning a moment.
What the number says
The plot uses a device familiar to readers of the series: an alliance of adversaries reforms under the leadership of a leader, and the team finds itself trapped. Rien, dans cette mise en place, n'annonce une nouveauté.
This is precisely the desired effect. The story sets up a false familiarity to better turn it around: the hood hides not a known criminal but a machine, and this machine knows the team better than the team knows itself. The revelation not only changes the identity of the enemy, it changes the nature of the danger.
One detail deserves to be pointed out to those who buy to read: the issue ends with an open situation. Buying the booklet alone means stopping short of the answer. This is an additional argument in favor of the couple rather than the isolated room.
A figure that has become an archetype
The posterity of this character goes far beyond the comics, and this weighs on demand.
The idea of a machine created to protect and which concludes that humanity itself constitutes the problem has become, in half a century, a commonplace of popular fiction. It is found in cinema, in literature, in games. The 1968 character did not originate this motif, but he offers one of the clearest formulations of it in mainstream comics.
This resonance attracts buyers from elsewhere to the founding issue: science fiction readers, those curious about cultural history, fans of adaptations. It also explains why the character has never experienced a prolonged crossing of the desert - an archetype never goes out of style.
For the collector, the consequence is reassuring: demand for this sequence is based on a lasting idea rather than a fashion, which limits the risk of a deep decline.
The checks to be carried out on the copy
Four checks are enough, identification being simpler here than elsewhere.
The exact number. The decisive point, considering the question of disguise. Read it on the cover, not in the title of the ad.
The price of 12 cents. It attests to a period print and rules out any subsequent republication.
The angles and the back fold. Classic checks from the Silver Age, to be carried out in grazing light. This series features large, solid-colored surfaces on which the wear is obvious.
The integrity of the page block. Ask for confirmation that no coupons have been cut. On the 1968 comics, this lack completely escapes the image and yet certainly downgrades the copy.
The cover price as a benchmark
A word on this detail that many buyers overlook, even though it is the fastest authentication tool they have.
Prices for American comics have evolved in clear increments, and each increment corresponds to a specific time window. A number printed on the cover therefore locates a copy within a few years, without needing to consult anything.
On these two numbers, the expected mention is 12 cents. A different number systematically betrays something else: reprint, collection, or edition intended for another market. It is a verification that takes one second on a correct photo, and which immediately rules out the most common identification errors.
This reflex applies beyond this issue. Getting into the habit of reading the price before the title changes the way we browse ads, and avoids most of the unpleasant surprises on comics from before the 1980s.
Where to start
Three entries, depending on what you're looking for.
Le #55 suitable for whoever wants the image: the character is visible, named, recognizable. This is the number most often cited by readers from the adaptations.
Le #54 is aimed at proponents of strict anticipation. It contains the first physical appearance well, and it generally trades below its successor.
La complete sequence remains the richest solution. It includes the two issues and those which immediately follow, including the creation mentioned above, for a budget which remains reasonable if we accept average states.
To learn more, refer to ourstudy of the ratingas well as toreading guide.
The questions that come up
Avengers #54, dated July 1968 and went on sale May 9, 1968, for 12 cents. But the character acts under a hood and under a borrowed identity: neither the heroes nor the reader know who he is. His first open-face appearance was Avengers #55, on newsstands on June 11, 1968.
#55 if you want the identifiable, named and visible character — it's the one cited by readers from the adaptations. #54 if strict anteriority counts: it contains the first physical appearance and is generally traded below. An ad that promises “first appearance” without giving the number tells you nothing.
It was built by a member of the team that he then seeks to destroy. This authorship can never be canceled: each confrontation replays an original fault, and the hero concerned cannot free himself from it. Added to this is the idea, new in 1968, of an artificial intelligence which improves itself – therefore structurally impossible to eliminate.
No, and that's good news. Unlike other issues of the same decade, only one edition is listed for each: neither version at an increased price, nor foreign edition likely to create confusion. Identification is therefore limited to the number and the printed price of 12 cents.
Those who immediately follow. The character himself made another team member a few months later, in an issue published on August 8, 1968 — another major first appearance. Collectors of the two characters therefore compete for neighboring numbers, which supports the entire sequence.
By the price printed on the cover. American prices have evolved in clear increments, each corresponding to a specific time window: on these two numbers, the expected mention is 12 cents. The check takes one second on a correct photo and immediately rules out reprints, collections and editions intended for other markets. Get in the habit of reading the price before the title.
Buy the sequence rather than an isolated number. Four or five consecutive issues contain two lasting creations and one of the densest sequences in the series. The budget remains reasonable if we accept average conditions, and the whole tells something that a single piece does not tell.
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