October 1971: Avengers #95

Courtesy of The Warrior's Comic Book Den, where the entire issue was recently reposted, I'll take the opportunity to actually re-read this one for this look back.

But before I do, let me try to remember what attracted me to this, my first sampling of Marvel Comics.
Actually, it's pretty easy to remember: I opened it up and took a look inside, and there, on the splash page, was a gorgeous rendition of a superhero that looked like the freaking Creature from the Black Lagoon! I'd eventually learn that this was Triton, one of the Inhumans, a secluded tribe of superpowered beings created by Jack Kirby and Stan Lee years earlier in Fantastic Four. I didn't need to know that, now, though, all I needed was artist Neal Adams' irresistible rendition of the character to make the sale.
Despite the overload of colorful characters, which I surely appreciated, I remember being disappointed to read it and find that this was not only a middle chapter of a continued saga, with no satisfying resolution, but that it also continued from a different comic book that I'd never heard of or seen before (that is, the Inhumans series that had recently been dropped from the Amazing Adventures comic book series). From what I could piece together, I wanted to read this Inhumans lead-in, but I knew that there was no way for me to get it now.
Despite the disappointment, I must observe that I had been pretty lucky so far in my selections of first comics, sampling some of the best artists--Kirby, Adams, Anderson--ever to work in the business. And art would always be a primary point of interest, although I certainly would pull lots of third-rate examples off the spinner rack in years to come.
And now, off to actually read the comic again...!