No, not these guys...
...but these guys!
What does the John Steed and Emma Peel version of The Avengers have to do with comic books, you might ask? (Go ahead: "What does the John Steed and Emma Peel version of The Avengers have to do with comic books, Bully?") I'm glad you asked. Yes, there's been only a handful of American comic books dealing with the British version of The Avengers, but in this case instead of comic books based on a TV episode, let's go straight to the source and watch a TV episode with comic books in it: let's watch together a classic 1967 episode from the
The entire series of The Avengers is rightly known as a television (or, as they say, 'telly') classic for its clever wit, elegant action, suspenseful mystery and mod British charm, but the show was really hitting on all cylinders in this era. Just as all right-minded people know that Sean Connery was the best James Bond ever, everybody will nod sagely if you proclaim that the best partner Steed ever had was Mrs. Emma Peel, played by the incomparable Diana Rigg. Not to say the other actors aren't worth your while: I personally enjoy the elaborate details of the Tara King episodes, and Honor Blackman is the very definition of a tough gal, and I even have a special fondness for the campy charm of the Mike Gambit and Purdey episodes of The New Avengers from the seventies (my first intro to Steed and Company, thanks to late-Friday-night showings on CBS in '76 and '77), but Dame Diana rules supreme over all, even when she's not wearing that famous Hellfire Club outfit. Every element that everyone remembers about The Avengers is often used to best advantage in the color Rigg series: the dapper elegance of John Steed, the mod fashions of Emma, the jazzy Laurie Johnson score, the cast of English eccentrics, and the many bewildering ways in which a businessman or aristocrat is killed mysteriously and Steed and Emma are called in to find out why. These episodes even feature the classic title cards that sum up the episode in two pithy phrases:
Steed and Emma investigate Simon Roberts's murder: dozens of stories above the ground, his office was broken into from the outside, his body mauled "as though by some huge, obscene bird." "Whatever it was must have flown in," Emma theorizes. Steed and Emma retire to Steed's extensive library to research and reject possible bird suspects. Batman could have done this job faster with the bat-computer, but would it be half as charming as the sight of Steed and Mrs. Peel poring over The Big British Book of Birds? No, it would not.
Meanwhile, back at Roberts Publishing, we get a better look at our mystery masked villain...
Up in the offices son Peter Roberts dictates a letter, legally threatening author Sir Lexius Cray, into his compact sixties-style mini-recorder, a triumph of British miniaturization:
They're off to the next part of the mystery. And as ever, I'm thrilled to be along with 'em.
(Part Two tomorrow!)
OOOOOOH! I've seen that one! Isn't that a great show?
ReplyDeleteThis is a great episode! I can't wait until you get to the big fight scene - it outdoes Grant Morrison's pop-art Batman fight by a mile!!
ReplyDeleteTotally agree with your assessment Bully.
ReplyDeleteOriginally Steed was the sidekick (Apparently the show began as 'Police Surgeon' and the main 'Avenger' was Ian Hendry with Macnee as his assistant.)
Our Avengers and your Maverick were the best things on the telly in the 60s.
Some fans may not all realise that
'Emma Peel' = 'M Appeal' = 'Man Appeal'.