User blog comment:20thCentFopp/The First Avengers Team and Marvel Hierarchy/@comment-61022-20131028061342

I think that the fact that you are reviewing a comic book from the early 60s by comparing it to modern stories is a little unfair at best. That's like comparing old issues of Superman from the 50s to what is being published now. It's campy and its corny.

Yes, the whole Hulk plot line is cliché, but keep in mind that the story was written at a time when it wasn't really all that cliché. Also you have to remember that it was written for a 60s audience as well.

As for the lack of "group cohesion" that was kind of the point of all of Stan Lee/Jack Kirby's super-hero groups, the groups were flawed, not everyone gets along. It's not a chummy boys club like the Justice League of the era. These characters had rough edges (as tame as those edges are by today's standard) If you keep on reading those early Avengers tales (and also check out the 60s Fantastic Four and X-Men books as well) you'll see what makes these team books unique was that the characters were often in conflict with one anothers interests on top of the needs of the group. By Avengers #2 the Hulk quits the team because nobody trusts him and the group is almost torn apart by the Space Phantom. If you view the lack of group cohesion is a put off, then you're going to hate "Cap's Kooky Quartet" that pops up in issue #16.