CSBG Archive
A Year of Cool Comic Book Moments – Day 130
Here is the latest cool comic book moment in our year-long look at one cool comic book moment a day (in no particular order whatsoever)! Here‘s the archive of the moments posted so far!
Today we look at a shocking Avengers moment courtesy of Roy Thomas and John Buscema.
Enjoy!
In Avengers #54, the Avengers are captured by the Masters of Evil and their new leader, the mysterious Crimson Cowl.
At the end of the issue, the Cowl reveals his identity, and it’s someone that the Avengers certainly were NOT expecting!


The reveal of Jarvis as the Cowl here is still one of the great comic book shockers (even though next issue, of course, explains that Ultron was the REAL Crimson Cowl, and he basically hypnotized Jarvis), and John Buscema absolutely NAILS the reveal.
That’s just an amazing job by Buscema on that cliffhanger – one of the iconic images of an iconic Avengers run.






22 Comments
Tom Fitzpatrick
May 11, 2009 at 5:14 am
And Jarvis’s not in jail????!!!!???
Dammit all it heck!!!!
There’s NO justice!
T.
May 11, 2009 at 5:41 am
Great moment.
Gavin
May 11, 2009 at 5:53 am
Man, I love Roy Thomas’ run on Avengers. It still blows my mind that Stan Lee was getting away with top billing in the issue’s credits over writer and artist. Try and pull that crap today and the creative aspect of the industry would gang up and lynch you. I can understand why a bunch of Marvel’s stars of that era ended up leaving for DC. Sure DC had a bad history with giving proper credit to writers, but by that time they had straigtened up to some degree. Of course, that Superman lawsuit was a big incentive.
Jeff Ryan
May 11, 2009 at 5:55 am
Wow, the Skrulls got him much earlier than I thought.
Furious George
May 11, 2009 at 5:59 am
Jarvis? NOOOOO!!!!!
Pedro Bouça
May 11, 2009 at 6:07 am
OK, I didn’t see THAT coming!
It’s rare to see one of those “moments” I’ve never read before. Even more when it genuinely surprises me.
Best,
Hunter (Pedro Bouça)
Capper
May 11, 2009 at 6:08 am
Why are the Avengers fighting Orko from He-Man?
geoff
May 11, 2009 at 6:33 am
off topic, but for the next theme you do, I thought ennis’ punisher max could provide a weeks worth of moments. for instance, in mother russia you could do either the fight with the mongolian or the drawing of straws at the end. the showdown with micro from the end of the first arc. the moment where frank hears the mob guy dug up his family. I could go on.
chad
May 11, 2009 at 6:37 am
i remember how shocked i was when the reveal happend not only that Jarvis did the whole thing under ultrons orders but ultron wore clothes
Blackjak
May 11, 2009 at 11:18 am
Awww… Capper beat me to it!
I thought it was Orko too!
The Cosh
May 11, 2009 at 1:01 pm
Umm. Who’s Jarvis?
buttler
May 11, 2009 at 1:11 pm
For that matter, who are the Avengers?
buttler
May 11, 2009 at 1:45 pm
And what are comics anyway? Are they good?
The Mutt
May 11, 2009 at 2:51 pm
Thomas/Buscema. Best Avengers creative team ever. Especially with Tom Palmer on inks, though this issue looks like Klein or Tusku.
Brian Cronin
May 11, 2009 at 2:53 pm
Tuska it is.
The Mutt
May 11, 2009 at 3:25 pm
I could have looked it up, but I prefer to rely on my fanboy powers. Looking at the Melter’s face, I should have known it was Tuska.
Lt. Clutch
May 11, 2009 at 5:52 pm
“That FACE–it’s EVIL beyond all belief yet –I RECOGNIZE it!”
Give a break…They noticed that while Jarvis was making them sandwiches? It was “EVIL beyond all belief” and they still kept him on? A great reveal on Buscema’s part, yes. But Roy Thomas could sure ham it up with the dialogue.
Still a fun run, though. Classic.
AERose
May 11, 2009 at 6:07 pm
So Jarvis had a robot do the talking just so he could fake out his team, and then revealed himself 5 seconds later. Brilliant.
Andre Fairon
May 11, 2009 at 6:29 pm
The butler did it? I never did like that Jarvis. Just an Alfred wannabe.
What is going on with Pym in that second panel??
joecab
May 11, 2009 at 7:49 pm
Actually the “White” Panther in the second panel was the biggest surprise
Kaleb the Hammer
May 11, 2009 at 9:04 pm
You should totally do a video version of this column
The Duke
May 20, 2009 at 7:37 am
John Buscema was the Avengers artist.
He came back to do a run with Roger Stern, which basically saw out my Avengers reading.
Gone, but definately not forgotten.