Superman Through the Ages! Forum

Does anyone know the first usage of "Cap's Kooky Quartet", the name given to the incarnation of the Avengers beginning with issue #16, 1965 when Iron Man, Thor, etc left and Captain America lead a team comprised of Hawkeye, Quilksilver and the Scarlet Witch?

Who coined the phrase?  Was it Stan?  Fans?  A letters page writer?  Was it actually used in the comics?  What issue?

Curious...

Hmm... never heard of it, but weren't they called "Avengers Detroit"?

The Avenger's have had many spin-offs but this was a nickname given to the main team after the heavyweight founders (Giant Man, Wasp, Iron Man, Thor) left the book and charcters without a book took over, marking a shift in the character of the team and the beginning of a trend towards frequent line-up changes and less-powerful members.  A move away from the JLA model.

I was hoping someone like Julian Perez or Kurt Busiek would have the answer to this.

 :-[

I mentioned Avengers Detroit as wasn't that what the "New JLA" was called (you know the mistake of the Steel, Vibe, Vixen, Gypsy team) by fans?

Just a little humor

Now I'm really embarassed because I've never heard that term before!
 :'(

I would have to check but I suspect the term was used during the time George Perez was the artist on the book originally, probably during a lineup change when they were reviewing Avenger's history.

It's possible the name was not used until #150-151.  It definitely appears there.

If it was ever used back in the actual CKQ days, I think it must have only been in a lettercol...

kdb

Thanks!

It looks like #150 was a partial reprint of #16 so I'm assuming that the term is used in a descriptive caption like, "And now a glance back at the origins of Cap's Kooky Quartet.." or something like that.  I can't imagine any of the characters actually using the phrase (maybe The Beast?).  I don't own the issue myself so I will have to dig these up --a pleasure since #151 has a great Kirby cover!

Close.  I think it's newsman Sam Reuther, during a news report on the history of the team.

kdb

The nickname "Cap's Kooky Quartet" first officially showed up "in continuity" in AVENGERS #151 by Steve Englehart, Jim Shooter, and Gerry Conway, when there was a recap of Avengers history from start to finish. It was one of those "now we'll choose a new roster" type issues.

The nickname is far far older than that. But it should be noted that nowhere in the original tenure of the Kwartet, from #15 - #30 or so, are they called that!

The nickname comes from - as you might guess - wordsmith supreme and snake oil salesman Stan Lee, who referred to the team as "Cap's Kooky Kwartet" in lettercolumns in order to compare the Avengers to the Beatles "the Fab Four," all the way back during Stan's writing tenure on the book before Roy Thomas took over. This was the sixties and John, Paul and the rest were at the zenith of their prestige, and Stan the Man wanted to, presumably, tap into that counterculture "vibe." And to this day, they remain the only incarnation of the Avengers that I can seriously imagine smoking ganja and listening to Jimmy Hendrix over in Avengers Mansion (...except maybe Quicksilver, he seemed a little uptight).

My all time favorite "Cap's Quartet" "hippie" moment came when the mighty shield-slinger Captain-friggin-America himself sat down and said "What are you reading, Cap?"

"LORD OF THE RINGS! I dig FAR-OUT fantasy!"

By the way, this was years and years before Englehart had Captain America discover America on motorcycle EASY RIDER-style. So I guess the spirit of the sixties was always kind of in that guy.

Speaking of Roy Thomas and LORD OF THE RINGS, I'd love to write a Roy Thomas Drinking Game. "Take a shot every time there's a reference to LORD OF THE RINGS." Man, Roy must really love Tolkien. The biggest one I can think of was the original Black Knight's horse (and later, the Valkyrie's) "Aragorn."

Julian and Kurt, thanks for your great memories and for digging around.

Julian, any issue # for Stan's first usage in a lettercol?