The Avengers #109
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeThe Avengers #109 marks the first time Clint Barton formally resigned from Earth's Mightiest Heroes, a departure rooted in his unrequited feelings for the Scarlet Witch and her deepening romance with the Vision — a love triangle that Roy Thomas had seeded and Steve Englehart now used to push the team's soap-opera dynamics into new emotional territory. The issue serves as a turning point in Bronze Age Avengers storytelling: Englehart, who openly wanted to take a different narrative approach with the team, deliberately wrote Hawkeye out of the lineup, keeping the archer absent from the main title for the better part of the next two years. It is also the issue in which Clint Barton reverted to his original purple uniform — the one he had worn since his debut in Tales of Suspense #57 — shedding the carnival-inspired costume he had worn since issue #98 and reclaiming the visual identity that would become definitive. The issue also introduces Imus Champion, a physically imposing new villain whose scheme to destroy the San Andreas Fault frames Hawkeye's emotional exit in a high-stakes Bronze Age adventure.
In "The Measure of a Man!", Hawkeye’s personal struggles come to a head as he grapples with the evolving romance between the Scarlet Witch and Vision, leading him to abruptly depart the Avengers. Torn between loyalty and emotion, his sudden exit sends ripples through the team, especially when Wanda begins to question his absence and suspects something deeper is at play. Written by Steve Englehart and illustrated by Don Heck with inks by Frank McLaughlin, this 1973 issue captures a pivotal moment in the team’s dynamics, with a cover by John Buscema and John Verpoorten.
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Steve Englehart had recently taken over the Avengers title from Roy Thomas, inheriting a roster and a set of ongoing emotional threads — including the Vision/Scarlet Witch romance and Hawkeye's jealousy — that Thomas had carefully cultivated. Englehart later said in a 1982 interview that Hawkeye had never quite clicked as a character for him and that removing the archer fit the new direction he intended to pursue, which would soon culminate in the landmark Avengers-Defenders Clash and the introduction of Mantis. The issue was edited by Roy Thomas himself, who remained editor-in-chief even as Englehart took over scripting duties; the interior art was pencilled by Don Heck with inks by Frank McLaughlin, while the cover — depicting a defiant, bow-drawn Hawkeye — was the work of John Buscema and Sal Buscema, a pairing collectors and historians often refer to informally as the 'Buscema Brothers.' The book carried a cover date of March 1973 and a cover price of twenty cents.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First appearance of the villain Imus Champion (referred to in this story simply as 'Champion'; his first name would not be revealed until Avengers / Squadron Supreme '98 #1), a physically exceptional nine-foot-tall multimillionaire whose plot involves triggering a catastrophic earthquake along the San Andreas Fault.
- Hawkeye (Clint Barton) formally quits the Avengers in this issue — his first departure from the team — driven by jealousy over the blossoming romance between the Scarlet Witch and the Vision.
- Hawkeye reverts to his original purple costume in this issue, abandoning the carnival-influenced outfit he had worn since Avengers #98; the cover explicitly calls attention to the costume change.
- Written by Steve Englehart and pencilled by Don Heck, with inks by Frank McLaughlin, colors by Stan Goldberg, and letters by Charlotte Jetter; edited by Roy Thomas.
- The cover was illustrated by John Buscema and Sal Buscema; notably, Captain America appears on the cover but does not appear inside the issue.
- Hawkeye would remain absent from the main Avengers title for roughly the next two years (save for a guest appearance in the Avengers-Defenders Clash crossover), making this issue the formal start of a significant gap in the character's tenure with the team.
- The issue's Statement of Ownership — printed on the letters page — records an average print run of 349,793 copies and average paid circulation of 191,961 for the period.
- The story has been collected in Marvel Masterworks: The Avengers Vol. 11 (which covers issues #101–111 plus Daredevil #99), and is also available digitally through Marvel Unlimited.
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Reprints
Reprinted in Thor #6 (1984), The Avengers Log #1 (1994), Essential Avengers #5 (2006), Marvel Masterworks: The Avengers #11 (2011), The Avengers Omnibus #4 (2019), Avengers Epic Collection #6 (2021), Die Spinne #10, Die Spinne #9
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