The Avengers by Douglas Enefer

[TheMonkFromMUNCLE]

Recently got The Avengers by Douglas Enefer for a steal, finished it last night and thought I would share some of my thoughts about it. My general experience with licensed Avengers media is pretty limited, just Peel’s Two Many Targets, the Morrison/Gibbons Steed and Mrs Peel comic from the 90s and a handful of the BF audios so this was my first real experience with non-telly avengers media that was produced while the show was still airing.

Its very much a tv tie-in, without the flourishes of say the McDaniel’s UNCLE novels, but for all that its a solid little read, doesn’t overstay its welcome and beyond some occasionally clunky prose largely reads well. Steed and Cathy are well realised and the author does a great job of capturing the two’s dynamic, that almost Nick and Nora Charles' friendly viciousness is on full display and the book shines when it comes to their back and forth.

It's also a great snapshot of the show as it was vs the show as it would come to be viewed, it's very much in the Gale Epoch and that really comes through in how Steed is characterised. He’s very much the sly manipulator, I was particularly taken with his dubious employment of the actress to get close to two of the suspects comes across. The argument he and Cathy have as a result is one of the high points of the book and a nice example of the two’s contrasting approach to morality. It really does show how often Seasons 2 and 3 favoured the salacious as much as anything when it came to plots.

That said, I sometimes feel a little too much is made of Steed’s more sinister edge in earlier seasons. It is there of course, and he’s far from the pop culture Steed but that said I feel like sometimes people jump to the other extreme with it which the book nicely counteracts. For all his scheming there’s still an undercurrent of morality to him, the end does justify his means especially in pursuit of justice and its this aspect more than anything that ties Cathy and Steed together.

There’s a brief mention of one of Steed’s ancestors, a painter, which I can’t recall originating from any of the episodes around this time so I’m wondering if its an invention of the book (Feels very Holmes/Vernet really) or is referencing something from the show I’ve forgotten.

Apologies for the word vomit/any spelling errors.

[Frankymole]

Ah, wonderful! Thank you for reviewing this book. I've been wondering about the 1960s novels recently. I really ought to read some of them. Is this the first?

I think there was also a newspaper strip with Steed and Mrs Gale but I've never read that, either. It must be hard to find now except at newspaper archives which are generally not online.

I'm glad Steed is portrayed in a rounded manner regarding his morality. He and Cathy were not always at loggerheads over ways and means, quite often they aligned, and Steed wouldn't be doing what he is doing if he didn't stand up for the underdog - sometimes against the directives of his own bosses.

It sounds better than a quick cash-in.

I wonder if they could've somehow tweaked the use-of-actress storyline to use Venus Smith instead, or was she already out the door by the time this was written?

I recall a painting of one of Steed's ancestors, seen and mentioned in his flat in one of the monochrome episodes, but not a painter ancestor in the family. But he had a big family.

[dissolute]

I think Enefer's book is the best of the novels with the possible exception of the two Patrick Macnee ghost written ones, Deadline and Dead Duck.

[Allard]

Lucky you, Enefers book is high on my list of most desired Avengers items. Although I will admit I check eBay far too infrequently, shame on me.

If you'd be willing to share a front and back cover scan with us, I'd much appreciate it.

[unclefester]

I have this in my files

Hope this helps!

Coverr19631963.jpg (274.92 KiB) Viewed 134 times

Back11122.jpg (254.79 KiB) Viewed 133 times

[mousemeat]

I have this in my files

Hope this helps!


Coverr19631963.jpg


Back11122.jpg

very nice ! what a blast from the past.....

[dissolute]

I think I got my copy form a retailer on abebooks.com but it was a long time ago.

[TheMonkFromMUNCLE]

I think Enefer's book is the best of the novels with the possible exception of the two Patrick Macnee ghost written ones, Deadline and Dead Duck.

Just picked up Deadline, planning to give it a read at some point soon. Like you said I rarely see people saying bad things about Enefer's book and those two so I'm looking forward to it. I'd rate Enefer's higher than Too Many Targets at least, not that Targets is a bad book mind you I just think it kinda struggles under the weight of what it's trying to do.

[TheMonkFromMUNCLE]

Ah, wonderful! Thank you for reviewing this book. I've been wondering about the 1960s novels recently. I really ought to read some of them. Is this the first?

I think there was also a newspaper strip with Steed and Mrs Gale but I've never read that, either. It must be hard to find now except at newspaper archives which are generally not online.

Oh that's interesting about the newspaper strip, I wonder if any local papers ran it as well, might have more luck archive wise there if only because sometimes local museums/heritage centres have fairly comprehensive news archives. Would probably depend on if they had license with the national papers I suppose.

I'm glad Steed is portrayed in a rounded manner regarding his morality. He and Cathy were not always at loggerheads over ways and means, quite often they aligned, and Steed wouldn't be doing what he is doing if he didn't stand up for the underdog - sometimes against the directives of his own bosses.

Exactly, exactly. The pre-season 4 Steed, in my mind at least, is someone who for all their cynicism cares deeply about people. Macnee does a great job of playing him as some immersed in the seeder side of the world by easily disturbed when that side rises up and affects innocents. I dunno, but with Cathy I think people sometimes play their bickering as too genuinely antagonistic rather than playful, or at an extreme, as more of a professional disagreement you know?

I wonder if they could've somehow tweaked the use-of-actress storyline to use Venus Smith instead, or was she already out the door by the time this was written?

The book came out in '63 I think, unfortunately I can't see any exact details on the month so it must have come out at some point during the last half of the Gale/King/Smith episodes or right at the start of Season 3. Its honestly exactly what I thought about the detail, though the actress herself only appears briefly and then largely serves as a source for Steed's information later in the book. I've always liked to imagine a story involving Gale, Martin King and Venus Smith tbh, maybe one explaining what happens to the latter two to explain their absence. Maybe they hit it off and eloped lol.

I recall a painting of one of Steed's ancestors, seen and mentioned in his flat in one of the monochrome episodes, but not a painter ancestor in the family. But he had a big family.

Seems I misread the passage, that's exactly the painting the book mentions only its a depiction of the ancestor by a "prominent Victorian painter" rather than painted by him (D'oh). Passage states "...the portrait, executed in oils by one of the most eminent of Victorian painters, of great-grandfather R. K. J. J. de V. Steed, irreverently referred to by his descendants as 'Stallion' Steed." Which is one hell of a name, I'm gonna have to watch the episode in question to see if the name originates there or is an invention on Enefer's part. Always love the suggestions of Steed's sprawling family tree you get now and then.

[TheMonkFromMUNCLE]

I have this in my files

Hope this helps!


Coverr19631963.jpg


Back11122.jpg

The back cover really tickles me, got some funny looks reading it on the train the other week.