Why didn't John Byrne draw X-Men and Alpha Flight?

http://www.byrnerobotics.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=35290&PN=0&TPN=27

"Chris [Claremont] had so mishandled scripting Kitty -- who was, after all, my character -- that by the time I left X-MEN I wanted nothing further to do with her.* I'd settled down a bit by the time I drew this group shot, but there is really no significance at all to Kitty looking at the viewer -- except to be "cute".

"Some of you may recall that I was originally asked to work on the X-MEN/ALPHA FLIGHT book, and I said I would on two conditions: neither Chris nor I would have anything to do with the plotting, and Kitty would not be in the book. Both were agreed to by [Jim] Shooter.

"When I received the plot, it was OBVIOUSLY written by Claremont, and Kitty was all over it. When I complained, I was told I was being "unprofessional" and the editor actually HUNG UP ON ME!!"

1979 - Marvel Novel Series #9: The Marvel Superheroes

Marvel Novel Series #9: THE MARVEL SUPERHEROES
Edited by Marv Wolfman & Len Wein
Pocket Books, September 1979
First Printing, $1.95 cover price
Cover by Dave Cockrum

Unfortunately this novel wasn't an actual team-up of all these Marvel heroes, but four stand-alone stories featuring The Hulk, Daredevil, The Avengers, and the X-Men.

Written by Jim Shooter, Len Wein, Mary Jo Duffy, and Kyle Christopher.

1986 – Marvel Fanfare #29

1986 – Marvel Fanfare #29 – “A Terrible Thing to Waste”

Writer and Artist – John Byrne

As most of you probably know, Marvel Fanfare was a bit of a catch-all comic book in the 1980s. It would regularly publish stand-alone stories by new writers and artists, as well as clear out of inventory pieces. Issue #29 is a bit different in that it featured an unpublished Incredible Hulk story by the legendary John Byrne. This story was originally meant to be published around Incredible Hulk #319 and #320. I’ll go into the behind-the-scenes story a bit later.

What’s the story about? An assassin called Scourge of the Underworld tricks the Hulk into being an accomplice to the murder of two third-tier super-villains, Hammer and Anvil. “Justice is Served” was the Scourge’s tagline as his storyline ran through several comics at that time, usually being told in a secondary plot that would run 1-2 pages. This issue was the only story where Scourge is the main character. Interestingly though, we don’t learn much about the Scourge's motivations for these assassinations. We see that he has access to some advanced technologies and of course has shape-changing skills, but that’s pretty much it. The Scourge storyline would be resolved in the pages of Captain America and would later resurfaces in the Thunderbolts in the early 2000s.

Why should you care about this story? It’s pretty cool to see John Byrne in his prime, playing with the medium. Byrne was always experimenting, for example, the all-white pages of Alpha Flight #6, and the sideways issue of Fantastic Four #252. And not to mention, his art looked really great on Marvel Fanfare’s upgraded paper stock.

With all these splash pages, the comic book had more of a storybook feel to it. Even in the credits, it’s written “Story and pictures by John Byrne”. The flow of the comic book felt more static, and the pace of the comic felt flat.

The other interesting piece is how Byrne was going to establish that this creature, now physically separated from Banner, wasn’t just a mindless husk. Scourge’s analysis suggested that it was capable of thinking, the title of the story is clearly a tip of the hat to that idea and how the Hulk’s mind is awakening. Had Byrne continued on the Incredible Hulk title, it would have been interesting to see how he would have handled the Hulk and his growing intelligence.

Upon rereading this issue, I was taken aback by the rather brutal description of Hammer’s murder.

"And then his mouth, his eyes, his nose, his face, are gone. There is only Blood. And flying scraps of bone and brain. There is only death." Yikes. The art doesn't match the captions in that there's simply a small explosion where Hammer's head used to be and even on the next page, the gore is rather non-existent.

What’s the behind-the-scenes on this issue? The rejection of this issue by editor Denny O’Neil was what forced Byrne to resign from the book. There was already a rather stormy climate in Byrne’s relationship with Marvel’s Editor-in-Chief, Jim Shooter.

I set about doing all those things I had told to the E-i-C. Whereupon the very same E-i-C began saying "You can't do this! You can't do that!" Realizing I had been bushwacked, I took the only course available, and left the book after six issues.
   - byrnerobotics.com/FAQ/listing.asp?ID=3&T1=Questions+about+Aborted+Storylines#64

Furthered by this post:
“Really thought I was settling in for a long run on this series. The switch from ALPHA FLIGHT happened after a long cab ride with Shooter, during which I told him what I would do with the Hulk if I had the chance. "That's GREAT!" he said. "You should do the Hulk!" But I already had a very full plate, and the only way I could take on THE INCREDIBLE HULK was if I dropped one of my other books. As it happened, tho, I was starting to run out of steam on ALPHA. So a few days after that cab ride I called Bill Mantlo and proposed a swap. He liked the idea, and we made it happen. 

“Then I turned in my first couple of issues and an overview for the year, they went to Shooter for approval, and he said "What's THIS?? You can't do THIS!!" It was exactly what I had told him in the cab, but I had forgotten something about Shooter. Whenever I'd told him story ideas, he'd approve them, then go off and completely rethink them in his head, and expect the rethought version to be what I would somehow magically give him. Happened on CAPTAIN AMERICA. Happened on X-MEN. Now, on INCREDIBLE HULK.

“It also happened at a time when I was tired of fighting Shooter. So I just threw up my hands and said "Okay, if I can't do what you AGREED I could do, I have NOTHING to do." And I left."
   - byrnerobotics.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=25324&KW=incredible+hulk&PN=0&TPN=2

And here’s Shooter’s take on what happened:
“After one particularly bad incident, I finally confronted Denny and told him he'd better start doing his job. That very day, I think, a John Byrne Hulk job came in, finished, lettered and inked, that was all splash pages. Denny thought I'd go ballistic when I saw it, so he rejected it! And he told John it was because I, Jim Shooter, didn't approve.

John was the one who went ballistic. He quit, contacted the President of Marvel and demanded I be fired. The President called me and asked who the hell John Byrne was, and to please keep these people from bothering him. Here's the twist ending. I never even saw the rejected book! I assumed that Denny had given it back to John. I didn't even know why Denny had rejected it, only that he did. I didn't know it was all splash pages. 

Months later, Al Milgrom found the rejected book in a drawer and brought it to me. He liked it. So did I. I thought it was great. Al looked into the situation and found out that Byrne hadn't been paid for it, got him paid and ran the job in Marvel Fanfare. (Fanfare jobs paid rate-and-a-half, so it turned out to be a good deal for John.)

Know this: John and I weren't on the best of terms before all of the above happened. I had objected to some things he'd done in the books, and nixed a few things he'd wanted to do; and he had objected to my objections. So, maybe he would have left Marvel eventually anyway because of me."
   - jimshooter.com/2011/05/another-question-another-answer.html/

There's a lot of grey area there and I won't make any judgement calls or jump to any conclusions. You can draw those yourselves.

1985 - Fantastic Four #285

Grabbed from Comic Creators on the Fantastic Four - John Byrne:

>>What's your Favourite FF story by you?"'Hero' in FF #285, the one with the kid who sets himself on fire. I hate the fact that the Beyonder is in it. You look at that issue and you'll notice a woman doctor, Dr. Janet Darlin, is prominent in the first part of it and then suddenly disappears. That's because I was halfway through that issue when Shooter told me it had to be a  Secret Wars Crossover issue and I had to be the Beyonder in it. So the Beyonder got to do what the doctor was supposed to do which was to show Johnny the kid's shrine to the Human Torch. Ralph Macchio once wanted to reprint that story and I actually offered to redo the Beyonder pages for free. I was willing to redraw them and put in the doctor as originally intended."

1985 - The Mighty Thor #350 - The Story Behind The Cover

"This Walt Simonson THOR cover has a great story behind it, one that I heard at Mark Gruenwald’s memorial service. Mark was the editor on this portion of Walter’s THOR run.

"So, this cover was ready to go to press, but Editor in Chief Jim Shooter didn’t like the Thor face that Walt had drawn, and he demanded that Gruenwald get a correction done. Mark believed that. if he brought the situation to Walt, it would escalate, possibly resulting in Simonson quitting the series.

"Mark also knew, however, that Jim was going to be out of town on business the following week. So he came up with a plan. He had art director John Romita draw a new face for Thor on a piece of adhesive patch-paper. And then, once Shooter had left the building, Gruenwald peeled off and discarded the patch. If Shooter came back with a complaint, Mark intended to claim that the patch must have fallen off at some point while the cover was in transit.

"Weeks later, the make-ready for this cover came in from the printer, and Shooter called Gruenwald down to his office. Mark figured that he was going to get it, and readied his defense. And then, Shooter held up the cover as mark entered and said: “See? Doesn’t it look a lot better this way?”"

Grabbed from:
greatcovers1.tumblr.com/post/137581908021/this-walt-simonson-thor-cover-has-a-great-story

1985 - Marvel Age #33 - X-Factor Interviews

1981: The Jocasta's On You part III: Membership Drive Away

By Jef Willemsen (clarmindcontrol.blogspot.com)

In the third part of our Jocasta retrospective, everyone's overlooked mechanoid finally has her day. After they treated her like a prop for what seemed like forever, the Avengers finally asked Jocasta to join them as a full fledged member. There's no I in team... but apparently, there's no J, O, C, S, T or A either... Which is odd, cos those last two are on full display.

"Lady, we've had a tendency to overlook you in the past (...) But that's about to change"

In the closing pages of Avengers I#196, after she beat the Taskmaster all by herself, Captain America and the others finally realize Jocasta is quite the assett and offer her membership. Which, of course, is all the metallic maven longed for. For a while, everything seemed to be moving in that direction... Case in point, this scene from Avengers I#197 which hinted that her induction process was little more than a formality...

"I think it's an excellent idea, in fact... I'll bring it up at the next regular business meeting"

Now, other than the rather curious fact that Jocasta had seemingly forgotten she was already promised membership an issue earlier... Keep in mind that the Avengers hold regular meetings every week to discuss team business like new members. So, it shouldn't take more than seven days for her to be elected the latest member of Earth's mightiest. Overjoyed, she ran off to tell the others, like her reluctant confidant Vision who was right in the middle of using his superpowers for the betterment of all mankind...

"I appreciate you heating the percolator, master Vision...
Iron Man does so like his Colombian Excelso"

In his classic passive agressive approach to her, Vision gave Jocasta the coldest of shoulders. But hey, within a week they'd be teammates, right? Well... After this issue they fought Red Ronin for the better part of a day (#198 & #199). Then, they came back home to deal with Ms. Marvel's freak pregnancy and subsequent fall out in Avengers I#200 which took 48 hours give or take. The team spent at least a day or so cleaning up the mess left behind by Carol's baby (daddy) Markus Immortus in #201, which saw Jocasta doing little more than making a sammich... Then, in #202, a mind controlled Iron Man rebuilt Ultron and took care of Jocasta too.

"... 'Casta's here in the lab, lookin' like her brain's been scrambled, poached an' pan-fried"

She turned out to be fine in #203, thanks to Jarvis' first aid. Then, another 2 days passed until the Avengers finally had a weekly meeting in the opening pages of #204. However, before Captain America could start the meeting, he spotted an urgent request for aid that led the Avengers to rush out and stop the Yellow Claw from sterilizing mankind as part of his latest master plan. 

Moving right along to #206 which was clearly meant as a fill-in and had the Avengers facing the threat of Pyron the Thermal Man... By now, over a week had passed, no one had even bothered to make sure Jocasta got inducted. But that still didn't stop her from once again risking her life and, indirectly, proving herself the most valuable member of the team.

"Our mechanical maiden is melting!"

Even though the heat was melting her alive, Jocasta refused to retreat. Despite her protests, Wonder Man carried Jocasta out of the combat zone. In the end, the threat of Pyron was dealt with and even though Jocasta sustained serious injuries in the line of fire (literally) that would have gotten her a purple heart, no one ever brought up her impending membership. Jocasta also appeared in two more fill-in issues, #207 and #208, that featured the equally forgettable threats of Shadow Lord and Berserker. The Jocasta less #209, written by J.M. DeMatteis who pretty much turned it into a Defenders story featuring Beast, Wonder Man and the Scarlet Witch.

Next up was Avengers Annual I#10, the infamous issue in which Carol Danvers returned to chew the Avengers out for just letting her go off to Limbo with Markus, the man she gave birth to back in #200... The same man who cheerfully admitted to mentally manipulating her to fall for him. But before Carol had her say, the Avengers were attacked by Mystique and her Brotherhood of Mutants. The attack actually prevented one of the Avengers' weekly meetings...

If only Rogue hadn't attacked and taken out Captain America and Iron Man before the meeting. Who knows, maybe Jocasta would have been inducted then. Still, it is interesting to note that even Michael Golden, by no means the regular artist on Avengers, seemed to instinctly sense Jocasta's place on the team. While outspoken, flamboyant members like Wonder Man and Beast were featured in the foreground and established, old friends Hawkeye, Vision and Wanda were comfortably in the middle shooting the breeze, Jocasta was placed way in the back... Almost as if she was part of the decor. Even Jarvis has more of a stage presence... and he's the one serving tea and cakes.

But even though she continued to be denied something she was promised, Jocasta remained a stalwart and dependable ally when the Avengers and the visiting Spider-Woman took the battle to the Brotherhood. 

"That pit won't hold him long."

Moving right along to #210... It's now been 14 months since #196 announced Jocasta's imminent induction. The lady's been patiently waiting, living at the mansion and helping out whenever she could, often risking life and limb in the process. So, you'd think that by now she'd be considered an essential part of the team, whether or not she'd been officially admitted. Heck, the likes of Mantis and Captain Marvel never signed on as members, but were called on at every other turn. However, when the Avengers assembled in the opening pages of #210 to deal with a number of systematic, freak weather incidents she wasn't even notified or missed. Through sheer coincidence she learned of the current crisis and decided to go down to the meeting room.

"I was not summoned, and only now learned that a meeting had taken place from Jarvis, our butler"

Even though Thor attempted to assuage the robot's concerns about feeling different from the others, he did very little to actually include her in the current mission. In essence, all he does is tell her to don't feel too bad about being left out... before leaving her out altogether. Still, Jocasta is smart and capable enough to determine that the threat the Avengers are facing, the self styled Weathermen, are actually a bunch of meteorologists, mind controlled by the sentient weather satellite Samarobryn orbiting Earth. Jocasta flies a Quinjet there to confront the malovelent space station.

"The fact that I am a machine does not make me less than human!"

Jocasta keeps Samarobryn distracted, allowing the Avengers the opportunity to confront and defeat the Weathermen. Discovering their link to an orbital platform, Thor fires bolts of lightning to deal with the menace, which causes Samarobyrn to go dark. Figuring the threat has passed, Jocasta returns to the mansion where she eventually encounters her neglectful comrades in arms.

"Again, Jocasta, we are sorry that you were overlooked when Cap sent out that emergency alert"

... Yeah, especially since it was her one-robot stand that immobilized the Weathermen long enough for Thor to strike at Samarobryn. But hey, the Avengers were finally ready to officially make her a member... And it almost would have happened, if not for the fact Jim Shooter (Jocasta's creator!) was returning as regular Avengers scribe in #211, forcing fill in writer Bill Mantlo to have Cap and Iron Man announce that next issue "the old order changeth!"

The 1980s Shooter era Avengers is much maligned, a fact covered extensively on this blog in years past. In a nutshell, Captain America out of nowhere decided that there was only room for six Avengers, allowing the active membership until the end of the day to decide whether they wanted to stay or not. Oddly enough, it led to a lot of soul searching on Jocasta's part, even though she wasn't even a full member. Though she probably should know better by now, she turned to the Vision for advice...

"I feel like an outsider here... And yet, I have nowhere else to go! You've learned to fit in, even though you're a robot, as I am. Please... help me to..."

Vision's response to Jocasta's obvious distress is enough to turn not just a synthezoid's face red: "I am a synthezoid, not a robot! As such, I am a perfect meld of computer micro-circuitry and living, synthetic flesh! In all ways, I am a fully functional man! I have a wife... Who needs me now! I cannot help you with your dilemma." It's hard not to feel disgusted while reading this. Yes, there *is* a noteworthy difference between synthezoids and robots. In spite of Vision's continued, self superior denial, the fact remains they share more similarities than differences. Which is something Jocasta finally caught wise to as well when she was left alone in a corridor.

"Why then, am I less than you? Is it because you are loved... And I am alone?
Ultron... loved me..."

Jocasta's morose musings were interrupted by a veritable mob of superheroes who besieged Avengers Mansion, eager to apply for membership. After the likes of Moon Knight, Angel, Iceman, Tigra and Dazzler had barged in for impromptu auditions no one quite felt at ease with, it was Jocasta (who else?) to find out the true culprit behind these cattle calls.

"Avengers! Look! My cybernetic senses detect a sudden presence there!"

Yes, it turned out the self-important Moondragon had decided she'd be best suited to help the Avengers determine their latest line up. When the heroes chased her off, most of the involuntary applicants left as well. Only Tigra decided she wanted to stay, while long time members Beast, Vision, Scarlet Witch and Wonder Man decided to quit.

You'd think that would leave plenty of room for someone, anyone, to invite Jocasta to move on up...  Heck, you'd assume that a heuristically inclined cybernetic lifeform would have figured out by now that she had to speak up for herself. Alas, no... she kept quiet when the new team was decided on before her very eyes: Cap, Thor and Iron Man remained on to welcome back their co-founders Wasp and Yellowjacket along with Tigra to fulfill the newly authorized six member mandate. And this is how Jocasta responded...

"Maybe I'll find someplace where I am wanted! Maybe I'l find someone who... loves me!"

And with that, Jocasta lept out of the Avengers' lives... Finally figuring that enough is too much, she struck out on her own. But, in a twist of fate befalling her Greek tragedy inspired codename... If only she'd stuck around for five minutes more...

"I hope she comes back!"

The Avengers had planned to grant her "special substitute Avenger status", allowing her to reside at the mansion so she could be constantly available to pinch hit for members who were unavailable. So... Essentially, after not keeping their promise of full membership for heaven knows how many weeks, the Avengers are dumbstruck when Jocasta left, especially when they were ready to grant her the gift of... well, being allowed to do exactly what she was doing the minute she first associated with the team back in late 1978! 

However, life without the Avengers proved shortlived for our robotic heroine as we'll see in part IV: "Jocasta of Arc"

1980: The Jocasta's On You part II: No Really, I'm Still Here*

By Jef Willemsen (clarmindcontrol.blogspot.com)

Starting out as "the bride of Ultron" in the mid 70s, the sentient robot Jocasta quickly sided with the Avengers against her creator and lover. She moved into the mansion, aided them on numerous missions and proved capable, tough and a true heroine in spite of her origins. You'd think that by the 1980s, Earth's mightiest would have gotten the hint. Yeah. Think again...

Your name is Jocasta, you are a living mechanoid. You're superstrong, tough, capable of firing destructive energy beams and erecting forcefields. Your cybernetic senses not only make you supremely intelligent, you are also able to sense just about anything out of the ordinary... And the only people in your life treat you like a doorstop.

Even though Jocasta had been a part of the team since the Korvac crisis, even living at the mansion full time, the Avengers didn't seem to notice her. It's not that they were particularly unfriendly to her or felt awkward around the wife of one of their greatest enemies. None of that, they simply overlooked her.

"For she feels a longing, a desire to join in the casual banter, and yet..."

Feeling uneasy in social situations became a bit of a theme with Jocasta. She wanted to belong, but felt out of place, mainly because of her robotic nature. Clearly suffering from a bit of an inferiority complex and desperate to connect with someone she could relate to, she continuously reached out to Vision. On paper, it would seem they have a lot in common... But the synthezoid Avenger felt otherwise.

"I just thought you might to, well, talk."

What's prevalent in all their interactions is the way Vision (not too) subtly tries to keep her at arm's length. Jocasta simply wants to bond with him, but he's not having any of it. 

"How can a machine worry?"

Vision has never been accused of being the most emotionally sensitive person in the room. And yes... even though he's preoccupied by the fact his wife took off without him... That very emotion disproves his whole "how can a machine worry?" line that was indirectly also insulting to Jocasta. You'd think he'd learn his lesson and improved on his behavior. This was not the case, as we saw in Avengers I#194 when they had another little chat.

"The other Avengers seem to have forgotten that I even exist (...) I can't help feeling... lonely"

"Machines do not get lonely, Jocasta"

Ow Vision... You insensitive prick. And to make matters worse, when Jocasta complimented him on his almost poetic way of describing the emptiness he experienced without Wanda, he became so angry he wrecked the entire training room. 

Man, even with all that classic Pérez art scenes like these are tough to stomach. It's clear Vision was so overwhelmed by his own emotions that he tried to deny them by embracing the robotic, unfeeling side of his nature... Which is exactly what Jocasta did not need from her fellow Avenger. Her sense of alienation from the team grew and grew, even though she continued to fight at their side. More often than not, she proved crucial in winning the day. For instance in #196, when the Avengers first fought the Taskmaster only to find the villain's photographic reflexes made him more than a match for them. But he hadn't counted on Jocasta (heck, if even the villains don't bother noticing you... worry).

"Huh? A metal woman?"

The Taskmaster, overconfident after having just given the likes of Iron Man and Captain America a run for their money, attacked Jocasta... And found out she was more than a match for him.

"That's fine by me, bimbo!"

Go, go, Jocasta, go!

"And that's because Jocasta's delaying tactics bought us some time"

... "Delaying tactics"? Really Cap, is that what you're calling it? Looks to me like she was well on her way to single handedly kick the crud out of the Taskmaster before you showed up. But hey, that's hardly the last time the Avengers downplayed her contributions. In #198, the team faced the threat of Red Ronin. The giant robot was hijacked by an insane professor who no longer wanted to wait for what he thought was an unavoidable nuclear conflict with Soviet Russia. He decided to use the killer robot to attack the USSR and get World War III started. The Avengers assembled to stop him, but no one ever listened to Jocasta...

"Wonder Man, wait! My cyber-senses indicate that the doorway is..."

Of course, Jocasta herself is more than capable of dealing with Red Ronin's security systems. She managed to get herself and Beast on board the big robot (that red pylon Wondy tried to enter was actually his leg). And over the course of two issues, they worked their way up to Ronin's control booth where they were crucial in nipping nuclear armageddon in the bud. 

Oh, Jocasta also got to participate in the much maligned Avengers I#200, in which Ms. Marvel gave birth to her own rapist. Well, at the very least, she was able to add "midwife" and "nurse" to her already impressive list of credentials.

" My cybernetic senses confirm your diagnostic readouts, Dr. Blake"

Let's ignore the travesty that followed, instead we'd better focus on the first on panel interaction between Jocasta and the woman Ultron based her mind on: Janet van Dyne. Even though Jocasta allegedly spoke in Jan's voice, it took well over 2.5 years for them to actually have a conversation. And when they did speak, no one mentioned the fact that Wasp was the Wonder Man to her Vision.

"There's still so much about human emotions I don't understand..."

Janet gave Jocasta her usual non-descript answer, in typical early 80s Wasp fashion. To think the two of them could have had an actual, much needed heart-to-heart about their shared feelings. After all, they were essentially the same woman. But where Janet was always gregarious, bubbly and more than a little flighty, Jocasta was soft spoken, considerate and caring. Which were all aspects of the Wasp that would emerge a few years down the road when Roger Stern made her Avengers chairman. For now, though... Wasp was acting oblivious, as seen in #201 when Jocasta surprised her and Hank.

"I hope you like roast beef"

So, a metal woman built by your husband's equally robotic, evil "son" whose brain is a copy of yours packs a picknick lunch for you and the aforementioned hubby and all you can say is "You're a doll! Thanks!"? While that *is* a polite response, one can't help but feel even slightly creeped out. Even poor ol', mentally unstable Hank Pym noticed how awkward it was talking to a robot that sounded just like his wife. And, ever the thoughtful spouse, this is what Jan had to say...

"I know, darling... But don't worry... You've got the original all to yourself!"

Meanwhile, back in Avengers I#200, Jocasta still got a bit more screentime and decided to visit with Vision, who she had been observing from a distance before Wasp showed up. Some fans have suggested Jocasta was harboring a secret crush on the android Avenger who, for all intents and purposes, would be her stepson (proving once again that robotic relationships can get weird). Yours truly didn't quite get that vibe from their interactions, Jocasta simply wanted to belong and connect and decided Vision would be the go-to guy. Guess even cybernetic senses can be off, sometimes.

"Darling, I've... Oh, I'm sorry if I interrupted, Jocasta. I didn't know you were here."

As soon as the Scarlet Witch arrived, Vision's focus shifted completely towards Wanda. Of course, it would make sense for a husband to pay more attention to his wife than another "woman" of sorts (though it's hard to imagine early 80s Wanda getting jealous of a metal female with no genitalia)... But there's dividing one's attention and flat out ignoring someone...

 "Neither she nor the Vision notice when Jocasta turns and, softly, leaves the room. And that, thinks the metalloid would-be Avenger, is the most harshest hurt of all..."

So, why didn't the Avengers even bother to make Jocasta a member? Well, funny story... They did, but then they kind of forgot about it as we'll see in part III of The Jocasta's On You: Membership Drive Away

* With sincere apologies to the late Elaine Stritch and all the other grande dames who performed Sondheim's showstopper.