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Random Avengers review 3.

From the Chaos War crossover, it's the Dead Avengers!

Oh wow. Captain Mar-Vell, the Vision (the real one), the Swordsman, Doctor Druid, Yellowjacket (Rita deMarr) and some Image-looking chick I've never heard of (Deathcry?).

The first issue starts with a six panel spread, showing us the last thing seen by the six main characters before they died, and then they wake up, unharmed, surrounded by comatose Avengers. The Chaos King has destroyed the barriers between the worlds of the living and the dead, so that the dead have returned to Earth, and, at the same time, knocked out every living person, leaving them helpless and at the mercy of his minions, with only the 'dead' heroes active to stop them.

That's kind of a funky concept. We don't have to deal with how the living would react to the return of their dead comrades, since only the dead heroes are active, and every character beat is saved for them, and not what Spider-Man, Iron Man or Wolverine thinks of them being back.

The Vision is coldly logical, and yet practical and heroic, just like I like him. Captain Marvel takes charge, and there are some great flashbacks to both his days and Deathcry's, in the first two issues. (The Swordsman also has a flashback, but it's not as awesome.)

Presumably, Rita and / or Druid will have some sort of flashback goodness as well in the third issue, although I'm not sure if they've been established enough to have one as compelling as Mar-Vell's. OTOH, I could have said the same of Deathcry, and her flashback was some powerful juju, showing her expulsion from the Shi'ar royal family by her cousin, the Empress Lilandra, who has never looked more empress-y.

The art is the best of the three books I've reviewed, which is interesting, because it's hands-down better than the Chaos War: X-Men book. I'll smack-talk Bendis till the end of time, and the echoes of my contempt may last a bit longer, but the Avengers are finally being treated like a real property, and not some third tier book behind the juggernaut X-franchise, and he certainly brought the spotlight back on Earth's Mightiest Heroes.

I didn't know Deathcry, and I can tell that I'd pretty much hate her on sight after seeing her in action, but she's playing a pretty important character role, and I understand her value in the narrative. She's the fool in the horror movie who does something stupid and dies first. Every movie has to have one of them.

Unfortunately, as often happens in real-life, it's not the fool who dies, but someone else who attempts to save her, and gets cut down because of her recklessness. That's a pretty strong condemnation of her, right there, that a better hero bought the farm because she, again, screwed up. It could be a real growth moment for her, if she learns from this, a lesson that she apparently failed to learn in life. Perhaps this is her second chance (third chance, whatever) at redemption.

Also, the heroes are already dead, and so the one who died saving her might well not be 'really dead' quite yet. (On the other hand, this happens at the end of issue two of a three issue series, and I'm pretty sure they'll all be dead again for good at the end of issue three, so it would be pretty pointless to waste a page explaining how that person miraculously survived, only to die again twenty pages later anyway.)

Doctor Druid, I remember as being a bit stuffy, but nothing like the jerk he is being here. And yet, like Deathcry, it's a bit refreshing. These are not the best Avengers ever (for the most part), but the ones who died, in a couple of cases, before they ever really got to shine (Swordsman, Deathcry, Yellowjacket), so some rough edges and less-than-well-oiled-machine teamwork are probably the exact right characterization.

Vision - "We former and / or auxiliary members are listed as.... deceased."

Druid - "Even you, Vision. As a synthezoid, you have no life to lose - nor soul to outlast it. How can you be here?"

Vision - "Doctor Druid. How very pleasant to see you again, too."

Heh.

And later, Druid is expounding upon death being the natural order, and nothing to fear, and how pointless it is to fight what is happening and then someone outside screams and the 'Dead Avengers' fly off to start saving them. (Souls of the dead, being annhilated by the servant demons of the Chaos King.)

Druid - "What you are doing is pointless and stupid! It's stupid!"

Yellowjacket - "Wait a minute. I remember you now. You're a $%&#. You were always a $%&#. And now that you're dead, against all odds, you're an even bigger $%&#."

Again with the 'heh.'

I've always thought that Rita got a bum rap, dying so quickly, without a chance to make her mark. The Swordsman and Doctor Druid also, IMO, died before their stories were really ever explored, and so it's nice to see them back, even if only in this limited engagement.

(And who knows, the Chaos War: Alpha Flight storyline has strongly suggested that Shaman has the power to ensure that the dead Alpha Flight members either don't fully die, or remain alive. Doctor Druid might be able to similarly cheat death, for himself and for any of the other 'Dead Avengers' who don't feel ready to pass on yet. Mar-Vell, in fact, seems like the only 'Dead Avenger' present who has come to terms with his death, and is ready to move on, despite Druid's protestations, I think he is 'protesting too much.')

I'm not in love with the whole Chaos War thing, and I've always loathed crossovers, but this is very self-contained, just six 'Dead Avengers,' with no interaction save with each other, random civilians, and the villains of the piece, serving the Chaos King, and attempting to break through the defensed position held by the 'Dead Avengers' to slay all of the currently comatose current Avengers, consisting of The Grim Reaper, Nekra Sinclair, and a small army of demons.

As Nekra is the person who killed Doctor Druid, she's the one person that can draw him out of his nihilistic funk and make him participate in this 'stupid' struggle against oblivion.

As Rita quips, as Doctor Druid distracts Nekra from a plan the others are enacting, "Glad there's someone around here the Brit hates more than us!"

I also picked up Chaos War: Alpha Flight (because I've always been a huge Flight fanboy), and Chaos War: X-Men, almost entirely because of the strength of this Dead Avengers storyline, and I find that neither of them even comes close to how good this book is. Whatever quirks these particular six 'Dead Avengers' have, they are far more compelling a team than the others, and the care taken in the crafting of the story, the characterization, and the beautiful Grummet art makes all the difference.

So, three Avengers titles in a single month, and it's probably a sign of my own personal quirkiness that none of them are based around classic Avengers like Iron Man, Captain America or Thor, or new wannabe Avengers like Luke Cage, Spider-Man or Wolverine.

This probably explains my excitement about this Legion Academy stuff. I've always preferred the B-team / Lower Decks people, to the big brand names...

Cap is Steve- the writer wrote this much closer to the events of 'No More Mutants', so Steve's in the wrong costume, something acknowleged by the writer in publicity- though not in the book. Wolverine is behaving the way he did then rather than how he is in other titles (not that you can really tell all that much).

I'm not sure why they didn't take the time to update and 'match the times'. I guess it'd been delayed so often already.

Gotta disagree about Wanda- there were many (hundreds?) mutants who were using their abilities at the time of her spell and died because of it. Fliers, swimmers, etc. Magma's boyfriend was with her in the heart of a volcano- so there was that death and collateral emotional damage that Amara suffered (not that that's been written about at all- sigh).

I liked this heaps more than you did, but Bendis pretty much killed The Scarlet Witch for me in DISASSEMBLED, probably the comic I hated most in all my years of reading. At least the end of LEGION LOST was written well and made good use of Lightning Lad and others. Can't say that about any aspect of DISASSEMBLED

I hope Wanda never gets any sort of superpower again ever, but realize that's something that will happen eventually. Maaaaybe if she comes back with the Hex Sphere and Hex Sphere only- with no real control over it, then I might like her again.

It is overcrowded. Never a good thing when present members of the 'main' cast don't get any lines. Even so, I still wish Crystal, Luna and Lorna would show up to meet their 'nephews'/cousins and greet the 'new' Wanda.

I guess that makes sense, but Wolverine explicitly says that she 'wiped out an entire species,' which, even if every depowered mutant died instantly, she didn't even come close, because Wolverine's still flapping his mutant trap.

That's a problem with today's writing. Every event has to have a huge chunk of collateral deaths, just to be taken seriously, and then, later, people want to use a character again, (see Jordan, Hal, or Grey, Jean) and have to retcon the hell out of all the murders they committed to 'explain' why they can suddenly be a usable hero character again.

Lame.

Howsabout save the trouble and not have the superheroes kill bunches a people in the first place, neh?

Marvel is really doing a number on their female characters.

Of the established 'old-school,' Jean and Janet are dead, Wanda is ruined and Sue is on the short list to be killed when the FF loses a member in a few issues.

Second generation heroines like Spider-Woman (Spiderman with boobs), She-Hulk (Hulk with boobs) and Ms. Marvel (Captain Marvel with boobs) are still around, but none of them are exactly original characters.

Is that all we are going to have left at Marvel, female knockoffs of male heroes, as all the original female characters are dead, retired or sent off to Wakanda to be Mrs. Panther?

Will Stature, Thor Girl and X-23, the She-verine, be the future? Meh.

Or, worse, comics could look like the upcoming ANNHILATORS book with nary a single female character included
(though a mysterious figure on the last page of DEVASTATION might be female- the character wasn't included in any marketing).

I was bummed about the Annihilators. can we revive Frankie Raye for this ... she had a mini series recently (though i missed the final issue and the conclusion)

also think the Annihilators name is lame, is Guardians of the Galaxy as a title sooooo bad?

I did like YOUNG AVENGERS 4 though. (4 of 9 seems long for a mini but i'm glad to at least get 9 of these)

So i would agree with Set's review pretty much in it's entirety.

Great Art, Wolverine is even acting more 'chode' than normal, too many characters ... at least Wiccan gets a lot of screen time.

OF COURSE DR. DOOM HAS FOUND WANDA AND CONVINCED HER TO MARRY HIM. hahaha


I am unclear on the return of Iron Lad though since .... wasn't this young Vision made from Iron Lad?? I mean i guess a new Iron Lad suit is not hard to find in the future but .... oh well i'm not so hot on this Vision. What's gonna happen when Young Vision meets the Scarlet Witch?? will their love snap Wanda out of it and he'll return to normal and ditch Cassie?? (I think he has Iron Lad's personality now and not one based on Wonder Man's though) seems very confusing.

Or will Wanda be grossed out by this young partial version of her husband. she might even freak out!!!

"No More Synthezoids!!" and then lots of white pages .....

I always liked Quicksilver ... even when he was a sociopath.

I still like Wanda too , maybe it's because I don't like very many of these 'Heroes' she's been attacking. They kinda deserve it. before for messing with her memory and now for being douche bags.

This Wanda IS acting a lot like a former Avenger despite her memory being changed.


Regarding Wolverine's attitude .... he was really distressed way back when they were going to depower jean lest her Phoenix power return. (original john byrne and cc story) and it is very traumatic for a mutant to loser their powers maybe it would be better equated to Wanda robbing them of a sense or two or physically disabling them.

while that's awful I don't think it's 'slaughtered her friends and wiped out and entire species' bad. [looking at you Wolverine]

she may have stagnated the evolution of a species (big if though it is the Marvel universe), disabled about a million people (were there a million mutants before ... ), killed a hundred mutants who were unlucky enough to be surviving on their powers at that moment, and killed a few friends. yeah she's got a lot to answer for but Wolvie's been a drama queen.

Maybe she will get her powers back and utter something like 'Bring back the mutants' or 'resurrect Ant Man' ?


I also read the Avengers 5 of 5.

short review .... it was a venue for Steve and tony to make up and not the 'getting the band back together' book complete with Wasp and Hank or even Hulk that I was hoping for.

Great Art ....

Thor had the opportunity to fix A LOT of things with a magic sword and said some such BS about that would make him a tyrant or something so that the writers could continue with their current stories.

<span class="spoiler_containter"><span class="spoiler_wording">Click Here For A Spoiler</span><span class="spoiler_text">very happy to see the return of any space knight! </span></span>

Gamora and Medusa are on the cover too but, medusa is really not in this power class.

[tangent about cosmic level female heroes]
There have been a few cosmic gals that could work if the Annhilators need some balance.

Adam Warlock had an even more powerful female version, called, imaginatively, 'Her.' (Which, to be fair, follows from his pre-Adam Warlock name of 'Him.')

Frankie Ray / Nova is currently dead, but Heralds of Galactus are notorious for getting over that condition (as much as any comic-book character, I suppose).

Moondragon's pretty darn cosmic, since she can mind control a planet and read Galactus' mind. She's also a stone-cold wench, of the sort that makes Emma Frost look like a Vegas showgirl copping a 'tude.

Crystal may not be 'Queen of the Inhumans / Grand High Poobah of All Kree' or whatever Medusa is this week, but she's got super-powers that could allow her to hold her own on a team with people like Quasar (although Gladiator and Silver Surfer are on another level).

Sersi totally belongs on a team like this.

Clea is pretty darn cosmic, when she's all Flames of Faltine'd up, as ruler of the Dread Dimension.

Mantis, although it's hard to tell what she brings to the table on any given day. (telepathy, precognition, martial arts, some sort of plant-human physiology?)

Snowbird already seems to be hanging with the God Squad, and, really, isn't all that cosmic. Technically, she's supposed to stick to Canada, per terms of her contract with her family, although she seems to play hookey quite a bit...

Others might be suitably powerful, but not play so well with others, like the Enchantress, Moonstone or Rachel Summers (assuming she even exists anymore...).

Plus there are the usual mythological goddesses, like Artemis or the Morrigan or Freya.

Star Dancer - "I'm cosmic! I'm like, an Elder of the Universe, the patron of dance! I've spent *millenia* mastering the dances of a thousand alien cultures!"
Selection Committee - "We'll get back to you. Next!"
[/tangent]

Topic? Four of these cosmic ladies, Crystal, Mantis, Moondragon and Sersi, have been Avengers!

And three of them were used by Abnett and Lanning in Guardians of the Galaxy and the other cosmic-related stuff. Mantis and Moondragon were Guardians of the Galaxy members and Crystal's the wife of one of the Annhilators (Ronan).

Sersi's wrapped up in the CHAOS books surrounding Hercules and co. (as are Athena and possibly Snowbird).

So any one of the first three could *easily* be striding like a badass in the adds for Annhilators alongside the 'big' boys. Maybe one or more of them will appear, but who knows?

I don't think Frankie Raye *is* dead currently. She was in that mini that had a somewhat nebulous ending, as I recall.

Rachel Summers is in the same limbo that Havok and Polaris are in. (Are they on Earth? In space? En route? Nobody seems to really know.)

I'm not sure of the status of Her and Clea. I don't remember anything about Marvel's Artemis at all. Has she really been in any stories? Same for Freya and the Morrigan. I'm not familiar with Star Dancer.

Your points plain, though. There's no shortage of powerful women who wouldn't be out place fighting alongside the men chosen as Annhilators.

Imperial Guard members like Oracle and what's her face- the female that's like Gladiator- could also accompany the Shi'ar emperor.

There's a girl Gladiator? Neat!

A pet peeve about the Imperial Guard is that they aren't just random superheroes, but are actually the best-of-the-best from an entire civilized galaxy, with technology light-years ahead of earth. Gladiator lives up to that status, but much of the rest of the team come across as chumps. I mean, really, what did 'Smasher' do to qualify for this honor? Or Hussar (a red-skinned person with a whip that shocks people? yes, clearly *that* belongs on a team with a Superman-analogue)?

one thing i liked about Grant Morrisson's X-Men (and little else) was he made Smasher more like Ultra Boy. Smasher would download new powers for new situations. It was barely realized as Smasher only had a few panels.


MoonDragon would be cool .. she is ruthless. or Her or Nova. or Sersi. would be nice to have a female represented an unrepresented segment of the galaxy ... but alas. [ A female Super Skrull ]

I'll settle for the apparent new character though!

Binary / Ms. Marvel would be great (IMO) i always preferred her as the star powered Binary.

CHILDREN'S CRUSADE #4: Nice cover. Also nice use of Dr. Doom- demonstrating some shades of gray, which I appreciate. Though, in this case, deeply distrust. I love that shot of Wonder Man flying over Latveria with all manner of flying craft sharing the sky with him.

Dr. Doom's interaction with Wiccan was quietly seductive and menacing. I was shocked at the line "... the spell I cast to heal you... also relieved you of your powers." I actually gasped out loud when I read that.

Quicksilver, Speed, Magneto, Patriot and Hawkeye- did we really need any of the other characters, aside from enough Avengers to fight them? Maybe their moments will come...

Wiccan's history lesson, told to an amnesiac Wanda, ends up with a bit of fulfillment of that history-- Wolverine attacking a wedding dress gowned Wanda. His killing blow is blocked by <span class="spoiler_containter"><span class="spoiler_wording">Click Here For A Spoiler</span><span class="spoiler_text"> the return of Iron Lad!!!</span></span>.

A second big surprise-- nice treats in an issue crowded with characters and beautiful art.

Set’s review of Avengers Academy is a good one as it gets at my feelings of the title too: I like it, and I think it’s good, but it’s definitely lacking *something*. It just needs to pop a bit more each issue. And I think Set nails what it is: we want both characterization AND action each issue, not one of each.

The latest issue was a good one for me because Hank Pym is one of my all-time favorite comic book heroes (he’s on of my father’s top three with Spider-Man and Iron Man). I thought this was a really great Hank story that is much better than the Mighty Avengers issues and the other Hank-related stuff in recent years. It moves Hank from point (A) to point (B) in a good way, getting him past his feelings towards Jan (including the guilt he still harbors). I personally feel Giant-Man and Goliath are the two best personas for Hank so I’m glad to see him Giant-Man again, with the right color-scheme and all. And I hope that is his permanent identity, or at least he gets a solid 10 years out of it. It’s always where he shines the best—once he goes from Giant-Man to something else, things always seem to go wrong for him.

Like Set, I thought the Absorbing Man pleading with Hank to help him find a better containment unit that isn’t so traumatizing was a nice touch and Hank’s decision to do so was also nice.

Mike McKone’s artwork here is probably the best he’s ever done before; he really is fantastic.

See, now that's cool. I've not gotten to see much of the Imperial Guard, and what I've seen has been, unfortunately, pretty crappy. They sorely need a writer who wants to expand them and not just dump stuff on them.

That would be very cool. I remember *tons* of male Super Skrulls in the last skrull attack on earth storyline, but I don't remember seeing any females. Plus, IMO, they dropped the ball pretty hugely on the concept, since they all had pretty generic super-powers. It would have been much more impressive, IMO, if they want all 'Mimic' with them and picked recognizable heroes to emulate, in interesting combinations.

I kinda like her new 'flying brick with energy blasts' powerset (and liked her 'Warbird' name just fine, even if it was pretty soundly loathed). The Binary powerset and name were cool (not so much the visual), but the artist at the time made her look pretty awful (to be fair, he made everyone look pretty awful), so I tend to knee-jerk against it.

First appearances count for a lot, to someone as shallow as me!

The latest issue of Avengers is the Bendis follow-up to the Illuminati subplot that’s been ongoing for a few years, as Bendis at last has the rest of the MU learn about them. This should be a good story because Bendis really seems to have a handle on the characters and the interaction alone should be great. I personally don’t think it’s a big deal—have the Illuminati done anything that is all that bad? But I appreciate Bendis resolving this in light of the “Heroic Age” since it kind of is just hanging there and needs to be addressed.

The issue is beautifully done and so much of that is Romita Jr.’s art. I feel I have to say this everytime: JR Jr haters, it’s not for everyone (but you’re still wrong ). A lot of this issue was very Kirby-esque as well; the way JR Jr draws Lockjaw is so Kirby it hurts—and that’s a good thing. As Lockjaw’s creator, Kirby’s depiction is the right one. I also love the way JR Jr. draws Iron Man. Moreso than anyone else currently doing it.

The Hood having the Infinity Gems should make for a good story; I’m not exactly jumping out of my seat to see it, but I expect it to be solid.

Love Medusa’s role in a big way here.

PS - STILL loving those text back-ups!

So, just got Dead Avengers 3, the final issue of this crossover, and we went into it knowing that all six of these characters were already dead, and, at least in some cases, very, very unlikely to not end the story in the same condition...

Still, amazingly good wrap up.

The team loses it's most inspiring, most heroic figure in scene one, panel one, and spends the rest of the issue not just fighting a massively powered up Grim Reaper and Nekra, and their army of Chaos King-following mortal souls and demon-creatures, but also their own inner demons of doubt and shame and insecurity.

We get to see the backstory flashes for Doctor Druid and Yellowjacket, not seen in the previous two issues, and Dr. Druid's is appropriate, but not nearly as character-defining as Rita DeMara's, which is just perfect as an ending coda to her story.

We see the Vision cut down by Grim Reaper.

We see Dr. Druid on the ground, incapacitated by the sheer intensity of Nekra's hate, pounding him through their brief psychic connection, as an army of demons, and Nekra herself, advance on the helpless Avengers.

We see Yellowjacket accidentally leading the bad-guys into their sanctuary, where the living Avengers lie helpless, and quitting the fight, despairing that she's screwed up and now everyone is going to die.

We see a wounded Deathcry despairing that she's failed her third chance to control herself, and, once again, it may be others who pay the price for her lack of self-control.

We see the Swordsman leap into a fight with an endless horde of demons, resigned to at least being able to choose his death, this time.

And none of these characters stories end with these scenes, which makes it all the cooler, as they get taken to the brink and are forced to find the hero within themselves.

Awesome story, with a bittersweet ending, even if we never see these characters again.

The funny thing is ... The first thing I thought was that Romita's LockJaw looked just like Jae Lee's LockJaw!! It was actually distracting since it looked like it was photocopied into the panel and then before and after JR JR went back to his style. (not a criticism as I love Jae Lee and JR)

... and now that i think of it Jae Lee's work is totally influenced or similar to Kirby! I never connected them before even though Jae Lee DREW THE INHUMANS. lol.

anyhow, LockJaw looks perfect.

I think JR JR is definitely ON right now. (I haven't liked his art since X-Men. personally) and his work suits Iron Man's blocky costume. (I still think his women can turn out too construction blocky)

AVENGERS ACADEMY 8: The Hood's vicious attack on Tigra awhile ago gets follow-up, as she discovers the students watching the attack on the internet. It's gone viral.

She at first uses it as a training point. But even she doesn't buy her own words. Three of the students decide the episode needs to be 'avenged'. Striker, Hazmat and Veil(!) deliver that 'avenging', unwittingly spurring The Hood to renew his 'career' over in the New Avengers title (I think). Meanwhile, Tigra has a nightmare and then decides to go on a talk show to discuss the now-viral video of her beatdown. Giant-man calls her confessional/inspirational appearance "the bravest thing I've witnessed in my career as an Avenger. And I've been there since day one." I don't know if it's intentional, but Tigra's expression while Hank delivers that ridiculous line seems to express a "yeah right, b.s." kind of reaction, which somewhat mitigates the hamfisted, treacly moment.

Striker seizes that moment to show the video the students made of their 'avenging'. Guess what? It's viral too!

Tigra's numb for a sec, then explodes. Her anger rises, culminating in her expelling the trio from Avengers Academy.

This issue certainly held my attention, though the 'avenging' scene should've been longer. And Tigra's more than a little long-winded. Hank's going out of his way to be supportive- parental empathy at work? I note that Finesse talked up the idea of attacking The Hood, but didn't put herself in the line of fire.

I like the tightrope the cast is walking. Who's gonna fall? Who's gonna soar? Who's gonna just keep on walking the same ol' tightrope back-and-forth?

Catching up on the latest issue of Secret Avengers, my immediate reaction is that I’m literally blown away by how incredible Mike Deodato’s artwork is. He is absolutely peaking right now and it’s so good that sometimes I have to stop mid story just to look at it.

Meanwhile, the story-arc is pretty good, featuring Shang-Chi, which gives it a spy/kung-fu mash-up feel. Frankly, the story isn’t exactly blowing me away, but it’s certainly a very solid one that is fun to read, and that’s all I ask in comics. I wasn’t a Shang-Chi fan in the 70’s (I wasn’t born ) so I have no great love of seeing the Marvel Fu Manchu, especially if he isn’t actually going to be Fu Manchu. I also would like to get the John Steele / Cap showdown going already. But I give Bru credit for making each issue interesting on it’s own.

I’m certainly digging Price of Orphans and wanting to see more of him.

I realize this title is really a way for Bru to keep writing Cap & Sharon Carter while also adding in other characters he likes, so I don’t mind that it’s so focused on Steve. But I do hope that Valkrye, Beast and Rhodey get some more screen time soon.

Bendis & Davis wrapped up Avengers Prime and I’ve got to say I really enjoyed this little miniseries, which was a lot of fun and a nice little side story by two creators who you could tell were just letting themselves enjoy themselves while doing the story. This was a more fun, light-hearted Brian Bendis who reveled in being partnered with Alan Davis, who he provided tons and tons of great things for him to draw. They really infused the sense of fun for the Big 3, which frankly, they needed.

Davis really just nailed Fafnir, Amora, and the epic scope of armies battling. And I really dug the D&D-type costumes for Iron Man and Cap.

Bendis did what he set-out to do, namely provide a story that very subtly and not in an overly dramatic fashion, provides the first steps in restoring the friendship of Tony & Steve. It’s not done wholesale and tidily wrapped up, but you feel it’s starting down that path and it feels natural. You also get the sense that Thor being there helped mediate that process.

I really enjoyed when they started joking with one another a little, especially talking about Hellcat, which is a side of them you hardly ever get to see. (The early Avengers stories used to have Iron Man & Giant Man joking all the time with Cap and Thor). It was especially nice to see Thor make the two of them laugh, rather than Tony.

This story showed Bendis isn’t just about ‘event comics’ and using his favorites. He can really do great things with long-standing Marvel characters he doesn’t already love when he sets his mind to it. Especially with a partner like Davis, who excels at grandiose battles as well as the quiet moments.

As usual, I'm staring out another major upgrade at the SA Marvel site by replacing the "Thumbnails" pages. I didn't like the color, there were unnecessary links to get rid of, and the spacing was all "off".


I'm also adding text paragraphs, which Nick Simon had in a lot of the "Western" and "Humor" sections. It's fun to comment in only a few sentences about an entire part of a run (25 issues, generally).


I had to LOOK UP exactly what it was Stan YANKED John Buscema off the book for. See, Don Heck did this mostly-amazing run, very consistent, never missed an issue, terrific storytelling, great characterization in the faces & body language. Then Roy decides, hey, here's this hotshot with a MUCH bolder, more dynamic, more explosive style... so while Don is cranking away at the ANNUAL, he gets Buscema to "fill in". Except, when Don comes back, it's only for one issue and part of the next ANNUAL. Roy shoves Don Heck onto X-MEN, which causes Werner Roth (who apparenlty got even LESS respect than Heck) to lose his regular slot.


Don't you HATE when editors do this?


Well, Buscema did a PILE of issues, and a PILE of covers, but all of a sudden, he was OFF the book... because STAN wanted him to draw SPIDER-MAN!!! (And by all accounts, Buscema HATED Spider-Man!!!)


So instead, we got 3 issues by Gene Colan, 3 issues by Barry Smith, and then a PILE of issues by SAL Buscema. (Or, "John lite")


While most AVENGERS fans think of Buscema as the "DEFINITIVE!!!" artist on the book, looking back, what I see was, Don Heck lost his regular gig for nothing.


Better had Buscema done X-MEN. That whole book screams "exagerated" characterization. (At least, it has since Neal Adams got on it. And Buscema is WAY better than Adams.)

http://www.samcci.nostromo.no/

Well, for a day when I was feeling really tired & depressed, I managed to get 6 pages of "Thumbnails" upgraded so far. This includes AVENGERS #1-100, MARVEL TRIPLE ACTION #1-47 and MARVEL SUPER ACTION #1-37.


Originally, the reprints were accessed separately via the "TITLES" page (they still are, since they just barely qualify as "anthologies" because of the whacked-out inclusion of FANTASTIC FOUR in 4 issues, DAREDEVIL and DR. STRANGE in 2 issues, MARVEL BOY in 1 issue, and CAPTAIN AMERICA in 12 issues). But now the tiny links at the top of the pages have them all inter-connected, which makes it easier to flip back and forth between them.


Still got the "Misc. REPRINTS" to go, but that's the one that's gonna be a challenge, as I've barely started adding the multitude of MILESTONES, MASTERWORKS, ESSENTIALS, OMNIBUSES and other stuff, of which I'm sure there's a ton of after all these years.


http://www.samcci.nostromo.no/

Here's a couple of covers I just added, MUCH nicer scans that I think you'll find anywhere else...

http://www.samcci.nostromo.no/avengers/AV%20KSW%2001.jpg
http://www.samcci.nostromo.no/avengers/AV%20KSW%2001%20back.jpg
http://www.samcci.nostromo.no/avengers/AV%20KSW%2001%20wrap.jpg

http://www.samcci.nostromo.no/avengers/AV%20KSW%2002.jpg
http://www.samcci.nostromo.no/avengers/AV%20KSW%2002%20back.jpg
http://www.samcci.nostromo.no/avengers/AV%20KSW%2002%20wrap.jpg

The latest restoration... AVENGERS #1 !!!

http://www.samcci.nostromo.no/avengers/AV%20001.jpg

Great work as always Prof.

Thanks. Right now, it's a toss-up between which section at the SA Marvel site has the worst covers... SPIDER-MAN, X-MEN or AVENGERS. That's ONE down... 99 to go!