Tags Matching: Avengers

Top 100 Summer Comics #6

By admin | Published September 16, 2010

I need you to just look at the cover of this before we dig in. Find the redemption in this ragtag team of Avengers. It is not easy, so you might want to sit down and refocus your eyes.

#6 – Avengers 365

Can you name all the Avengers here? 200 Marvel Dork points if you can. I did, but it wasn’t easy. And I remember this era vividly.

Clockwise – Crystal, Black Knight, Hercules, Death Cry, Vision.

1. Hercules at this era sucked so bad. Not funny, not fun, no beard, looks like the worst WWF jobber from 1995.

2. Crystal / Black Knight should never be the coolest member of your Avengers squad.

3. Death Cry? Who? Really? Thanks, ’90s.

4. The Vision is NEVER the coolest member of the Avengers, but he should not be the most recognizable hero on your comic book cover.

This is where I would love for there to be numbers made available – how many copies did this issue sell? 45? 100? It was a dark time for the Marvel offices, and the Avengers seemed like a comic in full on “If SPAWN fans don’t start buying this book, we’re being cancelled next month” mode every month. Bad sign – an editor is writing your book. If anyone else was there for this era of the Avengers, you should get your own special full page “I AM AN AVENGER” profile with a letter of salutations from Stan Lee himself.

The good? A young Steve Epting pencils this issue, and many others of this era. He was far from where he is today, but it’s still a decent style. I’d love to hear a personal critique of his style and where / how he’s grown. Why hasn’t Marvel done this with certain creators? I can see the issues with having current greats “re-doing” issues by other creators, but I bet artists would be intrigued by the idea of a do-over on some of their early work.

Anyways… I’m sure Marvel editorial wishes they had a little bit of a do-over on this entire era of the book.

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Top 100 Summer Comics #43

By admin | Published August 8, 2010

Sometimes you need a light-hearted and fun hero romp. Wieringo and Waid’s Fantastic Four sates this sweet tooth quite nicely.

But when you are looking for something with a little bit more of a bite, the art of Mike Deodato comes to the plate perfectly. His style has grown over the years but the depth and tone of his art has always been a strong point – he creates mood with his strong, crunching lines and stoney detail. A recent example…

#43 – Dark Avengers 1

Basically a twist on the theme of Thunderbolts, reformed villains and borderline anti-heroes are joined together under the new Hoss of the Marvel U, Norman Osborn, under the tag of Avengers. The premise is nothing special, but what brought the series to a higher level was Deodato. Much like his run on Thor in the ’90s, and his term on the Bruce Jones written Hulk earlier this decade, Deodato’s pacing and dark edges gave what could have been a “good” book a Great book.

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Top 100 Summer Comics #52

By admin | Published July 30, 2010

I’ve been thin on the posts this week, been crazy. But let me be brief on this one because I truly believe there’s not a whole lot that needs to be said.

Especially with everyone buzzing about the THOR movie trailer, this is an issue that needs a mere three content comments to sell it.

John Byrne.

Avengers vs. Loki.

And the spoiler – It ends with THOR SEALING LOKI IN THE EARTH.

#52 – Avengers West Coast 55

Nuff Said.

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Top 100 Summer Comics… #81

By admin | Published June 29, 2010

Considering there were two coastal Avenger teams, it made sense.

The Avengers took care of all dangers to NYC and the surrounding northeastern area.

The West Coast Avengers pretty much just hung out in Malibu and waited around for Iron Man to show up occasionally. That’s how Clint Barton roles.

But how about the Upper Midwest?

#82 – West Coast Avengers 46

You know, you couldn’t diss Chicago by putting a team of losers there. Chi-town is way too cool. Milwaukee? Nice city, but yeah, you can clown on Milwaukee. But hey, at least you have a super-hero team!! THE GREAT LAKES AVENGERS. Just saying it makes me laugh. I remember vividly seeing the cover and being extremely excited about it. I think this story was absolutely classic and one of John Byrne’s finest moments. PLEASE find this and read – rarely does comic relief actually come across so smooth and fun while maintaining the tone and consistency expected from superhero comic books.

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100 Days of Summer Comics… #97

By admin | Published June 13, 2010

It’s amazing what a creative team can do.

Often we forget, and I think the comic companies do too, that a great character is absolutely nothing without a great writer and artist behind him.

The Avengers have often been a testament to that.

So when Brian M. Bendis and David Finch stepped up to the plate, it was like watching Shaquille O’Neal signing with the L.A. Lakers – greatness reborn.

#97 – Avengers 500

Things had gotten weird. Chuck Austen didn’t exactly knock it out of the park. In fact, it was a really weird combination, a quick modern writer writing snappy and snippy Avengers stories. I think I enjoyed it more than most, and I still get shivers thinking about some of his lower moments.

And so starts the true beginning of the Bendis Age of Marvel. The house of ideas had some cracks in the foundation. Tear it down. Rebuild. This laid down the groundwork for House of M, Civil War, Secret Invasion, and Siege. Essentially 60% of the Marvel catalog can give credit to Avengers #500 as an ancestral story root.

For comic fans of any and all eras, this is a comic book you can pick up and jump in. I really enjoyed how accessible comics were for a few years in the early 2000′s at Marvel – they knew the best way to get people on board was to open all the gates, and this issue is a great example of that. The art is perfect, some of my favorite David Finch work – think Jim Lee on crack – hyper realistic with just a touch more grit.

100 Days of Summer Comics… #99

By admin | Published June 11, 2010

#99 – Avengers #303

Let me set this up. The Avengers are essentially Gilgamesh, Captain America, Thor, the Invisible Woman and Mr. Fantastic. Huh? Weird right? Well by the end of this issue, the Avengers are back on the good foot.

If you can’t tell, this issue has three things I’m a sucker for. One – the West Coast Avengers. Two – Nova and the Nova Corps. Three – Quasar. I kind of know both things are pretty wack. But I like them anyways, like that one lame friend who still makes fart jokes in front of girls in high school – sometimes you can’t believe you hang out with him, but you still do. This issue has all of those things and the kitchen sink. The Thing in full cragrock mode? Boom. Mr. Fantastic getting persnickety about being told what to do? Boom. A reenactment of David and Goliath starring Hawkeye and a giant SuperNova? BOOM!

All in all a romping good time and I am DYING for a collection of this era of the Avengers. Get this for $2 or less and enjoy.

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Lights out…

By admin | Published June 3, 2010

A funny thing happened last night, as I was preparing to do a couple of comicnoize posts.

The power went out.

Okay, no big deal. It’s 8 o’clock. Give it an hour, tops, I’ll be back in business. NOPE.

Power came back today at noon. So in honor of CPS for taking their sweet time to get my energy back on, my favorite D-grade villain of all time, BLACKOUT.

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Avengers. Solo Avengers.

By admin | Published June 1, 2010

An interesting concept that I almost completely forgot about.

A somewhat successful team book spawning a side book that showcased team members in solo adventures without the need for miniseries after miniseries. I think almost any fan could see that and both enjoy and recoil at the possible outcome.

Solo Avengers (which morphed into Avengers Spotlight) did both please and terrorize Avengers fans, but I believe it should be noted as a success somewhere in the annals of comicdom.

While it’s undeniable that it gave Hawkeye the lion’s share of attention, it also gave other Avengers some time to shine. Without a doubt I think some of Hawkeye’s best stories happened here, so any Clint Barton fans should seek these out. I guarantee you can find them in ample supply for decent prices, depending on your desired grade.

Strangely, my favorite of the Solo Avengers stories doesn’t feature Hawkeye. Rather, it’s a tale of The Vault starring Iron Man – a story with little fanfare these days but I think was one of the absolute best of the era. A small scale riot at The Vault (aka the Marvel supervillain prison of the 80′s, an idea now being re-used with The Raft) and obviously, Iron Man comes to save the day. Well put together and a great use of some of my favorite D-List villains. Strangely, this is kind of a continuation storyline from a breakout of the Vault which reeks of parallels to the recent debut issue of New Avengers #1. If Bendis did pull from this lost story it only makes me more of a fan.

And with all of the good sometimes comes the ugly. A good story gone bad, if you will. Hawkeye gets shot…

and then dons some fugly costume that even the Paladin laughed at. Okay, he didn’t, but only because he knew the pain.

Hang in there, Clint! This won’t last for more than 3 months!

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New “Avengers”. Not “New Avengers”

By admin | Published May 25, 2010

It’s been a long time coming.

Few things in comics are certain. But one to stand by is “no one stays dead forever”.

And that counts doubly for good team books.

I can say that the Avengers hit some skids. The stagnation level was at an all time high as far as I’m concerned through much of the first part of this decade. Even the good creative teams were muddled by continuity, convoluted character development, and no guiding focus. The Avengers were everything that comics had moved away from – bloated, stiff, and always one page flip from being skipped. I don’t think I bought an issue of Avengers from 1995 until 2003. And when I did I was disappointed.

But then Brian Bendis came in, cleaned house, and BOOM, the Avengers, Marvel’s mainstay, was cancelled at issue #503. To be replaced by an all new, exciting enterprise that became the flagship book for Marvel for the next 5 years. New Avengers did away with the old rules and made their own. And now…

I don’t want to gush about these books too much. New Avengers had it’s flaws, but overall it was a great ride. With the reset to AVENGERS #1, I was nervous. I don’t really want to see Hank Pym and Cap and… etc… through regurgitated Kang adventures over and over.

But here it is, issue #1, and who’s that? KANG. But man, he looks good. John Romita Jr.’s Kang is killer. The grit in his lines gives Kang character that I’ve never really taken, and at the least the best interpretation since John Buscema. And there’s a newness to the book that feels nice. I have high hopes, so here’s to a nice start – a rather quick first issue but I prefer that to one that reminds me why I gave up on the series in the first place. If Marvel can avoid the annual company wide crossover that dominated a little under half of the New Avengers series, then this incarnation of the Avengers could be the best one yet.

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What If Syndrome.

By morgado | Published May 20, 2010

Remember back in April, when I did a post on What If…?

And remember how I mentioned that later stories had a tendency to devolve into a game of “let’s kill everyone we can, in really mean ways”? This is one of those stories…

The Last Avengers Story. The name implies death, certainly, but it implies awesome, heroic death. One expects Captain America, Thor, and Iron Man all going down in blazes of glory. But alas, The Last Avengers Story is not a legendary tale of Marvel’s premiere superheroes last stand. It’s a “let’s kill everyone we can in really mean ways” story. It suffers from What If Syndrome.

Thor, Iron Man, Captain America? They’re not your main characters. Hell, they’re not really even in the book; the deaths of Cap and Thor are mentioned in passing, and Iron Man just makes a token appearance at Cap’s funeral. Even the second string Avengers get screwed royally in this. Tigra? The Hulk turns evil and rips her in half. Quicksilver accidentally runs over the Scarlet Witch at super speed, and runs off a cliff in despair. Wonder Man gets ripped open by the Hulk and blows them both up, with the resulting explosion blinding Hawkeye. And all that is FLASHBACKS. Who actually assembles to fight our uber villain combo of Grim Reaper, Kang, and an army of Ultrons in the main plot? A fat Hank Pym, a Wasp who’s losing an inch of height a year, The Human Torch (you know, the Fantastic Four guy), Cannonball (you know, the New Mutants guy), and a bunch of next generation schmucks (all the villains were rounded up and killed by the government, so all the young superheroes are bored d-bags). Yeah. To say it’s a massacre is putting it lightly.

Worth a read, mainly because the Ariel Olivetti art is incredible, but man did I expect better from Peter David. It’s not that it’s poorly written, it’s just that it’s so much more like the usual What If it was the end of the Marvel Universe story; the characters you expect to read about in an Avengers story don’t even show up, and instead of finding out what happened to them, we get peeks at what happened to people like Reed Richards, Doctor Doom, and Spider Man instead. And even then, they’re all miserable. In large part it reads like Kingdom Come without the epic scope.

Frickin’ What If Syndrome. It affects even the best.

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