Customer Reviews

Acts of Vengeance Omnibus

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AoV is great! Not the best, but coming from 1989-90 is great from that time! If you love classic storys from the past, villians getting the best of the good guys, or if you love marvel comics then this is a must have! The art work is nice, but u have to remember that this was done in 89. I grew up on this kind of stuff and I don't mind the art work. There really are no extras tho. No intro about how it came together or anything like that. There are a couple of C&D pinup pages at the end which look like crap and there is a three page recap of the whole event. That's it for extras! I got mine on here for less the $60 which is a lot better then $100...nuff said!

I'm really loving this, but I'm a *huge* fan of 80's & early 90's artwork, so please take this into consideration.

This is an effective snapshot of an exciting time in comics. I love the bright & clear colors of the 80's & early 90's here. This is a time right before computer coloring and full-bleed comics hit it big. In this volume we barely start to see artists breaking away from traditional, grid-based page layouts, with panel compositions getting a bit more creative.

Highlights here for me...

*Avengers titles. I already knew I loved John Byrne's Avengers West Coast issues, so that's the main reason I decided to risk getting this. I now think the other Avengers titles here are capable enough too, even if the artwork isn't as refined as I'd like. Seeing Byrne's work on slightly over-sized paper is a reminder of how much I'd *love* to see an Avengers By John Byrne Omnibus collection.

*Spider-Man titles. This is the biggest surprise for me here. These Spider-Man issues are really great fun to me. I really appreciate Sal Buscema's clean & simplistic visuals. I love Erik Larsen's "Saturday morning cartoons meets McFarlane" style. I had never seen Captain Universe Spidey before(!). And Todd McFarlane draws Spider-Man *and* the Hulk. Sal Buscema has 3 issues here, Larsen has 2, and McFarlane has 1, but really, I like all the Spidey-titles inside.

*Captain America 367. Magneto vs. Red Skull! I absolutely *love* the cover design for this issue, so I had high expectations here. That's probably why I'm a little disappointed to actually see it. The interior artwork isn't nearly as good as I had hoped, but the writing helps to save the day. It's not that I consider it to be super great writing either. It's enjoyable & capable enough considering the great potential this confrontation had. I can't help feeling there's so much more that could've been done with this situation.

*It's the New Warriors! It's their 1st appearance in Thor 411, and 1st full issue in Thor 412. Nova, Marvel Boy, Namorita, Night Thrasher, Firestar, and Speedball- a very colorful team. They started their own popular series around this time, so it's neat to see them begin here.

*Enemies united- Just as there came a day when Earth's Mightiest Heroes united against a common threat, so too now an assortment of earth's mightiest villains is attempting a nearly similar thing. See Loki, Magneto, the Red Skull, Doctor Doom, Mandarin, Kingpin, Wizard, and *more*, as they wreak havoc on the Marvel Universe! This is what Acts of Vengeance is essentially all about.

Part of the reason I love this event so much now is that I skipped a lot of it because I was mainly a fan of the X-titles at this time. This is bringing me back up to speed on the main event itself. If people want to see the connected X-titles, they might want to check out the companion Acts of Vengeance Crossovers, since this 1st big Marvel event of the 90's is just too big to be contained in a single volume.

If you've ever seen these event collections in person, you already know that quality is hit-and-miss all the way through. That's the way it is with a great variety of creative teams. I'm certainly not saying everyone should immediately run out and get this. I am saying, for whatever it's worth, that as an already confirmed fan of these comics, I'm very satisfied with this purchase.

I started reading Marvel comics as a kid in the mid 90's and fell in love with all the characters and the world they lived in. If you're currently a fan of modern Marvel comics, you'll probably agree that most of the best stories/art in comics have occurred in the past 10 years. If you're looking to buy this omnibus to stumble upon an older grand crossover, that equals Civil War, Secret Invasion, or Dark Reign, this might not be the comic for you.

However, if you have decent knowledge of the characters and enjoy the simpler story lines of the 60's, 70's, and 80's of Marvel comics, this is a MUST HAVE! The best part about this omnibus for me is that all 30+ issues were released between December 1989 and February 1990. While reading, it's easy to imagine picking up these issues week after week at that time. Most Marvel omnibus's feature one title over the course of 2 or 3 years. With Acts of Vengeance, you get a very honest look at what the company was doing in a condensed amount of time. Moving into the 1990's comics went through many changes, and this book acts as a bridge for what was soon to come.

The story is simple enough, the super villains join up and decide to fight each other's respective heroes, in order to gain back the element of surprise. Doctor Doom, the Red Skull, Magneto, The Kingpin, the Mandarin, and....The Wizard(?) essentially team up to organize attacks on the Avengers. The majority of the issues in the omnibus are Spiderman, Avengers, and the solo titles for Thor, Iron Man, and Captain America. I've always felt that these were the stronger Marvel titles and that remains the truth in this book. The weakest issues are the 3 Quasar issues and the 1 Cloak and Dagger issue, but that could be because I've never cared for those characters.

Some notable writers featured in this book: John Byrne, Ron Frenz, Tom DeFalco, Mark Gruenwald, Dwayne McDuffie, David Michelinie, Gerry Conway

Some notable artists featured in this book: Paul Ryan, Sal Buscema, Alex Saviuk, Erik Larsen, Todd McFarlane

The spiderman issues were probably my favorites, seeing him face off against Graviton, Titania, Dragon Man, and even MAGNETO! I'll even forgive the horrible horrible pay off to the overarching spider-man subplot concluded in the last issue. I won't spoil it for you but it's a doozy!

Bottom line, buy this book. It might not be worth $100, but through Amazon you can get it for around $60 which is a great price, considering it looks just as amazing as all the other Marvel Omnibuses and you get a complete story. I felt no need to have the issues that came before or after this book. Perhaps the companion omnibus Acts of Vengeance Crossovers is worth it but I wouldn't know, I'll wait to find that used for much cheaper. As always "make mine marvel!"

I have been an avid collector of marvel comics since the mid-70s and X-Men giant sized #1. Claremont/Byrne were my gods growing up, but then tuned out during the Lee/Liefeld era. I found the story lines during the 90's were getting just too ridiculous and the nail in the coffin was when Marvel introduced the Wolverine with wood-bones nonsense. It wasn't until Age of Apocalypse storyline (and specifically Chris Bachalo's art) that I returned to the Marvel Universe and with recent great artists like Djurdjevic, McNiven and Finch, I have again become a fan.
That being said, Acts of Vengeance takes me back to the days of shaking my head in frustration at how stupid and unbearably lame a comic story can be. The art by one particular artist is so excruciatingly bad I was forced to research who he is (Herb Trimpe you stink)with the hopes of finding an address to send, not hate mail, but just a note telling him how bad I feel his art is, even though it's been over twenty years. Even the few stories drawn by John Byrne aren't enough to save this disaster. I forced myself to read about 180 pages hoping it would get better, then skimmed through another 600 pages, then tossed the book to the side with a thud and dent on my floor and began reading one of the other four Marvel Omnibus's I purchased.
Here's a perfect example of how lame Acts of Vengeance gets, and if this doesn't make you cringe, buy the book because perhaps you'll like it. One, Peter Parker with a mullet. Two, Spider man crushes an approaching missile with a giant hand made out of web. Really? Seriously?
Skip it!