Customer Reviews

Avengers Assemble, Vol. 1

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"Avengers Assemble" is the first volume collecting the Avengers' most recent line of comics. This series re-started with a new number "one" issue immediately following the whole "Heroes Reborn/Heroes Return" thing from a few years back.
The key to this run's success is twofold: Kurt Busiek and George Perez. Busiek is a comic writer with a historian's knowledge of the past, yet a contemporary tone accessible to all readers. George Perez is on the very short list of great Avengers artists...only John Buscema comes to mind, although Kirby, Byrne and others had some stellar runs, and Neal Adams provided three classic issues.
But no one can fill a page with a multitude of costumed characters like George.
The tome opens with a three-issue Medieval adventure, the villainess being Morgan Le Fay. We get re-introduced to all the characters, setting up plot lines that extend through all eleven issues (plus an in-continuity Annual nicely drawn by Carlos Pacheco).
We get an old-fashioned "kickball team" issue. Every so often, there's a story where it's time to pick a new team. Some people make it, some people don't, just like back in the day when you waited to get picked to be on somebody's kickball team. It always ends with a group shot, everyone looking either up into a non-existent camera or out to an adoring throng, usually with the words "Avengers Assemble" emblazoned across the bottom.
The Squadron Supreme return for a few issues.
The "soap opera" aspects are nicely incorporated into the heroic goings-on. Binary/Ms. Marvel's little "problem." Scarlet Witch's nascent powers AND the whole thing with the resurrected Wonder Man. Hawkeye still doesn't like being second fiddle. Vision's still floating around. Thor still talks funny. The New Warrior recruits, Justice and Firestar, serve their purpose, and by the end of the run, felt like part of the team, as opposed to a Rick-Jones-like add-on.
There are a few surprise appearances that I won't spoil.
The physical book itself is lovely (except the reproduction of the last issue in my copy was a bit fuzzy or out-of-focus). All the original covers, many variant covers, covers to the trade collections, posters and pin-ups are included. The first issue is reproduced at the end in its' original pencil form. There's a script too.
This is another stellar example of the Marvel Renaissance. When they say they don't make them like they used to, this is exactly how they "used to make `em."

The Avengers have always been my favorite Superhero team going back to the early 1970's. They've had consistently good stories without the never ending sub-plots and sub-sub-plots of the various X-men titles. This hardcover graphic novel collects the first 12 issues of the Avengers Volume 3, the current series. With stories by Kurt Busiek and art by legendary George Perez, these are some fantastic stories.

The Stories in this set are: The Morgan Conquest from Avengers # 1 -4, "Supreme Justice" from avengers # 5 - 7, and "Clear and Present Danger" from Avengers # 8 - 12.

There's just nothing better than George Perez on the Avengers!

Take Kurt Busiek, one of the foremost writers of the past
15 years, a champion of deep characterization, mutiple
plotlines, and crisp language. With illustrator Alex Ross,
Busiek broke the bank with the Sequential classic
MARVELS, then proceeded to raid the game with his
signature series of costumed drama, ASTRO CITY. His
captivating UNTOLD TALES OF SPIDER-MAN can be seen
as a direct precedent for J. Michael Straczynski's
smash success on the regular title
over the last 3 years.

Does Busiek keep himself busy? Check his inspired take on
CONAN, his penetrating, heart-warming SUPERMAN: SECRET
IDENTITY, or the matchless yarnspinning of ARROWSMITH,
among other pinnacles.

Consider George Perez, perhaps the most diversified
master of Sequential Art in the past 30 years.
Group dynamics, cinematic poise, facial diversity,
individual body language, crunching action, intensely
quiet interludes are but a few of the qualities by
which this highly original illustrator has influenced
an entire generation of storytellers. With writer
Marv Wolfman, Perez helped forge DC's TITANS -Teen
and otherwise- into a worldwide phenomenon, split
the thematic cosmos with CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS,
then helped call the folktales home with HISTORY
OF THE DC UNIVERSE, and hooked up with acerbic
wordsmith Peter David to conceive two of the
hallamrks of David's groundbraking run on THE
INCREDIBLE HULK: FUTURE IMPERFECT and the
illustrated prose novel WHAT SAVAGE BEAST.

Perez established himself as a definite Sequential
power with his masterful realignment of WONDER
WOMAN in the mid-1980s. Overcoming decades of
mediocre Comics and a dead-poor late-1970s TV
show, Perez delivered the legendary Amazon as
the major power, personality and icon that she's
supposed to be.

Two master storytellers, chomping at the bit
for something fresh. What to do?

Try this handsome hardcover from Marvel on for size.
Rarely has enthusiasm for a project communicated
with such permeating fire as Busiek and Perez have
done with AVENGERS ASSEMBLE, covering the beginning
of their 3 year run of glory on the series.

Busiek's respect for the best storylines of Avengers
past (particularly from Roy Thomas in the 1960s, Steve
Englehart in the 1970s, and Roger Stern in the 1980s)
shows in his unique takes on key supporting characters
such as The Vision, The Scarlet Witch, Hawkeye and The
Wasp, along with fresh perspectives on big guns such
as Captain America and Iron Man.
From other Marvel superteams, Justice and Firestar each
offer fresh enthusiasm and envigorating tales all their
own, while new creations Silverclaw and -particularly-
Triathlon would take the entire series in whole new
directions altogether. Even a fleeting look at founding
member Hank Pym (Ant-Man, Giant-Man, and Yellowjacket
up the middle) offers a possible insight into the larger
role played by the size-shifting scientist in later
issues of this run.
All play extremely major roles in compelling storylines
which run the gamut from grand and epic to up close
and personal.
Perez, whose particpation in the Englehart run helped
begin his amazing career, is dynamite in capturing
every nuance of drama that visuals can communicate.
Having drawn the breadth of the company's characters
over the span of nearly 30 years is invaluable in Perez's
ability to capture the signature look and perspective
of each and every character.
Arthurian nightmare, lost love, intergalactic conspiracy,
or the clinging danger of alcoholism: All this and more
are conveyed with precise dimension, an astoundingly
balanced flair for contrast, and an eye for emotional
impact which is second to none.

Together, they wrote a whole new chapter in Sequential
Fiction; producing a whole new continuity, and resolving
old storylines with sharp twists bearing interesting
turns for the future. Even as prime a player as THE
MIGHTY THOR was rendered far more dynamically by Busiek
and Perez than the disappointing Lee-Kirby knockoffs
then being churned out by Dan Jurgens in the Asgardian's
own series!
AVENGERS ASSEMBLE is a must have volume for anyone
wishing a solid read of well-wrought material,
superheroism as a refreshingly entertaining literary
source to enjoy, time and again.

Kurt Busiek. George Perez. Say, what have they done
since this?

Stay tuned...

After the craziness of Heroes Reborn in '96 & '97, the Avengers experienced a new direction with Heroes Return in 1998. We see this new direction here.

Highlights here for me...
*Issue 1- And there came a day...! Earth's mightiest heroes- yes, all 1 million of them- unite here to face a common threat. How many Avengers can fit in one comic? Maybe we find out here!
*Issue 4- The team is remade. A million Avengers is too many, so we pare it down to 7, plus 2 reserves. This is probably my favorite issue in this paperback. I love everything about it: writing, visuals & characters.
*Issue 8- Battle in an airport. And introducing Triathlon & Silverclaw! Are they friends, enemies, or maybe new Avengers? New story lines begin here.

First, the visuals- I consider myself a bit of a George Perez fan. His art style is somewhat cartoon-like yet hyper-detailed; some people really love it and some people not so much. Like many popular artists he's polarizing this way. If people already know they don't like this kind of style, then I'd say there's nothing really here that will change their mind. As for me, I'm thinking I mainly like it, even if it is sometimes a bit too much in the way of visual overkill. It's this amazing attention to detail that separates Perez from most other pencillers. I honestly can't think of many artists in comicbook history that can really compete with him in regards to the sheer amount of meaningful detail that he can depict on a single page. He displays this same great skill with detail in his first Avengers run in the mid to late 70's, and I consider Perez to be among the greatest-ever artists to tackle Earth's Mightiest Heroes.

As to the story- Maybe this restart will appeal to longtime fans a bit more than it will to newer ones. Kurt Busiek's writing is entertaining to me, and this entire paperback is filled with references to Avengers history. If I maybe have a single complaint here, it would be that this '98 version of Avengers is a bit too fractured as a team, and this does get a bit irritating to read about. The saving grace, for me at least, is that Busiek actually has Captain America recognize this fact right after a great confrontation with Hawkeye in issue #6. At least the readers aren't the only ones who see the team is in disarray! Having said that, I think Busiek does an impressive job handling a crazy amount of distinct characters & personalities, and I really appreciate his efforts.

Back in '98, this was my favorite of the Heroes Return titles. I still mainly like it today. Whether people appreciate it these days or not, I think it's easily a landmark in Avengers history. After years of convoluted stories and team changes the Avengers as a title had kind of lost its identity. Busiek & Perez did a decent job of whipping the team back into fighting shape.

This book collects the first year of the Avengers. The main reason I bought this was to have a compiled book with George Perez's artwork. In reading the stories again, they were really well done. The book itself is simply stunning. The colors are much more vibrant than the actual comic book. My bias in having this collection is that it is much easier to pull it off my bookshelf than dig through comic boxes.

I was probably about 8 years old when this series started, and it was at that time I began getting into comics. Going to the local comic store every Wednesday and picking up a handful of Marvel comics with whatever allowance I had.

This series WAS my introduction to the Avengers, and what an introduction it is. Throwing you in with a bunch of different heroes and villians. I recently bought this hardcover hoping it was as good as I remembered. I'm pleasantly surprised that it holds up pretty well.

This series is not perfect by any means, but Kurt Busiek does show a great understanding of how to write the characters (which I've always considered to be the backbone of solid comic writers). And George Perez...you really have to love the guy, yes sometimes he draws too much on one page, but other times that's why he's so great, chock full of details and love for the characters and their surroundings.

These hardcovers ARE becoming harder to get, if you're interested, buy now.

This run was written right on the cusp of the big Avengers change. I don't mean change in line up I mean change from old to new writing styles. With Avengers Assemble you still have the ominous narrator, the wordy though bubbles, the mildly campy dialogue and the more soap opera-y elements that used to be more prevalent in comics.

I started reading Avengers with the New Avengers and wanted to go back and read Busiek's acclaimed run. Its very good and he does great characterizations. All the team members are well written and have distinct personalities and traits. There are 3 story arcs included in this volume and they provide some fun, dramatics and some big moments.

You get the good with the bad though

The wordiness, explanatory monologues and soap opera elements are a bit of a turn off for me. And while the characters are well done the writing isn't as snappy and fun as some other Avenger's authors. This was also written before comics began to take on the movie like qualities that make for exciting moments in modern comics.

This volume is not old fashioned comics but neither is it the same writing style that you'll find in modern comics. In the end, Busiek's run is classic and has some great stories and does a great job of showing who the Avengers are as individuals and as a team.

Its definitely worth the $10 bargain price.

To be honest, I was a little disappointed considering the level of talent involved in re-invigorating one of Marvel's signature series. More than any other series, The Avengers is the catalyst for epic changes in the Marvel Universe. Their shifting lineup insures that fringe characters get a chance to develop and capture the readerships attention. The Avengers will never quite be the soap opera that is The X-Men, but the opportunity yet exists for deft characterization. An opportunity that is squandered in favor of more traditional "pow", "wap" storytelling. If this were a movie, it would be long on special effects, short on dramatic structure (or even engaging characters).

Oh, there are a couple of attempts at delivering character driven stories, sure. There's a super hero with an alcohol problem (not Iron Man, which already makes it derivative and, really, just an unconvincing portrait of a very real disease), a super hero with problems coping their power, another one with authority issues, a lot of in field squabbling and bickering, to the point where it makes you wonder how they're even able to function as a team (let alone, the Premier team of the Marvel Universe), but it all falls flat. I remain unconvinced that these are real people, which is a hallmark of Kurt Busiek's usually stellar writing. This one feels like it was mailed in.

George Perez however, does his usual exemplary work and exceeds at drawing super hero crowds like nobody's business. His enthusiasm and joy shine through. But it's not enough.

If all you want out of a comic is big, splashy punch ups and (mercifully) brisk storytelling, then, it certainly delivers on that score. And it's pretty to look at. That's about all I can say about "one of the most celebrated runs" of Avengers. I suppose in its day it was welcome relief, but stacked up against his own body of work, Busiek falls far short of the mark!

To be honest, I like what Bendis Avengers, Vol. 1 is doing with the title now, far more.

Hmmm... Where to begin? I'm not an Avengers fan and do not have a history of reading that title. However, I have read many issues of Iron Man and several of Captain America, and I generally like both of those characters. I read The Ultimates and loved it, and decided to pick up this TPB to read and learn more about the Avengers from the mainstream Marvel continuity. I figured this book was a good place to begin, as it featured a massive collection of Avengers material and was written and illustrated by fan-favorites Kurk Busiek and George Perez, respectively. Overall, I was a little disappointed with the book. Not so much with the writing, which seemed fine, and certainly not with the artwork, which was very good. I was most disappointed with the overall Avengers team and the way they interacted. I suppose the dialogue could have been batter, and this would have helped overcome some of the "cheeziness" of the book. I don't know, though. This was definitely not a book I started reading and could not put down. This book did not draw me in or excite me at all. It did do what I set out to do, however, which was to familiarize myself with more of the Marvel universe's wealth of characters. I suppose that, if you're an Avengers fan, you'd like this book more than me and rate it higher. For me, though, this book was simply above average. If I would have paid full cover price for this book rather than the greatly discounted Amazon.com price, I would have been very disappointed in my purchase.

Busiek, whom I only know from his Conan adaptations, and from the praise of `Marvels' (never read it). Seems to be writing for another era, with a paragraphs worth of exposition occurring between a punch thrown and a punch landed. And Perez's art , while technically fine, and highly detailed, lacks emotion and weight. It all reads like something that was pumped out by the comic-tron 2000. All sizzle, no steak. I wont be back for Vol. 2