20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Greatest Avengers Story Of All TIME, February 25, 2001
By A Customer
This review is from: Avengers Legends, Vol. 1 - Avengers Forever (Paperback)
Avengers Forever is the be all, end all story of Earth's Mightiest Heroes. This is one of those stories that no matter how many times you read it, no matter how many years pass, you'll always find something you didn't catch the first time around. This epic covers over 35 years of Avengers history, making the bad stories good, and the good stories great, fixing all sorts of continuity flaws and bolstering weak points in past stories. Kurt Busiek, Roger Stern, and Carlos Pacheco really pull out all the stops on this one.
The story takes place in the past, present, and the future as Immortus, lord of time, is assigned by the Time Keepers to kill Rick Jones, the sidekick of the Hulk, Captain America, the first Captain Marvel, and Rom the Space Knight; the same Rick Jones who inadvertently led to the formation of the Avengers. Rick possesses the Destiny Force, a latent psychic power that will evolve in humans over the centuries. Welcome to the Destiny War!
To stop Immortus, Rick recruits a ragtag team of Avengers from different eras. From the present, Giant Man and the Wasp, who becomes the de facto leader of this team. From the future, Songbird--a reformed Avengers villain whom they do not trust--and the third Captain Marvel--the son of the first one--who is withholding pertinent information from his allies during this struggle. And, mining his rich knowledge of Avengers history, Busiek uses Captain America, who is demoralized and disillusioned with his country; Hawkeye, who returned to his bow-slinging ways after a brief stint as the second Goliath; and Yellow Jacket, a.k.a. a mentally unstable Hank Pym, who will become the Giant Man of the present. If there isn't enough dissention in the ranks, the Avengers must team up with two of their deadliest adversaries: the Supreme Intelligence and Kang the Conqueror, who is destined to become Immortus one day, a fate he hopes to prevent.
In the final battle, every single Avenger from every different timeline battles Immortus and his legion of evil Avengers. Some characters were created exclusively for this series, but the majority of them have been seen before, some briefly, some you never thought you'd ever see again like the 1950s Avengers and the Egyptian Avengers (read the book). There are so many references throughout Avengers history that there is a page of footnotes at the end of every other chapter. This one has it all! Even Lex Luthor (like I said, read the book).
A stickler for continuity, Busiek clears up the origins of both the Vision and the original Human Torch, something that really needed to be addressed. He also manages to work out a few bugs from "The Crossing," the Avengers storyline of five years ago where Iron Man became evil, not to mention threw continuity to the wind. He does all of this with respect; no story is desecrated (i.e., such as the wretched Spider-clone storyline, which is still hurting Spider-man to this day) but improved and clarified (i.e., the aforementioned Vision/ Torch storyline and the classic Kree-Skrull War, which in many ways, inspired this tale). Since Marvel seems to have no continuity these days, it would behoove them to make Busiek their continuity editor.
Pacheco's art is phenomenal; he really gets a chance to strut his stuff, placing long-lost characters here and there, as well as making a few in-jokes, too (i.e., pay attention to a future version of Rick Jones' poncho and belt). He really gives definitive Avengers artist George Perez a run for his money by drawing a lot of characters in the story without making it feel cluttered.
And, of course, co-writer Roger Stern wrote some of the greatest Avengers tales during his long stint on the book from the 1980s. He kept Busiek on course during the creation of this masterpiece and embellished the flow of the story.
There are so many subtleties and references to Avengers and Marvel history that this review cannot begin to do it justice. All in all, a great Avengers story, THE Avengers story, something every Avengers fan must get their hands on. If you read just one Avengers story ever, this must be it!
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the greatest of all time, hands down, October 27, 2002
This review is from: Avengers Legends, Vol. 1 - Avengers Forever (Paperback)
If you don't know Avengers history, you *may* not enjoy this magnificent yarn as much as a long-time fan. Kurt Busiek, the modern master of continuity, teams with one of the best modern artists, Carlos Pacheco, to weave a "can't-put-the-book-down-till-I'm-done" monumental story. Like the great "Kree-Skrull War" of the early 70s, the key character is Rick Jones, whose dormant mental power (first awakened in the K-S War) is deemed a threat to all existence. Avengers from past, present and future are whisked together to team with Kang the Conqueror to stop Kang's "older wiser" self Immortus and the so-called Time-Keepers from extinguishing "threatening" timelines in which the Avengers have become a destructive force.
Busiek oozes respect and admiration for those creators who have come before him, and does an incredible job tying loose ends together from Avengers' past history (especially with regards to the Vision and Original Human Torch, and the wretched "Crossing" from various titles' waning volume 1 issues). Pacheco's phenomenal art (inked by the equally talented Jesús Merino) clearly shares a Neal Adams component (who drew the Kree-Skrull War) with an exquisite attention to the most minute detail.
If you only buy one TPB a year -- or ever -- THIS is the one to get, folks.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
My son and I both loved this book!, May 30, 2002
This review is from: Avengers Legends, Vol. 1 - Avengers Forever (Paperback)
With Rick Jones sick beyond their ability to heal, the Avengers turn to the Supreme Intelligence, an organic supercomputer for aid. However, little do they know that this is merely the beginning of an adventure, one that will decide the future of mankind. Immortus, the Lord of Time, wants Jones dead, but strangely Kang the Conqueror wants him to live. Jones, together with a misfit group of Avengers drawn from various places and times, must save mankind, and unravel a riddle deeper than they can imagine.
I got this book for my eight-year-old son to look at, but it was way beyond him. However, I must admit that I loved this book! The story was well written; it is extremely complex, and yet did not succeed in losing me at any point. This is a great graphic novel, one that I highly recommend.
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