Customer Reviews

Essential Avengers, Vol. 7 (Marvel Essentials)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Essential Avengers Vol 7 sees Marvel's Superteam maturing considerably as a series in the mid 70s. What makes this collection stand out for me is the artwork of George Perez, which ushered in a new era of modern superhero art. His work seems to define where the Avengers were for the period, and still looks amazing today. Even in black and white, the Avengers look crisp and cutting edge. Marvel vets John and Sal Buscema pencil quite a few issues as well, keeping the quality of the book high. And Pablo Marcos brings up the rear in inks - the Perez-Marcos combination works great.

Between Steve Engelhart, Gerry Conway and Jim Shooter, the Avengers achieved a level of consistency in storytelling that was missing for a while. Before he became Marvel's infamous Editor-in-Chief, we get glimpses of Jim Shooter's talent in an extended Serpent Crown - Attuma storyline which keeps the ball rolling over several issues.

As usual, the villains aren't brilliant, but the Avengers continue to hold court as a mighty group, albeit in distress.

The group's character development is notable. The inclusion of cryptic subplots and insecurities within the Avengers are highlighted with the return of Wonder Man; tensions between the Vision and Scarlet Witch; and the further unravelling of Yellowjacket. The Beast provides furry relief while Iron Man, Captain America and Thor remain pretty much the same as they have always been. In short, the less mighty Avenger members provide us with a deepening storyline that the regulars cannot. It's almost as if the regular stalwarts are too powerful in their own regard.

This collection definitely features one of the stronger runs of the Avengers series. Highly readable.

The stories in this volume are really strong, and the art is fresh and clear. (The art found in this book is also similar to the art in Essential X Men vol 3) After dealing with boring and lackluster eras like the when Captain America, Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver and Hawkeye were the only members and the very early years of the team we finally get to my favorite age of The Avengers.

However their are two issues that I have with this volume. First of all maybe its just my copy, but a few of the pages looked faded and were chalky white. Also I'm sort of bothered with the different binds on all the new Marvel Essentials. It just looks weird when its compared to the others, but I digress. Anyways its a good book and I strongly recommend it for comic book fans

Have to admit, I have been looking forward to this volume for a while. This is the point where I first started reading comics. My life long love for the comics started with many of the issues collected here.

What I like most about this ear, aside from George Perez art and a broad style of story telling, is that it pays homage to what has gone before. When I first read these issues, they regulary built upon past stories that I had not seen. This made me want to know more about the history of the charachters and created a great respect for continuity. Unfortunately, with all of the re-boots and updating (some of which was necessary--reading about 70 year old superheroes is probably not going to be very entertaining), I feel bad for those (esp. kids) who try to jump into these titles today. History is often retconned to what ever is convienent, or ignored all together. There is often a failute to explain some of the history, thus plots are very in-accessible.

The Avengers Essentails series, like all of those pre-80's titles collected by Marvel Comics reflect a time when very few characters carried more than one book. Stories had a flow to them from one issue to the next or one year to the next. Now--too many titles to even keep track of with in one month.

I loved the nostalgic ride that this took me on. If only it could have been done in color.....

This is a great collection of some of the best 1970's Avengers stories. Great George Perez art and stories are good all around.

This collection covers the Avengers comics published between 1975 though 1977, which was a great period for this title. A young George Perez drew a big chunk of these issues and although his style was still evolving he was already very impressive, his finely detailed pencilwork seeming to pop right off the page. His art is matched by a dozen or so stylish Jack Kirby covers.

The storylines are worthy of the art with classic tales like the Serpent Crown saga, the revival of Wonder Man, and clashes with favorite villians like Dr. Doom, the Grim Reaper and Ultron. The stories are fast-paced, straight-forward comic book fun, the kind that hooked a lot people on this title.

If I have any gripe, it is that this is one volume of the Essentials series where the transition to B&W format really hurts. While it makes the collection affordable, this stuff should really be viewed in color.

What can I say about this book that hasn't already been said in the other reviews on this page? This volume of essential Avengers brings us the best tales of the earths mightiest heroes ....ever...period. (okay except for the korvac saga that will be in essential avengers #8) If you have any interest in picking up the Avengers for the first time buy this book....current issues would, in my opinion, just turn new readers off, being too confusing to follow or get into without knowledge of the past 10 or so years worth of "events" and cross-overs.