Essential Avengers Vol. 1 [Paperback]

Stan Lee (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 528 pages
• Publisher: Marvel Comics (December 8, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0785107010
• ISBN-13: 978-0785107019
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 6.6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #608,682 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Earth's Mightiest Heroes---in the Mighty Marvel Manner!, August 1, 2000

By 

Jeffrey A. Veyera "Jeff Veyera" (Matthews, NC United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Essential Avengers Vol. 1 (Paperback)

As good as the early Fantastic Four issues were, the Avengers took the superteam concept to a whole new level. Here was a team formed for the noblest of goals, thrown together by the machinations of an evil immortal only to turn the tables and begin the legendary association which would have teenagers all over the world shouting "Avengers Assemble!" in their backyards.

"Essential Avengers vol. 1" captures the first 24 issues of the classic series, scripted by Stan Lee and illustrated by Jack Kirby and Don Heck. If the first appearances of Kang the Conqueror, Immortus, and the Masters of Evil aren't enough for you, pick this collection up for Avengers # 4, the return of Captain America. This alone is enough to mark a substantial return on your investment for this book.

Highly recommended to all comics fans and X-Men fanatics who need a primer in how team books used to be written.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Beginnings of the world's greatest heroes, May 5, 2001

By 

"grrreg" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Essential Avengers Vol. 1 (Paperback)

The Avengers were initially an obvious recipe for success - take a number of characters already supporting their own comics and bring them together as a group, an idea as old as the Justice Society of America. So, in the debut issue, we have Thor, Iron Man, the Hulk, Ant-man and the Wasp joining forces as an unexpected consequence of a plot by Loki against his half-brother, Thor.

However, the ideas changed quickly as the Hulk left and teamed-up with the Sub-mariner to fight his former allies and was replaced by Captain America, a World War 2 hero frozen between then and the 60s. And then again, to suddenly have all the original members depart, leaving Cap with Hawkeye, Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch, three super-villains seeking to reform, as his teammates.

The stories in this volume represent a fairly diverse bunch, showing both the best and worst aspects of Stan Lee's writing at the time. Interesting team dynamics, where the characters are not always each others' friends, villains with motives beyond the banal, references to events in other titles, secrets and subplots that aren't resolved in a single story all show the hallmarks of a writer seeking to develop a loyal following. At the same time, we have blatant sexism and racism, villains with banal motives and some very hokey dialogue.

The art is OK, the early Jack Kirby issues not his best work, and I've never been fond of Don Heck's art. It seems a little odd to be reading these stories in black and white, although this obviously keeps the price down.

If you want to see how one of the best super-hero team series started out, get this.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Avengers assemble for the first time in Marvel history, November 24, 2003

By 

Lawrance M. Bernabo (The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Essential Avengers Vol. 1 (Paperback)

The Avengers assemble for the first time in Marvel history, August 22, 2005

Volume 1 of "Marvel Masterworks: The Avengers" represents what I would consider the weakest stories in the history of Marvel's answer to DC's Justice League of America. Collected in this volume are full-color reprints of the first ten issues of "The Avengers," which covers the first two lineups to answer the call, "Avengers Assemble!" These two lineups represent the strongest and weakest Avengers lineups. Originally we have Thor, the Hulk, Iron Man, Ant-Man, and the Wasp, with the Hulk being replaced by Captain America and Ant-Man deciding being Giant-Man is more interesting. In other words, you basically have all of the first generation of Marvel superheroes who were not the Fantastic Four or Spider-Man.

The initial problem with these stories is simply coming up with somebody for the Avengers to fight who could actually provide a challenge to the lineup. Remember that Marvel did not have the decades long accumulation of supervillains that DC could throw at the JLA. The first three issues offer Loki, the Space Phantom, and Namor the Sub-Mariner as the opponents. After finding and thawing out Captain America in issue #4, the Avengers start going up against multiple enemies in each issue, such a whole bunch of Lava Men (#5), which were followed by Baron Zemo and his Masters of Evil (#6), with the Enchantress and Executioner joining the fun (#7). But even then, it is really hard to pretend that these are even contests when you have Thor and Iron Man running around (either one of them should be able to defeat most of these opponents without help). Completing this first volume you have the first appearance of Kang the Conqueror (#8), Baron Zemo's creation Wonder Man (#9), and Immortus (#10). So there was a definite bent towards gods (from Asgard anyway) and god-like mortals for the Avengers to fight.

It was not until the end of issue #16, which you get to in Volume 2 of the Marvel Masterworks collection, when all of the original members leave and Captain America becomes the leader of a new quartet made up of Hawkeye, Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch that you have a shift from strength to skill in the group that helped with the storytelling. Stan Lee does the scripting with Jack Kirby doing the pencils for the first eight issues of "The Avengers," and then Don Heck takes over, which I never considered a good thing because he was my least favorite Marvel artist (although to be fair when Wally Wood and John Romita, Sr. did the inking in issues #20-24 they were the best Heck drawn comics ever. There is an improvement in the issues of "The Avengers" over the years, but for me you do not get to the real Avengers until the Vision comes along. Still, everything starts here as the Avengers assemble for the first time.