Avengers Assemble, Vol. 1 | Kurt Busiek, George Perez

Avengers Assemble, Vol. 1 | Kurt Busiek, George Perez | A stellar re-start to a venerable franchise.

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Avengers Assemble,...

	Avengers Assemble, Vol. 1 Kurt Busiek, George Perez Marvel Comics, 2004 - 384 pages average customer review:based on 6 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Collects Avengers #1-11, and Annual '98.

AVENGERS STILL MY FAVORITE TEAM

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!

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A stellar re-start to a venerable franchise.

"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."

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Avengers Assemble (Hardcover)

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.

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Hollow

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

reviews: page 1, 2

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