I did not really want to do an update other than to brag about my full run of Marvel UK Avengers weekly comics. No, seriously, I was watching some videos and reading some blogs about the turn-of-the-century classic comic series Avengers Forever (now a title being used for an online game -Contest of Champions?). I am guessing these people were all of the copy and paste internet variety because a number had no real idea about Avengers comic history.
There is a problem in that everyone credits Kurt Busiek as the writer -as with Marvels. Marvels was Alex Ross' idea and story and Busiek was brought in to help write -Ross had no real writing experience. So since the book was published it was "Busiek's brilliant idea and story" -he's not disagreeing. Even on Wikipedia you find that the book is "a four-issue limited series comic book written by Kurt Busiek, painted by Alex Ross" yeah, Ross was "just" the painter.
With Avengers Forever the first thing I noticed was a lot of dialogue, characterisation and so on was "old Marvel" then I saw Roger Stern -an old time Avengers writer who was CO-WRITER and Stern has an amazing knowledge of the team. How many people say Busiek and Stern's "Avengers Forever"? Not found anyone saying that.
It was a great series and great trade paperback that I re-read but Roger Stern deserves credit. And no one will ever hear me arcgue against Pachecco being a brilliant artist (I am a big fan) BUT his pencils were inked by Jesus Merino and Steve Oliff packed a punch as colourist. Everyone needs crediting.
Initially this mega post took ten hours work that, after transferring it to Word Doc, comes out to 23 pages and 5,262 words.
I never counted the number of images....134 images.....
Let's see you get that in any existing comic book magazine. Well,it was that or sit around in pain all day and now that I think about it had it not been for the fact that Marvel.com does not have good cover scans for some of the series covers (I am not joking -I found some better scans on a flash drive I have) I wanted to use that end figure would have been around 155 images!
Up-Date!
Realised I had left out the German editions of Avengers cover gallery so just added them in!
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I ain't kidding. Apologies for any not-so-sharp cover scans but most of these are from Marvel.com -really! Others from various sources.
I started this at Mid-day and it is now...22:00 hrs.
Oy, my eyes!!
When I first saw The Avengers it was like a big treat -the big Marvel heroes -Giant-Man and the Wasp, Iron-Man, Thor and the Hulk -the Hulk!!- in one book. I read this in black and white reprints as that was how a lot of us got our introduction to American comics in the 1960s when there were still import-expert problems after that "tiff" with Germany (no, well before Brexit, obviously).
How could this get any better? Wait -Captain America? The real one not The Acrobat who dressed up as him and got beaten up by the Human Torch? Wow! And the Sub-Mariner? But weren't Cap and Subby allies during the war -The All Winners Squad? Still love this issue.
What? The Avengers were splitting up? Captain America was going to be in charge and the new members were....Hawkeye..but he was a villain, right? Whoa! Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch -they were members of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants -villains! What?
Okay, I calmed down. All explained though it looked like Hawkeye could be a pain in the arse. The Swordsman...what? He joined the Avengers to betray them...okay. You all remember how that turned out, right. He certaqinly will never get into Avengers Mansion again!
Do not get fooled because this was not just Goliath but this issue featured the appearance of a certain intergalactic collector known as...the Collector! He was also involved with the Korvac Saga. Remember that.
The hunt to find the Hulk and bring him back into the Avengers failed somewhat so there was no real power-house in the team...until Hercules! Oh yeah, Mythology Boy was happy -a Greek demi God was now in the Avengers and he came complete with a bad case of vanity...and being a ladies man and wanting to live the high life....like all of the characters Hercules had his flaws but knew what it meant to be an Avenger.
There were the arguments, squabbles, bragging, Hawkeye thinking that he would make a better -younger- leader than Cap and trying it on with the Scarlet Witch...which created problems with her brother, Quicksilver. Ahh, family life!
Oh, and the Black Knight was back but this was not the Masters of Evil Black Knight this was Dane Whitman who was...a hero....the writers on Avengers really knew how to flip brains!
The villains continued, whether Attuma or the Grim Reaper who went on to become a major Marvel villain and sworn enemy of the Avengers.
Lack of comic distribution in the UK meant that we missed huge patches of storyline so the appearance of the Vision we saw mainly in Alan Class b&w reprints but I never saw him until I saw and grabbed issue 61 and I've posted on that already -http://hoopercomicart.blogspot.co.uk/2016/08/avengers-or-justice-league-of-america.html
I also got to see some Avengers stories in German first and so why not show a gallery of covers from German editions (I no longer have my copies which makes me sad...but this is an Avengers post so--)
Lovely. I take comic book donations you know!
Yeah, most of us even missed that character...the Black Panther but we never caught on to the fact he might be called that because he was "black" -we thought they meant his costume because we all knew black leopards were called black panthers (and we were not really interested in US politics so the other Black Panthers kind of slipped past us!)
It was good to see that Hawkeye was more a team player but still quipping away even if the Avengers seemed to be more diminished as a team. The period from no. 16 on had been almost a dark period for the Avengers with the occasional return of one of the original team but it was also a period when the Avengers were tested and writers showed DC writers how it should be done. The JLA was still good but it seemed very preachy whereas the Avengers never rammed sociology down your throat with a concrete block -it was very subtle.
And when Hawkeye's bow failed him on returning from Wakanda it looked bleak. Henry (Hank) Pym announced that he was giving up being Goliath and guessed who nabbed his formula to use when the Black Widow was kidnapped by Egg-Head? Guess.....
In case you never guessed...HAWKEYE!! Honestly. But that old enemy of the Avengers popped up again and this time his arrogance and lust for revenge might doom the Earth itself as he entered into a game with none other than....The Games Master!
This lead to the appearance of a group of villains that will forever live on...The Squadron Sinister. This got very confusing when their counterparts turned up as the Squadron Supreme and that led to a 12 issue maxi-series many of us oldies still cherish and shed a tear over the fate of Tom Thumb....
Oh yeah, Vision, Panther and Yellow Jacket get sent back to Nazi occupied Paris where they are confronted by three (pre-Invaders) Timely super stars....guess who? Go on -guess!
Hey you SJWers and Anti SJWers...Feminism was a thing back in the day before all this phoney noodle noggin going on. Yeah, the ladies once took over!
Yes, political interference and a secret abuse of political power, near torturing of witnesses to the Savage Land events and sweeping xenophobia toward aliens it....hang on...let me check the dates on these books...definitely 1971 not 2018. Wow. Anyway, run ragged by a crooked politician and his alien xenophobia and with S.H.I.E.L.D. (that's Supreme Headquarters International Espionage Law Division and not that lame thing they have now -Strategic Homeland whatever) on its heels...things were bad.
Then the Big Three turn up and kick out the new team for their actions. Grim.
And then...oh feck I am getting goose pimples! The Avengers facing execution by the Mandroids for betraying Earth. At this point I needed to use the asthma inhaler. I don't have asthma but that kid did and at this point I needed his inhaler more than he did!
We even got to see Ant-Man (Henry Pym Ant-Man) journey to the centre of the Vision's body after the Vision was "shot by a cow" -old timers might, at that point, have realised just what was going on.
Ohhh yeah, baby -it was the.....
KREE -SKRULL WAR!!!!
We find the Supreme Intelligence of the Kree helping Rick Jones unlock the massive potential of his mind -the reason future Humanity is seen as a threat- and Jones conjures up heroes of the past, some real and some he only read about in comic books at the orphanage he was in. I really needed dry underpants reading this! And massive Kree and Skrull space fleets hurtling through space, heroes battling onboard Skrull ships and...hang on...need a deep breath again. Whew.
It was no wonder that in his introduction to the original 1983 2 part Kree -Skrull War books Stan Lee pointed out to the reader that this sort of thing was only possible in comics -it would cost millions if it were a movie!
THESE were THE days of The Avengers, my friend. From Loki being mischievous and the problems caused by the Space Phantom, Kang, Zemo and the Masters of Evil -even Ultron- none of us could have expected that in ten years or so this would be the real first major intergalactic event for the Avengers.
Action and adventure and story-telling that left Justice League of America so far behind that even Superman could not see where the Avengers were. And at no point was the reader ever spoken down to no preachy stuff and we were never made to feel dumb and ask - "What?" It was all explained unobtrusively so that the story flowed.
Stan Lee and then Roy Thomas had guided Marvel Comics and its flagship title (love the Fantastic Four but I was always an Avenger-boy!) while always respecting the readers. The people who bought the books and kept them in their jobs. Yes, Marvel Comics were there to make money but Stan and Roy knew that engaging with the readers was the best way to maintain that support and keep titles like The Avengers going strong.
But as the Kree-Skrull War concluded and the heroes were back on Earth, it was Nick Fury (white guy with an eye-patch and cigar) who was left asking "Whatever happened to the Avenger known as Hawkeye?" As far as we knew, Hawkeye had paid the ultimate price in protecting Earth.
Fear not -Hawkeye was not dead but crash landed an alien space buggy and took up with a travelling circus -he was back where he began: performing in a circus. Then he realised that the circus strongman...could it be? Yes. It was Hercules -but with his memory swiped and as things became more violent in the US so the duo returned to the Avenging fold. But Hercules was being persued...and the God of Power was....terrified!!
Oh yeah, those Greek gods -Ares God of War in particular were upsetting things again. I look at these covers and the memories flood back -the art and stories, the twists and turns, the lack of pocket money and then...really, old time readers will tell you that there is a lot of emotional investment in characters just as there might be with a favourite play or movie or even TV series. Ink on paper but so much characterisation (these days if I read Iron Man dialogue it is always in Robert Downey Jnrs voice dammit!).
Anyway there was more twisted intrigue to come as Cap tried to make sense of the images flashing into his head -had he attacked Hydra along with Rick Jones or was he going bonkers? There there was the Grim Reaper. He was becoming a pest since he laernt that his brother, Simon Williams (aka Wonder Man) had his brain patterns recorded before death and these were used by Ultron to become the Vision's mind. This is almost as bad and complicated as a TV soap.
Would the Vision betray the Avengers and join in on Grim Reaper's scheme? He said "Yes"..why you will need to read the comics to find out. And Cap was not going bonkers in case you are wondering.
And Hawkeye quit the Avengers. He'd tussle with Daredevil while trying to get back with the Black Widow who had "moved on" with her life. He then ended up trying to take on the Hulk. Seriously. That led to his joining...The Defenders!
Also the Swordsman asked to join the Avengers....WAIT A MINUTE!! Did we not establish in issue 19 that was not a good idea? Was I the only one who read that? Oh...he's a good guy now...yeah...
....also, he has some funky lady called Mantis with him. Okay, let them both join and see if I care. Well, issue to issue it seemed that something was going on but...well, Swordsman had reformed and he was back in time to take part in another majopr cross-over.
You see, the Black Knight had been turned to stone and his old pal, Dr Strange (without the blue face mask now -you remember issue 61 don't you?), is trying to return his soul to it. Now, as head honcho supreme of the Defenders he happens to be trying to do this while they are gathered -now the Defenders were dysfunctional! However, the blinded Loki -no, I am not going to explain- 'teams up' with the Dreaded Dormammu and they hatch a plot ...a plot leading to....
THE AVENGERS -DEFENDERS WAR!!
Shh! Just look at the covers, baby!
There then followed a comic book hiatus as I got on with very serious things. One day, taking my younger brother to the local newsagents I saw comics...Avengers...and...whoa...it started again. And there were even a few Kirby covers.
Anyone heard of this "Thanos" fella? Seriously, has anyone heard of this...oh. Thanos Warlord of Titan. Someone could have said. Who would have guessed that a villain would become so important and develop over the years under, mainly, Jim Starlin (who recently quit Marvel but you've probably all read that?). I write that remembering that there was an Artificial Intelligence who caused many problems for the Avengers and has gone on to become a movie star: Ultron. Or Ultron II...or Ultron III...six, seven, whatever!
The longest running for of the Avengers has been Kang The Conqueror who drifted into TV via the best animated Avengers TV series -Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes. He, and another Time guy by the name of Immortus I'll get around to soon. Promise.
Never was purple and green so well worn by a masked time villain -Immortus was more green, you know?
Oooh look. All battle issue!
When I saw this Gil Kane cover I had no idea the Beast in question was going to be Hank McCoy of X-Men fame -it was a Marvel Comic in a newsagents on a sunny day in Lockleaze (Bristol).
Could a former X-man become an Avenger? Yeah, I asked that dumb-ass a question. In case you are wondering...yes. Yes he could. See....
Okay, that does not look good does it? Seriously, though: he did not kill Iron Man. Too soon for spoilers? If you are still in any doubt -proof:
The Stranger first appeared in the May, 1965 issue of the X-Men (that's issue 11) and then no. 18 (December, 1965) then Tales To Astonish 89 (April, 1967) and Silver Surfer 5 (April , 1969) not to mention Fantastic Four 113-116 (August to November, 1971) and...oh, Avengers 138!
The Stranger, if you believe him, is a composite being possessing the combined strength and intellect of the billions of beings who had once lived on the planet Gigantus, an ancient world in the Andromeda Galaxy whose size approached the limit at which a planet can exist before "fissioning into a sun". Okay, I'm just going with him having been in Avengers 138.
Look, he got about okay...
Remember when I mentioned Hank Pym's Ant-Man entering the Vision's body (scroll back up the page if you have forgotten...I almost did) ? Well, in Avengers 140 the Vision enters Hank Pym's Yellow Jacket (and if you are making dirty double entendres out of that -shame on you!).
Now who was it returned to be a pain in the Avengers' collective quinjets? oh, yes...the Squadron Sinister. NOT the Squadron Supreme but Squadron Sinister. Remember that.
Will any true Avengers fan ever forget when the Avengers went back to the Wild West (no, not Knowle West, the American West) and met up with Marvel Comics greatest Western Heroes? How could you have missed it -and if you say "I wasn't even born then" so help me I'll crush your grapes!!
Note the nose on Iron Man's face mask? Roy Thomas tells how Stan Lee saw the character one time and said it did not look right -the mask needed a nose. A while later, Lee saw the now "nosed" Iron man mask and said "Whose idea was that -it looks awful!"
Take a rather minor Marvel character, get her involved in some shennanigans and bring in the Avengers and...voila! Hell Cat is born -and becomes an Avenger (things start getting really complicated with the character after a while so I am not going there!).
Oh, look. The Squadron Supreme. Yes, not the Squadron Sinister but the Squadron Supreme...I wrote all of this above. I know you probably want this all to end by now but it is not. These are the good guys who eventually get their own series -12 issue limited and they had appeared in earlier issues of Avengers as goodies....I'm getting confused now.
Lovely cover by a certain King...
I almost blew a gasket when I saw the Kirby covers and the Whizzer was on the front cover and facing off against Cap and the Avengers...it took thirty minutes for someone to bring me round -apparently I was just staring repeating the words "good....sooo good....good..." which is why they were slapping my face. Why they continued slapping my face when I came around I have no idea.
Kirby cover. Vision facing off against Attuma. This time I waited until I left the shop to faint. This was like picking up one of the early issues of the series. I really got hooked and pulled back into the Avengers world.
Not forgetting.....
Well, there was "bad blood" (so to speak) between him and the Vision who was thought to have his brain patterns and Vision was married to Wanda and Wonder Man had the hots for her and...over to Kirby!
I'm guessing that we all knew "big bro" would turn up at some point. He is quite mad you know. Like, seriously, he just will not give up and his solution this time is that either the Vision (with his brother's brain patterns) dies or the re-animated corpse that was his brother dies. To him it's a win-win situation.
Considering some ex-Avengers were members of The Champions trouble was bound to kick off at some point. And as an ex-X-Man was also a member of the Champions an ex-X-Man who was now an Avenger needed to do something. If that makes any sense....
Masters of Evil were very Zemo and 1960s. Ultron had created the Lethal Legion and guess what? Yes. They kept turning up to cause havoc, mayhem and a lot of jolly anti-social stuff. LOVELY cover!
Well he returned and began almost all-powerful and knocking the crapout of the Avengers toughest members as he strove for power and to stop aging. But he was a back-stabbing two-faced crook who betrayed those around him. Guess how it ended for him.....
...badly.
The Guardians of the Galaxy turned up for another long running saga that had been developing over the issues as a back plot. These were the real Guardians not those movie wannabes.
These far, far better characters were in the 20th century to deal with someone called Korvac. The Korvac Saga is a legendary (amongst fans) story to Avengers fans and rightly so.
Mentioning the Korvac Saga remember how I mentioned the Collector and his connection with this...scroll back up to issue 28 if you are mad. Well, he was baaack!
Things got a bit grimmer....would any of the Avengers survive?!! Spoiler -yes.
So what happened to Wanda and Pietro? Well, the Whizzer and Miss America were their real parents...or was it Magneto...or could it have been....gods know how they stayed sane but they pushed on looking for the truth
Issue 200 brought about changes but the Avengers were still a comic you could not ignore and look at this cover gallery!
Yeah, you knew I was going to have to include an Ultron cover sooner or later so here you go!
One of my favourite villains of the Golden -Silver ages was the Yellow Claw. He began re-emerging in Captain America's title and then trapped the Avengers. This was a true villain who, in now very over the top politically correct times could no longer be an "oriental" villain. Agents of A.T.L.A.S. totally castrated the character.
See the Resurrection Stone? Are you reading this post? Then -SPOILER- it never destroyed the universe. If you didn't know that...
Fist of Khonshu, ex-X-Man, ex-Avenger/ex-Champion/ex-Defender and disco performer- they all wanted to be Avengers! Only Disco Duck never turned up. Disco Duck was a song. He was not real.
Before she was a West Coast Avenger, Tigra was a member of the original team. She was the Avengers -controllable?- version of Wolverine. Again, dead Avengers? Nah. Will she avenge them..you really need to buy these comics or see if you can buy the bulky black and white Marvel Essentials Avengers.
War against the gods? Count me in. Stuck up buggers. Anyone not see the (yuck) Guardians of the Galaxy movie connection in this cover? If you can't then I guess you only go to movies and do not read comics!
Black Knight was back. Same guy but slightly different look that came from, if I remember correctly, a Marvel UK Captain Britain back-up strip. Like this look a lot!
The cover above and the one below -this is how comic covers are supposed to look. Gorgeously lovely to infinity and...better watch the (c) there!
Oh look, SJWs... way back when there was a "black" female Captain Marvel and this is one of my favourite incarnations. Loved the character. And they are not kidding: the Wasp had lunch!!
Visiting Earth from Titan...Starfox. Initially I thought he looked a little too similar to Archie Comics Silver Age Jaguar. This is another character who added new breath and fun to the series. Everything was going from strength to strength and I was loving it!
At this time local newsagents and even supermarkets began stocking monthly comics....and they were only 50p back then.
This cover is simplicity but crams in action and mystery. Just what was "the Barrier"???
Secret Invasion. The Skrulls shape-shifting and replacing humans preparing to take over the world. Well, young ones, let me tell you how, in the 1980s, the Dire Wraiths did the same thing and almost succeeded. It is what brought Rom -Space Knight to Earth (I mean the real Rom not what's going on now or the toy -which was fun!).
Another 1980s story-line pilfered for "new readers".
For this one...I need say ...nothing!
Anyone old enough to remember when the Vision decided to start running things? All very innocent until...well, until the Vision went off his tits bonkers! The repercussions from this story-line would rumble on long after it had concluded. These were great stories.
The bald guy? Dr Druid. No? Well, he first appeared in Amazing Adventures 1 in June, 1961 as Dr. Droom. Then he popped up as Dr Druid in Weird Wonder Tales 19 (December, 1976
Below: not a mug of coffee or sandwiches in sight. What kind of meeting is this?? And Thor in that outfit (if you do not know the story behind it you REALLY missed out!
We loved Dr Druid. He was a great character and even had a sense of humour and there were hints that he and She Hulk were, uh, "seeing each other".
Time and again he proved his worth but then things started happening and...
uh-oh. Yeah, that is one of the Council of Kangs -the story-line here on the Kangs' side alone was incredible.
Like the Vision, before -Druid goes off his cat-nip crazy.
If you want to know, well the Marvel Wikia explains it all:
"...(Druid's) arrogance and weakness for women led him to be seduced and manipulated by Ravonna in her guise as Kang Nebula, or the Temptress. Believing he was acting to preserve the Avengers against a future threat only he could stop, Druid continually underminded the Avengers' chairwoman, Captain Marvel, until she suffered serious injuries in battle. He then psychically influenced the Captain and remaining team members into naming him the replacement chairman. Soon all of the Avengers fell under Nebula's control, and she guided them in a quest to find the Dreaming Celestial's ultimate weapon by piercing the future Time Bubble. Instead, rival Kangs attacked Kang Nebula and her Avengers. The lovesick Druid and Ravonna were sucked out into the wild timestream, left adrift for months.Druid and Ravonna eventually found their way back into the regular timestream. Anthony finally managed to shake Ravonna's control over him, and even received a new lease on life, restored to a younger and fitter body."
And there you have it.
The Avengers had gone through two major internal crises -first the Vision and then Dr Druid. Changes were needed.
tut tut tut! SJW attack alert!! LOL!
Oh...it was her...who knew....oh -spoiler!
Not the most inspiring cover -but it was the Wasp.
And come 350 it had to be an anniversary issue...cue aliens!
Hey -the Panther was back and that was cool by me. This was the real Panther by the way!
The covers were still cool though I note a few readers in recent years complaining that the Avengers went through a whole leather jacket wearing phase! Hey, it was the time, Man. Don't knock it...but Black Knight in a leather jacket...nah.
Like Lee and Thomas, Shooter knew the comics industry and business inside-out and bitching creators did not like him because, of all things, he was doing his job -that Marvel's popularity had soared once more under his leadership was no fluke. He kept an eye on stories and made sure editors did their jobs.
Shooter went and the editors began letting anything through. Poorer writers were the big problem and I was not too impressed by Mark Waid when he jumped onto the Avengers at one point.
The Crossing storline I am going to have to re-read. I was totally unimpressed when I first read it what with Tony Stark becoming a murdering mad man. I am not kidding.
Still, that is a good cover. The next one, however, I had to keep staring at to make sure that it was Marvel -feckin awful is the best thing I can write.
It culminated here. The final issue of The Avengers. Sadly, the 1990s was not good for the whole Marvel Comics line but when such a great series as this goes out in such a bad way you gotta feel bad but not for the poor editing jobs nor for the creators doing shabby work -some are still working in comics I believe -how??
Volume 2 of The Avengers was awful but luckily only 12 issues that were so bad, despite the hype then and now, it had to be cancelled. Volume 3 was a return to greatness for a short while as Kurt Busiek and George Perez revived the mean and Busiek did even more for the Avengers.
Remember years back when you got to the halfway point in this post and I mentioned Kang and Immortus and Space Phantom? Well... Avengers Forever was a series written by Kurt Busiek and Roger Stern and drawn by the amazing Carlos Pacheco and inked by by the wondrous Jesus Merino. The series ran from December ,1998 to November, 1999 and in it so many continuity problems were cleverly explained as was the importance of the Avengers in history -past and future.
I read the series so many times that I had to buy the trade to stop them from falling apart. It was incredible work by all involved and we were set to see Avengers greatness again.
Marvel kicked Busiek off the book and we got -Avengers Disassembled. Everything thrown out the window with just one issue under the new writer who obviously did not give a damn about the characters or fan reaction.
I have volume 2-6 (volume 6 was one issue!) and I kept up-to-date via very cheap trades up to Time Runs Out . The current run of Avengers I ignore. To be honest, for me, the Avengers stopped the moment Busiek left and Disassembled started and all the mess that followed (never buy Avengers Stand Off!!).
So this has been my day. Hours of work so let's finish with some covers of Avengers volume 3 #1 and then Avengers Forever. I don't get paid for this you know!
pp
