Avengers Assemble!

As most of those who read my musings in my blogs, erstwhile or extant, I have a long-running love for that which is considered by many to be the ninth art. Truth is, I have always loved comics, and not just because of the pretty pictures… very early on I found myself acknowledging and responding to stories of a certain bent, stories that seemed to hint at more than just a number of spandex-wearing heroes hooking up every month to defeat the menace to the earth du jour.  No, I started to see that, indeed, these writers were trying to make the characters they wrote more and more human, and humane too. Above all, they were characters that, and in a very real sense, you could relate to. So I grew up reading the stories of happy-go-lucky Peter Parker and his alter ego, the Amazing Spider-Man. The ever misunderstood Bruce Banner and the curse his other half represented – the Incredible Hulk. The greatest outcasts in the world, and their mutant misadventures – the Uncanny X-Men. The first family of the Marvel Universe and their cosmic exploits – the Fantastic Four. But the ones I liked the best? Oh man, those were the Invincible Iron Man, the Mighty Thor, and the Sentinel of Liberty himself – Captain America. These three… they were (and are) the holy trinity, the big three, the best and the brightest in the Marvel Universe… and when, as a child, I discovered that these paragons of virtue banded together and founded the Mighty Avengers, my mind near went mad with excitement. I still recall that the very first story I read with the Avengers was the famous ‘Kree- Skrull War’, written by Roy Thomas and with the amazing Neal Adams delivering his typically lavish pencils. I was introduced to a slew of other legendary Avengers – the Lion of Olympus, Hercules! The greatest Marksman on earth, Hawkeye! The android Vision! The mutant Scarlet Witch, with her hex powers, and her brother the marauding speedster Quicksilver! The ingenious Hank Pym, and his many personas : Ant-Man, Giant-Man, and later on, Yellowjacket, as well as his wife, the tiny – but always fashion conscious – Wasp.

They were the ones I first got to know when I was a child, and those that formed such a huge part of the mythos… but always, one question lingered inside me… what mighty and portentous event could have happened that brought these heroes together? Could there really have happened something so horrendous that it required the intervention of these heroes in order to contain it?

Avengers Assemble!

                                  Avengers V1 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby

The answer to my question was answered in a reprint of the very first few issues of the original comic, and I saw with my own eyes the menace that loomed over the world, the threat that promised doom and disaster should it go unchecked. Loki, the Norse god of mischief, plotted to wreak havoc on earth; he sought nothing more than wanton destruction and misrule.

All this happened unbeknownst to our heroes; they lived and fought their many battles, but always the outcome was never in doubt. Their days, filled with strife though they were, were also days of an age of innocence.

Eventually, though, signs of a nameless force began to be felt, and it soon became apparent that there was more to the seemingly senseless rampages of the Incredible Hulk, and that there was a hidden hand, operating in secrecy, behind all the mayhem. Surely such a menace would be too much for any one of these heroes?

And lo! There came a day, unlike any other day, when Earth’s Mightiest Heroes were united against a common threat, to fight the foes no single super- hero could withstand. On that day, the Avengers were born!

During those halcyon days of the '60's, many legendary tales were crafted by the stellar team-up of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, and , with time, a number of other writers and artists picked up the reins, and took the mighty Avengers to distant worlds and places. And, as with everything, there came a time, and then yet again every so often, where the old order changeth, and new characters, some of them with less than ideal backgrounds, became Avengers, and by doing so, became forces for good in their own right.

I followed The Avengers religiously thorughout the '80's, reading Brazilian reprints with stories originally published in the '70's, eventually catching up with what was being published stateside. It was, for me and for the characters, a golden age : they had people like Steve Englehart, Roger Stern, the awesome George Pérez,  Jim Shooter, John Buscema and Steve Epting chronicling their exploits, and oh, what menaces  and allies they'd encounter along the way : Thanos the Mad Titan! Korvac! The Red Ronin! Marcus, son of Immortus! The Guardians of the Galaxy, heroes from a thousand years away! The Elements of Doom! The Celestial Madonna, Mantis! The Masters of Evil! The Squadron Supreme!

These were moments of absolute joy for me, when I'd spend countless hours reading those adventures, moments wherein I'd fancy myself the Thunder God or the Sentinel of Liberty at times, while at others I imagined I was the Golden Avenger or the Expert Marksman.

But then... then something happened : the '90's. I have already written – at some length – about how generally bad the '90's were for comics; in an attempt to make them 'harder' and more 'realistic', our once shining paragons of virtue all took a turn for the dark, becoming grimmer, grittier... And our beloved heroes were not the exception to the rule : for the betterv part of the decade, the once mighty franchise became a shadow of itself; the stories were poorly written, and the art, in most cases, sub-par. It seemed as though the very concept of The Avengers was tainted, and not even the likes of Mark Waid could fix it... and then, things got even worse : the 'Heroes Reborn' debacle, wherein Jim Lee and Rob Liefeld, two of the Image masterminds, saw fit to 'update' our heroes for a new era. Lee took 'Fantastic Four' and 'Iron Man' under his wing, and Liefeld took over 'Captain America' and 'Avengers'. The tenure lasted for about ten issues, until they were given over to Jim Lee to finish the run.

These few issues of Cap and Avengers much maligned amongst fans of the titles, and rightly so. They almost destroyed the very concepts of the books, drove fans away by the thousands, and failed even to garner new fans in number enough to actually break even. Marvel had dropped the ball here, and they knew they'd have to do something special in order to win back the fans of old, bring in new fans, and recapture the magic of what once was The Avengers.

                                                  Avengers V2 by Rob Liefeld and Jim Valentino

A new Golden Age

                                

                                                Avengers V3 by Kurt Busiek and George Pérez

And so they did. They brought in the team of Kurt Busiek and George Pérez as writer and artist, respectively. And what Busiek did was nothing sort of astonishing : by going back to basics, he managed to bring about the best in all the characters, and in the first arc alone, pretty much everyone who's ever been an Avenger assembled together, once more to fight that menace that no single hero could withstand. Along with Pérez's superb pencils (he'll always be the ultimate Avengers artist for me), they ushered in a new era for these men and women, who truly were Earth's mightiest heroes. Their long run ended after fifty issues, and maybe a year or so later, it was time for Busiek to leave the title, only to be replaced by a young Geoff Johns, who had a memorable but woefully short run in the title.

In between, Busiek still graced us with the best Avengers stories ever : 'Ultron unleashed', and with the aid of Roger Stern, 'Avengers Forever', drawn by the great Carlos Pacheco. This story is the very definition of 'Epic'. He also did the mini 'Avengers Two' with Mark Bagley, and with the same artist launched the revolutionary 'Thunderbolts'; the fact that it endures still to this day is testament to his genius.

But after Johns left, things took a turn for the strange. He was replaced by Chuck Austen, a man who was no stranger to controversy, and he also had a short run there, not highly regarded by many fans, but one I enjoyed nonetheless. The departure of Johns was indeed a huge blow for the franchise, who was banking on him to continue the work of Busiek, but Johns opted for a long term exclusive with DC, and Marvel had to settle for something more temporary while they sought out for the  perfect writer.

And that came in the form of another young, up-and-coming, hotshot writer, Brian Michael Bendis.

Bendis, who'd made a name himself writing indy classics like 'Torso', 'Jinx', and 'A.K.A. Goldfish', was riding high on the success of his first Marvel hit, 'Ultimate Spider-Man', was not, at first sight, someone who'd be considered a natural fit for the book. But apparently, he had a plan. A long term plan, at that, with the Avengers at their core, but whose outcome would be felt throughout the entirety of the Marvel Universe.

And the first part of that plan? To destroy the Avengers. And it would be one of their own to do just that.

Disassembled!

                                                       

                                                 Avengers v3 #500 by BMB and David Finch

That's exactly what he did – he disassembled the mighty Avengers, in an arc of the same name. His approach was radically different than anyone who'd ever been there before, and while it might have put some longtime readers off by his choices, he brought in many more. His goal was to redefine what the Avengers are and what they mean for a new generation, while never losing sight of what they have meant to the generations before. During this first arc, and what would eventually turn out to be the last arc of the Avengers proper for a number of years, he began seeding his masterplan... one that would come to bear fruits years hence.

So what comes after all the destruction and grief he put these heroes through? A rebirth, of sorts. He and superstar to be artist David Finch brought us the New Avengers, with an all-new line-up, a different mission statement, and a new-found purpose. In were perennial favourites like Wolverine and Spider-Man, Luke Cage and Spider-Woman, with new faces like Ronin, Echo and Doctor Voodoo would eventually join the ranks. It was during the first few arcs that the readers begin to see what the plan was all about : as always, that ever-present menace too great to be faced individually reared its ugly head... and when it did, it promised to bring something an awful lot darker with it...

But before we got there, they'd have to go through many crucibles and hardships, much pain and heartache... and never more so than during 'House of M', a crossover with the X-Men, that sought to take care once and for all of the Scarlet Witch situation, responsible for, and literally so, the chaos that befell the team during the Disassembled arc.

'House of M' worked better as a concept rather than its execution, but it brought with it a new paradigm for mutantdom : where once there were millions, a mere 198 remained now. And the Avengers had to deal with the outcome of what had transpired. Tragedy soon struck again during the events of 'Civil War', an event that caused a massive division between the heroes of the MU : after the publicity seeking New Warriors accidentally cause the death of hundres of innocent bystanders, a law is put in motion to register the so-called superheroes; the reasoning behind this was if you own a gun, you'd have to register it, so it stood to reason that if you were a walking weapon of mass destruction, then it would make perfect sense that you'd have to be fully trained and registered in order to be out on the streets fighting the good fight.

Now, what this did, it created a schism between the heroes of the MU, dividing those who were pro-registration against those who opposed it fiercely.

How this affected the Avengers was that, by the end of it, factions from each side had their own team, and this, coupled with the supposed assassination of Captain America, led to some pretty dark times for the MU in general.

On one side, we had an officially sanctioned team, The Mighty Avengers, whereas on the other side we had a team on the run, hounded and persecuted by those who once were more than mere allies... they were steadfast friends, brothers in arms. This New Avengers team reflected a more urban side of the MU, as seen by both the roster and the type of stories BMB decided to tell.

But they'd soon learn that there were greater menaces at large, as well as some others that had yet to reveal themselves... soon they'd all know.

                                                New Avengers V1 by BMB and David Finch

A Secret Invasion leads to a Dark Reign

Secret Invasion
by BMB and Leinil Francis Yu

And so it was that the larger piece of BMB's plan for the Avengers began to be revealed. Ancillary titles like Thunderbolts, Young Avengers, and Secret War provided further clues as to what was bound to happen, and when both sides were least prepared, the villainous Skrulls, who had been plotting their sweet revenge since the events depicted in the mini Avengers : The Illuminatti, revealed themselves to be in control of certain key figures in the MU, having effectively infiltrated every layer of society. With this reveal, which caught all parties unawares, a massive fight for the planet took place in the pages of the event called Secret Invasion, that ended in such a manner as to, for all intents and purposes, cause a massive paradigm shift in the MU.

Tony Stark, the Iron Man, who rose to the rank of S.H.I.E.L.D. Director after Civil War, swiftly fell from grace after the Skrull invasion, only to be replaced by the wrong man, who was in the right place at the right time : the notorious Norman Osborn, once presumed dead, and maniac alter ego of the Green Goblin.

Dark Avengers
by BMB and Mike Deodato Jr.

And thus, with the rise to power of the psychotic Norman Osborn, jewfro and all, heralded a very dark time for the MU in general, and the Avengers in particular... in a spectacular reversal, the Mighty Avengers team (or a different incarnation thereof) became part of the opposition to the dark status quo that took hold of the MU, while the New Avengers team remained ever at large, but still trying to unseat the new overseer of the fates of the free peoples.

Osborn, meanwhile, crafted an Avengers team of his own, dubbed the Dark Avengers, which was comprised of characters with colourful, troubled and very violent pasts. The villains Moonstone, Daken, Bullseye, and Venom became Ms. Marvel, Wolverine, Hawkeye and Spider-Man, and Joe Q. Public was none the wiser as to who they actually were. Together with the God of War Ares, Marvel Boy, The Sentry and Osborn himself as Iron Patriot, this disaster in the making spread as much terror throughout the world as they did peace...

It was in this series that BMB perhaps shined more during his run in the Avengers up until then.

There was a time were his stories in New Avengers, entertaining though they were, seemed to be going nowhere, and his short run in The Mighty Avengers had some pretty neat superheroics, but in Dark Avengers? There he let loose all his creative juices, and to get into the hearts and minds of so many fragmented psyches meant for hugely entertaining amounts of bloodshed and violence, allusions to all kinds of sexual trysts between members of the team, and deep psychological insights of characters who'd been only barely explored before.

As the series title indicated, it reflected the dark times the MU was facing, and our man Norman decided to make them darker. Whoever did not comply with his edicts was instantly branded a traitor.

To make matters worse, he'd created a cabal of the most powerful in MU villaindom : Namor, Dr. Doom, the White Queen, Loki, and the upstart The Hood. For a common man, (at least as he was perceived by these perfidious characters), to approach them and put them in a position of being glorified vassals was nothing short of an effrontery without measure, but he had a secret weapon at his beck and call in order to hold sway over them. Doom himself felt the fury of this secret weapon firsthand.

With this power behind him, and with Loki whispering at his ear, matters that were bad enough to begin with, soon took a turn for the worse, as the ranks of villains in the MU began to organize themselves, and with a carte blanche from Osborn, director of H.A.M.M.E.R., began going after the heroes themselves.

And when things couldn't possibly get any worse, when there might have still remained a glimmer of hope, a new disaster strikes the heartland of the MU.

Asgard under Siege

Siege
by BMB and Olivier Coipel

The mighty city of Asgard, home of the Aesir – the Norse gods of old – lay floating above the small and tranquil city of Broxton, Oklahoma. An easy peace was soon struck between its inhabitants and the returned gods.

Elsewhere, the God of mischief Loki plotted to bring down the great city, and added further poison to Osborn's evil mind.

After gaining control of the MU's criminal underground, and having effectively held much of the U.S. in a grip of terror, Osborn set his sights on loftier ambitions : the destruction of Asgard, and if that meant deicide on a large scale, then so be it.

But how to do it, when the public's opinion was in favour of the Golden Realm? Here the dastardly hands of Loki began their pernicious work.

Volstagg the Voluminous, Aesir born, a God amongst men, a meber of the fabled Warriors Three, found himself at the epicentre of yet another cataclysmic event, one that would lead to a number of innocent bystanders dying, and that would set the invasion of Asgard in motion.

In due time, and soon enough, the armies under Osborn's control amassed at the very borders of the golden city of Asgard. His Dark Avengers beside him, the destruction of Asgard began in earnest. Man turned against the Gods themselves, and the outcome was never in question, even with the Mighty Thor battling for Asgard, the man with the power of a million exploding suns, the Sentry finally succeeded in bringing down legendary Asgard... and with its fall, so too something began to change in the MU.

The Avengers rallied under one single banner, and the returned Steve Rogers assumed the mantle of leadership once more, and something that had not happened in an age finally came to pass : the Big Three assembled with the Avengers once again. Thor, Iron Man, and Captain America, aided and abetted by a number of other Avengers, both present and past, put aside their differences to fight back the Osborn menace for good and all.

Ultimately, the Sentry's dark half – The Void – manifested itself, and it proved to be a mighty foe indeed. It took the combined effort of the Avengers Resistance and the Shadow Initiative to bring it down, and with a flurry of thunderbolts, Thor eventually kills the gestalt entity that was The Sentry/The Void.

In the aftermath of this, Norman Osborn fell from grace, and his H.A.M.M.E.R gave way to S.H.I.E.L.D once more. The darkness seemed to be fading at long last, and the dark age that had been dominant of late heralded a return to a new age of heroes.

The Heroic age – A new Golden age for the Avengers?

New Avengers V2
by BMB and Stuart Immonen

Avengers V4
by BMB and JRJr

And with the end of Dark Reign, came the Heroic Age, and so with it, brand new Avengers titles : out went Dark Avengers, Avengers : The Initiative, The Mighty Avengers, and New Avengers finished its first volume.

New titles include the second volume of New Avengers (by BMB and Stuart Immonen), the fourth volume of Avengers (by BMB and John Romita Jr.), Secret Avengers (by Ed Brubaker and Mike Deodato Jr.) and Avengers Academy (by Christos N. Gage and Mike McKone), as well as a number of other peripheral titles.

These titles all reflect a different viewpoint of what being an Avenger is all about, sometimes leading to radically new interpretations of the concept : in Secret Avengers, the noirish and cover fell imbued by writer Brubaker and so deftly illustrated my Deodato Jr. Shows a seedier, darker corner of the MU... on earth and beyond, dealing with matters both mortal and godly. It is rather closely tied to events that Brubaker is chronicling in his tenure as Captain America writer, and has pretty much the same feel. In New Avengers, BMB is going for that urban feel yet again, a place where he seems to excel, but this time round, he'd bringing a good dose of epic to go with it. In Avengers proper, you have the good old-fashioned superheroics, with the mightiest of Avengers teams standing as the greatest force for good the MU can muster.

This is, by far, the best the Avengers have been under BMB. Here, and for the first time, he truly lets his considerable imagination run wild, bringing an undeniable sense of wonder and dread to the pages of the title. Of course, it being illustrated by the mighty John Romita Jr, makes it as epic as it's ever been. The greatest strength in this title is the return, at long last, to the very roots of the concept; it's not just fighting the menace du jour, it's really about assembling to fight the menace that no single hero can withstand. And here, here BMB delivers  in spades, even successfully tying the first arc to the awesome  Next Avengers animated movie, introducing its characters to the Avengers lore, while setting up a huge slew of mysteries that are destined to shape what the franchise will be for the foreseeable future.

Secret Avengers
by Ed Brubaker and Mike Deodato Jr

But the breakout hit of the lot? Avengers Academy by Gage and McKone. Much as I am loving this current volume of the Avengers, there's something about Avengers Academy that gives it an edge over Avengers V4.

I'm tempted to say that it's ultimately due to Christos N. Gage's scripting – he is just as good as BMB when it comes to ideas, but is his superior in actually writing the stories. Featuring a cast largely comprised of brand new characters, as well as some old staples, Gage has a gift for getting the characters down pat. The sheer premise of the title – that these young heroes could be the next generation of Avengers – is turned on its head by the reveal that in fact, the reason (or one of the reasons...) why they are being trained and monitored is because they have the potential to be the greatest menaces the MU will face in the future. Artist McKone delivers the best art in his storied career, and month in, month out, this is the Avengers book that I look forward to the most.

Avengers Academy
by Christos N. Gage and Mike McKone

But not only in comics can we find the Avengers... recently, a new animated series began airing, and by Jove, this time they got it right! And I say 'this time' because years ago there was a rather forgettable Avengers series, and that fact seemed to hang over this new series, weighing it down even before it premiered.

However, the series absolutely rocks. It's The Avengers as we know it, everyone's there. Thor. Cap. Iron Man. Giant Man. The Wasp. And The Hulk. Yes, they did something that I figured ought to have been done many, many years ago : the green behemoth should have joined the ranks of the Avengers once more, he who was a founding member.

But there's also Hawkeye, Wonder Man, Black Panther, and so many more of Marvel's characters... it's an absolute joy to watch this series.

And, on the horizon, is the culmination of one of my lifelong dreams : The Avengers movie.

After it was first teased in the first Iron Man movie, with furher hints in The Incredible Hulk, and with Iron Man 2 seeding even more plants, upcoming movies featuring Thor and Captain America will lay the path for the 2012 release of the Avengers movie, as directed by the legendary Joss Whedon.

With Chris Evans as Captain America, Mark Ruffalo as the Hulk, Robert Downey Jr. As Iron Man, Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Scarlett Johansson as Black widow, Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye and Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, this movie has the potential to set the standard for widescreen epic action movies. 

It's going to be a long time until 2012, but hey, there's still the Cap and Thor movies to make the wait more bearable.

All in all, this is an awesome time to be an Avengers fan : the titles are the best they've been in years, the ancillary titles featuring the main characters are excellent as well, there's a bloody good animated series on TV right now, and a number of cinematic endeavours to satisfy even the most die-hard of fanboys.

Here's to the assembled ranks of the Avengers!

Excelsior!