Category: Avengers

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Avengers/Defenders War

Av-def war
By Steve Englehart, Bob Brown, Sal Buscema & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-2759-8 (HC),       978-0-7851-5902-5 (2012 TPB)

For kids – of any and all ages – there is a simply primal fascination with brute strength and feeling dangerous, which surely goes some way towards explaining the perennial interest in angry tough guys who break stuff as best exemplified by Prince Namor, the Sub-Mariner and the Incredible Hulk. When you add the mystery and magic of Doctor Strange the recipe for thrills, spills and chills becomes simply irresistible…

Last of the big star-name conglomerate super-groups, the Defenders would eventually number amongst its membership almost every hero – and a few villains – in the Marvel Universe. No surprise there then since the initial line was composed of the company’s major league bad-boys: misunderstood, outcast and often actually dangerous to know.

For Marvel in the 1970s, the outsider super-group must have seemed a conceptual inevitability – once they’d finally published it.

Apart from Spider-Man and Daredevil all their heroes regularly teamed up in various mob-handed assemblages, and in the wake of the Defenders’ success even more super-teams featuring pre-existing characters would be packaged: the Champions, Invaders, New Warriors and so on… but never again with so many Very Big Guns…

The genesis of the team in fact derived from their status as publicly distrusted “villains”, and they never achieved the “in-continuity” fame or acceptance of other teams, but that simply seemed to leave the creators open to taking a few chances and playing the occasional narrative wild card.

The Avengers, however, are the result of one of the most momentous events in Marvel Comics history, when in 1963 Stan Lee & Jack Kirby combined most of their disparate, freshly minted individual heroes as a response to the astounding success of National/DC’s Justice League of America.

The Mighty Avengers combined the company’s fledgling superhero stars Thor, Iron Man, Ant-Man and the Wasp in one bright, shiny and highly commercial package: ostensibly called together by fate to stop the Incredible Hulk – although Asgardian nemesis Loki was actually the fiend behind it all.

Over the years the roster has waxed and waned until almost every character in their universe has at some time numbered amongst their serried ranks.

As described in his Introduction, in 1973 wunderkind scripter Steve Englehart was writing both series as (well as Doctor Strange, the Hulk and Luke Cage, Hero for Hire) and, yearning for the days of summer blockbuster annuals, decided to attempt his own massive multi-player epic. Bravely given the editorial go-ahead at a time when deadline crunches regularly interrupted ongoing storylines, the author and his regular pencillers Sal Buscema and Bob Brown laid their plans…

Threads had been planted as early as Defenders #4 with Englehart carefully putting players in place for a hugely ambitious cross-over experiment: one that would turn the comics industry on its head.

When madwoman Barbara Norris was cursed by Asgardian Amora the Enchantress she became an incarnation of old Avengers enemy The Valkyrie. The denouement of the tale also left part-time Avenger and Defender the Black Knight an ensorcelled, immobile stone statue, and as Strange and Co. searched for a cure, aided by the Silver Surfer and the tempestuous Hawkeye (another Assembler looking to forge a solo career), they fell into a subtle scheme orchestrated by two of the greatest forces of evil in all creation.

The massive cross-over experiment began with a little prologue taken from the end of Avengers #115 illustrated by Brown & Mike Esposito. ‘Alliance Most Foul!’ saw extra-dimensional demon lord Dread Dormammu and Loki unite to search for an ultimate weapon that would give them final victory against their foes. They would trick the Defenders into securing the six component parts by “revealing” that the reconstructed Evil Eye could restore the petrified Black Knight, a plan that began at the end of Defenders #8…

The first chapter in ‘The Avengers/Defenders Clash’ was ‘Deception!!’ (Buscema & Frank McLaughlin) as a message from the limbo-locked spirit of the Black Knight was intercepted and doctored by the twins of evil, leading directly to ‘Betrayal!’ wherein the Avengers, hunting for their missing comrade, “discover” that their oldest enemies Hulk and Sub-Mariner may have turned the Black Knight to stone.

This and following chapter ‘Silver Surfer Vs. the Vision and the Scarlet Witch’ comprise the contents of Avengers #116, illustrated by Brown & Esposito, wherein the rival teams split up: one to gather the scattered sections of the Eye and the other to stop them at all costs…

Defenders #9 (Buscema & McLaughlin) began with the tense recap ‘Divide …and Conquer’ before ‘The Invincible Iron Man Vs. Hawkeye the Archer’ and ‘Dr. Strange Vs. the Black Panther and Mantis’ shed more suspicion and doubt on the mystical villain’s subtle master-plan.

Avengers #117 ‘Holocaust’, ‘Swordsman Vs. the Valkyrie’ and the turning point ‘Captain America Vs. Sub-Mariner’ (Brown & Esposito) led to the penultimate clash in Defenders #10 (Buscema & Bolle) ‘Breakthrough! The Incredible Hulk Vs. Thor’ and the inevitable joining together of the warring camps in ‘United We Stand!’, but sadly too late as Dormammu seized the reconstructed Evil Eye and used its unimaginable power to merge his monstrous realm with ours.

Avengers #118 provided the cathartic climactic conclusion in ‘To the Death’ (Brown, Esposito & Giacoia) as all the heroes of the Marvel Universe battled the demonic invasion, whilst united Avengers and Defenders plunged deep into the Dark Dimension itself to end the threat of the evil gods forever (or at least for the moment…).

With the overwhelming cosmic threat over the victorious Defenders attempted to use the Eye to cure their stony comrade, only to find that his spirit had found a new home in the 12th century.

In Defenders #11’s ‘A Dark and Stormy Knight’ (inked by Frank Bolle), the group travelled to the distant past encountering wonderment, miracles and a kind of happy ending whilst combating black magic. However they ultimately failed to retrieve or restore the Knight and went their separate ways – as did departing scripter Englehart.

Also included in this perfect Fights ‘n’ Tights festival of fisticuffs and frantic action

is a cover gallery of all the issues – including the prologues from Avengers #115 and Defenders #8 – as well as Carlos Pacheco’s cover to the 2002 edition and the full-painted Buscema cover to this book, digitally enhanced by colourists Richard Isanove, Avalon’s Matt Milla & Michael Kelleher.

If all you want is spectacularly pure classic comicbook gratification then this is the book for you – especially as the latest paperback edition of this perennial favourite was only released last year…
© 1973, 2007, 2012 Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Ultimate Comics the Ultimates: Divided We Fall, United We Stand


By Sam Humphries, Billy Tan, Timothy Green II, Luke Ross & Terry Pallot (Marvel/Panini UK)
ISBN: 978-1-84653-524-6

The Ultimate Comics imprint launched in 2000, upgrading and reformatting hallowed Marvel characters and concepts for a presumed-more sophisticated modern audience: one that mostly comprised older readers rather than the youngsters who had participated in the company’s 1960s rise to glory.

Eventually the alternate, darkly nihilistic new universe became as continuity-constricted as its predecessor, and in 2008 the “Ultimatum” story-arc culminated in a reign of terror which wiped out dozens of the new super-humans and millions of lesser mortals.

The era-ending event was a colossal tsunami triggered by mutant terrorist/messiah Magneto which inundated the superhero-heavy island of Manhattan and utterly devastated the world’s mutant population. Ever since The Deluge, the world has been stumbling from crisis to catastrophe…

This volume, collecting Ultimate Comics: the Ultimates issues #13-18 (September 2012 – January 2013) is part of an imprint-wide crossover which saw America fall into urban chaos and civil war, with the saga affecting and seen from the points of view of a newly blooded Spider-Man, a revitalised team of Ultimates and the last remaining X-Men…

How We Got Here: In the wake of the global inundation, ongoing internecine strife amongst the covert ops community, and deadly brushfire wars all over the planet, ousted spymaster Nick Fury regained control of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s army of secret agents and officially-sanctioned super-squad The Ultimates as well as clandestine task-force The Avengers, just as civilisation was coming apart at the seams…

Metahumans had become the preferred “Weapons of Mass Destruction” and personal superpowers were the focus of a terrifying global arms race. In Asia, emergent nation SEAR (SouthEastAsianRepublic) dissolved into bloody conflict soon after developing a serum which randomly sparked fantastic abilities in ordinary humans. Their plan had been to win the organic arms race but events quickly overtook the leadership when they tried to stack the deck by simultaneously releasing a virus that neutralised genes which triggered natural mutations.

With random metahumans roaming the streets, SEAR collapsed from internal dissent and open warfare…

From the conflict, dual metahuman nations were established and both Celestials and Eternals began offering super-powers to anybody brave or greedy enough to want them…

Meanwhile American hero Spider-Man was murdered, resurrected WWII super soldier Captain America went AWOL and the gods of Asgard, who had been dragged from their heavenly halls and marooned on Earth, were slaughtered by a new fantastic race called the Children of Tomorrow.

The Children were the results of a fantastic experiment by the Maker – disgraced, deranged former superhero Reed Richards – who created a high-tech Dome where enhanced time and ruthless scientific augmentation enabled the inhabitants to hyper-evolve thousands of years in the space of a few days.

The Dome inexorably expanded into a voracious semi-sentient super-city and absorbed much of Western Europe, despite every effort of the region’s superhumans, until vengeful Thor broke into the marauding metropolis and, with the aid of boffin Sam Wilson (AKA the Falcon), Iron Man Tony Stark (and his sentient brain-tumour side-kick), Captain Britain, Hawkeye, Black Widow and the elevated Celestials of Xorn and Eternals of Zorn stopped the incursion by excessive violence and by turning the dome dwellers against their increasingly doctrinaire and draconian leader.

At the same time, corrupt S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Flumm forced Fury out and blackmailed Bruce Banner into attacking the Dome. The Hulk‘s enforced assault went tragically wrong, however, once The Maker convinced the man-monster to switch allegiances and the American President, distracted by one too many crises, allowed anti-mutant activists to turn the southwest into their own hunting preserve…

With Sentinels and militias controlling Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Oklahoma, and other states threatening secession, the President launched the nation’s entire nuclear arsenal at the ever-evolving Dome. To ensure no interference, the Commander-in-Chief also invoked “the Winter Protocols” and ordered S.H.I.E.L.D. to capture or kill all Ultimates and Avengers…

The nuclear fusillade and the metahuman attack could not obliterate the Dome but the component intelligence of the living City was badly damaged. In retaliation Richards unleashed the Hulk and a very special Child of Tomorrow he had cultured without the knowledge of the Dome hive-mind. The child detonated with nuclear force in the Capitol, utterly eradicating WashingtonDC and the entire government…

Stunned by the loss of the entire ruling structure of America, self-promoted Director Flumm was further incensed when Fury, Falcon, Hawkeye and the Widow all escaped capture…

Although the Dome was no longer a credible or urgent threat, President Howard – who only a day previously was the earnest but under-qualified Secretary of Energy – was in over his head. With a nuclear-armed Texas quitting the Union and declaring itself an independent nation, mutant-hunting Sentinels rampaging through the southwest states and militant local militias sparking rebellions all over the country, the last thing he needed to hear was that the Ultimates and Avengers are all free.

Forced to overreact, the President declared martial law as the nation splintered around him. Flumm too was rapidly losing control and could not cope with more bad news…

And then word arrived that Captain America had returned from his self-imposed exile…

(For fuller comprehension the reader is strongly advised to consult companion series Ultimate Comics: X-Men 1 & 2 and previous volumes of this series. These will greatly enhance understanding of the parlous state of this alternate universe in its darkest hours…)

With the Land of the Free ripped apart by numerous small rebellions and full state secessions, this twinned publishing event – designed to create a jumping-on point for new readers – opens with the 2-part ‘Divided We Fall’ (by Sam Humphries, Billy Tan, Timothy Green II & Terry Pallot) as Director Flumm is compelled by President Howard to deploy the hated and unruly Ultimates, overruling the S.H.I.E.L.D. boss’s warning that they cannot be controlled…

Even as the harried leader appoints veteran administrator spy and former White House administrator Carol Danvers his Chief of Staff, news pictures come in of Captain America battling in New Mexico, whilst in New York, Iron Man Stark is galvanised into action again and calls Thor away from the massive graveyard that holds the remains of his entire race. It’s time to put the old band back together…

Cap is on a rampage of indignant patriotic fury: destroying Sentinels and thrashing murderous mutant hunters. When he’s finally joined by his former comrades the revolution of hate swiftly collapses as the heroes forcibly drag the abandoned states back into the Union.

None of them are aware of the long-term role played by an enigmatic rabble-rouser and power-broker named Morez, who slips away to one of the other areas where he’s successfully fomented dissent, even as the Sentinel-held territories fall to resurgent American Forces …

Forced out of the shadows, Morez reappears in Texas, convincing the businessmen and corporate heads that run the New Republic to fire their prized solitary nuke at New York City. Instantly apprised, Iron Man, Thor and the Sentinel of Liberty join the other Ultimates in invading the Lone Star Nation, with less than fifteen minutes to find the missile’s abort code and avert another bloodbath…

Meanwhile Morez has contacted the head of the Senate Emergency Powers Committee and convinced ambitious Senator Underwood to have the government look the other way whilst the manipulator facilitates Wyoming becoming an independent militia-run nation…

As the heroes rip Dallas apart in their successful attempt to stop the missile, Thor notices an odd symbol on the gold used by the Republic’s ex-movers and shakers and begins to suspect that another Asgardian escaped the extermination… the Evil One…

Howard too feels the rug ripped out from under him when Underwood finds a dubious legal precedent and claims the new President has no official mandate to rule. In the middle of the Civil War there’s going to be an emergency Recall Election…

And on the West Coast, the constantly moving Morez offers deadly weaponised WASP security drone technology to the radical hippies, free thinkers and Silicon Valley entrepre-nerds who have assumed control of Washington State, Oregon and California: decent dudes whose freedom loving new country is currently being swamped by American refugees and Internally Displaced Persons from the embattled USA…

The hard-fought war of reunification occurs in the 4-part ‘United We Stand’ (illustrated by Luke Ross) and sees the well-meaning free thinkers of the West Coast Nation become accidental mass-murderers when Morez assumes control of the WASPs and lets them loose upon the refuges flooding across the new border. With the election and the genocide both filling the media airwaves, Howard orders Captain America not to intervene in California, but the Star-Spangled legend decides to listen to the higher authority of his conscience…

Following a surprise meeting with Fury, Captain America goes west, linking up with Hawkeye and Black Widow to spectacularly save victims live on TV. As Morez switches his attention to Wyoming, all over the country voters begin exercising their mandate with a surprise “Write-in candidate”…

When Thor and Iron Man destroy the automated system unleashed by Morez, the grateful West Coasters are happy to rejoin the nation just as the Sentinel of Liberty receives a call and is informed that he’s the new President…

Rapidly sworn in, Steven Rogers remains in costume and appoints Carol Danvers his political operative as he stays in the field dragging his America out of Civil War. As she navigates the stormy waters stirred up by the infuriated Senator Underwood, the Ultimates are ending the bloody feud between North and South Carolina and forcing them both back into the United States. Thor, suspecting Asgardian influence, heads to top secret Project Pegasus in Wyoming as Cap ends weeks of  urban anarchy and territorial tumult by the Great Lakes Liberation Front in Michigan by sheer presence and charisma…

With their influence impossibly slipping away, Flumm and Underwood finally go too far when they try to assassinate their Red, White and Blue Commander-in-Chief, leaving the assembled Ultimates free to concentrate on their true foe at last.

In Wyoming, Morez’s true identity is finally revealed and the evil Asgardian makes his play at last using the secret of Pegasus to enslave the state and turn terrified citizens into willing warriors in his army of rebellion: a Hydra of hate aimed at America’s heart…

Moreover there will be no help from Thor: guilt and the villain’s new weapon have made the Thunderer a helpless slave of the malign manipulator…

In Wyoming, as the ensorcelled Hydra forces clash with S.H.I.E.L.D. and a small force of loyal metahumans including the new Spider-Man, Giant-Woman Cassie Lang and Invisible Woman Sue Richards – last survivor of the legendary Fantastic Four – the real battle for Liberty is only won when Iron Man, Thor and President America defeat the Evil One in the skies above the embattled, sundered nation…

This bombastic battle for life, liberty and honour is designed to be read independently of the other strands (in Ultimate Comics X-Men and Ultimate Comics Spider-Man) if desired, so I’m not going to spoil the manner in which new President of the forcibly re-United States moves forward after the victory, but of course such a dictatorial beginning isn’t to everyone’s taste and naturally there’s more trouble brewing in the wings…

The darkly trenchant, nihilistically cynical Ultimate fare, with its signature post-modernity and bleakly brutal action, still delivers the grim ‘n’ gritty punch fans crave, but successfully surmounts those limits here by offering a powerfully uplifting message of hope for the determinedly worthy that is both satisfying and keenly tantalising. However for maximum impact you really should read those other two collections in this triptych of comics delights…

As usual the volume also contains a gallery of covers and variants – by Michael Komarck and Adi Granov – and this so-contemporary saga also incorporates a 21st century extra for all those tech-savvy consumers with added value in mind, as many chapters contain an AR icon (Marvel Augmented Reality App) which gives access to all sorts of story bonuses once you download the little dickens – for free – from marvel.com onto your iPhone or Android-enabled device.

Don’t touch that dial yet, fans, there’s still more to come…
™ & © 2013 Marvel & Subs. Licensed by Marvel Characters B.V. A British Edition published by Panini Publishing, a division of Panini UK, Ltd. All rights reserved.

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The Incredible Hercules: the New Prince of Power


By Greg Pak, Fred Van Lente, Ariel Olivetti, Paul Tobin, Reilly Brown, Jason Paz, Terry Pallot, Zach Howard, Adam Archer & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-4370-3

Comicbook Fights ‘n’ Tights dramas are serious business – but they don’t have to be.

There are too few light-hearted adventure comics around for my liking. Have readers become so sullen, depressed and angst-ridden that it takes nothing but oceans of blood and devastating cosmic trauma to rouse them?

Let’s hope not since we all adore a modicum of mirth with our mayhem, and let’s be honest, there are lashings of sheer comedic potential to play with when men-in-tights  – or in the Lion of Olympus’ case, a very short skirt and leather bondage-leggings – start hitting each other with clubs and cars and buildings.

The contemporary Marvel iteration of Hercules first appeared in 1965’s Journey into Mystery Annual #1, wherein Thor, God of Thunder fell into the realm of the Greek Gods and ended up swapping bombastic blows with the happy-go-lucky but easily-riled Hellenic Prince of Power in the Stan Lee/Jack Kirby landmark ‘When Titans Clash! Thor Vs. Hercules!’

Since then the bombastic immortal warrior has bounced around the Marvel Universe seeking out other heroes and heated fisticuffs as an Avenger, Defender, Champion, Renegade, Hero for Hire and any other super-squad prepared to take the big lug and his constant, perpetual boozing, wenching, bragging and blathering about the “Good Old Days”…

In recent years Herc got a good deal more serious, becoming a far more conventionally po-faced world-saver and even found himself a protégé – don’t call him “sidekick” – in keen teen Amadeus Cho, notionally the Seventh Smartest Person on Earth.

This deliciously wicked and engaging collection, gathering often inappropriate and simultaneously stirring and uproarious contents of Hercules: Fall of an Avenger #1-2 and the follow-up 4-issue miniseries Heroic Age: Prince of Power from 2010, is actually the prequel to a larger epic event but self-contained enough and so entertaining that readers won’t mind or feel short-changed.

The drama unfolds in the aftermath of the mighty man-god’s apparent death with the aforementioned ‘Hercules: Fall of an Avenger’, by writers Greg Pak & Fred Van Lente with art by Ariel Olivetti, as many of the Gods and mortals touched by the life of the departed legend gather at the Parthenon for a wondrous wake to memorialise his passing.

Athena now rules the gods ofOlympus and turns up stylishly late as the gathering share personal tales of the departed legend.

Whilst the he-man heroes such as Thor, Bruce Banner, Skaar, Son of Hulk, the Warriors Three, Wolverine, Angel, and Sub-Mariner dwell on their comrade’s fighting spirit, the women such as Namora, Black Widow, Inuit goddess Snowbird and Alflyse, Queen of the Dark Elves prefer to share fond reminiscences of his other prowess – despite the blushes of the congregation.

However just as Cho prepares to speak his own thoughts, Athena and the remaining Hellenic Pantheon materialise and announce the boy is to be the new commander of the globe-spanning corporation known as the Olympus Group, becoming the next Prince of Power to act as the god’s representative on Earth…

Before Amadeus can react, Athena’s decree leads to a minor rebellion in her own ranks as Apollo challenges her and the assemblage degenerates into another epic brawl. Cho doesn’t care and uses the distraction to act on a suspicion that Hercules is not actually dead. His search of Hades, however, proves fruitless…

One of the smartest humans alive, Amadeus acquiesces and takes control of the Olympus Group to further his own agenda, but makes no secret of his dislike and mistrust of Athena…

Further repercussions of Hercules’ demise are seen when Namora and fellow Agent of Atlas Venus (a seductive Greek Siren, only recently promoted to actual love goddess) are dispatched by Athena to set the Man-God’s earthly affairs in order. Over the millennia the big-hearted, happy warrior accrued vast wealth and used it to set up businesses, trusts, foundations and charities, but now the Queen of Olympus wants to absorb the profitable ones and shut down the lame ducks.

As they track down his holdings and inform administrators of the situation, the grieving wonder women uncover an unsuspected ‘Greek Tragedy’ (by Paul Tobin, Reilly Brown & Jason Paz) on a lost Greek island – a cash-sucking black hole of an orphanage caring for children who just happen to be the innocent spawn of the many monsters Hercules slew in his voyages.

How then can Namora and Venus obey the dictates of the hard-hearted Athena and still honour the spirit of their soft-hearted former lover…?

‘Heroic Age: Prince of Power’ (Pak, Van Lente, Brown, Zach Howard, Adam Archer & Pallot) then occupies the major portion of this chronicle following the progress of Cho as he settles into the uncomfortable role of divine Prince of Power and mortal Chairman of the Board. His first order of business is to divert vast funds into searching the multiverse for Hercules…

Athena’s driving motivation for recruiting Amadeus is that an Age has passed on Earth: where once brute strength was the defining characteristic of the era, the Modern Age is subject to the force of intellect. The new Prince of Power must reflect the reliance on Reason and Intelligence, especially since a long-prophesied “Great Chaos” is coming…

A cosmic congress of pantheons convenes to select a mortal to lead the fight against the on-coming threat and, after much debate, Athena gets her way: clever kid Amadeus Cho is expected to save the entirety of creation…

On Earth the unsuspecting and intolerably obnoxious seventeen-year-old is dealing with lesser problems whilst working towards his own ultimate goal – rescuing Hercules from wherever he’s gone…

The most pressing of these daily duties is defeating mutated maniac the Griffin and saving an amusement park from becoming lunch, just the latest in a procession of monsters acting as vanguards for the approaching Chaos King…

Another problem is that he’s had to lock up his girlfriend Delphyne – Queen of the Gorgons – for trying to assassinate Athena, so when Vali Halfling (son of Asgardian god of Evil Loki) comes calling offering the secret of ultimate divine power, the distracted Cho is understandably intrigued, although not enough to fall for the trickster’s devious scheme…

The vile demigod wants to gather mystical elements from assorted pantheons (Greek, Norse, Egyptian and Hindu) to create a potion that will deliver ultimate divine power and enable the upstart kids to eliminate all other deities, but Cho isn’t fooled and rather than fall for a dishonest alliance he sets out to beat Vali to the ingredients – Hellenic Ambrosia, the Apples of Idunn, the Book of Thoth and Moon-cup of Dhanvantari. The race commences in ‘Blasphemy Can be Fun’ and, after pausing for ‘The Origin of Hercules’ by Van Lente, Ryan Stegman, Michael Babinski, continues with Cho’s one-man invasion of Asgard in ‘Valhalla Blues’.

The neophyte Prince of Power has no idea that he’s been played, and whilst clashing with former idol Thor for the Apples his rival already possesses, Halfling and his super-powered human Pantheon invades and seizes control of the Olympus Group headquarters to grab the Nectar of the Gods…

After a spectacularly pointless battle Thor and Cho unite to stop Vali, heading to the EgyptianLandof the Dead to grab the Book. Again they are too late and their outrageous clash with cat-goddess Sekhmet in ‘Our Lady of Slaughter’ only allows Halfling to come closer to his ultimate goal.

With the old gods on the back foot and Athena close to death, the fate of Cho’s people falls to the furious and lethally ticked off Delphyne…

It all comes to a shattering close in ‘Omnipotence for Dummies’ as Cho ultimately and brilliantly outwits everybody, wins ultimate power, retrieves Hercules from his uncanny fate and promptly surrenders all his divine might to the returned Man-god. He has to: the Chaos King has arrived to annihilate All Of Reality and the situation demands a real hero…

To Be Continued…

With covers and variants by Olivetti, Humberto Ramos, Edgar Delgado, Khoi Pham, Carlo Pagulayan, Paz, Peter Steigerwald, Salva Espin & Beth Sotelo plus pages of character designs by Brown, this bombastic, action-packed thriller also offers scenes of genuine tear-jerking poignancy and hilarious moments of mirth (the tale is especially stuffed with saucy moments of the sort that make grandmothers smirk knowingly, and teenaged boys go as red as Captain America’s boots). An absolute joy for older fans, this epic is also a great example of self-contained Marvel Magic, funny, outrageous, charming and full of good-natured punch-ups.

This is a rare but welcome instance of the company using the continuity without unnecessarily exposing newcomers to the excess baggage which may deter some casual readers from approaching long-running comics material, and if you’re looking for something fresh but traditional, you couldn’t do better than this superb slice of modern mythology.
© 2010 Marvel Characters Inc. All rights reserved.

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Agents of Atlas: Dark Reign


By Jeff Parker, Carlo Pagulayan, Gabriel Hardman, Benton Jew, Leonard Kirk, Clayton Henry & various (Marvel)

ISBN: 978-0-7851-4126-6

After the unprecedented explosion of mystery men characters during American comics’ Golden Age, the end of the 1940s saw a gradual decimation of colourful costumed marvels and the rise of genre heroes in adventure, war, western, crime, science fiction and horror titles. Fighting a rising tide, Timely Comics struggled on with the mask-and-cape crowd for quite a while; even creating new characters such as Namora (Sub-Mariner’s sexy, super-powered cousin), immortal love-goddess Venus and juvenile outer space crusader Marvel Boy, but nothing really caught the public’s attention.

In the mid-1950s the company, now known as “Atlas”, tried to revive their ‘Big Three’ – and super-heroes in general – on the back of a proposed Sub-Mariner television series, hoping to cash in on the success of the monumentally successful Adventures of Superman TV show.

This led to some impressively entertaining tales, but no appreciable results as the Atlantean anti-hero, the Human Torch and Captain America briefly returned… and just as rapidly disappeared again when theHollywood deal fell through.

When this last gasp of super-heroic shenanigans failed, the publisher once again concentrated on humour, romance and more-or-less straight adventure anthologies with the accent strongly on weird monsters, invading aliens and robotic rogues. They never stopped exploring that fantasy hero niche however, and hooded, cloaked cowboys like Apache Kid, Black Rider or Outlaw Kid and mysterious masked warriors such as the Black Knight occasionally popped up to keep the flame alive. In 1957 the little company came closest to a full revival of flamboyantly garbed wonders by creating a full-on super-villain for genre G-Men to battle.

The best of the industry’s many knock-offs of Sax Rohmer’s legendary archetype of evil Fu Manchu, The Yellow Claw menaced Freedom and Democracy in the days of Commie technological supremacy and imminent invasion by Sputniks. He was regularly thwarted by the bold endeavours of Chinese American FBI agent Jimmy Woo but he too peaked and faded too soon…

Once DC’s Showcase unleashed the Flash and the Silver Age kicked off, the 1960s saw a resurgence in costumed characters and Marvel reinvented itself and finally brought back its Golden Trio in one form or another…

Then in June 1978 with a concrete character continuity fully established, avowed Fifties-ophile and Marvel Editor-in-Chief Roy Thomas retroactively introduced a team of heroes culled from those misfiring experiments in the alternate realities book What If?

Volume 1, #9 asked ‘What If The Avengers Had Fought Evil During the 1950s?’ (by Don Glut, Paul Kupperberg & Bill Black), and although non-canonical then, the concept slowly filtered into fans’ group consciousness and over the decades a team that never existed were gradually assimilated into mainstream Marvel History…

Now official canon, it was revealed that Woo and a scratch team of contemporary super-characters briefly and clandestinely clashed with the Claw and other unearthly menaces in 1958 before being shut down by the US government. Their heroics unsung and unremarked, the team broke up and was forgotten…

Retooled and updated for the more cynical modern audience the Agents of Atlas formally debuted in 2006 when Jimmy Woo, now an aging agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., began investigating the mysterious Atlas Foundation and found it was a front for his greatest and most unforgiving enemy. Through circumstances best left to another review, Jimmy was severely injured, but eventually revived and rejuvenated to the prime of life by his old comrades Namora, Venus, vintage wonder-robot M11, immortal anthropoid avenger Gorilla-Man and the deeply disturbing Marvel Boy from Uranus whose incredible science restored Jimmy to full vitality.

Together they defeated the Claw’s ultimate plans before assuming control of his organisation, planning to subvert the evil empire from the top down and use its awesome reputation to dismantle from within other covert threats to world peace and security …

Before they could begin, however, they had to clean up the myriad messes and malevolences perpetrated by the Atlas Foundation and all without letting the public – and the burgeoning superhero community – that there had been any change in the criminal corporation’s goals or methods…

This surreptitious sea-change had begun just as the Skrulls’ Secret Invasion culminated in a world-wide crisis, the fall of S.H.I.E.L.D., and the rise to power of Norman Osborn who, as America’s new Chief of Homeland Security, instituted a Dark Reign of draconian oppression using co-opted super-villains and a new personally controlled paramilitary force dubbed H.A.M.M.E.R.…

During his Dark Reign, the former Green Goblin and recovering madman – through means fair and foul – officially worked to curb the unchecked power and threat of meta-humanity, all whilst secretly operating a cabal of major super-villains and dictators intent on divvying up the planet between them. The repercussions of Osborn’s rise and fall were felt throughout and featured in many series and collections covering the entire fictive universe.

Scripted throughout by Jeff Parker this canny collection gathers Agents of Atlas #1-5, a previously electronic adventure of Wolverine: Agent of Atlas from Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited and material from Dark Reign: New Nation, Secret Invasion: Who Do You Trust?, and Giant-Size Marvel Adventures Avengers #1; tales spanning 2007 to 2008.

It begins with ‘The Heist’ illustrated by Carlo Pagulayan, Jason Paz & Jana Schirmer from Dark Reign: New Nation wherein the newly appointed Emperor Woo has his team raid Fort Knox to “reclaim” billions in bullion with the simple intention of getting the attention of and proving their criminal credentials to Security Czar Osborn.

No one but Woo knew the former Goblin had planned to appropriate the gold himself to buy an illicit weapons system for his private use…

The full story commences in ‘First Contact’ as the Atlas agents step up the high profile pressure by stealing confiscated weapons from the ATF and forcing Osborn to deal with them personally – and by deal Woo means “collaborate”…

Even as the Security Supremo enters into an underworld alliance with Atlas, he’s looking to betray them, but Woo’s team are distracted by the politics of the evil empire they’ve secretly subverted when their long-term plans are threatened by the forced installation of a deputy leader who is still honestly dedicated to world domination.

The true power behind the globe-girdling organisation is an immortal, immensely powerful dragon named Lao, and so, with no other option, Woo’s crew cautiously welcome the Mandarin’s son Temugin to their inner circle, knowing that should he learn of their true goals the entire Atlas Empire will turn on them in a heartbeat…

Even whilst providing information and materiel to Osborn’s people the veteran heroes are uncovering more secrets about Atlas; such as how the organisation’s unique method of teleportation transport harks back to one of their most perplexing unsolved cases from 1958 in ‘The Sale/Dragon’s Corridor’ (with additional art by Gabriel Hardman, Elizabeth Dismang & Clayton Henry)…

‘Interlude at Sea’ further unravels the ancient avengers’ occluded history as Osborn at last bites and agrees to fill all his armament requirements through the Atlas Foundation’s weapon makers. However as the mutually suspicious partners meet in a ship offshore, the meeting is crashed by a certain Star Spangled Sentinel of Liberty, who has his own memories of working with Gorilla-Man during WWII and ‘Inside America’…

Woo’s subtle scheme to defang Osborn culminates in luring the Avengers (Captain America, Wolverine, Luke Cage, Ronin, Ms. Marvel and Spider-Man) into attacking Atlas’ weapons ship, capturing all the ordnance intended for the duplicitous top cop and hopefully exposing Osborn to public scrutiny whilst bolstering Woo’s own reputation as a major crime-lord. It worked too, but almost went completely awry when M-11, reacting to some long buried program, went berserk and inexplicably attacked the mutant Avenger…

The answer to the mystery came with the flashback feature ‘Wolverine: Agent of Atlas’ illustrated by Benton Jew & Dismang, which saw FBI operative Woo infiltrate Cuba in 1958 accompanied by the robot and Gorilla-Man only to encounter an alien invasion by parasitic mind-bending bugs. In stopping the infestation they were helped and hindered in equal measure by an implausible Canadian secret agent named Logan…

Next up here ‘The Resistance’ by Leonard Kirk, Karl Kesel & Michelle Madsen from Invasion: Who Do You Trust? revealed the key role played by the modern-day Agents of Atlas in repelling and overcoming the insidious occupation of the scurrilous shape-shifters who almost conquered our world…

Inter-dimensional realm-hopping and terrifying time-warping were the order of the day in the team-up tale from Giant-Size Marvel Adventures Avengers #1 (Leonard Kirk & Val Staples) wherein 40th century despot Kang attempted to destroy his greatest foes by altering history and having Woo, Venus, Marvel Boy, M-11, Namora and Gorilla-Man dig Captain America out of the ice in 1958, years before the Avengers were destined to rescue him.

In a desperate race against time itself Cap, Storm, Iron Man, Giant-Girl, Wolverine & Spider-Man had to work fast with the Atlas Agents’ contemporary selves before reality caught up with and overwrote them all in a rousing, light-hearted romp that ends this clever and enjoyable Fights ‘n’ Tights thriller on a delirious high note.

Augmenting the cunning Costumed Dramas area wealth of covers and variants by Kirk, Terry Pallot, Chris Sotomayor, Art Adams & Guru eFX, Greg Land & Justin Ponsor, Adi Granov, Stuart Immonen & John Rauch, Billy Tan & Frank D’Armata, Daniel Acuña, Phil Jimenez, Andy Lanning & Christina Strain as well as a host of pencil sketches and roughs by Ed McGuiness, giving art lovers a delicious bonus every bit as absorbing as the splendid comics story magic that preceded them.

© 2007, 2008, 2009 Marvel Characters Inc. All rights reserved.

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Avengers Academy: Arcade – Death Game


By Paul Tobin, Terry Kavanagh, Chris Claremont, David Baldeon, Chris Marrinan, Michael Nasser, Rich Buckler & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-5630-7

Whilst acting as America’s Chief of Metahuman Affairs Norman Osborn grotesquely abused his position. One of his various nefarious projects was locating and conditioning young ultra-empowered individuals with the intention of creating an army of lethal freaks utterly subservient to his will.

When the former Green Goblin was finally brought to book this most secret initiative was exposed and the kidnapped, psychologically warped, technologically abused kids were taken into safekeeping by The Avengers.

The traumatised and potentially lethal teens became their responsibility and the weary warriors decided to teach the surviving lab rats how to be heroes before they could fall into being monsters and villains…

Arcade, on the other hand, was a spoiled trust-fund brat who discovered a talent for invention and a psychotic passion for flamboyant assassination when his unfortunate father cut him off. The malignant patricide then turned his new hobby into an obsessive life-long game of death for profit…

Arcade – Death Game collects the story from Avengers Academy King Size #1 and also offers two earlier appearances of the mirthful Master of Mechanistic Mayhem from Spider-Man #25 and Marvel Team-Up volume 1 #89.

When Avengers-in-training Humberto Lopez AKA Reptil, Madeline “Veil” Berry, Jeanne Foucault, the polymath phenomenon dubbed Finesse, and human dynamo Striker – who much prefers his stage name and persona to being ordinary Brandon Sharpe – were given a rare day off. Temporarily freed from crushing classes, the kids are let loose in New York City but are quickly targeted by the baroque bad guy, desperate to reclaim his formerly fearsome reputation by killing a few superheroes. Always ambitious,Arcade has simultaneously set up to assassinate not only the proto-Avengers but also another squad of kid crusaders…

The Young Allies are Spider-Girl (Latina Anya Sofia Corazon, formerly arachnoid avenger Araña), super-strong Toro AKA bovine metamorph Benito Serrano and relative child-hero veteran Firestar.  This trio of unsupervised titanic teens also fall into Arcade’s Machiavellian clutches when the maniac unleashes a deceptively devilish division of robot duplicates to deliver the meta kids to his latest deadly theme-park of terror…

Happily the crazed contract killer had completely underestimated the intelligence of Reptil and sheer bloody determination of Spider-Girl, so it wasn’t long before all the junior heroes were loose and really, really peeved…

This fun and furious frolic from Paul Tobin, David Baldeon & Jordi Tarragona is then followed by ‘Why Me?’ (Spider-Man #25, August 1992) by Terry Kavanagh, Chris Marrinan & Chris Stegbauer: a rather slight interlude in which the Wondrous Wall-crawler scurries over to England to meet with old pal Captain Britain and gets suckered into a virtual reality war against mutant superteam Excalibur – all courtesy of the malevolently manipulative Arcade – who had once again bitten off far more than he could chew…

‘Shootout over Centre Ring’ by Chris Claremont, Michael Nasser, Rich Buckler & Josef Rubinstein is a far better tale, first seen in Marvel Team-Up #89 (January 1980) and revealing how the web-spinner and X-Man Nightcrawler were propelled into an acrobatic alliance after an unscrupulous Texan millionaire showman from the mutant’s circus past resurfaces with a plan to assassinate Spider-Man as a publicity stunt.

Amos Jardine had originally hired Arcade but later went with a lower bid from hitman Cutthroat, consequently discovering that the only thing the Grinning Gamesman hated more than costumed crusaders was a welcher…

Classic Fights ‘n’ Tights action and lots of bizarre laughs distinguish this engaging piece of all-action eye-candy, and this collection also includes a cover gallery by Ed McGuinness, Chris Samnee, Matthew Wilson, Mark Bagley, Al Milgrom, Buckler & Rubinstein, plus pencils, layouts and sketches by McGuinness, Samnee and Baldeon and a handy prose profile of the eponymous assassin himself…
© 1980, 1992, 2011 Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved.

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The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes volume 1


By Christopher Yost, Scott Wegener Patrick Scherberger & Sandu Florea (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-5619-2

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: proper old-fashioned action-adventure for every age of Fights ‘n’ Tights fan… 9/10

Since its earliest days Marvel has always courted the youngest comicbook audiences. Whether through animated movie or TV tie-ins such as Terrytoons Comics, Mighty Mouse, Super Rabbit Comics, Duckula, assorted Hanna-Barbera and Disney licenses and a myriad of others, or original creations such as Tessie the Typist, Millie the Model, Homer the Happy Ghost, Li’l Kids or even Calvin, the House of Ideas has always understood the necessity of cultivating the next generation of readers.

These days, however, accessible child-friendly titles are on the wane and with Marvel the publisher’s proprietary characters all over screens large and small, the company usually prefers to create adulterated versions of its own pantheon, making that eventual longed-for transition to more mature comics as painless as possible.

In 2003 the powers that be created a Marvel Age line which updated and retold classic original tales by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko and combined it with the remnants of its failed manga-based Tsunami imprint, which was also intended for a junior demographic. The experiment was tweaked in 2005, becoming Marvel Adventures with core titles transformed into Marvel Adventures: Fantastic Four and Marvel Adventures: Spider-Man with all-original yarns replacing the reconstituted classics. More titles followed, including Marvel Adventures: Super Heroes, Hulk and The Avengers and these all ran until 2010 when they were cancelled and supplanted by new volumes of Marvel Adventures: Super Heroes and Marvel Adventures: Spider-Man which carried on the newly-established continuities.

Never the success the company hoped, Marvel Adventures was superseded in 2012 by specific comics tied to Disney XD television shows, thereafter designated “Marvel Universe cartoons”, using the television shows to reinterpret key moments of the heroes’ stellar history whilst creating a new generation of readers to be hopefully funnelled into the increasingly archaic-seeming world of paper entertainments.

All the same, these tales are an intriguing and perhaps more culturally accessible means of introducing character and concepts to kids born sometimes two, three even four generations removed from those far-distant 1960s-originating events, and this initial volume of the barnstorming adventure ensemble Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes collects the contents of the first four issues from 2010, scripted by the parent cartoon’s chief writer Christopher Yost.

In short, terse, self-contained and immensely enjoyable romps aimed at kids of 10 and up (parents should note that some of the themes and certainly the level of violence contained in here might not be what everybody considers “All-Ages” action), the greatest champions of the Marvel Universe regularly assemble to save the world from every imaginable menace – and sometimes each other…

The wonderment begins with ‘Adaptation’, illustrated by Scott Wegener which sees freshly thawed WWII hero Captain America coming to terms with life in the 21st century by thrashing international mercenaries Batroc’s Brigade before he and Thor are summoned to aid the team against a bizarre android capable of mimicking their powers, abilities and skills. This is followed by a lower key yarn as Hawkeye and the Black Panther swallow their differences and learn to ‘Trust’ one another in battle against deadly demoness Whiplash in a short, sharp shocker limned by Patrick Scherberger.

The second issue opened with ‘Obsession’ (Wegener art) as Tony Stark‘s ongoing duel with Russian rival Ivan Vanko led to another cataclysmic clash between Iron Man and the deadly Crimson Dynamo. When the collateral damage drew in the rest of the Avengers the battle seemed all but over – until Russian super-team the Winter Guard stepped in claiming prior jurisdiction.

However, even as the dispute with Titanium Man, Ursa Major, Darkstar and Vanguard escalated into all-out war with the Westerners, Baron Zemo and the Masters of Evil were waiting in the wings to recruit Vanko to their vile ranks…

The back-up tale ‘Mutual Respect’ (Scherberger with Sandu Florea inks) featured an unlikely team-up between Ant-Man and the Hulk as the malevolent Mad Thinker apparently attempted to co-opt the Jade Juggernaut’s power, but as usual had actually schemes within schemes going on…

Bored Elders of the Universe the Grandmaster and the Collector visited Earth in ‘Savage’ (Wegener) planning to orchestrate a prize fight between Thor and the Hulk, and that titanic tussle of equals was offset by the brutal back-up ‘Courage’ (Scherberger) where flighty socialite the Wasp was forced to fight alone in arctic conditions to save a severely mauled Captain America from the lethal carnivorous Wendigo…

In ‘Team’ (Wegener with full page splash shots by Scherberger) the entire roster was on hand for a deadly full-length duel with the Masters of Evil and marauding giant robot Ultimo but even their incredible final victory was less trouble than satisfying the Wasp’s persistent demands for a suitable team photo…

This tasty treat also includes a wealth of covers, pin-ups, fact-packed character profiles of Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Hulk, Wasp, Ant-Man/Giant Man, Hawkeye, Black Panther, close associates and super-spies Nick Fury and the Black Widow and vile villains Baron Zemo, time Conqueror Kang, Baron Strucker, Asgardian god of evil Loki, Ultron, and Masters of Evil Enchantress, Crimson Dynamo and Abomination.

Even then there’s more such as technical gen on ‘Hawkeye’s Bag of Tricks’, the Thunder God’s mystic mallet ‘the Mighty Mjolnir’, Iron Man’s internal systems in ‘Breaking Down the Hud!’ and a quiz daring readers to deduce which villains’ terrible tools belong ‘In Evil Hands!’

Fast-paced and impressive, bright and breezy with lots of light-hearted action and loads of sly laughs, this book truly captures the zest and drive of both traditional comicbook and modern TV superhero shenanigans and will surely delight every unashamed fan of Costumed Dramas whatever their age or inclinations…
© 2010, 2011 Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved.

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AVX Versus


By Adam Kubert, Stuart Immonen, Steve McNiven, Ed McGuinness, Salvador Larroca, Terry & Rachel Dodson, Brandon Peterson, Kaare Andrews, Leinil Francis Yu, Tom Raney, Jim Cheung & various writers & artists (Marvel/Panini UK)
ISBN: 978-1-84653-519-2

Mass metahuman mega-mosh-ups – call ’em braided crossover events if you want – are an intrinsic part of comicbook publishing these days, and Marvel’s big thing of the moment acknowledges a few utterly basic home truths. Most saliently, fans seem to want to see extravagant hero-on-hero action and – almost as crucial – that the stories must look very pretty showing it.

Avengers Vs. X-Men employed the company’s most successful movie franchise stars in spectacular fashion as the World’s Mightiest Heroes – and Spider-Man – strove against the misunderstood mutant outcasts for control of young Hope Summers; a girl destined to become the mortal host of an implacable force of cosmic destruction and creation known as The Phoenix. The tale involved incessant turmoil, sacrifice and death, and the conquest, reshaping and – almost – the destruction of humanity before a relatively stable status quo was tenuously restored.

It also featured a blistering array of dynamic duels between a host of fan-favourite characters, and Marvel cannily produced a bombastic and winningly tongue-in-cheek subsidiary 6-issue miniseries which isolated and spotlighted those cataclysmic combats, all safely removed from the tedious task of progressing the overarching storyline…

This admittedly delicious dose of sheer, visually visceral escapism superbly caters to the big kid in all of us comics fans, giving us just what we truly want: men in tights and buxom women in very little attempting to bash each others’ brains in for the most specious of motives…

Divided into a series of Matches taken as snapshots from the ongoing epic and even boldly declaring a winner to – most of – the bouts (I’m not crass enough to spoil the fun by revealing who won any of these tussles – just buy the book… it’s great fun), the furious fireworks begin with ‘Magneto, Master of Magnetism vs. The Invincible Iron Man’ by scripter Jason Aaron and illustrator Adam Kubert…

Match 2 features ‘The Thing vs. Namor the Sub-Mariner’ by Kathryn & Stuart Immonen with Wade von Grawbadger, whilst Steve McNiven & John Dell raucously reveal the outcome of ‘Captain America vs. Gambit’ before the 4th duel depicts a seemingly mismatched travesty with ‘The Amazing Spider-Man vs. Colossus’ by Kieron Gillen & Salvador Larroca.

Ben Grimm returns as ‘The Thing vs. Colossus’ (by Jeph Loeb, Ed McGuinness & Dexter Vines) tears up the Blue Area of the Moon and Match 6 features another bout of moon madness as rival Russians rumble in ‘Black Widow vs. Magik’ by Christopher Yost and art-team supreme Terry & Rachel Dodson.

Martial arts mayhem ensues in Match 7 as ‘Daredevil vs. Psylocke’ by Rick Remender & Brandon Peterson adds a darkly human scale to the proceedings before it’s back to peril of godlike proportions when ‘The Mighty Thor vs. Emma Frost’ (by Kaare Andrews) literally shakes the Earth. Match 9 from Matt Fraction, Leinil Francis Yu & Gerardo Alanguilan features a nasty, dirty grudge fight in ‘Hawkeye vs. Angel’ and emotions spiral completely out of control in ‘Storm vs. Black Panther’ (Aaron & Tom Raney) as the married couple work out their domestic problems in eye-popping combat.

The key clash of the parent series and this sidebar excursion occurs when the planet’s twin saviours spectacularly butt heads in ‘Scarlet Witch vs. Hope’ by Gillen, Jim Cheung, Mark Morales & Mark Roslan, after which the remainder of the book is taken up with lighter moments and outright comedy capers beginning with the insanely cool ‘Verbal Abuse’ by Brian Michael Bendis & Jim Mahfood.

The hilarity continues with ‘Science Battle!’ by the Immonens, ‘Captain America vs. Havok’ by Mike Deodato Jr. & Adam Kubert, the insanely manic ‘Red Hulk vs. Domino’ by McGuinness, a duel of devoted domestics in ‘Toad vs. Jarvis’ by Christopher Hastings & Jacob Chabot, the wickedly lascivious daydream ‘Spider-Woman vs. X-Women (kinda)’ by Loeb & Art Adams, the eccentric ‘Iron Fist vs. Iceman’ by Aaron & Ramón Pérez, and it all ends with a resumption of the appropriate perspective in the gloriously silly ‘How We Roll’ from Dan Slott & Katie Cook…

The covers and variants gallery collects the stunning artistic efforts of Kubert, Immonen, Javier Pulido, McNiven, Terry Dodson, Andrews, Raney and others and, although this fast, funny and furious collection doesn’t boast any of the App-augmentations of the core series (if you are experiencing web-based withdrawal you can always resort to the digital sidebar episodes available on Marvel’s Avengers vs. X-Men: Infinite website), the sheer rollercoaster riot of exuberant energetic comicbook action will indubitably delight and enthral any fan of Fights ‘n’ Tights fiction.

Magnificently simplistic, this adventure extravaganza also packs the prerequisite punch to stun and beguile comics-continuity veterans and film-fed fanboys alike.
™ & © 2012 Marvel and subs. Licensed by Marvel Characters B.V. through Panini S.p.A,Italy. All Rights Reserved. A British edition published by Panini UK, Ltd.

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Avengers versus X-Men


By Jason Aaron, Brian Michael Bendis, Ed Brubaker, Matt Fraction, Jonathan Hickman, John Romita Jr., Olivier Coipel, Adam Kubert, Frank Cho & various (Marvel/Panini UK)
ISBN: 978-1-84653-518-5

The mainstream comics industry is now irretrievably wedded to blockbuster continuity-sharing mega-crossover events and rashly doling them out like epi-pens to Snickers addicts with peanut allergies.

At least these days, however, if we have to endure a constant cosmic Sturm and extra-dimensional Drang, the publishers take great pains to ensure that the resulting comics chaos is suitably engrossing and always superbly illustrated…

Marvel’s big thing of the moment is the extended clash between mega-franchises Avengers and X-Men, which began in Avengers: X Sanction when time-lost mutant Cable attempted to pre-emptively murder a select roster of the World’s Greatest Heroes to prevent a cosmic tragedy.

Hope Spalding-Summers was the first mutant born on Earth after the temporarily insane Avenger Scarlet Witch used her reality-warping powers to eradicate almost all the mutants in existence. Considered a mutant messiah, Hope was raised in the future before inevitably finding her way back to the present where she was adopted by X-Men supremo Scott Summers AKA Cyclops.

Innumerable signs and portents have always indicated that she was a reincarnated receptacle for the devastating cosmic entity dubbed The Phoenix…

This mammoth collection gathers the core 12-issue fortnightly miniseries from April to October 2012 which saw humanity and Homo Superior go to war to possess the celestial chosen one, and also includes the prequel Avengers vs. X-Men #0 which laid the plot groundwork for the whole blockbusting Brouhaha.

Moreover this up-to-the minute epic also incorporates 21st century extras for all those tech-savvy consumers with added value in mind. Many pages contained herein are marked by an AR icon (Marvel Augmented Reality App) which gives access to all sorts of extras once you download the little dickens – for free – from marvel.com onto your iPhone or Android-enabled device.

The entire tale is also supported by digital sidebar episodes available on Marvel’s Avengers vs. X-Men: Infinite website.

…Or like me you could simply concentrate on and revel in the staggeringly spectacular, plot-light but stunningly rendered old-fashioned, earth-shattering punch-up barely contained in this titanic tome…

Necessarily preceded by a double-page scorecard of the 78(!) major players, the story begins with a pair of Prologues (by Brian Michael Bendis, Jason Aaron & Frank Cho) as a now-sane and desperately repentant Scarlet Witch Wanda Maximoff tries to make amends and restore links with the Avengers she betrayed and attacked. However, even after defeating an attack by manic mutate MODOK and an personal invitation from Ms. Marvel to come back, the penitent mutant is sent packing by her ex-husband The Vision and the other male heroes she manipulated.

Meanwhile in Utopia, the West Coast island fortress that houses the last 200 mutants on Earth, an increasingly driven Cyclops is administering brutally tough love to adopted daughter Hope. The young woman is determined to defy her inescapable destiny as eventual host for the omnipotent Phoenix force on some far future day and is regularly moonlighting as a superhero. Sadly she’s well out of her depth when she tackles the sinister Serpent Society and Daddy humiliatingly comes to her rescue.

…And in the depths of space the ghastly firebird of life and death comes ever closer to Earth…

In the first chapter (by Bendis, John Romita Jr. & Scott Hanna) the catastrophically powerful force of destruction and rebirth nears our world and the perfect mortal host it hungers for and needs to guide it, frantically preceded by desperate hero-harbinger of doom Nova, who almost dies to deliver a warning of its proximity and intent. Soon the Avengers and government are laying plans, whilst in Utopia Scott Summers is pushing Hope harder than ever. If thePhoenix cannot be escaped from or avoided, perhaps he can make his daughter strong enough not to be overwhelmed by its promise of infinite power…

At the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning ex X-Man and current Avenger Wolverine is approached by Captain America and regretfully leaves his position as teacher to once again battle a force that cannot be imagined…

With even his fellow mutants questioning his tactics and brutal pushing of Hope, Cyclops meets CaptainAmericafor a parley. On behalf of the world, the Sentinel of Liberty wants to take Hope into protective custody but the mutant leader, distrustful of human bigotry and past duplicity, reacts violently to the far-from-diplomatic overtures…

Jason Aaron scripts the second instalment as frayed tempers lead to an all-out battle on the shores of Utopia, and personal grudges fuel the brutal conflict. As the metahuman war rages, Wolverine and Spider-Man surreptitiously go after the hidden Hope, but even far off in space the Phoenix force has infected her and she blasts them…

Meanwhile in the extra-solar void Thor, Vision, War Machine and a select team of secret Avengers confront the mindlessly onrushing energy construct…

Chapter 3 is scripted by Ed Brubaker and begins with the recovering Wolverine and Wallcrawler considering how to catch the missing hyper-powerful Hope with both the Avengers and recently departed X-Men chasing her. When the feral mutant clashes over tactics with Captain America, the resulting fight further divides the Avengers’ forces whilst in episode 4 – authored by Jonathan Hickman – as the easily defeated space defenders limp back to Earth, Hope and Wolverine meet at the bottom of the world and devise their own plans fore her future…

All over the planet heroes are hunting the unhappy chosen one, and the clashes between mutants and superhumans are steadily intensifying in ferocity, but the fugitive pair soon evade all pursuit by stealing a rocket and heading to the ancient Blue Area of the Moon where revered mutant Jean Grey first died to save the universe from the Phoenix.

When the former Marvel Girl was first possessed by the fiery force she became a hero of infinite puissance and a cataclysmic champion of Life, but eventually the power corrupted her and she devolved into Dark Phoenix: a wanton god of planet-killing appetites…

As an act of valiant contrition, Jean permitted the X-Men to kill her before her rapacious need completely consumed her in the oxygen-rich ancient city on the lunar surface (of course that’s just the tip of an outrageously long and overly-complicated iceberg not germane or necessary to us here: just search-engine the tale afterwards, ok?), but when Hope finally reaches the spot of her predecessor’s sacrifice she finds that she’s been betrayed and that the Avengers are waiting… and so are mutants Cyclops, Emma Frost, Colossus, Magik and Namor the Sub-Mariner. With battle set to begin again, the battered body of Thor crashes into the lunar dust and the sky is lit by the blazing arrival of the Phoenix avatar…

Matt Fraction scripts the 5th chapter as the appalling firebird attempts to possess Hope, who then realises she has completely overestimated her ability to handle the force, even as Avengers and X-Men again come to blistering blows.

Some distance away super-scientists Tony Stark and Henry Pym deploy their last-ditch anti-Phoenix invention but it doesn’t work as planned… When the furious light finally dies down, the infernal energy has possessed not Hope but the five elder mutants who turn their blazing eyes towards Earth and begin to plan how best to remake it…

Olivier Coipel & Mark Morales begin their stint as illustrators with the 6th, Hickman-scripted instalment, as ten days later old comrades Magneto and Charles Xavier meet to discuss the paradise Earth has become – especially for mutants. Violence, disease, hunger and want are gone but Cyclops, Emma, Sub-Mariner, Magic and Colossus are distant, aloof saviours at best and the power they share incessantly demands to be used more and more and more…

Myriad dimensions away in the mystical city of K’un L’un, kung fu overlord Lei Kung is warned that an ancient disaster is repeating itself on Earth and dispatches the city’s greatest hero Iron Fist to avert overwhelming disaster, even as fearful humanity is advised that their old bad ways will no longer be allowed to despoil the world. Naturally the decree of a draconian “Pax Utopia” does not sit well with humanity, and soon the Avengers are again at war with the last few hundreds of mutantkind. This time however the advantage is overwhelmingly with the underdogs and their five godlike leaders…

A last ditch raid to snatch Hope from Utopia goes catastrophically wrong until the long-reviled Scarlet Witch intervenes and rescues the Avengers and Hope.

Astounded to realise that Wanda’s probability-altering gifts can harm them, the Phoenix Five declare all-out, total war on the human heroes…

In the 7th, Fraction-scripted, chapter the Avengers are hunted down all over the planet and the individual personalities of the possessed X-Men begin to clash with each other. As Iron Fist, Lei Kung and Stark seek a marriage of spiritual and technological disciplines, the Sub-Mariner defies the Phoenix consensus to attack the African nation of Wakanda…

Adam Kubert & John Dell took over the art from issue #8 with Bendis’ script revealing how an army of Avengers and the power of Wanda and Xavier turned the tide of battle, but not before a nation died…

Moreover, with Namor beaten, his portion of Phoenix-power passed on to the remaining four, inspiring hungry notions of sole control amongst the possessed…

In #9 (by Aaron, Kubert & Dell) as the hunt for heroes continues on Earth, in K’un L’un Hope is being trained in martial arts discipline by the city’s immortal master, and in sheer guts and humanity by Spider-Man, and when Thor is captured the Avengers stage an all-out assault and by some miracle defeat both Magik and Colossus. Tragically that only makes Cyclops stronger still and he comes looking for his wayward daughter…

Brubaker writes the 10th chapter as Cyclops invades K’un L’un with horrific consequences whilst on Earth Emma Frost succumbs to the worst aspects of her nature and begins to enslave friend and foe with her half of the infinitePhoenix force. At the same time CaptainAmerica and Xavier are laying plans for one last “Hail Mary” assault…

And in the mystic city Hope finally comes into her power and incredibly blasts Cyclops out the other reality and back to the moon where the tragedy began…

Bendis, Coipel & Morales created the penultimate instalment as the rapacious destructive hunger of the Phoenix causes Cyclops to battle Emma, even as the unifying figure of Xavier draws X-Men and Avengers to unite against the true threat, as with issue #12 (Aaron, Kubert & Dell) Cyclops finally descends into the same hell as his beloved, long-lost Jean by becoming the seemingly unstoppable and insatiable Dark Phoenix with only the assembled heroes and the resigned Hope prepared to stop him from consuming the Earth…

The series generated a host of variant covers (I lost count at 87) by Cho, Jason Keith, Jim Cheung, Laura Martin, Stephanie Hans, Romita Jr., Ryan Stegman, Carlo Barberi, Olivier Coipel, Morales, Skott Young, Arthur Adams, Nick Bradshaw, Carlo Pagulayan, Sara Pichelli, J. Scott Campbell, Jerome Opeña, Mark Bagley, Dale Keown, Esad Ribic, Adam Kubert, Alan Davis, Humberto Ramos, Leinil Francis Yu, Adi Granov and Billy Tan which will undoubtedly delight and astound the artistically adroit amongst you…

Fast, furious and utterly absorbing – if short on plot – this summer blockbuster is an extreme Fights ‘n’ Tights extravaganza that certainly delivers a mighty punch without any real necessity to study beforehand that comics-continuity veterans and film-fed fanboys alike will relish.
™ & © 2012 Marvel and subs. Licensed by Marvel Characters B.V. through Panini S.p.A,Italy. All Rights Reserved. A British edition published by Panini UK, Ltd.

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Amazing Spider-Man: Big Time


By Dan Slott, Humberto Ramos, Neil Edwards, Stefano Caselli & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-4624-7

For a popular character/concept lumbered with a fifty-year pedigree which only really works when the hero is played as a teenaged outsider, radical reboots are a painful if annoying periodic necessity. When the Spider-Man continuity was drastically dialled-back and controversially revised for the ‘Brand New Day’ publishing event, a refreshed, rejuvenated single (and never-been-married to Mary Jane) Peter Parker was parachuted into a similar yet different whole new life, so if this is your first Web-spinning yarn in a while – or you’ve drawn your cues from the movies – be prepared for a little confusion…

What is still valid: outcast, geeky school kid Parker was bitten by a radioactive spider and, after seeking to cash-in on the astonishing abilities he developed, suffered an irreconcilable personal tragedy. His beloved guardian Uncle Ben was murdered and the traumatised boy determined henceforward to always use his powers to help those in dire need.

For years the brilliant boy hero suffered private privation and travail in his domestic situation, whilst his heroic alter ego endured public condemnation and mistrust as he valiantly battled all manner of threat and foe…

Now, all that changes in an instant as Big Time finds the Original Hard Luck Hero finally reaping some of benefits of his unique gifts and lonely crusade…

Collecting Amazing Spider-Man #648-651 (January – March 2011) this enchanting thriller opens with the Webslinger revelling in new-found glory and the benefits of back-up as the newest addition to the Mighty Avengers leads the team into battle against the incorrigible Dr. Octopus in the eponymous first chapter ‘Big Time’. This acceptance among the superhero set hasn’t affected New York City Mayor J. Jonah Jameson who is still on his fanatical anti-Spider-Man crusade, but the former publisher is blithely unaware that he too is the obsessive target of a deadly menace stalking him and his family…

Spidey has more pressing problems: his new girlfriend is Police CSI Officer Carlie Cooper, but old flame and barely-reformed super-thief Felicia Hardy – AKA the svelte and sexy Black Cat – continues to flirtatiously hang around raising suspicions and temperatures…

As the city burns Doc Ock’s new Sinister Six – Electro, Sandman, Chameleon, Mysterio and The Rhino – continue carrying out their tentacled tyrant’s latest doomsday plan until the Wall-crawler outperforms both his own team-mates and the fabled Fantastic Four to foil the explosive plot in the last seconds…

At the new Daily Bugle, reporter Ben Urich has got his nephew Phil a job as an office boy, unaware that the disbarred young photo-journalist once fought crime with a suit of Green Goblin armour and bag of tricks he’d found in an old warehouse owned by Norman Osborn. The poor kid isn’t happy and is beginning to resent his fall from grace after being caught doctoring some pictures he’d sold…

Peter Parker’s life is still a mess. Spending all his time saving the world has resulted in his being eviction after forgetting to pay the rent and this time he’s run out of friends to crash with…

However things are about to change radically after Pete’s Aunt May – newly married to Jameson’s wealthy father – show Jonah’s wife Marla the boy’s old High School science awards and scrap book. Marla is a very influential researcher and knows someone who might give Peter a job…

Soon young Parker is being interviewed by super-cool Max Modell – “the Johnny Depp of Einsteins” and owner of private think tank Horizon Labs – unaware that as part of Jameson’s extended family he too is being hunted by the Mayor’s latest nemesis…

The interview is a lucky disaster. When one of Modell’s scientific wonder-kids loses control of an experiment involving deadly new element “Reverbium”, Peter’s quick thinking saves the day and he’s offered a spot in the company’s exclusive team of geniuses. Soon the stunned lad has his own lab, an open brief to invent cool new stuff and a monthly salary that bigger than all his previous paychecks combined…

…And across town Wilson Fisk and his executive office Montana interview the murderous Hobgoblin for the position of enforcer. The Kingpin of Crime has been informed of Reverbium’s existence and he will stop at nothing to possess the potentially unstoppable new weaponised element…

In ‘Kill to Be You’, the recent bloody history of Hobgoblin Roderick Kingsley is revealed before the super-assassin discovers Phil Urich skulking in his hidden warehouse lair. Callously moving in for the kill, the mercenary is completely unprepared for the kid’s long-hidden super-power and is mercilessly slaughtered by the traumatised youth who, succumbing to the Osborn/Goblin “curse”, then appropriates his gadgets and guise to become the new and utterly psychopathic Hobgoblin…

As Spidey and Black Cat continue their strictly crime-busting affair, at high security Federal prison The Raft former foe the Scorpion is finally separated from the alien Symbiote which had turned him into the latest incarnation of Venom, but the process has caused a massive collapse. If warder Mach 5 and Doctors Coleman and Nichols can’t find a solution soon, inmate Mac Gargan is surely doomed…

Back at Horizon Labs, Peter hasn’t even been introduced to his six super-smart colleagues before the newest Hobgoblin busts in determined to fulfil his predecessor’s mission. However when Spider-Man overconfidently tackles the intruder, Urich’s irresistible sonic super-power quickly has the wall-crawler on the ropes and inches from death…

The third chapter (inked by Scott Hanna, Joseph Damon & Victor Olazaba) finds the hero ignominiously saved by fellow geeky brain-box Bella Fishbach who manages to drive the exultant Hobgoblin off, but not before the manic marauder snatches up the deadly Reverbium sample and delivers it to the Kingpin. Determined to retrieve the stolen sample Peter calls on the Black Cat, but also takes the time – and Horizon’s resources – to whip up a new high-tech stealth-mode Spidey-suit…

The blistering all-action finale (with inks from Cuevas & Damon) commences with a raid on the Kingpin’s skyscraper HQ, but even after beating an army of thugs and ninjas, Montana and Hobgoblin, Spider-Man and the Cat are unprepared for the ferocious physical might of the crime-lord and only the devastating escape of the catastrophically unstable Reverbium saves them from certain death – although it also allows Urich and Fisk to escape…

This magnificent slice of Fights ‘n’ Tights fantasy also includes two short back-ups from issues #650 and 651 which act as pulse-pounding prologues for the next collected edition as ‘The Final Lesson’ (written by Slott with art from Neil Edwards & Hanna) finds genetics expert Professor Eli Folsom attempting to cure the ailing Mac Gargan. However it’s all a cunning plot by mad scientist Alistair Smythe to kidnap the former Scorpion, one that super guard Mach 5 is helpless to stop. The triumphant Spider-Slayer is then revealed as the menace stalking the Jameson clan as he further warps, augments and mutates Gargan in ‘The Sting that Never Goes Away’ (Slott, Stefan Caselli & Edgar Delgado) in preparation to unleashing an Army of Insect Warriors as part of his final ‘Revenge of the Spider-Slayer’.

To Be Continued…

With a cover gallery including variants by Ramos & Delgado, Mark Brooks, Caselli, and Marcos Martin, plus promotional art and pages of Ramos design sketches, this is a joyously light yet bombastic rollercoaster ride for fans but also works well as a jumping-on point for readers new or returning.
© 2010, 2011 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Dark Avengers volume 1: Assemble


By Brian Michael Bendis, Mike Deodato, Will Conrad & Rain Beredo (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-3852-5

One of the most momentous events in Marvel Comics history occurred in 1963 when a disparate array of freshly minted individual heroes banded together to stop the Incredible Hulk. The Mighty Avengers combined most of the company’s fledgling superhero line in one bright, shiny and highly commercial package, and over the years the roster has waxed and waned until almost every character in their universe – and even some from others – has at some time numbered amongst their serried ranks.

In recent times when the draconian Federal initiative known as Superhuman Registration Act led to Civil War between costumed heroes, Tony Stark AKA Iron Man was appointed the American government’s Security Czar – the “top cop” in sole charge of a beleaguered nation’s defence and freedom: Director of high-tech enforcement agency S.H.I.E.L.D. and last word in all matters involving metahumans and the USA’s vast costumed community…

Stark’s mismanagement of various crises led to the arrest and assassination of Captain America and an unimaginable escalation of global tension and destruction, culminating in an almost-successful Secret Invasion by shape-shifting alien Skrulls.

Discredited and ostracised, Stark was replaced by rehabilitated villain and recovering split-personality Norman Osborn (the original Green Goblin), who assumed full control of the USA’s covert agencies and military resources, disbanded S.H.I.E.L.D. and placed the nation under the aegis of his new umbrella organisation H.A.M.M.E.R.

The erstwhile Spider-Man villain had begun his climb back to respectability after taking charge of the Government’s Thunderbolts Project; a penal program which offered a second chance to metahuman criminals who volunteered to perform Federally-sanctioned missions…

Not content with commanding legitimate political and personal power, Osborn also secretly conspired with a coalition of major menacing masterminds to divvy up the world between them. The Cabal was a Star Chamber of super-villains all working towards a mutually beneficial goal, but such egomaniacal personalities could never play well together and cracks soon began to show, both in the criminal conspiracy and Osborn himself.

As another strand of his long-term plan the Homeland Security overlord subsequently sacked the Avengers and formed his own, more manageable team…

Collecting the first six issues of the controversial Dark Avengers title by Brian Michael Bendis, Mike Deodato & colourist Rain Beredo (from March-September 2009), this beguiling, suspenseful chronicle commences a slow-building saga as part of the “Dark Reign” company-wide crossover event intended to reset the entire Marvel Universe…

The drama opens in 690AD as time-bending sorceress Morgana Le Fay spies on a coterie of 21st century masters of menace comprising Doctor Doom, Asgardian God Loki, gang-boss The Hood, mutant Emma Frost, ambivalent anti-hero the Sub-Mariner and the ostensibly reformed media darling Osborn…

Constantly courting public opinion the former Green Goblin launched his Avengers whilst building up a new, personally loyal high-tech paramilitary rapid-response force. Moreover, seemingly to keep himself honest, Osborn then hired ex-S.H.I.E.L.D. hardliner Victoria Hand as his Deputy Director, tasked with watching the recovering madman for any signs of regression into criminal insanity…

His second-in-command was also occupied with the day-to-day running of the organisation – giving Osborn time to convince Greek War-God Ares, mentally troubled golden superman Sentry and altruistic, dimensionally displaced alien Noh-Var – now dubbed Captain Marvel – to enlist on his team.

Unable to any recruit any other established champions, the master planner then offered devious deals to criminal psycho-killers Bullseye, Moonstone, Venom and Wolverine‘s deeply disturbed son Daken Akihiro to impersonate actual heroes Hawkeye, Ms. Marvel, Spider-Man and the irascible mutant X-Man.

It still wasn’t enough for the cunning control freak. The answer finally came when he found a huge cache of Stark-built Iron Man suits. With a little judicious tinkering Osborn soon had his own super-armour, retooled and finished to invoke impressions of both Captain America and the Golden ex-Avenger. Now, as the Iron Patriot he could personally lead his hand-picked team from the front as a true hero should…

The first mission was nothing to boast of however as a H.A.M.M.E.R. diplomatic team escorted Dr. Doom back to his devastated homeland of Latveria, ravaged by a S.H.I.E.L.D. punitive mission in retaliation for the Dictator’s numerous outrages. No sooner had the escorts arrived though than Le Fay attacked, eager to kill Doom for a thousand slights and his previous treatment of her…

The second, flashback-filled issue fills in some blanks in the mystic rivals’ shared history as the Sinister Sorceress unleashes her horde of horrors against Doom and the American Agents, precipitating a deadly response from the Iron Patriot and his private army…

Soon the ersatz Avengers are knee-deep in gore as they mercilessly destroy the witch’s minions and when the unstoppable Sentry tears off Morgana’s head it seems their first mission is a complete success.

However Le Fay is the Mistress of Time and simply returns with a greater force, killing Sentry in her determination to kill Doom – until another Avenger brutally ends her only to be her first target on her next appearance. The pattern just keeps repeating and soon Iron Patriot is almost out of Avengers…

The third issue opens with more flashbacks as Osborn uses psychological warfare to bind the emotionally damaged Bob Reynolds to him. The too-good-to-be-true, nigh-omnipotent nice-guy metahuman is secretly afflicted with an alternate personality dubbed The Void and only a slavish, puppy-like devotion to childhood sweetheart-and-wife Lindy enables Sentry to resist the horrendous dark urgings of his other self…

Osborn has convinced the golden hero that his deadly split-personality is a fiction that can be fought – but they’re both quite wrong…

Back at the battle Doom and Osborn combine technological resources to take the fight back to Le Fay in the far past and undo most of her victories, even restoring Latveria to a measure of its former self. Only Sentry cannot be resurrected and the grim Americans head home pondering the early loss of their most powerful member. When they reachNew Yorkhowever Sentry is waiting for them and with horror Osborn realises that it’s not Bob Reynolds in charge of that tousled golden head…

Episode #4 changed tack by confronting a big issue head on. A crisis had occurred when the true Hawkeye attempted to expose his Avenger duplicate as a sham and Osborn quickly manufactured a televised confession which brilliantly turned the tables on his accuser by pushing all the viewers’ buttons. Now the reformed Goblin was merely a decent American patriot recovering from mental illness, thanks to the grace of God, and anyone who said otherwise a sick, ungrateful, godless traitor…

The former villain is on an unbeatable roll: after all didn’t he also talk down the Void and re-establish Bob as dominant personality in the composite meta-human time bomb of the reborn Sentry? Yet Osborn still isn’t as secure as he thinks: cracks begin to appear when the counterfeit Ms. Marvel begins her campaign to seduce and control her Avenger comrades. Without even knowing why she needs to undermine the team’s cohesion and challenge Osborn’s authority, the rogue former psychiatrist beds naive Noh-Var and lets slip to the innocent alien dupe the kind of people his fellow “heroes” truly are…

This first collection spirals to spectacular climax when a rebel band of Atlanteans attackLos Angelesand Osborn’s demand for a show of retaliatory force provokes a split in the Cabal. Unsatisfied when the Sub-Mariner quits the league of villains, the increasingly unstable Security Czar then sends his puppet Sentry into the depths of the ocean to deliver a very clear reprimand – one which leaves only one Atlantean alive…

And as Osborn discovers that his Captain Marvel has gone AWOL the manic, chaos-loving goblin voice inside the head ofAmerica’s Top Cop begins to laugh exultantly…

To Be Continued…

Certainly not one for younger fans, this is another striking saga from author Bendis, packed with intrigue, suspense and breathtaking action, magnificently illustrated and supplemented by a glorious cover gallery and variants by Deodato & Beredo, Marko Djurdjevic, Adi Granov, Mike Choi, Daniel Acuña, Stefano Caselli, Khoi Pham & Rafa Sandoval.

Experimenting boldly with narrative sequencing and contrasting time frames, flipping back and forth across a number of story-threads and superbly building tension through misinformation, Dark Avengers: Assemble is mired in the minutiae of Marvel Universe history, so whilst this offers a moodily different take on Fights ‘n’ Tights thrillers that will impress devotees of the genre and continuity, newer readers need to be prepared to put up with a little contextual confusion. Nevertheless, although the tale might be all but incomprehensible to casual readers, this clever display of comics creativity illustrates the mature extremes to which “straight” superhero stories can be pushed.
© 2009 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved.