{"id":29101,"date":"2023-12-18T09:00:26","date_gmt":"2023-12-18T09:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=29101"},"modified":"2023-12-17T17:29:51","modified_gmt":"2023-12-17T17:29:51","slug":"avengers-omnibus-volume-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2023\/12\/18\/avengers-omnibus-volume-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Avengers Omnibus volume 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\" \"\"
\nBy Stan Lee & Jack Kirby<\/strong>, Larry Lieber<\/strong>, Paul Laiken<\/strong>, Larry Ivie<\/strong>, Don Heck<\/strong>, Dick Ayers<\/strong>, Paul Reinman<\/strong>, George Roussos<\/strong>, Chic Stone<\/strong>, Mike Esposito, Wally Wood<\/strong>, John Romita, Frank Giacoia, Sam Rosen<\/strong>, Art <\/strong>Simek<\/strong>, Morrie Kuramoto<\/strong> & various (MARVEL)
\nISBN: 978-0-7851-5846-2 (HB\/Digital edition)<\/p>\n

Win\u2019s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Ironclad Guarantee of Total Wonder\u2026 10\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n

Probably Marvel\u2019s biggest global franchise success, <\/em>The Avengers<\/strong> celebrated their 60th anniversary in September 2023, so let\u2019s close that Birthday Year with acknowledgement of that landmark event and one more grand adventure\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

After a period of meteoric expansion, in 1963 the burgeoning Marvel Universe was finally ready to emulate the successful DC concept that had cemented the legitimacy of the Silver Age of American comics. The concept of putting a bunch of all-star eggs in one basket which had made the Justice League of America <\/strong>such a winner also inspired the moribund Atlas outfit – primarily Stan Lee, Jack Kirby & Steve Ditko – into inventing \u201csuper-characters\u201d of their own. The result – in 1961 – was The <\/strong>Fantastic Four<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Over 18 months later, the fledgling House of Ideas generated a small but viable stable of costumed leading men (but only sidekick women) so Lee & Kirby assembled a handful of them and moulded them into a force for justice and soaring sales. Seldom has it ever been done with such style and sheer exuberance. Cover dated September 1963, The Avengers<\/strong> #1 launched as part of an expansion package which also included Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos <\/strong>and The X-Men<\/strong>\u2026<\/p>\n

Faithfully compiling the groundbreaking tales from #1-30 of The Avengers<\/strong> (spanning March 1963 to September 196???) and including contemporary pin-ups, letters pages and other hidden delights as well as trio of Stan Lee Introductions<\/em> from earlier Marvel masterworks collections, the suspenseful action kicks off with \u2018The Coming of the Avengers!\u2019<\/em> Instead of starting at a neutral beginning Stan & Jack (and inker Dick Ayers) assumed buyers had at least a passing familiarity with Marvel\u2019s other heroes and so wasted no time or space on introductions.<\/p>\n

In Asgard, immortal trickster Loki <\/em>is imprisoned on a dank isle, hungry for vengeance on his noble half-brother Thor<\/strong>. Whilst malevolently observing Earth, the malign god espies the monstrous, misunderstood Hulk<\/strong> and mystically engineers a situation wherein the man-brute seemingly goes on a rampage, simply to trick the Thunder God into battling the monster.<\/p>\n

When the Hulk\u2019s teen sidekick Rick Jones <\/em>radios the FF <\/strong>for assistance, devious Loki scrambles and diverts the transmission and smugly awaits the blossoming of his mischief. Sadly for the schemer, Iron Man<\/strong>, Ant-Man <\/strong>and The Wasp als<\/strong>o pick up the redirected SOS. As the heroes all converge in the American Southwest to search for the Jade Giant, they realise that something is oddly amiss\u2026<\/p>\n

This terse, epic, compelling and wide-ranging yarn (New York, New Mexico, Detroit and Asgard in 22 pages) is Lee & Kirby at their bombastic best, and remains one of the greatest stories of the Silver Age (it\u2019s certainly high in my own top ten Marvel Tales) and is followed by \u2018The Space Phantom\u2019 <\/em>(Lee, Kirby & Paul Reinman), wherein an alien shape-stealer almost destroys the team from within.<\/p>\n

With latent animosities exposed by the malignant masquerader, the tale ends with the volatile Hulk quitting the team in disgust, only to return in #3 as an outright villain in partnership with \u2018Sub-Mariner!\u2019 <\/em>This globe-trotting romp delivers high-energy thrills and one of the best battle scenes in comics history as the assorted titans clash in abandoned World War II tunnels beneath the Rock of Gibraltar.<\/p>\n

Inked by George Roussos, Avengers<\/strong> #4 was a groundbreaking landmark as Marvel\u2019s greatest Golden Age sensation returns for another increasingly war-torn era. \u2018Captain America joins the Avengers!\u2019<\/em> has everything that made the company\u2019s early tales so fresh and vital. The majesty of a legendary warrior returned in our time of greatest need: stark tragedy in the loss of his boon companion Bucky<\/em>, aliens, gangsters, Sub-Mariner and even subtle social commentary and – naturally – vast amounts of staggering Kirby Action. It even begins with a cunning infomercial as Iron Man unsuccessfully requests the assistance of the company\u2019s other fresh young stars, giving readers a taste of the other mighty Marvels on offer to them.<\/p>\n

Reinman returned to ink \u2018The Invasion of the Lava Men!\u2019<\/em>: another staggering adventure romp as the team battle incendiary subterraneans and a world-threatening mutating mountain\u2026 with the unwilling assistance of the ever-incredible Hulk. That issue also started a conversion with fans as letters column \u2018All About The\u2026 Avengers\u2019<\/em> began\u2026<\/p>\n

However, even that pales before the supreme shift in artistic quality that is Avengers<\/strong> #6.<\/p>\n

Chic Stone – arguably Kirby\u2019s best Marvel inker of the period – joined the creative team just as a classic arch-foe debuts. \u2018The Masters of Evil!\u2019<\/em> reveals how Nazi super-scientist Baron Zemo <\/em>is forced by his own arrogance and paranoia to emerge from the South American jungles he\u2019s been skulking in since the Third Reich fell, after learning his despised nemesis Captain America has returned from the dead.<\/p>\n

To this end, the ruthless war-criminal recruits a gang of previously established super-villains to attack New York City and destroy the Avengers. The unforgettable clash between valiant heroes and vile murdering mercenaries Radioactive Man<\/em>, Black Knight<\/em> and The Melter <\/em>is an unsurpassed example of prime Marvel magic to this day.<\/p>\n

Issue #7 found two more malevolent recruits for the Masters of Evil as Asgardian outcasts Enchantress <\/em>and The Executioner <\/em>ally with Zemo, just as Iron Man is suspended due to misconduct occurring in his own series. This was the dawning of the close-continuity era where events in one series were regularly referenced and even built upon in others. The practise quickly became a rod for the creators\u2019 own backs and lead to a radical rethink\u2026<\/p>\n

It may have been \u2018Their Darkest Hour!\u2019<\/em>, but #8 delivered the team\u2019s greatest triumph and tragedy as Jack Kirby (inked with fitting circularity by Dick Ayers) relinquished his drawing role with the superbly entrancing invasion-from-time thriller which introduced \u2018Kang the Conqueror!\u2019<\/em> Riffing on the movie The Day the Earth Stood Still<\/strong>, the tale sees an impossibly powerful foe defeated by the cunning of ordinary teenagers and indomitable spirit of Earth\u2019s Mightiest Heroes\u2026<\/p>\n

Whenever Kirby left a title he\u2019d co-created, it took a little while to settle into a new rhythm, and none more so than with these collectivised costumed crusaders. Although Lee and the fabulously utilitarian Don Heck were perfectly capable of producing cracking comics entertainments, they never had The King\u2019s unceasing sense of panoramic scope and scale which constantly sought bigger, bolder blasts of excitement.<\/p>\n

The Avengers <\/strong>evolved into an entirely different series when the subtle humanity of Heck\u2019s vision replaced Kirby\u2019s larger-than-life bombastic bravura. The series had rapidly advanced to monthly circulation and even The King could not draw the massive number of pages his expanding workload demanded. Heck was a gifted and trusted artist with a formidable record for meeting deadlines and, progressing under his pencil, sub-plots and character interplay finally got as much space as action and spectacle. After Kirby, stories increasingly focused on scene-stealing newcomer Captain America: concentrating on frail human beings in costumes, rather than wild modern gods and technological titans bestriding and shaking the Earth\u2026<\/p>\n

Inked by Ayers, Heck\u2019s first outing was memorable tragedy \u2018The Coming of the Wonder Man!\u2019<\/em>, wherein the Masters of Evil plant superhuman Trojan Horse Simon Williams<\/em> within the heroes\u2019 ranks, only to have the conflicted infiltrator find deathbed redemption by saving them from the deadly deathtrap he creates\u2026<\/p>\n

Another Marvel mainstay debuted with the introduction of (seemingly) malignant master of time Immortus<\/em>, who briefly combined with Zemo\u2019s devilish cohort to engineer a fatal division in the ranks by removing Cap from the field in \u2018The Avengers Break Up!\u2019<\/em> A sign of the Star-Spangled Sentinel\u2019s increasing popularity, the issue is augmented by a Marvel Masterwork Pin-Up<\/em> of \u2018The One and Only Cap\u2019 <\/em>courtesy of Kirby & Ayers\u2026<\/p>\n

An eagerly-anticipated meeting delighted fans in #11 as \u2018The Mighty Avengers Meet Spider-Man!\u2019<\/em> A clever cross-fertilising tale inked by Stone, it features the return of time-bending tyrant conqueror Kang who attempts to destroy the team by insinuating a robotic duplicate of the outcast arachnid within their serried ranks. Accompanied by Heck\u2019s Marvel Master Work Pin-up <\/em>of \u2018Kang!\u2019<\/em> it\u2019s followed by a cracking end-of-the-world thriller with guest-villains Mole Man <\/em>and The <\/em>Red Ghost <\/em>doing their best avoid another clash with the Fantastic Four.<\/p>\n

This was another Marvel innovation, as – according to established funnybook rules – bad guys stuck to their own nemeses and didn\u2019t clash outside their own backyards. \u2018This Hostage Earth!\u2019<\/em> (inked by Ayers) is a welcome return to grand adventure with lesser lights Giant-Man and The Wasp taking rare lead roles, but is trumped by a rousing gangster thriller of a sort seldom seen outside the pages of Spider-Man or Daredevil<\/strong>, premiering Marvel Universe Mafia analogue The Maggia <\/em>and another major menace in #13\u2019s \u2018The Castle of Count Nefaria!\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

After crushingly failing in his scheme to frame the Avengers, Nefaria\u2019s caper ends on a tragic cliffhanger as Janet Van Dyne <\/em>is left gunshot and dying, leading to a peak in melodramatic tension in #14 – scripted by Paul Laiken\/Larry Ivie & Larry Lieber over Stan\u2019s plot – where the traumatised team scour the globe for the only surgeon who can save her.<\/p>\n

\u2018Even Avengers Can Die!\u2019<\/em> – although of course she doesn\u2019t – resolves into an epic alien invader tale with overtones of This Island Earth <\/strong>with Kirby stepping in to lay out the saga for Heck & Stone to illustrate. This only whets the appetite for the classic climactic confrontation that follows as the costumed champions finally deal with the Masters of Evil and Captain America finally avenges the death of his dead partner.<\/p>\n

\u2018Now, By My Hand, Shall Die a Villain!\u2019 <\/em>in #15 – laid-out by Kirby, pencilled by Heck and inked by Mike Esposito – features the final, fatal confrontation between Cap and Zemo in the heart of the Amazon, whilst the other Avengers and the war-criminal\u2019s cohort of masked menaces clash once more on the streets of New York City\u2026<\/p>\n

The battle ends with \u2018The Old Order Changeth!\u2019<\/em> (broken down by Kirby before being finished by Ayers) presaging a dramatic change in concept for the series; presumably because, as Lee increasingly wrote to the company\u2019s unique strengths – tight continuity and strongly individualistic characterisation – he found juggling individual stars in their own titles as well as a combined team episode every month was just incompatible if not impossible\u2026<\/p>\n

As Cap and substitute-sidekick Rick Jones fight their way back to civilisation, The Avengers institute changes. The big-name stars retire and are replaced by three erstwhile villains: Hawkeye<\/strong>, Quicksilver<\/strong> and The Scarlet Witch<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Eventually, led by perennial old soldier Captain America, this relatively powerless group with no outside titles to divide the attention (the Sentinel of Liberty did have a regular feature in Tales of Suspense<\/strong> but at that time it featured adventures set during WWII), evolved into another squabbling family of flawed, self-examining neurotics, enduring extended sub-plots and constant action as valiant underdogs; a formula readers of the time could not get enough of and which still works today\u2026<\/p>\n

Acting on advice from the departing Iron Man, the neophytes seek to recruit the Hulk to add raw power to the team, only to be sidetracked by the Mole Man in #17\u2019s \u2018Four Against the Minotaur!\u2019<\/em> (Lee, Heck & Ayers), after which they then fall foul of a dastardly \u201ccommie\u201d plot \u2018When the Commissar Commands!\u2019<\/em> – necessitating a quick trip to thinly-disguised Vietnam analogue Sin-Cong <\/em>to unwittingly battle a bombastic android\u2026<\/p>\n

This brace of relatively run-of-the-mill tales is followed by an ever-improving run of mini-masterpieces: the first of which wraps up this initial Epic endeavour with a 2-part gem providing an origin for Hawkeye and introducing a roguish hero\/villain.<\/p>\n

\u2018The Coming of the Swordsman!\u2019 <\/em>sees a dissolute and disreputable swashbuckler – with just a hint of deeply-buried flawed nobility – seeking to force his way onto the highly respectable team. His immediate rejection leads to him becoming an unwilling pawn of a far greater menace after being kidnapped by A-list would-be world despot The Mandarin<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The conclusion comes in the superb \u2018Vengeance is Ours!\u2019<\/em> – sublimely inked by Wally Wood – wherein the constantly-bickering Avengers finally pull together as a supernaturally efficient, all-conquering super-team\u2026<\/p>\n

By this time the squad – Captain America<\/em>, Hawkeye, Quicksilver<\/em> and Scarlet Witch<\/em> – was a firm fan-favourite. with close attention to character interplay and melodrama subplots, leavening action through compelling soap-opera elements that kept readers riveted.<\/p>\n

In Avengers<\/strong> #21 Lee, Heck & Wally Wood – without pausing for creative breath – launched another soon-to-be big name villain in the form of Power Man<\/strong>. \u2018The Bitter Taste of Defeat!\u2019<\/em> depicted his creation and a diabolical plan hatched with evil Asgardian witch Enchantress<\/em> to discredit and replace the quarrelsome quartet. The scheme was only narrowly foiled by sharp wits and dauntless determination in the concluding \u2018The Road Back.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

An epic 2-part tale follows as the team are abducted into the far-future to battle against and eventually beside Kang the Conqueror<\/em>. \u2018Once an Avenger\u2026\u2019<\/em> (Avengers<\/strong> #23, December 1965 and, incidentally, my vote for the best cover Kirby ever drew) is inked by John Romita (senior), pitting the heroes against an army of fearsome future men, with the yarn explosively and tragically ending in \u2018<\/em>From the Ashes of Defeat!\u2019<\/em> by Lee, Heck & inker Ayers. The still-learning team then face their greatest test yet after being captured by the deadliest man alive and forced to fight their way out of the tyrant\u2019s kingdom of Latveria in #25\u2019s \u2018Enter\u2026 Dr. Doom!\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

Since change is ever the watchword for this series, the next two issues combined a threat to drown the world from subsea barbarian Attuma<\/em> with the return of old comrades. \u2018The Voice of The Wasp!\u2019<\/em> and \u2018Four Against the Floodtide!\u2019<\/em> (pseudonymously inked by Frank Giacoia as \u201cFrank Ray\u201d) is a superlative action-romp but is merely a prelude to #28\u2019s return of founding Avenger Giant-Man <\/em>in a new guise as \u2018Among us Walks a Goliath!\u2019<\/em> This instant classic introduced the villainous Collector<\/em> whilst extending Marvel\u2019s pet theme of alienation by tragically trapping the size-changing hero at a freakish 10-foot height\u2026 seemingly forever\u2026<\/p>\n

Avengers <\/strong>#29 features \u2018This Power Unleashed!\u2019<\/em> and brings back Hawkeye\u2019s lost love Black Widow<\/em> as a brainwashed Soviet agent attempting to destroy the team. She recruits Power Man and Swordsman as cannon-fodder but is foiled by incompletely submerged feelings for Hawkeye, after which \u2018Frenzy in a Far-Off Land!\u2019<\/em> sees dispirited colossus Henry Pym<\/em> embroiled in a futuristic civil war amongst a lost south American civilisation. The conclusion threatened to end in global incineration but that\u2019s a denouement you\u2019ll have to wait for\u2026<\/p>\n

To Be Continued\u2026<\/p>\n

Augmenting the narrative joys is an abundance of behind-the-scenes treasures such as contemporary house ads, a dozen original art pages and covers by Kirby, Ayers, Heck & Wood, production-stage pencilled page photostats and a fascinating sequence of \u201ctweaked\u201d cover-corrections. Covers for reprint comics Marvel Tales<\/strong> #2, Marvel Super-Heroes<\/strong> #1 & 21 and Marvel Triple Action<\/strong> #5-24, plus 16 previous collections front-&-back covers by Stuart Immonen and Arthur Adams. Still more extras include earlier Kirby Avengers collection covers modified by painters Dean White and another by Alex Ross taken from the 1999 Overstreet Guide to Comics<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Unceasingly enticing and always evergreen, these immortal epics are tales that defined the Marvel experience and a joy no fan should deny themselves or their kids.
\n\u00a9 2019 MARVEL.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Stan Lee & Jack Kirby, Larry Lieber, Paul Laiken, Larry Ivie, Don Heck, Dick Ayers, Paul Reinman, George Roussos, Chic Stone, Mike Esposito, Wally Wood, John Romita, Frank Giacoia, Sam Rosen, Art Simek, Morrie Kuramoto & various (MARVEL) ISBN: 978-0-7851-5846-2 (HB\/Digital edition) Win\u2019s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Ironclad Guarantee of Total Wonder\u2026 10\/10 Probably Marvel\u2019s … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Avengers Omnibus volume 1”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[94,237,74,54,98,117,108,39,155,70],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29101","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-avengers","category-black-widow","category-captain-america","category-fantastic-four","category-hulk","category-jack-kirby","category-miscellaneous-superhero","category-spider-man","category-sub-mariner","category-x-men"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4AFj-7zn","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29101","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29101"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29101\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29104,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29101\/revisions\/29104"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}