{"id":35285,"date":"2026-04-16T15:31:41","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T15:31:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=35285"},"modified":"2026-04-16T15:31:41","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T15:31:41","slug":"the-avengers-marvel-masterworks-volume-19","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2026\/04\/16\/the-avengers-marvel-masterworks-volume-19\/","title":{"rendered":"The Avengers Marvel Masterworks volume 19"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nBy David Michelinie<\/strong>, Steven Grant<\/strong>, Roger Stern<\/strong>, Mark Gruenwald<\/strong>, Jim Shooter<\/strong>, Bob Layton<\/strong>, Tom DeFalco<\/strong>, John Byrne<\/strong>, George P\u00e9rez<\/strong>, Sal Buscema<\/strong>, Carmine Infantino<\/strong>, Arvell Jones<\/strong>, Ron Wilson<\/strong>, John Fuller<\/strong>, Dan Green<\/strong>, Ricardo Villamonte<\/strong>, Josef Rubinstein<\/strong>, Jack Abel<\/strong>, Gene Day<\/strong>, Mike Esposito<\/strong>, Brett Breeding<\/strong>, Joe Sinnott<\/strong>, Bruce Patterson<\/strong> & various (MARVEL)
\nISBN: 978-1-3029-1637-4 (HB\/Digital edition)<\/p>\n

This book includes Discriminatory Content<\/strong> produced in less enlightened times.<\/em><\/p>\n

The Avengers <\/strong>have always proved that putting all one\u2019s star eggs in a single basket pays off big-time: even when all Marvel\u2019s classic all-stars such as Thor<\/strong>, Captain America <\/strong>and Iron Man <\/strong>are absent, it merely allows the team\u2019s lesser lights to shine more brightly. Of course, all founding stars were regularly featured due to the rotating, open door policy, which means that every issue includes somebody\u2019s fave-rave – and the boldly grand-scale impressive stories and artwork are no hindrance either. With the team now global icons, let\u2019s look again at the stories which form the foundation of that pre-eminence.<\/p>\n

Re-presenting Avengers<\/strong> #189-202, plus a pertinent tale from Marvel Premier <\/strong>#55 (August 1980) and a lost snippet from Tales to Astonish<\/strong> (vol. 2 #12, November 1980) these sagas encompass cover-dates November 1979 to December 1980. Jim Shooter, having galvanised and steadied the company\u2019s notional flagship moved on, leaving David Michelinie to impress his own ideas and personality upon the team,. However such transitions are always tricky and a few water-treading fill-ins were necessary before progress resumed. For behind the scenes details you can read of his recollections in his fascinating \u2018Introduction by David Michelinie\u2019<\/em> before diving in to the fabulous action and drama. Another Introduction <\/em>by latterday editor Tom Brevoort can be found in the book\u2019s Bonus Section, eulogising and appreciating the return of George P\u00e9rez to the Avengers<\/strong> before diving in to the fabulous action and drama…<\/p>\n

Previously: After defeating the Absorbing Man<\/em>, apparently resolving the convoluted origins of Quicksilver <\/strong>and the Scarlet Witch<\/strong>, inviting Ultron<\/em>\u2019s robot bride Jocasta <\/em>into their midst, defeating vintage murder-mech enigma Arsenal<\/em> and stopping world conquering sentient elements, the team were ready for a break but would be disappointed…<\/p>\n

Avengers <\/strong>#189 reveals how deeply unhappy official reservist Hawkeye<\/strong> takes a day job at (corrupt and EVIL) tech company Cross Technological Enterprises<\/em> and inadvertently begins his steady march to solo stardom. When the current administration began interfering in Avengers business intrusive and obsessive NSA Agent Henry Peter Gyrich<\/em> laid down the law and winnowed the army of heroes down to a federally acceptable (and \u201cmanageable\u201d) seven-and-a-spare: Captain America<\/strong>, Iron Man<\/strong>, Falcon<\/strong>, Scarlet Witch<\/strong>, Vision<\/strong>, Wasp<\/strong>, Beast<\/strong> and Ms. Marvel<\/strong>. Gyrich had spitefully rejected the in-your-face archer in favour of Falcon<\/strong> – who was parachuted in (against his own wishes!) to conform to government affirmative action quotas…<\/p>\n

Feeling rejected by the team and definitely still persona non grata to the obnoxious pencil-pushing Government gadfly, Hawkeye goes corporate in \u2018Wings and Arrows!\u2019<\/em> (Steven Grant, John Byrne & Dan Green). It\u2019s not too long before he\u2019s earning every penny as the new security chief by battling alien avian interloper Deathbird<\/em> of the Shi\u2019ar…<\/p>\n

As a terrifying horror from space crashes to Earth and rampages through Manhattan, the Avengers ae summoned to tribunal seeking to close down the group. However, with a monster in the streets, Beast sees a way to dent Gyrich\u2019s credibility and win back Avengers autonomy in chilling monster-mash \u2018Heart of Stone\u2019<\/em>. Despatched to stop the thing, their subsequent battle draws in scarlet swashbuckler Daredevil<\/strong> who helps expose an old enemy in disguise…
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\nScripted by Micheline, concluding chapter \u2018Back to the Stone Age!\u2019 <\/em>sees the assemblage overwhelmed by petrifying space pirate The Grey Gargoyle<\/em> and the Falcon prove his worth until the team can rally and render the marauder helpless, after which artists Arvell Jones & Ricardo Villagran limn #192\u2019s \u2018Steel City Nightmare!\u2019<\/em> When former industrialist\/inventor and occasional Avenger Simon<\/em> Wonder Man<\/strong> Williams<\/em> visits Detroit to finalise selling his old steel mill to Tony Stark<\/em>, they uncover an old but lasting connection to Thor\u2019s uru hammer and the site\u2019s new covert status as a centre of organised crime activity. When a whistle-blower is murdered only to return as a rampaging vengeance-driven flame monster, the call goes out and the Avengers find \u2018Battleground Pittsburgh!\u2019<\/em> (illustrated by Sal Buscema & Green) to be almost more than they can handle.<\/p>\n

Inked by Josef Rubinstein, George P\u00e9rez draws the Micheline-scripted \u2018Interlude\u2019<\/em> in #194, as roster changes saw the Scarlet Witch (briefly) and Falcon leave and Wonder Man return. With Jocasta destabilizing the Vision\u2019s marriage, tensions are high but the later discovery that wannabe actor Simon Williams is moonlighting as a clown on children\u2019s television takes off a lot of edges. Focus abruptly shifts when an apparent escaped mental patient circumvents Avengers security, breaks into the mansion and begs for help. Returned to his carers at the Solomon Institute, Selbe<\/em>\u2019s plight remains uppermost in Wasp\u2019s thoughts. When she investigates the facility she exposes an horrific science abomination in progress before vanishing without trace…<\/p>\n

New Ant-Man<\/strong> Scott Lang<\/em> got his first dose of team action in Avengers<\/strong> #195 (May 1980) in Michelinie, P\u00e9rez, Jack Abel & Green\u2019s \u2018Assault on a Mind Cage!\u2019<\/em> When his benefactor Hank Pym<\/em>\/Yellowjacket<\/strong> asks Lang to help infiltrate the suspect Solomon asylum he believes holds the Wasp hostage the miniature marvels uncover illegal cloning for spare parts and a murderous madman also capitalising on the facilities to profitably train better henchmen for major villains and mob bosses…<\/p>\n

The climactic clash resulting from \u2018The Terrible Toll of the Taskmaster\u2019<\/em> (by Michelinie, P\u00e9rez & Abel) wrecks the joint but leaves former burglar and convict Lang one step closer to true redemption…
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\nCold War paranoia fuels Avengers<\/strong> #197\u2019s \u2018Prelude to the War-Devil!\u2019<\/em> (illustrated by Carmine Infantino, Abel and a horde of helpers) wherein overwrought scientist Dr. Cowan<\/em> absconds from Stark Detroit facilities inside a super-mecha warrior initially built to destroy the undisputed king of Kaiju (see Godzilla: The Original Marvel Years<\/a><\/strong>). Unable to stand the tension any longer, the boffin intends triggering WWIII and ending the anxiety of humankind once and for all, but must first face the deployed and increasingly desperate Avengers in \u2018Better Red Than Ronin!\u2019<\/em> (art by P\u00e9rez, Brett Breeding & Gene Day) and cataclysmic climax \u2018Last Stand on Long Island\u2019 <\/em>(inked by Dan Green).<\/p>\n

Away from the mounting carnage, a disturbing subplot played out as a strange, terrifyingly rapid transformation sees Carol Danvers<\/em> (Ms<\/strong>, and these days Captain Marvel<\/strong>) impossibly pregnant and bringing an unknown baby with no father to term in a matter of days. Reaching out to the Scarlet Witch, the hasty decision is to call in the full resources of the Mighty Avengers…<\/p>\n

The mystery is solved in bonanza anniversary issue #200 (October 1980 by plotters, Jim Shooter, P\u00e9rez & Bob Layton; scripter Michelinie, and artists P\u00e9rez & Green). In \u2018The Child is Father To…?\u2019<\/em> with almost the entire past roster on hand, the miracle baby is born without incident, but consequently hyper-rapidly matures as time goes wild around the city. With different eras overwriting the present, the unearthly boy begins building a machine to stabilise the chaos despite the profoundly suspicious heroes misunderstanding his motives. Marcus<\/em> claims to be the son of time-master Immortus<\/em>, seeking to escape eternal isolation in transdimensional Limbo by implanting his essence in a mortal tough enough to survive the energy required for the transfer.
\n\"\"
\nLiterally reborn on Earth, his attempts to complete the process are foiled by the World\u2019s Most Confused Heroes and he is tragically drawn back to his timeless realm. Carol, suddenly declaring her love for Marcus, unexpectedly goes with him. The heroes unquestioning acceptance of the result might well be the greatest failure and betrayal in Avengers history…<\/p>\n

The clean-up begins in #201 where \u2018The Evil Reborn\u2019<\/em> sees Michelinie, P\u00e9rez & Green adapt a Jim Shooter short story as Tony Stark succumbs to previous, deep-buried hypnotic programming to reconstruct cybernetic conqueror Ultron…<\/p>\n

The tale is cut short as back-up strip \u2018Bully!\u2019 <\/em>by Michelinie, Roger Stern, P\u00e9rez & Day explores the off-duty life of butler Edwin Jarvis<\/em> as he improves his home neighbourhood with a little human-scaled heroism and defiance in the face of insurmountable odds…<\/p>\n

The Avenging escapades pause for now with bombastic brutal closing chapter \u2018This Evil Undying\u2019<\/em> (Micheline, P\u00e9rez & Mike Esposito) as the team (Captain America Thor, Wasp, Vision, Scarlet Witch, Hawkeye and Jocasta free Iron Man from the metal maniac\u2019s domination and apparently end the threat forever…<\/p>\n

Supplementing the main drama are a brace of contemporaneous tales beginning with the first Wonder Man solo saga, as published in Marvel Premiere <\/strong>#55 (August 1980). \u2018A Force of Two!\u2019<\/em> by Micheline, Layton, Ron Wilson & Joe Sinnott sees Simon Williams return to another of his old factories (in Brooklyn this time) to clean out the criminal trash who took over after his \u201cdeath\u201d and eventual resurrection as being of ionic energy. Even he isn\u2019t quite enough to oust entrenched Maggia mobsters – and their lawyers – and requires a little offbeat assistance from an old pal who risks everything to atone…<\/p>\n

Next comes a six-page vignette starring The Vision, created during a rookie initiative program in 1976 by Tom DeFalco, John Fuller & Bruce Patterson, \u2018Double Vision\u2019 <\/em>sat in the inventory drawer until seen in Tales to Astonish<\/strong> (vol 2 #12, November 1980) and relates how the eerie android saves a diplomat and other caught in a plane hijacking…<\/p>\n

With covers by Byrne, P\u00e9rez, Frank Miller, Dave Cockrum, Wilson, Sinnott, Green, Bob McLeod, Rubinstein and Terry Austin; original art pages from Byrne, P\u00e9rez, Green & Day; the P\u00e9rez\/Tom Smith painted cover to Avengers Visionaries: George P\u00e9rez<\/strong> (1999) and the aforementioned Brevoort appreciation of the artist from that tome, this compelling collection is available in hardback and digital iterations, and a must-read moment of wonder every fan must see.
\n\u00a9 2019 MARVEL.<\/p>\n

Today in 1877 Catalan comics creator and pioneer Tom\u00e0s Padr\u00f3<\/strong> died, as did French surrealist cartoonist and multimedia maven Roland Topor<\/strong> in 1997. In 1934 Chilean Disney artist Vicar<\/em><\/strong> (V\u00edctor Jos\u00e9 Arriagada R\u00edos<\/strong>) was born, as was arch-stylist Paul Rivoche<\/strong> (Mister X<\/strong>, Batman<\/strong>, Exile of the Aeons<\/strong>) in 1959.<\/p>\n

On this date in 1990 The Times of India<\/strong> supplement Indrajal Comics<\/em><\/strong> published its last issue. Started in 1964 its 805 issues brought The Phantom<\/strong>, Flash Gordon<\/strong>, Mandrake<\/strong>, Garth<\/strong>, Rip Kirby<\/strong>, Phil Corrigan<\/strong>, Buz Sawyer<\/strong>, Mike Nomad<\/strong>, Kerry Drake<\/strong>, and others to millions of readers, and in 1976 debuted homegrown Indian hero Bahadur<\/em><\/strong> by Aabid Surti<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By David Michelinie, Steven Grant, Roger Stern, Mark Gruenwald, Jim Shooter, Bob Layton, Tom DeFalco, John Byrne, George P\u00e9rez, Sal Buscema, Carmine Infantino, Arvell Jones, Ron Wilson, John Fuller, Dan Green, Ricardo Villamonte, Josef Rubinstein, Jack Abel, Gene Day, Mike Esposito, Brett Breeding, Joe Sinnott, Bruce Patterson & various (MARVEL) ISBN: 978-1-3029-1637-4 (HB\/Digital edition) This … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “The Avengers Marvel Masterworks volume 19”<\/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":[94,383,75,85,290,420,421,72,79,396,174,219,107,354],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35285","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-avengers","category-carmine-infantino","category-crime-comics","category-daredevil","category-dinosaurs","category-george-perez","category-john-byrne","category-marvel-masters-masterworks","category-marvel-superheroes","category-monsters","category-nick-fury","category-s-h-i-e-l-d","category-science-fiction","category-wonder-man"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4AFj-9b7","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35285","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=35285"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35285\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35292,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35285\/revisions\/35292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}