Marvel Masterworks: Avengers Vol.1

Marvel Masterworks are reprinted collections of earlier Marvel titles, whereas Marvel Essential are black & white reprints, the latter being a less expensive option. I've read and enjoyed both formats, and while the benefit of color is nice, they have been recolored, so the pulpy paper and Ben-day dot/four color printing I love in old comics are gone. Still, it's nice to read several consecutive issues in one collection, most of which I can buy used for much less than collecting the original issues. This silver/black covered version is the fifth printing of the collection from 2002.

What can I say about the early Avengers that hasn't been said? I finished Vol.1 & 2 of the Marvel Masterworks Avengers some time ago, and have been unsure how to approach the already thoroughly discussed & researched subject of the team's genesis. Stan Lee & Jack Kirby's creation in September 1963 was the first "supergroup", all the members having come from other titles, such as Tales of Suspense, Tales to Astonish, and Journey Into Mystery. Born in '72 and only back into comics for just over a year now, I missed all this. It was all new to me in that while I knew the characters, I had not read their first stories. While context of the times is somewhat lost on me, the impact of these early days of Marvel are not. This is where it all started. I've touched on the subject of old comics versus the books of today more than twice, so I won't go through that again, but I have to say I had a fun time reading this. Instead of outlining the plot of each issue (been done), I'll just list a few moments I found delightful in this book:

*Hulk joins the Circus! Issue #1
Due to the misdeeds of Loki, looking for a way to exact revenge upon his brother Thor, the misunderstood Hulk joins a circus to hide from Ant-Man, the Wasp, and Iron Man. When Loki's plot is exposed by Thor, the villain is captured by Ant-Man & the Wasp, and a new team is born! Avengers Assemble!

*Giant Man! Issue #2
Giant Man's first appearance was actually in Tales to Astonish #49, but Dr. Henry Pym was known as Ant Man in the previous issue of the Avengers. The Space Phantom tries to turn the Avengers against one another by impersonating them while sending them into limbo individually, causing great confusion among the ranks, and resulting in a resentful Hulk leaving the team in the end. Stan Lee & Jack Kirby were shaking things up early!

*The Avengers meet Sub-Mariner! Issue #3
Issue #3. Sub-Mariner & a disillusioned Hulk battle the team he was part of just one issue ago! The pace for constant change is set in this title!

*Captain America Lives Again! Issue #4
Riding through the ocean in their bathyscaph, Cap is discovered floating in the ocean by the Avengers, freed from a block of ice by the Sub-Mariner who carelessly tossed it while terrorizing some Eskimos. Confused upon awakening, he leaps to life, amazing his soon to be teammates with his lightning physical prowess!

*Invasion of The Lava Men! Issue #5
The now classic tale of the ancient subterranean race of Lava Men, the Living Rock, and their clash with the Avengers- good stuff!

*First Appearance of Baron Zemo! Issue #6

Also of note: A villainous Black Knight from the pages of Tales To Astonish joins Zemo's "Masters of Evil" with the Melter & Radioactive Man, to battle the Avengers!

*Rick Jones appears as Bucky! Issue #7

Old friend of Bruce Banner/The Hulk & leader of the Teen Brigade, Rick Jones just wants to be part of the team. When he dons the late Bucky's outfit, a confused Captain America lases out at him in anger, unable to forgive himself for the youngster's death, unable to bear the thought of losing young Rick the same way- Intense! Also in this issue, The Enchantress & Executioner, banished from Asgard by Odin, are recruited by Baron Zemo back on Earth to defeat the Avengers- action packed, Kids! 

*The introduction of Kang the Conqueror, Issue #8
The 30th century, time travelling descendant of Dr. Doom battles the Avengers! Rick Jones & the Teen Brigade trick Kang, helping free Thor to rescue the rest of the team & save the day.

*Wonder Man! Issue #9
Introduced  and killed off in issue #9! Created to destroy the Avengers, he realizes the error of his master's ways, and turns against Baron Zemo and his partners in crime, The Enchantress & The Executioner, to save the Thor, Cap, Iron Man, Wasp, & Giant Man! Of note: Don Heck takes over the pencilling from Jack Kirby here.

*Paul Bunyan, the Biblical Goliath, and Hercules? Issue #10
...Atilla the Hun and Merlin the Magician as well- all brought from the past by Immortus to defeat the Avengers! The Masters of Evil put the time-bending villain up to it, and the Enchantress erased the event, turning back time to avoid their capture by the Avengers. Just the beginning of Marvel's long & confusing continuity issues to come  :D

*Check out the Marvel Masterworks Resource Page!
*Don's exhaustive Marvel Genesis blog- Silver Age greatness worth following!
*Steve Does Comics blog- Steve also covers a lot of Silver Age Marvel
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X-Force #1

I was kinda surprised to find an unopened X-Force #1 (Marvel, Aug. 1991) in the dollar comic bin, but I shouldn't have been- just recently I watched  the History Channel's Comic Book Superheroes Unmasked  (2003), and Stan Lee himself was talking about the great comic book crash of the 90's. A boom in the popularity due to Marvel's ever-expanding X-Men comics titles, title crossover events, video games, toys, and a Fox animated X-Men show got a lot of outsiders interested in comics. When these speculators tried to unload the extra copies & special editions that prosperous times had afforded, they found that no one was interested, so they quit buying. This left publishers who had been pumping out excessive runs with a glut of extra books- Marvel had to declare bankruptcy & scale back franchises drastically as a result, and a lot of independent comic shops went under. As Stan Lee said in the show, what made the old comics worth a lot was their rarity, and the speculators failed to see this.  Consequently, there's a lot of 90's comics out there- hell, I found two of these poly-bagged   :D

Back & front of the issue, showing Cannonball, Shatterstar, Warpath, Domino, Boom Boom, Feral, & Cable... 

 

X-Force came out of New Mutants, part of the diversification capitalizing on popularity of the X-Men franchise, also including X-Factor, Excalibur, and the Wolverine solo series. I missed out on most all of this at the time, but I find a nostalgic charm in the over-the-top excesses of the 90's. Artist Rob Liefeld seems to have been roundly blessed & cursed for his work here, and for good reason- it looks like a very talented, very young person did the pencilling. I kinda like that about it.  He was certainly unique, and his work must have looked very different from the accepted "comics style" when it came out.  I read that writer Mark Millar defended incompared it to Jack Kirby- very unusual when it came out, & cartoony. It's ambitious & expressive in my eyes... it was what it was. Hostility toward the exaggerated style he contributed to, perhaps even created in the 90's, was partially a product of his extreme success & market saturation in my opinion. I won't dismiss Liefeld as an artist no matter how many hater fanboys don't like it- he was a huge success, the man is still working, and looking at his website I can see he's grown. He created Deadpool for goodness sakes! There are many points to be considered in subjective art appreciation, your personal issues shouldn't be one of them. That said, everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and there's no accounting for individual taste, including my own. 

In this first issue, Cable and his X-Force fly to Antartica to take down the mutant terrorist group known as the Mutant Liberation Front, breaking into their base base and taking the guards by storm. Cable has turned the New Mutants into an elite tactical unit! The team is confronted by Forearm, Kamikaze, Wildside, and Reaper, upon pentrating their base, leading to a bloody confrontation, Shatterstar cutting off Reaper's hand, and Feral breaking Wildside's jaw. The M.L.F narrowly escapes through a teleport Zero opened, Stryfe having activated the base's self destruct sequence, which upon discovery, X-Force's scout craft teleports them aboard & away just in time. 

Check out this splashy, two-page spread....

In a highrise penthouse back in New York, Gideon trains Sunspot in battle tactics and invitites him to a stock buyout later, where Arianna Jankos introduces the two men to Black Tom Cassidy, who surprisedly takes them hostage there along with everyone else in the World Trade Center.  All the time just a step behind, G.W. Bridge and S.H.I.E.L.D. have been searching for Cable and his rogue team, calling General Clarke of the Canadian military to bring "Department K" onto the case- "It's time to call in Weapon X!".  Bridge's request refers to the return of Deadpool in issue #2, the popular mercenary introduced only seven months earlier in The New Mutants #98.

Front and back of the Deadpool trading card included in this collector's edition:

I picked up the first five issues of this title a couple weeks ago, including a Spider-Man crossover issue involving Juggernaut which I enjoyed thoroughly. I grabbed more of what I could find in the dollar comic bin this weekend at BAM's Anniversary Sale, and a couple issues of Cable's solo title as well.

*Check out Rob Liefeld's website! 

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Anniversary Sale Haul at BAM!

I hit the Anniversary Sale at BAM! this morning at Chesterfield Mall- anniversary of what, you ask?? I dunno and who cares? It was buy-one-get-one-free back issues, including used graphic novels!    :D

Shown above is the carnage: 42 comics from the dollar comics bin and 2 graphic novels for about forty bucks- not bad! I had so much I had to buy one of those collection boxes to haul it all out of there! And yes, that's the 40" receipt snaking between  :D   Now let's take a quick look at the spoils:

*X-Force & Cable

I've been reading some of the early 90's issues of X-Force by Rob Liefeld and really enjoying the adventures of Cable & Co., so I picked up more of that plus, a couple of Cable issues, including one with Cable Vs. The Hulk- Great!

*Darkhawk

After picking up that Marvel Universe Darkhawk figure, I've been curious about the old early 90's title. I had seen these awhile back, and couldn't resist getting a few at such a great price, basically 50 cents each. Check out the issue with Capt. America & Daredevil!

*Captain Marvel, "Monsters & Gods"
Found both part 1 & 2 of this title from 2009 I knew little of- the Warriors Three, Thor, Capt. Marvel...on Asgard?? I'm in!

 *Doom 2099

Found issues 1-4 of this reimagining of the Marvel baddie. I really liked Spider-Man 2099, so I thought I'd take a chance. From the miss 90's, the title explores Doom in the year 2099, abruptly materialized in the ruins of Castle Doom in Latveria, after disappearing 50-100 years before.

*Fantastic Four #339

Bought this odd issue because of Thor fighting Gladiator on the cover, alone worth the price of admission. Killer! Whose book is this anyway?

*Doom Patrol Vol. 2 & Vol.4 

Grant Morrison wrote the late 80's-early 90's Volume 2 of the title, and Vol. 4 was written by writer/artist John Byrne from 2004 to early 2006. I've read books with Doom Patrol as part of the story, but have yet to read anything from their own title. Power Girl is in a few of these too- Cool! 

*Batman: Hush, Vol. 1 & 2

Never read this, believe it or not. I love Jim Lee's artwork, and am told it's a must read... was just waiting for the right moment. One of those was free, so it was the right moment  :D

*The Batman & Robin Adventures

Some more assorted issues from the title styled after Batman: The Animated Series television show- this will come in handy for the other blog  ...fun books   :)

*Batman Demon (1996)

What appears to be a one-shot team-up of Etrigan & The Dark Night by Alan Grant- should be good. Look at that cover- Wow!

Have I mentioned I just love old comics? The old printing, ads, reader's letters, pop culture references, even the smell of them takes me back in time... it gives me an indescribable, out-of-time feeling that is very pleasureable. It's like falling in love for the first time, all over again  :)

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Marvel Select Thanos

I finally got around to opening this Marvel Select Thanos, and what a killer action figure he is! Behold:

Known more for their sculpt and paint, I was somewhat surprised by the range of articulation put in this Diamond Select figure- the bicep joint was unexpected. And the head is on a ball/hinge that is very expressive- tantamount to a character like Thanos as far as I'm concerned. The range in his elbow and knees are somewhat limited by the bulk of his limbs, but he's very poseable. He has a cut waist joint and his pelvic/thigh ball joints enjoy as wide a range as the ones in his shoulders. The paint on mine is pretty great too- not perfect, just really good. Particularly well painted are the individual soul gems on his Infinity Gauntlet, which you can switch out with his left fist- careful, it's a tight fit! The iridescent gold paint used provides some great depth in the sculpt, most noticeable in the gloves & boots. And thankfully gone from this re-release of the 2005 figure are the somewhat extreme orange airbrushing around the eyes. This is the Thanos I've been looking for!

Thanos came with his mistress Death as opposed to a base/diorama which is appropriate, her female visage removable to expose the skull beneath. This works pretty well, the face/mask fitting securely atop the skull with no danger of falling off. She has no articulation other than that, but she's crucial to Thanos' whole narrative: the Mad Titan slayed half the sentient life in the universe to win her love in The Infinity Gauntlet. How romantic  :D  Actually, I needed her to re-enact the scene from The Life & Death of Captain Marvel where Thanos, unsatisfied with his enemy withering away in his deathbed instead of dying in glorious battle, appears from beyond the grave & challenges Mar-Vell to a final fight to the death. At the end of their contest, Thanos has led Mar-Vell to meet Death, telling him not to fear. "It's not that I fear her, it's just that... I no longer need the illusion", our hero replies, passing his hand over her beautiful face, revealing the bare skull beneath... to literally accept the kiss of death!

While Thanos is a thick and heavy eight inches tall figure, his heft doesn't quite match that of my Marvel Select Hulk. I just love a BIG action figure don't you? Yes, I'm crazy over those 3 3/4" Marvel Universe figures, but I'm a man who likes something he can grab onto!

And now Marvel Select Hulk & Thanos with Marvel Select Stealth Iron Man & Captain Marvel...

Let's face it: this post won't be complete without a round of BIG TOY/little toy alongside my Marvel Universe Thanos!  Don't try tellin' me this ain't fun, I know you like it   :D

...What the heck- let's make it fun and do a BIG/little Captain Marvel & Thanos together  :D

*Marvel Select Database at MarvelousNews.Com!

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Capt. America & X-Men Mugs!

Just a quickie: found these Capt. America & X-Men Mugs at FYE (For Your Entertainment) Sunday night while shopping for music with my brother. They were on sale for five bucks each- not bad for licensed Marvel merchandise. It's a well known fact that I'm a java junkie, and when the weather turns cool I love my tea as well.

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