This is a review of Marvel Masterworks: The Avengers Vol. 1. I won’t bother explaining the Avengers, because everyone on earth has seen the movies. Instead I’ll talk about how it takes four issues for this title to find its legs. The first three issues aren’t great, but perhaps the creative team was figuring things out on the fly. The first issue introduces the team – Giant Man, The Wasp, Iron Man, Thor, and The Hulk – who band together to fight Loki, Thor’s evil step-brother. The Hulk quits next issue. I can’t recall the details, but it involves the Space Phantom impersonating various Avengers.
The Hulk sticks around for a few more issues, fighting alongside frenemy The Sub-Mariner and then aiding his former team against The Lava Men, and then he’s gone. The Hulk’s colors are green and purple, which are villainous (see: Kang the Conqueror) – make of that what you will. In this volume, he’s written as a carbon copy of the pissed-off Thing (see: first volume of The Fantastic Four).
The Hulk isn’t a good fit for The Avengers, but have no fear! Help is on the way when all-purpose villain Sub-Mariner unwittingly frees Captain America from a block of ice in the fourth issue. The title picks up when Cap joins the Avengers. Reading these issues, it’s obvious that Captain America was a favorite of the creative team. He’s a dynamic presence, and injects much-needed life into the title.
The newly formed Avengers fight The Masters of Evil, led by Captain America villain Baron Zemo, whose mask has been super-glued to his face. Thor villains The Enchantress & The Executioner check in next, along with Kang the Conqueror and Immortus, who are the same person. We also meet future member Wonder Man, who betrays and then saves the team.
Comparing this book to the first volume of the Justice League of America is an interesting exercise. The Avengers are less powerful than the JLA, but they act more like real people. They bicker all the time, and have personalities, and are thus a lot more interesting. Unlike other Marvel superteams of that era, The Avengers doesn’t have much in the way of a creative direction – the Fantastic Four are a family, the X-Men are outcasts – but it’s still a fun read.
Abandoned Places 