Essential Avengers, Vol. 5 (Marvel Essentials) | Roy Thomas, Harlan Ellison, ...

Essential Avengers, Vol. 5 (Marvel Essentials) | Roy Thomas, Harlan Ellison, ... | Love it

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Essential Avengers...

	Essential Avengers, Vol. 5 (Marvel Essentials) Roy Thomas, Harlan Ellison, ... Marvel Comics, 2006 - 552 pages average customer review:based on 7 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

From the Sentinels and the Savage Land Mutates to Loki, Dormammu and Thanos, the Avengers prove the universe's worst is no match for their best! Magnetic mayhem and nuclear nostalgia! Featuring Golden Age guest-stars, mythic menaces and more! Plus: the Avengers-Defenders War and Hawkeye vs. Daredevil! Includes rare Marvel work by best-selling author Harlan Ellison! Collects Avengers (Vol. 1) #98-119, Daredevil (Vol. 1) #99, Defenders (Vol. 1) #8-11.

Essential Avengers, Vol. 5

What's not to like? Ton's of stories for almost nothing, The return of a founder(Hulk), Hawkeyes new uniform, Barry Smith, Neal Adams, Big John Buscema and more avengers than you can shake a stick at!! Buy this title already!!!

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Love it

the avengers were always my favorite comic book, it is great to have all of the information in one location

Let the call ring out, Essential Avengers Assemble!

Two summers ago, I had an absolutely wonderful time reading the Essential Avengers 4. Not only was the book the largest Essential at the time (at 640 big pages!), but it had utterly stellar tales like the duel with Kang and the Grandmaster, the introduction of Zodiac, the origin of the Black Panther, and (you probably knew I was getting to this) the Kree-Skrull War, a mix of relationship-forging drama, political commentary, and wall-to-wall action that has perhaps never been surpassed in the annals of the sequential art medium. After putting it down and breathing a few sighs of satisfaction, one of my first thoughts was that there would be little reason to hurry in printing a fifth volume. Heck, Marvel could just stop the Essential Avengers program right then and there, because you just couldn't ask for a more appropriate conclusion than the old K-SW.

Shows how much I know.

It looks like the release of the Ultimate Avengers animated movie as well as the alleged twenty-four volume order for new Essentials this year conspired to put the Essential Avengers 5 on my shelf. So that's why I'm here today to roll out the welcome wagon for Earth's Mightiest Heroes.

Our favorite men and women in spandex are brought together and torn apart by several factors between #'s 98 and 119. First up, Earth and Olympus fall under siege by Ares (the God of War, not the ram-headed guy from Zodiac) and it takes the combined forces of every single person who was ever called an Avenger to stop him (accounted in issue #100, naturally). The tumultuous love affair between the android Vision and the Scarlet Witch begins here, and Vizh is quickly tempted to end it by an attractive offer of normalcy made by his brother, the Grim Reaper (I mean he's not really his brother, he's ... all you Marvelites know what I mean, right?). Even without the Vision's compliance, the Reaper is still poised to slay the Avengers with some help from his new partner, the Space Phantom (whose personal motto might be "If the Tinkerer can return after a 100+ issue hiatus, so can I). In the midst of this battle, Captain America stumbles across a bizarre mystery that stems from his "death" back in issue #113 of his own mag (which is a great excuse to dust of your copy of Essential CA 2). Oh, I suppose I should also mention that the incomparable Avengers-Defenders War is here as well (As I articulated in my Essential Defenders review, `nuff said!). Finally, our heroes are once again threatened to be sealed in plastic cases and placed on the mantle of the Collector (he just can't settle for comics and action figures like the rest of us).

This book obviously speaks to Avengers fans first, but fellow X-fans can gleam a lot of enjoyment out of here as well. At this point in Marvel history, the Uncanny X-Men series was in the cooler. Thus, when the Sentinels return and launch their latest haywire we-must-protect-the-human-race-by-destroying-it plan, it's up to the Avengers to mount the offense. Our assemblers also face a skirmish with the Savage Land Mutates, the results of one of Magneto's stranger pet projects, and then after that (you'll never guess) ol' Mags himself rears his head. Mr. Lehnsherr takes the X-Men, Wanda, Cap, and Iron Man prisoner (I always assumed a fight between Magneto and Iron Man would end very quickly) and it's up to the rest of the team, along with a timely assist from Daredevil and the Black Widow, to affect a rescue. I could imagine that, if the Marvel brass had any less faith in their floundering X-Men franchise, this story would have been their best opportunity to have written off Xavier and his kids for good. Finally, while reading the story of the suicide-bombing bigots who were out to destroy the unnatural Vision-Scarlet Witch union, I must say I found it rather amusing that they bore no malice towards Wanda because she was "still a person". I guess the most horribly prejudiced demagogues of the world would have to wait until Claremont arrived before they realized that they hated mutants too.

There are certainly some impressive plateaus in this collection, but also some very, very deep pits. First up, celebrated sci-fi author Harlan Ellison, who gave us one of the Hulk's best stories ever in the last Avengers volume, drops a serious bomb here with a yarn about how the Watcher, Mr. Non-Interference, gives some random accountant ungodly powers and sends him to kill five innocent people ultimately for no reason. Oh well, even Ray Bradbury had that abysmal Twilight Zone episode about the robot nanny. Then some nine-foot tall billionaire shows up with a sinister scheme to send the state of California plunging into the Pacific just so this sunken ship that he wants to salvage will end up in international waters (Couldn't he have just dispatched a sub while the Coast Guard wasn't looking? Or would we not have had a story that month if he did?). Another new villain is the Lion God, who's a, um ... god of lions? His second appearance results in the Swordsman and Mantis joining the team, which is good, but their we're-allies-of-the-Lion-God-no-wait-now-we're-not storyline is, to put it mildly, bewildering. By the way, in one issue, a small band of inbred Neanderthals (who have, in their possession, rocks, gas, a horse-sized insect, and a big dark cave in which to hide) manage to bring the whole team to their knees (Oh lordy, lordy, lordy). Lastly, Hawkeye finally leaves his Goliath phase (Yay!) only to start wearing a Renaissance Festival-esque outfit complete with headband (Boo!).

I was lingering on the negative side for a while, but for all its faults, I feel that the good parts outweigh the bad. It's worth noting that the creative force behind the series changed at this time from Roy Thomas to then-newcomer Steve Englehart. Steve gave us a great number of memorable stories, although it took him a little while to find his footing. Overall, the early X-Men revival efforts and the Avengers-Defenders War (not to mention the sheer difficulty in following up the Kree-Skrull War) push this book into the upper echelons of Essentials in my opinion. So, if you're interested in seeing Thor, Iron Man, Vision, Hawkeye, the Black Panther, and the Scarlet Witch (largely without her brother as a chaperone) in action, then give Volume #5 a gander.

[Final Note: I just remembered this great early scene in which a mugger exclaims that he doesn't mind if his intended victim screams for help because "nobody's gonna come". Hey, buddy! You're in Manhattan! In the Marvel Universe! If you try to jaywalk, there'll be a line forming behind you of supers ready to pummel you into the ground. Do you ever wonder why more criminals don't relocate to a more under-represented city like Seattle or St. Louis? It would seem like a good career move to me.]

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Avengers Assembled

What is the greatest superhero team of all time? It's debatable, but certainly it comes down to an elite few: The Justice League is the best team in the DC Universe, but Marvel has a number of groups to choose from. If it's a matter of brains, I would go with the Fantastic Four, but for sheer muscle, I would go with Earth's Mightiest Heroes, the Avengers. The Avengers are the Marvel equivalent of the Justice League, featuring the all-stars who aren't already affiliated with other teams.

Volume 5 of the Essential Avengers series covers issues 98 to 119 (with one Daredevil and four Defenders to make sure certain stories are complete). The core lineup in this period include most of the big names in the group: Hawkeye, Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, the Vision and the Scarlet Witch. The only "classic" Avengers who are missing are the Wasp and her husband (Ant Man/Yellowjacket/Giant Man/Goliath). Also appearing are the Black Panther, Black Knight, Hulk, Swordsman and Mantis.

Since these are the elite heroes, they rarely battle third-rate villains. In these issues, they face such heavyweights as Ares, the Grim Reaper, Magneto, Dormammu, Loki and the Collector. In between battles, the principal story arcs involve the three members who don't have their own magazines. For the Vision and Scarlet Witch, they are finally admitting their love for each other, with all the problems an android/human relationship entail. For Hawkeye - who has his own designs on Wanda rebuffed - this leads to alienation from the team and a brief membership with the Defenders.

While most of the stories are pretty good, some are a bit on the weak side. Surprisingly, this also includes a single-issue story by Harlan Ellison, who is normally one of the best short story writers around. But even if the quality is occasionally erratic, overall this is another fun volume that once again evokes a somewhat simpler era of comic book tales.

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B/W reprints of Avengers #98-119 and Defenders #8-11

This volume collects issues #98-119 of Marvel Comics' Avengers series plus Daredevil #99 and Defenders #8-11 that were all originally published between April 1972 and February 1974. Roy Thomas is the writer for #99-104 and #110 and Steve Englehart is the writer for #105-109 and #111-119. This run features seven different pencilers, including Barry Smith(#98-100), Rich Buckler (#101-104, 106), Don Heck (#108-112) and finally Bob Brown (#113-119).
The Avengers active roster at the start of this collection is: Black Panther, Captain America, Hawkeye, Hercules, Iron Man, Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, Thor and Vision. All former members return in #100 to battle Olympian gods. #102-104 feature the return of the Sentinels and Magneto appears shortly thereafter. Hawkeye, Hercules and Quicksilver leave the team while Black Widow joins for a short time. Two of my least favorite characters, Mantis and the Swordsman, join the team in #114. The "Avengers-Defenders War" spans issues #115-118 and the four Defenders issues. Villainous Dormammu and Loki pit the Avengers against the Defenders (Dr. Strange, Hawkeye, Hulk, Namor, Silver Surfer, and Valkyrie) in pursuit of the six fragments of the Evil Eye. The relationship between Vision and the Scarlet Witch blossoms through these issues.
This is recommended for fans interested in the entire Avengers series but new readers should start with an earlier Essentials volume. Even better is the Avengers DVD-ROM complete collection of the entire Avengers run in full color PDFs. The Marvel Essentials series offers convenient, inexpensive access to these 30-year old Avengers comics without needing a computer. At over 550 pages, this is a tremendous value and offers hours of reading.

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reviews: page 1, 2

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