Review # 163: "Avengers Assemble by Kurt Busiek Vol. 4"

Kurt Busiek's Avengers team has tackled a strong share of world crises. Some external, some internal, some mystical, some technological.

Now... it's time to get cosmic.

Review # 147: "War of Kings"

"War of Kings" is a bit reminiscent of "Operation Galactic Storm" in that it's about a war between Marvel cosmic superpower races the Kree and the Shi'ar. However, there's a noted difference. While the classic Avengers tale was about manipulation and conquest, this piece written by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning is more about ego. Ultimately, it's a clash between Inhuman King Black Bolt and Shi'ar Emperor Vulcan who who both appear willing to doom their species in the name of what they think is right. Neither man is.

Review # 112: "Infinity"

One of the great things about the first Avengers film is that there were only six of them: Cap, Iron Man, Hawkeye, Hulk, Thor and Black Widow. Throughout most if its history, the core roster of Marvel's premier superteam was kept small, rotating as needed.

Times have changed.

Review # 99: "Avengers: The Enemy Within"

Rant time:

Review # 88: "Avengers Assemble by Kurt Busiek Vol. 1"

Marvel was in a funk in the late 90s after the collector market bottomed out and the company narrowly avoided bankruptcy. They had just shipped many of their flagship titles to Image for a reboot to get a new audience on board. Unfortunately, it was a creative and commercial flop and left Marvel at square one.

Review # 4: "Operation: Galactic Storm"

The early-to-mid 90s were a weird time for The Avengers. Thor was replaced with a human imbued with his power; Iron Man was possessed by a villain, died, and was replaced with a teenage version of himself; Wasp became half-woman, half-insect; then, in 1996, they were all "killed off" and handed over to the folks at Image Comics (Jim Lee, Rob Liefeld et al. who quit in order to theoretically make more money by having full control of their own characters) to rebuild their, well... image. The truth was the series just wasn't on the same level as the X-Men sales-wise and Marvel was pulling out all the stops to try to get people to buy in.