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Avengers (1998) (New Editions)
Avengers Assemble, Volume 3
Earth's Mightiest Heroes vs. Marvel's Most Wanted, and more! The crisis of the Eighth Day pits the Avengers against the unstoppable force that is the Juggernaut, while Triathlon's first day as an Avenger takes the team south of the border and back in time thousands of years! And how does the mystery of Madame Masque match the curse of Count Nefaria? COLLECTING: Avengers (1998) 24-34, Annual 2000; Thunderbolts 42-44
220 pages, Paperback
First published May 16, 2012
9 people are currently reading
71 people want to read
About the author
Kurt Busiek
1,859 books627 followersKurt Busiek is an American comic book writer notable for his work on the Marvels limited series, his own title Astro City, and his four-year run on Avengers.
Busiek did not read comics as a youngster, as his parents disapproved of them. He began to read them regularly around the age of 14, when he picked up a copy of Daredevil #120. This was the first part of a continuity-heavy four-part story arc; Busiek was drawn to the copious history and cross-connections with other series. Throughout high school and college, he and future writer Scott McCloud practiced making comics. During this time, Busiek also had many letters published in comic book letter columns, and originated the theory that the Phoenix was a separate being who had impersonated Jean Grey, and that therefore Grey had not died—a premise which made its way from freelancer to freelancer, and which was eventually used in the comics.
During the last semester of his senior year, Busiek submitted some sample scripts to editor Dick Giordano at DC Comics. None of them sold, but they did get him invitations to pitch other material to DC editors, which led to his first professional work, a back-up story in Green Lantern #162 (Mar. 1983).
Busiek has worked on a number of different titles in his career, including Arrowsmith, The Avengers, Icon, Iron Man, The Liberty Project, Ninjak, The Power Company, Red Tornado, Shockrockets, Superman: Secret Identity, Thunderbolts, Untold Tales of Spider-Man, JLA, and the award-winning Marvels and the Homage Comics title Kurt Busiek's Astro City.
In 1997, Busiek began a stint as writer of Avengers alongside artist George Pérez. Pérez departed from the series in 2000, but Busiek continued as writer for two more years, collaborating with artists Alan Davis, Kieron Dwyer and others. Busiek's tenure culminated with the "Kang Dynasty" storyline. In 2003, Busiek re-teamed with Perez to create the JLA/Avengers limited series.
In 2003, Busiek began a new Conan series for Dark Horse Comics, which he wrote for four years.
In December 2005 Busiek signed a two-year exclusive contract with DC Comics. During DC's Infinite Crisis event, he teamed with Geoff Johns on a "One Year Later" eight-part story arc (called Up, Up and Away) that encompassed both Superman titles. In addition, he began writing the DC title Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis from issues 40-49. Busiek was the writer of Superman for two years, before followed by James Robinson starting from Superman #677. Busiek wrote a 52-issue weekly DC miniseries called Trinity, starring Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman. Each issue (except for issue #1) featured a 12-page main story by Busiek, with art by Mark Bagley, and a ten-page backup story co-written by Busiek and Fabian Nicieza, with art from various artists, including Tom Derenick, Mike Norton and Scott McDaniel.
Busiek's work has won him numerous awards in the comics industry, including the Harvey Award for Best Writer in 1998 and the Eisner Award for Best Writer in 1999. In 1994, with Marvels, he won Best Finite Series/Limited Series Eisner Award and the Best Continuing or Limited Series Harvey Award; as well as the Harvey Award for Best Single Issue or Story (for Marvels #4) in 1995. In 1996, with Astro City, Busiek won both the Eisner and Harvey awards for Best New Series. He won the Best Single Issue/Single Story Eisner three years in a row from 1996–1998, as well as in 2004. Busiek won the Best Continuing Series Eisner Award in 1997–1998, as well as the Best Serialized Story award in 1998. In addition, Astro City was awarded the 1996 Best Single Issue or Story Harvey Award, and the 1998 Harvey Award for Best Continuing or Limited Series.
Busiek was given the 1998 and 1999 Comics Buyer's Guide Awards for Favorite Writer, with additional nominations in 1997 and every year from 2000 to 2004. He has also received numerous Squiddy Awards, having been selected as favorite writer four years in a row from 1995 to 1998,
Busiek did not read comics as a youngster, as his parents disapproved of them. He began to read them regularly around the age of 14, when he picked up a copy of Daredevil #120. This was the first part of a continuity-heavy four-part story arc; Busiek was drawn to the copious history and cross-connections with other series. Throughout high school and college, he and future writer Scott McCloud practiced making comics. During this time, Busiek also had many letters published in comic book letter columns, and originated the theory that the Phoenix was a separate being who had impersonated Jean Grey, and that therefore Grey had not died—a premise which made its way from freelancer to freelancer, and which was eventually used in the comics.
During the last semester of his senior year, Busiek submitted some sample scripts to editor Dick Giordano at DC Comics. None of them sold, but they did get him invitations to pitch other material to DC editors, which led to his first professional work, a back-up story in Green Lantern #162 (Mar. 1983).
Busiek has worked on a number of different titles in his career, including Arrowsmith, The Avengers, Icon, Iron Man, The Liberty Project, Ninjak, The Power Company, Red Tornado, Shockrockets, Superman: Secret Identity, Thunderbolts, Untold Tales of Spider-Man, JLA, and the award-winning Marvels and the Homage Comics title Kurt Busiek's Astro City.
In 1997, Busiek began a stint as writer of Avengers alongside artist George Pérez. Pérez departed from the series in 2000, but Busiek continued as writer for two more years, collaborating with artists Alan Davis, Kieron Dwyer and others. Busiek's tenure culminated with the "Kang Dynasty" storyline. In 2003, Busiek re-teamed with Perez to create the JLA/Avengers limited series.
In 2003, Busiek began a new Conan series for Dark Horse Comics, which he wrote for four years.
In December 2005 Busiek signed a two-year exclusive contract with DC Comics. During DC's Infinite Crisis event, he teamed with Geoff Johns on a "One Year Later" eight-part story arc (called Up, Up and Away) that encompassed both Superman titles. In addition, he began writing the DC title Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis from issues 40-49. Busiek was the writer of Superman for two years, before followed by James Robinson starting from Superman #677. Busiek wrote a 52-issue weekly DC miniseries called Trinity, starring Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman. Each issue (except for issue #1) featured a 12-page main story by Busiek, with art by Mark Bagley, and a ten-page backup story co-written by Busiek and Fabian Nicieza, with art from various artists, including Tom Derenick, Mike Norton and Scott McDaniel.
Busiek's work has won him numerous awards in the comics industry, including the Harvey Award for Best Writer in 1998 and the Eisner Award for Best Writer in 1999. In 1994, with Marvels, he won Best Finite Series/Limited Series Eisner Award and the Best Continuing or Limited Series Harvey Award; as well as the Harvey Award for Best Single Issue or Story (for Marvels #4) in 1995. In 1996, with Astro City, Busiek won both the Eisner and Harvey awards for Best New Series. He won the Best Single Issue/Single Story Eisner three years in a row from 1996–1998, as well as in 2004. Busiek won the Best Continuing Series Eisner Award in 1997–1998, as well as the Best Serialized Story award in 1998. In addition, Astro City was awarded the 1996 Best Single Issue or Story Harvey Award, and the 1998 Harvey Award for Best Continuing or Limited Series.
Busiek was given the 1998 and 1999 Comics Buyer's Guide Awards for Favorite Writer, with additional nominations in 1997 and every year from 2000 to 2004. He has also received numerous Squiddy Awards, having been selected as favorite writer four years in a row from 1995 to 1998,
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
March 27, 2022
The Avengers have to help save the Juggernaut. The Triune Understanding subplot continues to drag on and on, with Triathlon eventually joining the team. The team almost completely turns over. Hellcat shows up in the annual. I did like the return of old Conan villain, Kulan Gath. The real shining star is the crossover with the Thunderbolts. Count Nefaria is an underrated villain. Busiek uses it as an opportunity to clean up some of Madame Masque's continuity as well. This also marks the end of George Perez's run on the title.
August 16, 2023
Busiek shakes things up in this volume with a new Avengers roster, social and media difficulties and a big Count Nefaria story. This volume contains the following issues:
#23 - Vision's identity crisis reaches the boiling point. He's been feeling less and less of a real person since Wonder Man returned, and his relationship with Wanda brings a confrontation between the two where they address their issues. At the same time, protests have begun against the Avengers line-up being made up of only white people (Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Scarlet Witch, Vision, Justice and Firestar). Several of the Avengers start feeling uncomfortable with this, as they don't want to introduce racial quotas and have members because of their race instead of their ability and character.
#24-25 - A sequel to the Eighth Day storyline where the Avengers fight the avatars of god-like beings. Juggernaut used to be one of them, as he's the Avatar of Cyttorak. The Avengers and Juggernaut are joined by Goliath, Wasp, Spider-Man, Quicksilver and Hercules in order to take them down. One cool thing about Busieks Avengers is that he often has former/inactive members join in the teams adventures.
Throughout this story, the protests against the Avengers lack of representation grows, infuriating Thor and making Captain America quit the team due to not being able to fight this kind of public relations battle. He feels that he can lead the team to fight villains and world-ending threats, but he's not able to lead them against this kind of battle against the public and the media.
#26 - A one shot where a makeshift team of Avengers, including Warbird, Ant Man, Captain Marvel (Genis-Vell) and Silverclaw infiltrate the Triune Understanding, a shady religious movement who the Avengers suspect may be behind the public hostility. This leads to a battle against Taskmaster.
#27 - Due to the mounting pressure of two lots of protesters, one protesting against the Avengers all-white roster and another protesting against mutants on the team, it's time for the Avengers roster to change. Captain America and Vision have already left, and Thor is fed-up with the public caring more about skin-colour than the Avengers saving the world. Some members also need a break. While the Avengers don't want to include non-white Avengers because of their skin colour, they decide that a compromise would be to call in former non-white members for a return first before asking others. Unfortunately none of them can return. However, Triathlon is interested in joining, but he's a member of the Triune Understanding and they might be using him as a spy. This puts the Avengers in a difficult situation where it's hard to tell what the right thing to do is.
#28-30 - A story where the Avengers go up against Kulan Gath, who has enslaved Silverclaw's mother, Peliani, and has taking over her village of Costa Verde. The new team starts to work together and develop relationships with their new members. A new mystery starts to form where a new Yellowjacket appears.
#31-45, Thunderbolts 42-44 - A massive 7 issue story (with one of them being double-sized) where the Vision returns and warns the team about a meeting between Maggia leaders being set up by the Grim Reaper. This leads to a team up with the Thunderbolts against a suped-up Count Nefaria with an enslaved and empowered Wonder Man and Atlas at his side.
This volume also includes Avengers #1.5, which is a story written by Roger Stern. It's set in the Avengers early years with the original line up against Doctor Doom.
This is a fantastic volume, and it's great seeing a traditional lineup change and a new cast of characters brought in. Busiek ties up the character arcs for the leaving Avengers while starting new ones for the new and returning members. New conflicts emerge due to their problems with the public and with the Triune Understanding.
A know a lot of people didn't like how Affirmative Action was seen as problematic in these stories, but it makes sense in this context. Affirmative Action is complex, and sometimes can be seen as a "ends justify the means" method. The outcome of greater representation is good, but choosing people because of the colour of their skin is bad. This is highlighted in here due to the traditional hero mindset of good ends can never justify bad means. It makes sense for characters such as Captain America and Thor battle with this. They just can't bring themselves to give membership out due to a persons skin colour. It's admirable that Busiek didn't take the easy way out by having one of the non-white members conveniently rejoin the team, forcing the team to have to deal with this complicated no-win situation.
Unfortunately, this story couldn't be written today, with society so politically charged and polarized, and with social media being what it is. It's great to be able to revisit stories like this where we can see issues brought up with the complexity warranted, instead of the simplified and parroted political preaching we get today.
#23 - Vision's identity crisis reaches the boiling point. He's been feeling less and less of a real person since Wonder Man returned, and his relationship with Wanda brings a confrontation between the two where they address their issues. At the same time, protests have begun against the Avengers line-up being made up of only white people (Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Scarlet Witch, Vision, Justice and Firestar). Several of the Avengers start feeling uncomfortable with this, as they don't want to introduce racial quotas and have members because of their race instead of their ability and character.
#24-25 - A sequel to the Eighth Day storyline where the Avengers fight the avatars of god-like beings. Juggernaut used to be one of them, as he's the Avatar of Cyttorak. The Avengers and Juggernaut are joined by Goliath, Wasp, Spider-Man, Quicksilver and Hercules in order to take them down. One cool thing about Busieks Avengers is that he often has former/inactive members join in the teams adventures.
Throughout this story, the protests against the Avengers lack of representation grows, infuriating Thor and making Captain America quit the team due to not being able to fight this kind of public relations battle. He feels that he can lead the team to fight villains and world-ending threats, but he's not able to lead them against this kind of battle against the public and the media.
#26 - A one shot where a makeshift team of Avengers, including Warbird, Ant Man, Captain Marvel (Genis-Vell) and Silverclaw infiltrate the Triune Understanding, a shady religious movement who the Avengers suspect may be behind the public hostility. This leads to a battle against Taskmaster.
#27 - Due to the mounting pressure of two lots of protesters, one protesting against the Avengers all-white roster and another protesting against mutants on the team, it's time for the Avengers roster to change. Captain America and Vision have already left, and Thor is fed-up with the public caring more about skin-colour than the Avengers saving the world. Some members also need a break. While the Avengers don't want to include non-white Avengers because of their skin colour, they decide that a compromise would be to call in former non-white members for a return first before asking others. Unfortunately none of them can return. However, Triathlon is interested in joining, but he's a member of the Triune Understanding and they might be using him as a spy. This puts the Avengers in a difficult situation where it's hard to tell what the right thing to do is.
#28-30 - A story where the Avengers go up against Kulan Gath, who has enslaved Silverclaw's mother, Peliani, and has taking over her village of Costa Verde. The new team starts to work together and develop relationships with their new members. A new mystery starts to form where a new Yellowjacket appears.
#31-45, Thunderbolts 42-44 - A massive 7 issue story (with one of them being double-sized) where the Vision returns and warns the team about a meeting between Maggia leaders being set up by the Grim Reaper. This leads to a team up with the Thunderbolts against a suped-up Count Nefaria with an enslaved and empowered Wonder Man and Atlas at his side.
This volume also includes Avengers #1.5, which is a story written by Roger Stern. It's set in the Avengers early years with the original line up against Doctor Doom.
This is a fantastic volume, and it's great seeing a traditional lineup change and a new cast of characters brought in. Busiek ties up the character arcs for the leaving Avengers while starting new ones for the new and returning members. New conflicts emerge due to their problems with the public and with the Triune Understanding.
A know a lot of people didn't like how Affirmative Action was seen as problematic in these stories, but it makes sense in this context. Affirmative Action is complex, and sometimes can be seen as a "ends justify the means" method. The outcome of greater representation is good, but choosing people because of the colour of their skin is bad. This is highlighted in here due to the traditional hero mindset of good ends can never justify bad means. It makes sense for characters such as Captain America and Thor battle with this. They just can't bring themselves to give membership out due to a persons skin colour. It's admirable that Busiek didn't take the easy way out by having one of the non-white members conveniently rejoin the team, forcing the team to have to deal with this complicated no-win situation.
Unfortunately, this story couldn't be written today, with society so politically charged and polarized, and with social media being what it is. It's great to be able to revisit stories like this where we can see issues brought up with the complexity warranted, instead of the simplified and parroted political preaching we get today.
June 21, 2023
If you were to tell me that a book culminating with the Avengers facing the likes of Count Nefaria would make for a key event to anchor a story, I'd normally dismiss that as something silly. But instead, it turns out this collection is yet another solid one that nicely interconnects the Hawkeye-led Thunderbolts stories with those of the Avengers.
And I did not fully appreciate how serious a baddie Count Nefaria can be based on his other appearances in later comics. But here he is quite the contender indeed and it feels like the team spends a good chunk of this collection barely keeping pace with his plans and other ministrations involving the control of other ionically charged individuals.
Fun stuff.
And I did not fully appreciate how serious a baddie Count Nefaria can be based on his other appearances in later comics. But here he is quite the contender indeed and it feels like the team spends a good chunk of this collection barely keeping pace with his plans and other ministrations involving the control of other ionically charged individuals.
Fun stuff.
May 3, 2025
A bit of a step down from the previous volume, with stories featuring the Juggernaut (in a followup to a potentially interesting minor crossover that's not really been followed up on again), Conan/X-Men foe Kulan Gath, and the Thunderbolts. They're perfectly fine stories, but not among the Avengers' (nor Busiek's) best. Meanwhile, the Triune Understanding/Triathlon subplot contributes some awkward moments. (B+)
July 7, 2024
Honestly, I am here mostly for the out of this world George Perez artwork. And that alone is worth the price of admission. Perez’s superhero artwork is absolutely stellar.
Kurt Busiek writes a great superhero story, but oh my god the dialogue! It’s like because there are 8 characters in the scene Kurt has to find something for all 8 of those characters to say before moving on. It was exhausting at times.
Kurt Busiek writes a great superhero story, but oh my god the dialogue! It’s like because there are 8 characters in the scene Kurt has to find something for all 8 of those characters to say before moving on. It was exhausting at times.
August 10, 2018
Look...honestly, I generally love Kurt Busiek's writing, but this Avengers run wasn't his finest hour by a long chalk. Points for getting shots in at Scientology, but, man, the Triune Understanding is dull, dull, dull. Then we have the diversity and relevance angle...and, hoo boy, Kurt whiffed that one painfully. Triathlon is pretty much a caricature Angry Black Man, Silverclaw is a parody of a young South American woman, and Duane...my God, Duane. Duane started out as a sweaty bag of nerves and got worse, and worse, and worse, and by this point he's...oh God, I'm a white bloke, and I can't say it. I'll just settle for saying that Duane wouldn't be out of place in certain 1930s movies.
*sigh*
The rest of this volume is pretty much typical Avengers trouble and strife, with members coming and going and huge threats having to be handled (usually by hitting them a lot.) There's also a crossover with The Thunderbolts.
Next volume: Maximum Security or where the hell is Snake Plissken when you need him?
*sigh*
The rest of this volume is pretty much typical Avengers trouble and strife, with members coming and going and huge threats having to be handled (usually by hitting them a lot.) There's also a crossover with The Thunderbolts.
Next volume: Maximum Security or where the hell is Snake Plissken when you need him?
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews