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Marvel Masterworks: The Avengers #13
Marvel Masterworks: The Avengers, Vol. 13
Earth's Mightiest Heroes begin to unravel the origin of Mantis in their latest Masterworks extravaganza! An all-hands-on-deck battle with the Zodiac takes the Avengers to the stars and into the jungles of Vietnam before Mantis' surprise connection to the criminal gang is revealed. Then, the team lends their might to Captain Marvel's fight against Thanos and his Cosmic Cube! Next, Roy Thomas returns for a Giant-Size adventure including Golden Age heroes Miss America and the revelation about Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch's origins. COLLECTING: Avengers (1963) 120-128, Giant -Size Avengers 1, Captain Marvel (1968) 33, Fantastic Four (1961) 150
272 pages, Hardcover
First published July 2, 2013
8 people are currently reading
102 people want to read
About the author
Steve Englehart
1,395 books97 followersSee also John Harkness.
Steve Englehart went to Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. After a stint in the Army, he moved to New York and began to write for Marvel Comics. That led to long runs on Captain America, The Hulk, The Avengers, Dr. Strange, and a dozen other titles. Midway through that period he moved to California (where he remains), and met and married his wife Terry.
He was finally hired away from Marvel by DC Comics, to be their lead writer and revamp their core characters (Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, and Green Lantern). He did, but he also wrote a solo Batman series (immediately dubbed the "definitive" version) that later became Warner Brothers' first Batman film (the good one).
After that he left comics for a time, traveled in Europe for a year, wrote a novel (The Point Man™), and came back to design video games for Atari (E.T., Garfield). But he still liked comics, so he created Coyote™, which within its first year was rated one of America's ten best series. Other projects he owned (Scorpio Rose™, The Djinn™) were mixed with company series (Green Lantern [with Joe Staton], Silver Surfer, Fantastic Four). Meanwhile, he continued his game design for Activision, Electronic Arts, Sega, and Brøderbund.
And once he and Terry had their two sons, Alex and Eric, he naturally told them stories. Rustle's Christmas Adventure was first devised for them. He went on to add a run of mid-grade books to his bibliography, including the DNAgers™ adventure series, and Countdown to Flight, a biography of the Wright brothers selected by NASA as the basis for their school curriculum on the invention of the airplane.
In 1992 Steve was asked to co-create a comics pantheon called the Ultraverse. One of his contributions, The Night Man, became not only a successful comics series, but also a television show. That led to more Hollywood work, including animated series such as Street Fighter, GI Joe, and Team Atlantis for Disney.
Steve Englehart went to Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. After a stint in the Army, he moved to New York and began to write for Marvel Comics. That led to long runs on Captain America, The Hulk, The Avengers, Dr. Strange, and a dozen other titles. Midway through that period he moved to California (where he remains), and met and married his wife Terry.
He was finally hired away from Marvel by DC Comics, to be their lead writer and revamp their core characters (Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, and Green Lantern). He did, but he also wrote a solo Batman series (immediately dubbed the "definitive" version) that later became Warner Brothers' first Batman film (the good one).
After that he left comics for a time, traveled in Europe for a year, wrote a novel (The Point Man™), and came back to design video games for Atari (E.T., Garfield). But he still liked comics, so he created Coyote™, which within its first year was rated one of America's ten best series. Other projects he owned (Scorpio Rose™, The Djinn™) were mixed with company series (Green Lantern [with Joe Staton], Silver Surfer, Fantastic Four). Meanwhile, he continued his game design for Activision, Electronic Arts, Sega, and Brøderbund.
And once he and Terry had their two sons, Alex and Eric, he naturally told them stories. Rustle's Christmas Adventure was first devised for them. He went on to add a run of mid-grade books to his bibliography, including the DNAgers™ adventure series, and Countdown to Flight, a biography of the Wright brothers selected by NASA as the basis for their school curriculum on the invention of the airplane.
In 1992 Steve was asked to co-create a comics pantheon called the Ultraverse. One of his contributions, The Night Man, became not only a successful comics series, but also a television show. That led to more Hollywood work, including animated series such as Street Fighter, GI Joe, and Team Atlantis for Disney.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
April 4, 2018
Yeah, I think that's the volume, that started changing things to better back then.
I think that Englehart got like levelled up with his writing in this volume right here. Loved most of his stuff here and especially towards the end.
The artwork as always was great!
I think that Englehart got like levelled up with his writing in this volume right here. Loved most of his stuff here and especially towards the end.
The artwork as always was great!
February 16, 2016
The Marvel Masterworks volumes are fantastic reprints of the early years of Marvel comics. A fantastic resource to allow these hard to find issues to be read by everyone. Very recommended to everyone and Highly recommended to any comic fan.
September 28, 2023
Things start out with a three part bang, with The Avengers going toe to toe against The Zodiac in 120-122. The Zodiac are a 12-member crime syndicate, with each member wearing a costume respective to their sign with powers to match. Growing up in the '70s, zodiac signs were everywhere. My mom even had a wall hanging featuring the zodiac signs. This is one of those it-could-only-come-from-the-70s plots, where The Avengers are racing against time to stop The Zodiac from using a beam to murder every Gemini in Manhattan.
This lineup of the team in this era is great. Thor, The Vision, Iron Man, Black Panther, the Scarlet Witch, Mantis, The Swordsman, and Captain America, who was coming and going during these issues due to problems with The Secret Empire over in his own title.
Issue 123 has one of those convoluted story twists that could only come from the early 70s. Steve Englehart shifts gears with Libra of the just-defeated Zodiac trying to trick Mantis into thinking that he is her father. This starts the team on a journey back to Vietnam to try to uncover her true origins, which at this time were still a mystery. We learn bits and pieces and it all becomes a bit ridiculous. At least the Avengers fight a giant red dragon called the Star-Stalker in #124, which makes no sense but it looks cool and was fun to read.
There is no break in the action as we head into issue 125. The Avengers end up in a space battle with the fleet of Thanos, who is shown but the team do not encounter him at this time. This brings us to the crossover issue Captain Marvel (the original, Mar-Vell, not the Carol Danvers one that newer readers know), where we see Captain Marvel and Drax the Destroyer battling Thanos for the Cosmic Cube.
Giant-Size Avengers #1 is a Roy Thomas continuity porn spectacular, where he shoehorns in members of The All-Winners Squad from the 1940s into Marvel continuity, albeit as middle-aged superheroes. Rich Buckler turns in his Jack Kirby homage art and I have to admit that it's great. There was a time when artists try to emulate the Marvel house style of the day. No one does that anymore.
I really got a kick out of issue 126, where The Avengers fight Klaw and Solarr in another one of those It could only come from the early seventies type of stories. As silly as some of these things may seem to a middle-aged man here in the so-called sophisticated 21st century, you have to remember that Steve Englehart was winging this as he went along for the most part. He may have had a map but he was able to do things on the fly which no writer today could do with all of the editorial constraints that they face. I would much rather read stories like this that are fun and it seems like the writer is juggling balls trying not to drop one then some boring and sterile completely mapped out down to the last panel comic book. Your mileage may vary.
Number 127 sees the Avengers head to the Hidden Refuge of The Inhumans to attend the wedding of Crystal and Quicksilver. It's another one of those absurd 70s kind of stories where the twist at the end reveals the villain to be none other than Ultron-7. Ultron rules. This issue was also a crossover with Fantastic Four #150. Seeing the Fantastic Four and The Avengers take on Ultron together was awesome.
Number 128 was a story that focused on the Scarlet Witch. Steve Englehart was one of the first writers to really explore Wanda Maximoff. Women's lib was in full swing and there was no reason that a mutant who had the power to alter probabilities should be so easily winded and a weak link in the team. Englehart brought in Agatha Harkness, the former caregiver for Franklin Richards of the Fantastic Four. Harkness ended up parting company with the FF after the wedding of Crystal and Quicksilver to accompany The Avengers back to Avengers mansion to work with Wanda and help her with her mutant powers. In yet another one of those kind of absurd, post Rosemary's Baby early '70s faux occult stories we see her reach her full potential.
And that ending! Kang the Conqueror! I'm a huge fan of Kang and all of his time slips. While I've read all of the issues that are in the next volume and this line I can't wait to reread them in high def. Steve Englehart is one of the all-time greatest Avengers writers, and the next volume in this line features one of its all-time greatest storylines: The Celestial Madonna.
This lineup of the team in this era is great. Thor, The Vision, Iron Man, Black Panther, the Scarlet Witch, Mantis, The Swordsman, and Captain America, who was coming and going during these issues due to problems with The Secret Empire over in his own title.
Issue 123 has one of those convoluted story twists that could only come from the early 70s. Steve Englehart shifts gears with Libra of the just-defeated Zodiac trying to trick Mantis into thinking that he is her father. This starts the team on a journey back to Vietnam to try to uncover her true origins, which at this time were still a mystery. We learn bits and pieces and it all becomes a bit ridiculous. At least the Avengers fight a giant red dragon called the Star-Stalker in #124, which makes no sense but it looks cool and was fun to read.
There is no break in the action as we head into issue 125. The Avengers end up in a space battle with the fleet of Thanos, who is shown but the team do not encounter him at this time. This brings us to the crossover issue Captain Marvel (the original, Mar-Vell, not the Carol Danvers one that newer readers know), where we see Captain Marvel and Drax the Destroyer battling Thanos for the Cosmic Cube.
Giant-Size Avengers #1 is a Roy Thomas continuity porn spectacular, where he shoehorns in members of The All-Winners Squad from the 1940s into Marvel continuity, albeit as middle-aged superheroes. Rich Buckler turns in his Jack Kirby homage art and I have to admit that it's great. There was a time when artists try to emulate the Marvel house style of the day. No one does that anymore.
I really got a kick out of issue 126, where The Avengers fight Klaw and Solarr in another one of those It could only come from the early seventies type of stories. As silly as some of these things may seem to a middle-aged man here in the so-called sophisticated 21st century, you have to remember that Steve Englehart was winging this as he went along for the most part. He may have had a map but he was able to do things on the fly which no writer today could do with all of the editorial constraints that they face. I would much rather read stories like this that are fun and it seems like the writer is juggling balls trying not to drop one then some boring and sterile completely mapped out down to the last panel comic book. Your mileage may vary.
Number 127 sees the Avengers head to the Hidden Refuge of The Inhumans to attend the wedding of Crystal and Quicksilver. It's another one of those absurd 70s kind of stories where the twist at the end reveals the villain to be none other than Ultron-7. Ultron rules. This issue was also a crossover with Fantastic Four #150. Seeing the Fantastic Four and The Avengers take on Ultron together was awesome.
Number 128 was a story that focused on the Scarlet Witch. Steve Englehart was one of the first writers to really explore Wanda Maximoff. Women's lib was in full swing and there was no reason that a mutant who had the power to alter probabilities should be so easily winded and a weak link in the team. Englehart brought in Agatha Harkness, the former caregiver for Franklin Richards of the Fantastic Four. Harkness ended up parting company with the FF after the wedding of Crystal and Quicksilver to accompany The Avengers back to Avengers mansion to work with Wanda and help her with her mutant powers. In yet another one of those kind of absurd, post Rosemary's Baby early '70s faux occult stories we see her reach her full potential.
And that ending! Kang the Conqueror! I'm a huge fan of Kang and all of his time slips. While I've read all of the issues that are in the next volume and this line I can't wait to reread them in high def. Steve Englehart is one of the all-time greatest Avengers writers, and the next volume in this line features one of its all-time greatest storylines: The Celestial Madonna.
September 27, 2023
This volume of Avengers Masterworks signals the beginning of one of my favourite eras of the comic book.
There may be some filler here, but Steve Englehart subtly weaves little threads of subplot through each issue, dropping little breadcrumbs of information that will eventually lead to some major events that affect beloved characters further down the line.
The Buscema brothers' art is great as usual, and Bob Brown does a decent job too.
There may be some filler here, but Steve Englehart subtly weaves little threads of subplot through each issue, dropping little breadcrumbs of information that will eventually lead to some major events that affect beloved characters further down the line.
The Buscema brothers' art is great as usual, and Bob Brown does a decent job too.
July 28, 2018
Things are definitely on the upswing, but there are too many issues focused on Zodiac and too many crossovers with other comics for this to truly be a good Avengers run.
November 11, 2020
There was some issues in here that you really shouldn't miss but on the whole it was pretty average.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews