Avengers Epic Collection, Vol. 9: The Final Threat

Avengers Epic Collection

by Jim Shooter, Gerry Conway, Steve Englehart

A new era in Earth's Mightiest Heroes begins with an all-new Avengers lineup under the guidance of writers Gerry Conway and Jim Shooter. Teamed with a who's who of top 1970s art talent-George Pérez, Jim Starlin and John Byrne-these storytellers pit the Avengers against the greatest threats in the Marvel Universe. From Dr. Doom to Ultron and Attuma to the Sub-Mariner, the Avengers are put to the test in issue after action-packed issue. Ant-Man amok, the return of Wonder Man, and the Avengers' all-time classic battle with Thanos highlight this epic collection!

COLLECTING: AVENGERS (1963) 150-166, ANNUAL (1967) 6-7, SUPER-VILLIAN TEAM-UP (1975) 9 & MARVEL TWO-IN-ON E ANNUAL (1976) 2

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Graphic Novels, Comic Book, Superheroes, Science Fiction, Graphic Novels Comics

440 pages, Paperback

First published December 31, 2013

About the author

James Charles Shooter was an American writer, editor and publisher in the comics industry. Beginning his career writing for DC Comics at the age of 14, he had a successful but controversial run as editor-in-chief at Marvel Comics, and launched comics publishers Valiant, Defiant, and Broadway.

Reviews

[Sean Gibson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an absolutely outstanding and epic run on Avengers. Especially the part when Vision puts the moves on Iron Man, only to be confused when it turns out he's not an android, but just a guy in a suit.

Okay, that part didn't happen. But the art is FANTASTIC (Perez! Byrne! Buscema! Starlin!), and the storytelling is top-notch.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.25 stars. More classic Avengers comics! This volume we see the return of the Whizzer and Wonder Man retuning from the dead. He eventually gets his bearings back and starts fighting alongside the Avengers once again. Of course this means the return of the Reaper, Wonder Man’s brother, wanting to see if this is in fact his brother returned from the grave. All that while dealing with the Living Laser getting his hands on the Serpent Crown. One of my favorite stories here was when Attuma shows up. His plan is to use a scheme to get the Avengers to fight Namor so they can take him out or weaken him enough for Attuma to take him out himself and then go for domination of Earth. Doctor Doom finds himself mixed up in this arc as well. There’s a character for the next arc that I’d never heard of that the Avengers have to deal with next, Graviton. He pulled a move that reminded me of the Avengers Ultron movie where he lifted up an entire city and had it hovering over NY threatening to drop it. Speaking of Ultron, he has been showing up off and on throughout this with the last time trying to bring to life his android wife using Janet Pym’s conscious. I think that was an early Jacosta. Book closes with the Avangers dealing with a super powered up Count Nefaria. He gave the team everything they could handle and then some.

[Michael Emond · Rating 3 out of 5]

As far as an Avenger' collection of the 1970' goes this is pretty good. Let's be clear of one thing - the writing in the 70's for comic books was generally pretty horrid. Inconsistent characters, plot threads that weren't followed up on or made little sense when they were followed up on, and stories/villains that weren't very interesting. What makes this collection a bit above average are two things, the collection of artists we get: George Perez (still not at top form yet but still pretty good), John Byrne (who right from his first comic book was amazing) and Jim Starlin (firing on all cylinders); second, the nice two part Thanos story at the end by Jim Starlin. Jim, out of all the writers at the time, knew how to write epic cosmic tales; knew how to develop characters (he made Adam Warlock interesting fer gosh sakes) and knew how to write a complete story with a good beginning and satisfying conclusion. It is only about 70 pages of the 300+ book but it is worth it (although his Adam Warlock collection contains these stories PLUS his Adam Warlock run which is an overlooked masterpiece of the time, or any time). So that's the good - the bad is...a lot of other things. Since the writers change so do the personalities of the characters, the Vision is a robot one week and a jealous husband the next. Henry Pym is a super hero one week and a psychotic crazy the next week. Thor leaves because...the writers couldn't figure out how to use him. The Beast...is a punching bag every week (he would become more defined later but was always better used with the X-Men). So, typical bad 70's writing. Fun for when I was a 10 year old but now hard to get through.

If you get this collection get it for the artists and the nostalgia.

[Marcelo Soares · Rating 4 out of 5]

Muita coisa acontece nessa edição, que começa com a #150 e toda aquela função para escolher um novo time Vingadores, depois de muito debate fica decidido que os novos Vingadores serão: Latinha, Capitão, Fera, Visão, Feiticeira, Vespa e o Hank Pym, assim que isso é decidido um Magnum Zumbi aparece do nada e todo mundo vai para Nova Orleans enfrentar o Garra Negra, um mestre voodoo que se fantasia de galo. Sério. Galo. Acho que ele foi bicado por uma galo radioativo místico zumbi ou coisa assim. Também tem uma função com o Whizzer, que na época era pai da Wanda e do Pietro, e o filho perdido, o Nuklo - uma ideia que foi bem ruim.
Depois disso o Magnum acaba ficando nos Vingadores e começando um dos maiores bromances dos quadrinhos com o Fera. Contudo, antes que as canecas de chopp comecem a rolar, o Attuma captura os Vingadores e os usa contra o Namor e o Doutor Destino e, claro, "para evitar um incidente internacional" os Vingadores precisam ajudar o Destino a enfrentar o Attuma. Depois temos a volta do Ultron, que convence o Hank Pym - segundo a Janet, ele tá tendo problemas em "aumentar de tamanho" - a se vingar dos Vingadores e criar uma mulher para o Ultron, a Jocasta, o Thor também aparece de volta e um quebra pau com o Ultron sempre é tri. Depois temos o Gravitron e a Legião Letal que limpam o chão de Nova Iorque com a bunda dos Vingadores e só são derrotados por uma tecnicalidade no plano dos vilões. E a ameaça final é um especial em duas partes com o Thanos atacando a Terra com a Jóia do Não Sei O Quê, claro, tem Thanos, tem Capitão Marvel e Adãozinho Warlock; também tem o Coisa e o Homem-Aranha, a história é bacana, tem uma sensação épica de batalha final, mas perde uns pontos porque o Starlin cósmico é meio chato.
No geral é uma coleção bem divertida, com Perez, Byrne, Starlin, Shooter, Conway, Engleheart, o que deixa a coisa bem divertida, ainda que as mudanças não sejam tão bem conectadas - uma hora o Visão é um robô, outra é um marido ciumento. Outra coisa interessante é que as histórias começam uma na outra, o último quadrinho de uma história já te joga na próxima edição, mesmo que os assuntos sejam totalmente diferentes. A grande estrela da edição é o Magnum, voltando dos mortos, fazendo amizade com o Fera, arrastando uma asa para a Feiticeira, com medo de morrer de novo, é o personagem que está sendo desenvolvido nessas edições.
É um bom compilado dos anos 70 raiz da Marvel.

[Space Dragon · Rating 3 out of 5]

The highlight is the 2 part story where they fight Gravition, the other is the one with Warlock and Thanks and Spider Man.
The first couple of issues are really messy written. They try to retell the origin for the different team members, while beginning a new story. considering the time it is published it makes sense, but it could still have been put better together.
The art is great, especially the ones by Jim Starlin.

I would not recommend this as your first Avenger Epic Collection. Nr. 5, 7 or 8 is more coherent in storytelling and artwork. But it still has 4 issues, that are some of the best Avenger ever written. So you choose as a new reader.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book contains my favorite childhood Avengers stories all in one volume. I leaned toward team books as a kid because they offered the most bang for the buck. Why buy a comic featuring one superhero when you can get eight heroes for the same price?

The Final Threat collection has it all: classic art by all-time greats like Perez, Byrne, Starlin, John and Sal Buscema; even legendary inkers Joe Rubinstein and Joe Sinnott. The Avengers' most powerful nemeses: Dr. Doom, Ultron, Graviton, Attuma, and in the finale, Thanos (a two-part Starlin epic co-starring Captain Marvel and personal faves Spider-Man and the Thing). And my favorite team roster, with Cap, Iron Man, Vision and Scarlet Witch, Beast, plus Thor and the resurrected Wonder Man.

Sure, the writing is strained at times, too angsty and soapy for my tastes; and the plots and dialogue -- especially from the villains -- are frequently silly.

But this one collection encompasses pretty much everything I enjoy about Marvel superhero comics. It's a keeper, a book I will return to often to remind myself of why I fell in love with the genre.

[Zack! Empire · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading this collection, it is easy to see why the Avengers were dominating so much before the X-Men really took over the Marvel universe. This is a great collection. It reminds me of what I love about Super-heroes, and why I love this era of comics so much. There is a lot of great high stakes stories, but they try to go the extra mile to make it more than just a simple beat em' up. For example, the villain, Attuma, uses control collars to make the Avengers fight against Doctor Doom and Namor. Of course, the Avengers manage to break free, but, to save the whole thing from being an international incident, they must now help Doctor Doom take down Attuma! It's just great to see the Avengers fighting not only great villain's, but also struggle with the moral idea of right and wrong.
There is some great character work here too. I loved see the Wizzer show up. At this point, it is believed he is Wanda and Pietro's father. He does his best to help out the Avengers, even though he has a bad heart. You really feel for the guy. Wonder Man also get's some great moments. He has just recently returned from the dead. He struggles through the battles because he is afraid of dying again. It is some great growth for him. How often in comics do we get a character on par with Superman, worrying that he could die, to scared to help his friends?
Can't wait for volume 10!

[Adam Stone · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm reading this as part of my read-through of all X-Men comics because this iteration of The Avengers features Beast fairly prominently. In fact, this is the first book I've read in my chronology where Beast is dropping "Oh my stars and garters!?" almost every issue.

If I were recommending completist, necessary, casual, or just iconic read-throughs of the X-books, I would skip this.

It's a perfectly fun Avengers books with a constantly shifting team of heroes, shifting teams of writers and artists, tons of continuity cameos, and even The Avengers first throwdown with Thanos at the end, but it really doesn't add anything to Beast's story, he's just a prominently featured background character being heroic but not getting any character development. We do also have The Scarlet Witch and Namor have some moments in this book, but none of those moments are particularly epic, either.

Should you read this if you want a good Avengers story? Absolutely. A Beast/X-Men story? Skip it.

[Jimbo · Rating 5 out of 5]

This really was an epic collection of stories br writers like Jim Shooter, Gary Conway, and Jim Starlin. George Perez and others did great jobs with the massive mess called the Avengers. From a new(old) storyline of a new kine-up through battles with each other, their inner demons, Uktron, County Nefaria, and ultimately Thanos they barely survived and half the time, not by their own means.
The great thing in this collection was the vreturn of Wonder Man. He has always been underrated in the Marvel Universe, but he always struck me as a true hero with no support or fans.
Adam Warlock and Captain Marvel still shine in my mind and Moondragon is still insufferable. Lol.

Loved it. Read it. Enjoy.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

In my opinion, Avengers Epic Collection 9 starts out quite weakly.

A couple of filler issues while the team members get reshuffled and then an underwhelming story featuring Dr. Doom, Attuma and Sub-Mariner. Not really my cup of tea. The only high point was Wonder Man's surprise return from the grave.

However, after this... wow! Conflict between Wonder Man and the Vision, the team failing to gel together properly, and encounters with Graviton, the Grim Reaper, Ultron, Count Nefaria and Thanos?! Yes please! There's such a strong ending to this volume.

Plus, the art from the Buscema brothers, George Perez, John Byrne and Jim Starlin... Exquisite!

[Omar Gómez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Avengers Epic Collection, Vol. 9: The Final Threat calificación 3.5/5 estrellas.

Gran arte de John Byrne, George Perez y Jim Starlin.
Comenzó flojo pero esto mejoro con Wonder Man vs. Vision, la historia de Graviton.

esto estuvo mejorando cada vez más, llegando a lo más alto con los últimos issues con John Byrne dibujando la pelea de Nefaria deteniendo Mjolnir con su mano izquierda y con un derechazo golpeando Thor.

Esta escena se repitió en JLA/AVENGERS de Kurt Busiek y George Perez donde Superman detuvo Mjolnir con la mano izquierda y con un derechazo dejo K. O a Thor.

Y cerró el tomo de la mejor manera con la última historia de Starlin con Warlock y Thanos.

[Meenakshisankar M · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a collection from the 1970s, with very unexpected plots and even unfamiliar superheroes I've never even heard of as part of Avengers, but it was truly epic. It took a few issues to take-off but the intersections of various arcs and villains made it very memorable as a collection. Spectacular artwork!

[B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Greatly exceeded expectations. These were solid if occasionally flat stories.

[Jdetrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Avengers comic finally starts to kick into high gear here, feeling more modern than ever with some great artwork and some strong stories.

[Matt Fuller · Rating 5 out of 5]

The start of a new creative team and a new lineup of characters the Avengers face off against Dr. Doom and Thanos this is top notch Avengers content. Covers 1976-1977.

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really loved this run. I know some people didn't, but I did. And the last 2 issues dealt with Thanos, one of my all-time favorite villains.