It's a new lineup and a new era for Earth's Mightiest Heroes! Writers Gerry Conway and Jim Shooter join George Pérez for an amazing collection of all-time Avengers classics. Wonder Man is back, but can he be trusted? What will his return mean for the Vision? And can the Avengers overcome the inconceivable might of the Serpent Crown? AVENGERS 150-163, ANNUAL (1967) 6; SUPER-VILLAIN TEAM-UP 9
Gerard Francis Conway (Gerard F. Conway) is an American writer of comic books and television shows. He is known for co-creating the Marvel Comics' vigilante the Punisher and scripting the death of the character Gwen Stacy during his long run on The Amazing Spider-Man. At DC Comics, he is known for co-creating the superhero Firestorm and others, and for writing the Justice League of America for eight years. Conway wrote the first major, modern-day intercompany crossover, Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man.
Without a doubt, one of the greatest collections of Avengers, ever. This book belongs in every Avengers fans collection. Required reading. Simply must have. Some of the best comics ever published.
Yeah, was going to put 4 stars in it but most of the stories on this one were going like that : start---gets interesting---MORE interesting---ends with cliffhanger --- next issue starts with a new story without explaining what happened on the damn cliffhanger --- oh wait-- after 5 pages an explanation is happening but with a way like we're trying to get it over with real fast without showing anything. -
So, basically one example would be - Ant-man attacks the Avengers thinking that they're fake avengers not the real ones but doppelgängers and that sounds interesting, especially when releasing thousands of ants all over every one and shit. But are they the real Avengers? Antman went mad? What's happening. The whole issue was great. And with a great cliffhanger, but on the next issue, there's no wrapping up with what's going to happen to Ant-Man, of Wasp, or with Ultron and his "woman". Nope, we just get Iron Man talking to the phone with I don't remember who, telling us that Wasp told him that Hank is getting better and now his mind is better and shit like that... NOPE. Fuck that shit.
Oh well!
But I really loved most of the stories, great old stuff here!
One of the most incredible eras in Avengers history captured here, a years worth of issues (#150-163 or August '76-September '77) along with Avengers Annual #6 and Super Villain Team-Up #9. There are some incredible arcs in here starting off with issue #150 that serves not only as a way to introduce a new Avengers lineup, but also covers quite a bit of their history up until that point. From there we see the return of Wonder Man, an epic story featuring Dr. Doom and Namor that spans across three different titles, the Bride of Ultron (featuring Ant-Man turning against the team!), and an appearance by the Avengers-lite of the period: The Champions (Angel, Iceman, Black Widow, Hercules, and Ghost Rider). This was the period of time when George Perez was doing the artwork for them and it's just gorgeous. The writing is great too, shared by comic book legends Gerry Conway, Steve Englehart, and Jim Shooter. Very highly recommended for any interested in older Avengers comics, don't miss it!
Another excellent collection. The War of Doctor Doom nicely includes Super-Villain Team-Up, an issue you’d have needed to read if you wanted to follow the whole story. Perez’s art is fantastic and he really grows as an illustrative story teller.
The two-part roster change was good, and the return of Wonder-Man was also very good. Lots of good story elements that are pulled together as the series advances. This period seemed to focus mostly on the characters who did not have a title of their own (Cap & Iron Man), so Beast, Vision and Wanda, and Yellowjacket & Wasp get good page time.
This volume begins with a filler issue that's half member-shuffling and half reprint of issue #16. I feel like issues #150 & 151 could have been condensed into one. Anyway, that's my major gripe with this volume.
Steve Englehart finishes his huge 49-issue run in this volume, passing over writing duties to Gerry Conway and Jim Shooter, who don't always seem like they know quite what they're doing. Wonder Man returns from the dead, which is cool, and the Avengers are trapped in the middle of a big ruckus between Dr. Doom, Attuma and the Sub-Mariner. It's a bit convoluted and underwhelming in comparison to other recent stories. Despite a few other shaky issues the book re-finds its footing with a great trio of back-to-back stories featuring the Graviton, Grim Reaper and Ultron. Now that Wonder Man is back, the Vision requestions his humanity and there's some interesting subplot going on involving that.
Overall, weak-ish first half and stronger second half.
At least the art from Perez and the Buscema brothers is glorious.
Not a big fan of the Avengers but I am a big fan of the X-Men so I thought it was about time I read about Hank McCoy’s time with the team.
My highlights, from a Beast point of view:
Beast is definitely by now a stable part of the team, mostly playing the role of the new guy wiseacre. Wonder Man joins the team but he and Beast aren’t buddies yet. Not really impressed with the title in general so far. It’s still very Silver Age, and not that that is a bad thing in and of itself, but there’s a lot of stops and starts that stop the story from flowing well from one issue to the next. The creators are constantly changing, too.