Essential Avengers, Vol. 2

Essential Avengers #2

by Stan Lee

Stan Lee

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

528 pages, Paperback

First published November 10, 1967

About the author

Stan Lee (born Stanley Martin Lieber) was an American writer, editor, creator of comic book superheroes, and the former president and chairman of Marvel Comics.

With several artist co-creators, most notably Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, he co-created Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, Thor as a superhero, the X-Men, Iron Man, the Hulk, Daredevil, the Silver Surfer, Dr. Strange, Ant-Man and the Wasp, Scarlet Witch, The Inhumans, and many other characters, introducing complex, naturalistic characters and a thoroughly shared universe into superhero comic books. He subsequently led the expansion of Marvel Comics from a small division of a publishing house to a large multimedia corporation.

Reviews

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one took me a helluva long time to finish.
I pretty much read it in between things that I enjoyed/liked/wanted to read. For me, these huge collections are just too much old shit at one time. I can do single issues of older comics all. day. long.
But trying to get through issue after issue after issue in one sitting is next to impossible for me.
The art doesn't do it for me and the storylines are goofy as fuck. <--which is fine! <--in small doses.



However. Taken in those small doses? These are a LOT of fun!
You have these nutty characters in even nuttier outfits. Even the masks & boots are over the top!



There are several memorable tales in this and trying to go over all of them would simply take too long.
But my personal favorite?
That time that Goliath (Hank Pym) got stuck at 10 feet tall and gave up on life.



I mean, there's a lot of ridiculous that can be unpacked here, but Hank throwing in the towel crawling off to die in a cave because he was 10 feet tall just...
*kisses fingers*
Perfection!







Buddy Read with THE HULK!



But we all know how this is going to turn out...



I may have actually lost. Plus, I can't find Jeff anywhere!

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Meet Earth's mightiest heroes: Captain America, super-soldier and living legend; Hercules, Prince of Power; The mutant speedster, Quicksilver; his sister, the enchanging Scarlet Witch; Hawkeye, the avenging archer; and Goliath, the team's towering titan. Together they are the Mighty Avengers--forever assembled to protect the world from evil! COLLECTING: Avengers #25-46, Avengers Annual #1

Another collection of Avenger tales reprinted in B/W which does not really bother me and is rather calm on the eye to be honest. This collection is fun with a lippy Hawkeye annoying Cap and some really surprising characters showing up in the stories, even if I consider some of the villains a bit too much to appreciate.
These stories do entertain and have some OTT storylines but in the end the humanity of the characters get told pretty decent even if Thor and Hercules are of course as annoying as Gods or semi-gods can be,
500 plus pages of old Marvel and a lot of fun.

[Printable Tire · Rating 2 out of 5]

Trying to read this felt like doing homework.

I’ve long been convinced Stan Lee saved his writing muscles for my favorite comic books (Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four, natch) and was basically phoning it in with imitations for most of the rest of Marvel's many offerings. For example, Tony Stark’s ridiculous inventions on display in this volume (although he or Iron Man scantily make an appearance) are poor substitutes for Reed Richards’. One does have to wonder, though, how anyone can go missing in the Marvel Universe when such things as a Find-O-Ray (or whatever it's called) exists, or why anyone must suffer dementia if there’s such a thing as a Recall-O-Ray (or whatever it’s called), the latter of which Hawkeye hilariously uses to recall a six-digit number so he can call Captain America.

Goliath’s “I’m a 10-foot freak!” problem (which exists for like three issues) is boring, and dare I say insulting when compared to the slings and arrows suffered by everyone’s favorite self-pity magnate, the ever-lovin’ blue-eyed Thing. There’s just no urgency to Goliath’s problems, and that's too bad because his very character is a problem throughout the comic. Is he Giant Man? Goliath? Ant-Man again? The writers struggle with how to fit him into the comic book and make him interesting, and mostly fail.

Another example of cheap imitation: my favorite story in this collection, involving the racist hate cult the Serpent Society (or whatever they’re called) just doesn’t compare to the time the Fantastic Four fought the original Marvel Stand-In Bigot, The Hate Monger.

For the most part, though, the stories are SLIGHTLY more entertaining than the ones in volume one- there’s more dynamic page and column layouts, and sometimes the villains even have more creative designs than simply revenge. Despite reading comics my entire life I usually fail to notice any impact an inker makes on a comic book, though here I must admit the way George Bell inks thick eyebrows somehow makes a big difference.

I was amused by the fact both the Scarlet Witch and the Enchantress sewed costumes for their comrades- maybe they should get a sewing circle going. Hercules feels like an outdated parody or some public domain character, and his personality is annoying in the Scrappy Doo vein. Namor’s “Imperius Rex!” battlecy is funny, I forgot he did that, but every time he shows up in a comic I lose interest (too much Namor! Enough already!). The Red Guardian story was actually not a bad action-packed Cold War yarn, although throwing a belt buckle is a pretty dumb equivalent to Cap’s shield. I think Super Adaptoid should win Super Shittiest Looking Supervillain Award.

It’s not until you see the heroes in their civilian clothes (or a crowd shot) that you can appreciate how really old these stories are. There's a stray teen hippie every now and then, but all the men are wearing suits and hats, and most of the women dress like Jackie O.

There’s so much sitting around in this comic. Hercules seems to spend most of his time loafing around on the couch, all but eating potato chips and watching Football. Guess it’s true what they say about fish and company.

Bottom line: Probably due to a combination of the boring story lines, the boring characters, and the lack of color, but without fail, this collection would make me fall asleep, which is why it took me so long to get through it. I don’t think I’m even gonna attempt Avengers Volume 3 at this point.

[tony dillard jr · Rating 3 out of 5]

The second volume of Marvel's Essential Avengers sees not just the team but the magazine itself going through a lot of changes. When we begin with issue #25, the team's lineup is seriously under-powered. Thor, Iron Man, Giant Man and the Wasp are gone. Captain America is left to lead mutant siblings, the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver as well as the hot-headed sharpshooter, Hawkeye. Arguably this is the weakest incarnation of the Avengers ever!

How the comic book managed to avoid cancellation with such a puny roll call is beyond me. Yet, that was part of the genius of Stan Lee. Love him or hate him, the man knew how to sell a comic book and he managed to keep the World's Mightiest Superheroes relevant without any of Marvel's heaviest hitters. By issue #35, Stan would leave the title in the hands of his most trusted protege, Roy Thomas. Along with Don Heck, some of the weirdest tales ever told this side of Marvel's sci-fi and fantasy books would occur in the pages of the Avengers; including the heroes being abducted by aliens in the Bavarian Alps.

Eventually Hank Pym, stuck at the towering height of 25 feet, along with Jan Van Dyne, would return to the team, becoming the de facto leaders in the absence of Cap. A terrifying story of a fascist group of bigots calling themselves the Sons of the Serpent would do their best to infiltrate the ranks of our government as well as the boards of many Fortune 500 companies, declaring America for Americans only, would be an early test of Pym's leadership. Taking place in issues #32-33, you really couldn't tell if this story was set in 1966 or current day 2025. Extremely unsettling how undated that story of political terrorism was.

Heck would eventually leave after issue #49. His replacement was John Buscema. The change in artwork was so striking. Heck was great. Buscema was just a tad bit better. Along with the new artist would soon come a new character to the title, that Prince of Power, the Mighty Hercules. While not an official member of the team, the hero's presence as an exiled guest of the Avengers adds a powerful punch that has been missing since the absence of Thor.

But don't fret thinking that Thor and Iron Man have completely turned their backs on the Avengers. They'll both make guest starring returns in a pair of stories, one of who's sees the heroes battling against the Mandarin and his team of 5 of the Avenger's most fearsome does.

I have an early print of this volume. The printing was terrible. I don't think any sort of remastering had even been attempted. Multiple panels were in desperate need of ink. Others seemed to have been over-inked. It was rare to find a complete page where there weren't any print flaws.

I had low expectations for this book. While the Sons of the Serpent story was a gut punch of a read, I really enjoyed this seemingly implausible lineup of Marvel heroes. I just wish my print was given the same amount of love and care as the original works were given.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are a lot of changes in this volume of Avengers material.

Stan Lee's writing continues to grow from strength to strength, for the most part. There are a few dud issues here and there, and Hawkeye is continually picking fights with the other Avengers for no real reason, but in general there's definitely an improvement. Roy Thomas takes over sole writing duties from issue 36 onwards, and while he begins rather trepidatiously, he soon finds his footing creating some excellent stories.

Artist Don Heck continues his Avengers work in this volume, with varying results. He seems to steadily improve until around issue 30 then returns to being very average, before getting replaced by the wonderful John Buscema in issue 41. However, almost as though he knew his time was up, he returns for one big hurrah with Annual #1 and issue 45. His artwork in these final two issues is among his best for the title, really outdoing himself.

Personal highlights include the stories featuring Attuma (#s 26 & 27), the Sons of the Serpent (#s 32 & 33), and everything from #41 to the end of the volume at #46.

[Earl · Rating 3 out of 5]

My placemarker for the second set of 100 issues of Avengers. Noticeable development in the late 70s and early 80s of comic books, and I cannot be but glad that we're getting new stories and the Marvel Cinematic Universe

[Don · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m glad I read it, good to read the old stories and know my Marvel history. Some of the issues were really good and others I was just reading them to finish and be done. Hard to grade such a long run of issues.

[H.L. Sudler · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Avengers stories warm up in this volume. Still a little hokey, but still a good read.

[Brent · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable, if still fairly silly. Getting better though, albeit slowly.

[B.J. Chester · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great.

[Adam Graham · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book marks some turning points for the Avengers, collecting Issues 25-46 and the First Annual. It sees Stan Lee's departure as writer after Issue 34 (replaced by Roy Thomas) and Artist Don Heck is replaced by John Buscema in Issue 41.

The Avengers team changes, though mostly through addition. It begins with a team of Captain America, Hawkeye, Quicksilver, and the Scarlet Witch. In the course of the book, GoTliath (formerly Ant Man), and the Wasp are added to the line-up as well as Hercules, though Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch leave in the middle when the powers are on the wane,.

The feuding between Captain America and Hawkeye comes to an end thankfully. When Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch leave and are replaced by Goliath and the Wasp, he figures he has no chance of gaining leadership of the Avengers plus he seems to have developed a genuine respect for Captain America. He still manages to push back and challenge every other male to come on the team including Goliath and Hercules who could tear him apart.

This book also reprints the origin of the Ant Man from Tales to Astonish #27 and that's because Henry Pym plays such a "big" role in the book. He goes through a period where he can't shrink at all and is 10 feet tall and becomes the real muscle on the team prior to Hercules joining the team. He also takes on a leadership role when Cap has to disappear to deal with a long adventure in his own book. Pym is a central character and this has to got to be a high point for Pym in the role of Goliath.

Overall, the book has two big moments. The first is the first appearance of the Sons of the Serpents in Issues 32 and 33 and they make a great appearance as a sort of extension of the hatemonger character. Then, the Annual #1 is written by Roy Thomas. Those who have read the DC Archives know Thomas was a huge fan of the Golden Age All Star comics in which heroes would come together and the break up to go and fight individual evildoers and that's what he does in this story as the Mandarin heads up a team of supervillains, the Avengers split into smaller squads to take on the villains. It works really well here because they took nearly 50 pages to tell the story and split the Avengers and villains into three squads. It also featured the return of the "Original Avengers" which was silly as a gimmick because only Thor and Iron Man were returning for the issue and it was still a very fun and enjoyable issue.

Also, there's a plot regarding the Black Widow and her status that works its way throughout the book in a fairly interesting way. Beyond that, the Avengers take on a stable of solid Silver Age villains including Doctor Doom, the Super Adaptoid, and the Mad Thinker as well as battling Submariner.

Overall, these are enjoyable stories. They're certainly not on the same level as the Fantastic Four, but they're still solid tales for fans of the Silver Age of Marvel Comics.

[Michael P. · Rating 2 out of 5]

The fatal flaws of Stan Lee as the writer of this book are his tendency to have both heroes and villains boast about how they are going to beat-up the other guy, the constant bickering between heroes, and plots so thin that the substance of the books are fight scenes. Credit Roy Thomas, who replaced Lee, with toning down the first two. Though the boasting did not disappear altogether, the heroes began to respect and support one another. There are still too many fight scenes and not enough substance. Thomas has other faults, the worst being dialog that is way too cute, but this overall improvement comes too late make reading this book anything but a dreary experience.

Most of the penciling is by Don Heck, who has a terrible reputation as an artist. Most of his work does seem pretty bad, especially compared with the refreshing pencils of John Buscema in the later stories, but a few stories are both penciled and inked by Heck. These demonstrate that he is a better artist than fans usually acknowledge.

Overall, this was really not worth my time except for (mostly) Thomas’s intertexts, especially the unacknowledged Shakespeare quotations and paraphrases, usually put in the dialog of the character Hercules.

[Rexhurne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I quite like this Avengers lineup. The team is not too big but the core characters in it are all interesting. Leading a team gave Captain America some character development. I think they didn't know what to do with Hank Pym, since he changes his identity and powers around all the time. There is a lot of bickering and conflict in the team thanks to Hank Pym and Hawkeye both being absolute dicks, which makes a a funnier read than last volume. Not that much psychological complexity but still nice to see in a silver age comic. Things get even more hilarious when dick #3 Hercules enters the fray. For me the Red Guardian storyline is the highlight of the volume. Finally a cold war story that is actually half decent, at least better than anything the iron man and captain america comics of that time came up with (and they had a lot of them). Red Guardian is a nice rival for cap and there is much needed character development for black widow. The new black widow movie took it's main inspiration from those issues.

I have to say i liked this volume more than i thought i would. Not because of the action ( the fights and villains are sub par for the most part) but because of the members of the team and their interaction with each other.

[Danijel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Avengers (dis)assemble! As already noted by others, you just can't miss constant bickering amongst themselves. And petty fighs, like they're married. ;) They are trying to be better organized, more cooperating and prepaired, but fail on so many levels because they're acting like children all the time. And these are the Earth's greatest heroes! Hah! This Essential is collecting #25-46 + double-sized Annual #1 (with character's origins); two of the original members are missing, Thor and Iron Man. Wasp and Goliath joined in #28, with a brief appearance of Hercules (and even briefer of Thor and Iron Man. Drawing is great (Don Heck, John Buscema), captions/monologues are sometimes too long and can be annoying. And all that explaining what they did, after they did it; and what they have to do before they do it. But there is a lot of great action, you have to admit at least that! Avengers confront Dr. Doom, Attuma, Collector, Living Laser, Swordsman, Power Man, The Keeper, Black Widow, Cult of Serpent worshippers, Ultroids, Mad Thinker, Submariner, Diablo and Dragon Man, The Red Guardian, Mandarin, Super-Adaptoid, Whirlwind and many others...

[Terry Collins · Rating 3 out of 5]

As much as I love Marvel's Silver Age, I have to admit that while the artwork is solid and often stellar (Don Heck looked great under the inks of Frank Giacoia - a combo that was dynamic and slick), the stories, when read one after another en-masse, gives even the most forgiving fan a headache.

The plots go like this: Opening sequence: Cap and Hawkeye argue. Or Hawkeye and Quicksilver. Or Giant-Man / Goliath and the Wasp. Or ___________ and _________. Doesn't matter. They bicker and more often than not, take a few swings at each other. Said heroes go off to sulk. Then a generic by the number foe pops up to kidnap a lone Avenger. The rest of the group follows. Fight! Fight! Fight! Winner! The End.

So, in summation, the art is nice (and this is an old complaint, but ye gods - several of the stories have truly wretched reproduction), but the stories are repetitive. Read in limited doses for best results.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

a book reprinting in black and white a bunch of comic books published in 1966 and 1967, more than half of which I bought when they first came out and I was 8 years old. The stories were both absurd and exciting, and I was particularly impressed at the way female characters were handled. Yeah, the Wasp, the Scarlet Witch, and the Black Widow all had to spend time being interested in handsome men, but they also participated fully in the Avengers battles, with the Wasp being used more strongly as a super-hero than I ever remember her afterwards. And what can I say about how much I love the artwork of Don Heck, even on superhero books, which were not his original element? I love his camera angles, his way of breaking up pages (especially when he puts together a lot of very small panels in a row), and the fact that he might be the only comic book artist to consistently draw superheroes smiling in appropriate circumstances. Fun stuff from my childhood.

[Mike (the Paladin) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Should I go through the explanation again? I suppose a little of it anyway, everyone may not have read my other reviews (LOL). I collected during the silver age of comics and had to sell my collection, during the Carter administration when we hit hard finical times... A sacrifice believe me.

This volume gathers volumes 25 through 46 (albeit in black and white) and lets us enjoy again the adventures of "Earth's Mightiest Heroes". The stories in this time were a little uneven (reflects the script writers) but for me it's still the Avengers and full of nostalgia. As said elsewhere, the 4 star rating reflects mostly that the Essentials series is in black and white. Other than that the books are still enjoyable.

[Travis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Things are changing and the Avengers is morphing from it's 'trying to be the JLA, but with drama', to what we think of as the Avengers today.

We change writers, from Stan to Roy Thomas and the drama shifts from outright bickering to smaller, everyone has something going on. The team becomes more an ensemble, though neither Stan nor Roy seem to know what to do with the girls.

Jan is fun and flirty, but Wanda and the Black Widow really get nothing to do besides be damsels or have the guys hit on them.

The juggling of sub-plots can be a bit clunky, but most are interesting.
Lots of over the top villains and action.
Not great, but fun and interesting to watch the mythology we all know being built.

[Tim Pieraccini · Rating 3 out of 5]

If everything was of the quality of the last few issues, this would rate four, with Big John Buscema taking over from Don Heck and so becoming, with Roy Thomas, the team to raise the Avengers to classic heights (for the time, at least, though no doubt it would seem primitive to a modern reader).

[Devero · Rating 4 out of 5]

Le ultime storie di Stan Lee e le prime di Roy Thomas.
Ai disegni Don Heck, ma verso la fine arriva John Buscema.
Ottime storie, davvero. Meritano la lettura e la rilettura.

[Elliot · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent volume. The art is better, the stories are slicker and the scope wider.

[Juan Jose · Rating 5 out of 5]

These were really good comics.