Marvel Avengers: The Serpent Society

Marvel Joe Books LTD Prose Novels Series

by Pat Shand

When the Avengers assemble to defeat a horrible monster that appears in the skies over Brooklyn, they quickly learn that the creature was seemingly drawn there by a young woman with the ability to open portals to other realms. The mysterious woman escapes, but Tony Stark and the team track her down, only to find she is one of a team of unknown, super-powered individuals . . . who are decidedly not interested in answering the Avengers' questions. As the battle rages, it becomes clear these young villains are not the ones controlling their powers; but if they are not the villains, then who is?

Earth's Mightiest Heroes soon discover that the puppet masters are the newly reorganized Serpent Society, headed by Black Mamba. The Society are using this new team to bring down all who stand in the way of their most nefarious plot to date, and if the Avengers can't protect their own and defeat this new threat, the Serpent Society will reign victorious.

The Serpent Society , written by veteran comic book and fantasy writer Pat Shand, will take the iconic team of Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, the Hulk, Black Widow, and Hawkeye on a heart-pounding adventure to protect not just the Earth but the very fabric of reality.

Genres: Marvel, Science Fiction

240 pages, Paperback

First published July 25, 2017

About the author

PAT SHAND writes comic books (Robyn Hood, Family Pets, Charmed, Angel) and pop culture journalism (Sad Girls Guide, Blastoff Comics). He lives in San Diego with his girlfriend and their veritable zoo of cats.

Reviews

[Mike Pritchard · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5
I enjoyed reading this book and it had plenty of action and the author did a good job of keeping the personalities of the team intact. It read like a graphic novel without the pictures. High on action and just enough substance to keep it interesting. If you have been reading the Marvel novels coming out the past few years, this one will entertain you. No regrets buying it. Spoiler free review, so have at it...

[J'aime · Rating 5 out of 5]

Marvel’s line of YA novels has expanded noticeably over the last few years. I enjoyed Margaret Stohl’s Black Widow books, so I started looking for others (despite being way beyond the target age group). Pat Shand blew me away with “Thor: Crusade of the Forgotten;” it is my favorite of all the novels so far. I enjoyed the author’s writing so much, I ordered this book after finishing. Shand has a gift for writing these heroes.

The story opens with Thor chasing an alien monster through a portal into New York City. Clint Barton is grilling on the rooftop of his apartment building when he spots the fight and jumps in to assist with some expert marksmanship. Across town, Natasha and Steve stumble across a murdered crime boss. The two events are connected by a young woman named Quantum Freak, who created the portal at the behest of Black Mamba – current leader of the Serpent Society. She’s not the only new person to appear with enhanced abilities. But, how did they acquire their powers? The book has several plot threads woven together that provide an underlying mystery to the overall adventure.

The story builds from comic history, without readers needing to have read any. The Serpent Society and Maggia have been staples of Cap’s comics for years, and so he mentions his history with them and updates the team (and readers!) as to their abilities during battle. This is a superhero story, so there is plenty of action, and those scenes are so well written I felt like I was in the story witnessing it. Every hero gets a chance to shine, but they also work together in groups and as a team. The action is organic to the story, not shoehorned in just because it’s a superhero book. While the action is some of the best I’ve read in these novels, it is the characterization that makes the story truly special.

The interplay between the Avengers reminds readers why they care about these people. Marvel’s trademark humor, usually in the form of banter between the heroes, is front and center in Shand’s writing. When the team gathers at Avengers Tower to discuss the latest threat, Cap is obliged to bring the snacks. After Tony arrives late, he whines at Cap for not getting BBQ chips – but it was Thor that ate them all! Cap is the leader of the team, and a skilled strategist. But, more than once during the story he listens to suggestions or alternatives from another hero and then acts on it. The bonds of friendship and camaraderie are clearly evident between the heroes and it enhances the story. And, their heroism is always on point – especially when the “villains” turn out to be people in desperate situations taken advantage of by the Society. Overall, this was a great read and I look forward to more in the line and from this author.

[Neil · Rating 4 out of 5]

I do not know if this is supposed to be a 'young adult' novel or not, as it was in the 'adult section' of the bookstore (which I realize is not saying much), but it was a fun read. It was light-hearted and serious at the same time; it had humor throughout but not enough to ruin or take away from the story. It had action and adventure and a hint of mystery. I chose "my" "end of the world" shelf as a bit tongue-in-cheek (although had the villains succeeded, it would have been the end of the world as the heroes knew it). It had maybe three storylines woven into a single narrative, and I thought the author did a good job with the interweaving (the Avengers broke into two teams, giving two narratives, and then you had the parts told from 'the villains point-of-view').

I did like how each of the Avengers were given moments to shine well, all but Hawkeye. I felt like he had the fewest moments to shine on his own, but he did shine when he was working with one of the other Avengers at any given moment. It really felt like the author did not know what to do with him, so he had Hawkeye infected with a poison that nearly killed him and ensured his removal from the book for a small chunk of the narrative until an antidote was received. I enjoyed the banter throughout the book; Thor probably had some of the funniest 'one-liners' throughout the story; he was pretty hilarious (although he kind-of reminded me of Hercules, at times, what with his comments he kept making about himself). I would say the characters in the book are based more on the movie characters than the comics (especially Tony; Nat and Bruce come across as still having a relationship of sorts between them), but I have not read the comics for some time, so they might be written more like the movie characters, now, than they way they used to be. Still, though, Bruce is also captured and removed from the book, thus negating any need to include him or the Hulk throughout much of the story. So, it seemed that the author had a hard time with two of the Avengers characters in terms of writing about them and including them in the story.

The story really felt like a comic or graphic novel told without pictures. Maybe not a graphic novel; those seem to be darker and more serious in tone. In any case, I felt like this could have been a story lifted from the comics "of olde" and put into a novelized format. As much as I enjoyed the "cameos" of Falcon, Luke Cage, and Spider-Man, I was kind-of hoping they would be a part of the "final battle" at the end of the book instead of playing baby-sitter for a bunch of unconscious criminals. At the same time, I know somebody had to ensure none of the criminals awoke to escape before S.H.I.E.L.D. arrived. Also, I was surprised that some of the super-villains mentioned as having been captured (such as Crusher Creel and the Spot) did not wake up and escape. I must have missed something that indicated why the 'super villains' failed to wake up but the heroes and other powered-beings were able to wake up after the needles robbing them of their powers and abilities were removed. I liked how War Machine was a part of 'the A-TEAM' at the end. That was pretty cool. As well as the author did with the six-to-seven heroes plus the various villains, I would not mind seeing him tackle a larger ensemble cast including Vision and the Scarlet Witch; maybe Wonder Man in addition to Luke Cage, the Falcon, and Spider-Man, among others. I bet he could handle it.

The beginning of the book, with Thor chasing a "Barglewarf" out of a dimensional portal to a suburb of NYC was pretty hilarious. Well, it was an interesting intro to the story; Barton's and Thor's 'battle' with the Barglewarf was funny, and Thor's telling of the tale was hilarious. Granted, "Barglewarf" really reminded me of "Bilgesnipe" from the first Avengers movie.

I thought the villains of the piece were an interesting choice. You have the various characters of the Serpent Society, which has been around for a while as generally a D-List group of villains, although they did seem to give the Avengers a run for their money in this book. The other 'villains' were interesting to me; they were people who had had some bad luck in life and were offered a chance to become more than what they had become, as it were. It involved 'selling their souls' to Black Mamba in order to receive 'artificially-introduced' super powers that they had to use to do Black Mamba's bidding lest they die. Some of them had some interesting powers; it would have been 'fun' to see what some of them could have done if they had functioned longer together as a team, and been a team of heroes. The initial characters introduced were two men and three women; two of the men were brothers and two of the women were dating; the third woman was a sadistic psycho. One of the brothers had the power to control the earth (stones and whatnot) and the other had the powers of the Absorbing Man (as Thor discovered much to his chagrin). One of the girlfriends had the power to "explode" while the other woman had the power to create 'portals to other dimensions' (which was a pretty cool power). The third woman had some kind of . . . I really don't know what her power was, except that she had the ability to generate pustules that spat out sharp 'thorn-like things' (mini-spears?) when the pustules swelled and exploded.' When the rest of the enhanced humans 'attack' at the end of the book, there were some interesting characters in that group, too (a 'hulk-like' character and another guy who spat some kind of fire, among others). These characters did have goofy names, though, that is for sure!

Overall, it was a fun book and I enjoyed reading it. It was not 'heavy reading' or 'super intense,' by any means, but that did not take away from the enjoyment in the reading. I thought he did a good job capturing the quirks of each character and really making each Avenger shine at given moments. I could see myself rereading it again at some point in time.

[Bruce · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book! I love when authors bring the Marvel Universe to life via prose storytelling. I get to be my own Buscema-Kirby-Starlin-Ditko-etc. in my head as I follow the heroes' adventures. Pat Shand does a superb job in this book with the Avengers team from the movies, capturing Cap and Company perfectly and introducing new super-powered characters. With prose you can get more into individual character and thoughts and motivation and background as well as action … and Shand masterfully does it all here. I look forward to more explorations into the prose Marvel landscape, for the entertainment of us old Marvel Maniacs as well as younger newbs. Keep 'em coming, Pat, Joe Books and everyone -- you're Marvel-icious!!

[Jack Stubblefield · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes reading Marvel Comic novels (or any comic book publisher's novels) can be a trying endeavor. Do I have to figure out what universe are we in? MCU? The Marvel Comic Universe? Thankfully, this story rides a nice line between the two. Hawkeye from the comics is one of my favorite characters. So I was happy to read that this Clint Barton is from the comics. I enjoyed Pat Shand's book so much that I plan on picking up the Iron Man book as well. If you like the comics. If you like the movies. I definitely recommend this book. Good Stuff, Maynard.

[Kaitlynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a really fast paced book. From the first chapter exciting stuff already started to happen. It was very fun to read a marvel book and might pick up some more in the future.