Marvel Masterworks: The Avengers, Vol. 18

Marvel Masterworks: The Avengers #18

by David Michelinie (Writer), John Byrne (Penciller), George Pérez (Penciller)

Avengers Mansion is running out of room, so the old order changeth! Government agent Henry Peter Gyrich is kicking out all but seven Avengers. Despite their protests, the team won't have time to argue — because a mysterious man from Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch's past has emerged, kicking off an adventure that leads the Avengers to Wundagore Mountain and reveals the answer to one of Marvel's oldest mysteries! But first, the Absorbing Man shows up for a good ol' fashioned knuckle-crunching battle! Also featuring a trip to the Inhumans' Great Refuge, an all-new Doctor Spectrum in a story illustrated by George Pérez, solo Beast and Falcon adventures and the massive mountain-menace Monolith! Brought to you by Avengers greats David Michelinie and John Byrne!

Collects Avengers (1963) #178-188, Annual (1967) #8-9, Marvel Premiere (1972) #49 and material from Marvel Tales (1966) #100.

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Graphic Novels Comics, Graphic Novels

317 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 11, 2018

Reviews

[Christopher (Donut) · Rating 4 out of 5]

My main interest in this run was the Wanda and Pietro secret origin (and it remained a secret who precisely their mother Magda was fleeing when she came to Wundagore, unless you made the connection with an odd cameo in Uncanny X-Men 125).

I was not the biggest Avengers fan back in the day, but I bought nearly everything John Byrne drew, which was a lot.

Does this remind you of anything, true believers?:

[L. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ah, the 1970's, when people still called each other 'turkey'. If you think about it isn't all that different from today. Here the creators are struggling to put strong females and minorities into the mix and then give them basically nothing to do. Sound familiar?

While the old favorites of Iron Man, Thor and Captain America make cameo appearances once in awhile, this collection - well, now that I think about it, its Beast who hogs the spotlight, with Scarlet Witch maybe coming in second.

It's okay. There are plenty of adventures. Nothing out of this world or interdimensional. It's just okay.

[Tony Romine · Rating 4 out of 5]

The 18th volume of the Avengers Marvel Masterworks series collects issues #178-188 and Annuals #8-9 as well as Marvel Premiere #49 and some material from Marvel Tales #100. At this point in the Avengers history (post-Korvac Saga) the lineup was huge: Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, Black Panther, Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch, Vision, Yellowjacket, Wasp, Quicksilver, Beast, Ms. Marvel, Black Widow, Moondragon, Hercules, and Wonder Man. These issues were all published between October 1978 - October 1979. David Michelinie and John Byrne are the primary writer and artist of these issues, but there are a ton of guest writers and artists that show up along the way.

Avengers Annual #8 starts off the collection and it features the return of Squadron Sinister. Yellowjacket is set to give Dr. Spectrum's Prism to Jan for her birthday, but the moment she touches it she is possessed by Dr. Spectrum and before you know it the Avengers are having to visit the former members of Squadron Sinister to save Wasp from being permanently possessed. The real draw here (no pun intended) is George Perez's artwork, any of his Avengers work is phenomenal and this is no exception. The story itself is standard Annual stuff that involves almost the entire team and many villains across several locations.

Back to the main series, Avengers #178 had the difficult task of following the Korvac Saga (read it if you haven't). It's inevitable that after such an epic story they would need sort of a cool down issue. Enter Steve Gerber, creator of Howard the Duck and the most innovative Marvel writer of the 70s. He's here for a one-off issue that is all about Beast and his encounter with a bizarre apparition that claims to suffer wounds for all spiritual harm that is done to Beast. It's quite the story and has an ending that will leave you as perplexed as Beast is for the entire issue. It's interesting to say the least, but definitely not fitting for the tone of the rest of this volume.

Issues #179-180 make up a short, not so great two-parter about a mutant named Bloodhawk who comes to America from some foreign island to bring a sacred relic back to his homeland that is being held at the New York Museums of Natural History. Some of the Avengers follow him home to make sure the relic gets put back in it's rightful spot before a giant monster attacks. Also involved is a lame Shocker rip-off named The Stinger who wants to capture the Avengers and auction them off to the highest bidder (the fact that he get about 7 of them before he's stopped is indicative of how bad of a story arc this is). Nothing important happens in these two issues and they are absolutely skippable if you're trying to save time.

The meat of this collection is the Nights of Wundagore story arc (issues #181-187). This 7 issue arc starts with the U.S. government telling the Avengers they can operate legal superhero team again, but they have to be cut down to only seven members. The agent in charge chooses the members and while that is happening both Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch collapse. The next six issues are all about their backstory and their reunion with their father while the Avengers fight random villains and deal with the new sanctions placed on them. The seven member limit imposed on the Avengers is kept, but they continue to pull in random heroes as needed to accommodate the situations they are in. The first half of the issues take place in New York with the Avengers battling the Absorbing Man for a good chunk of them. The second half focus on Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch returning to their homeland to unravel the mystery of who their parents are. It gets crazy when Mordred the Mystic appears to kidnap the Scarlet Witch to turn her into an Elder God and the Avengers are called in to battle her. Nights of Wundagore isn't a bad story arc, but it's not nearly as memorable as it wants to be. The story takes a lot of twists and turns and by the end I began to wonder just how much they actually had planned out and how much they just kept making up as they went along. The artwork by John Byrne is fantastic though and really takes the comic another level. The story arc doesn't need to take 7 issues, it could have easily been trimmed down to 4 or 5, but as it stands it's decent enough even if it's oddly paced.

Speaking of odd, I really would love to know the logic behind picking and choosing who is in the Avengers for this particular issue. In #181, the team is show as being like 22 people deep (this includes the original Guardians of the Galaxy) and the U.S. government agent assigned with forcing the team to meet regulation has to get rid of 16 of them. What's odd is that he pulls in The Falcon as part of the seven man Avengers team, someone who was never an Avenger nor wanted to be one. Even odder is they make a big show of Wonder Man deciding to give up being a super hero for a while to pursue a Hollywood career and then 4 issues later is brought into fill in for Iron Man. It's weird to me because these aren't contract character being paid to be in the comics, they are all owned by Marvel and yet they are treated like actors who are holding out for more money in some issues. This has bugged me for a while now reading while reading the Avengers, but it's nothing major that I figure is best answered by 'Iron Man's solo comic had a more important storyline at the time' or 'it just fit to have Ms. Marvel join them here'.

Avengers #188 is sort of an epilogue to Nights in Wundagore and features a cameo by The Inhumans as the team brings Quicksilver back to Attilan to reunite him with his wife Crystal. On the journey home The Avengers travel through Soviet airspace and, after investigating a downed Russian aircraft, are brought into battle against a team of villains called Elements of Doom (modeled after actual elements from the periodic table). They also have to deal with the Russian military without creating an international incident. It's a decent cap to a decent story arc and has a lot of great action in it.

Annual #9 is much like the previous issue, it's the Avengers versus a relic of WW2 technology that was buried beneath their own mansion. Iron Man investigates the origins of the monster called Arsenal and the mysterious computer program called Mistress that controls him. There are some startling revelations for Tony to encounter and this issue actually ends on a very dramatic, sad note. It's better than the other Annual included in this collection and might be my favorite comic included here.

To close out the collection are two one-off comics that give Hawkeye and Falcon each their own story. Hawkeye's is very short and involves him and the Two-Gun Kid riding through the desert like they are in a Western and fighting Killgrave. The Falcon's is a longer, proper sized story that was an attempt to see how he would fare in his own book. It involves him investigating a mysterious villain called The Silencer, showing him more of a detective than a superhero really. They are both enjoyable comics, but the Falcon one was pretty boring and didn't have much action. It's also weird they tried to give him his own comic, but still relied on him having a scene with Captain America. I can see why it didn't work out. Also included are several sketches and original art from the Avengers comics featured in this collection, always awesome to see.

All in all, not a bad collection of Avengers comics and solid followup to the stellar Masterworks Volume 17. Highly recommended for Avengers fans

[Jameson · Rating 4 out of 5]

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:

Issue #178 focuses on Beast and possibly unintentionally, as I believe it was an inventory/fill-in story, can be read as Beast mourning the X-Men that “died” over in Uncanny. It’s a nice issue. Issue #181 has Wonder Man and Beast at the movies and talking about the public need for heroes. Good stuff. Their buddyship is starting to blossom. And, for a nice change, the mutant blue furry Beast is a hit with the ladies! What a refreshing change from “hated, feared,” which gets very tired. It’s nice to see a diversity of reception from the public.

These issues are much better than the previous ones. Especially the ones with David Michelinie and John Byrne. Gyrich picks a new team roster and there’s some fallout from that (especially like the token, the Falcon, and his “sho nuff, massuh” stuff), but this is the first Masterworks volume that flowed well and didn’t have a “jerky” element. I also like the line-up here. It’s a nice mix of new and old and in-between.

I’m starting to genuinely like the title and it doesn’t feel like homework anymore. This was especially evident in #188: part downtime issue, part good old-fashioned action story that puts the team’s powers and new dynamics to good use.

To interest of fans of mutantdom, there’s also a lot of work done with the origin of Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch, dovetailing nicely with contemporary issues of Uncanny.

[Brent · Rating 4 out of 5]

A government imposed shake-up of the Avengers roster, the convoluted origins of Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, the return of Crusher Creel-the Absorbing Man. Good stuff all in this solid volume of The Avengers.

[Omar Gómez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Marvel Masterworks - Avengers Vol. 18 (2018). Calificación 4/5 estrellas.

Issues donde Beast es el protagonista, con arte de Carmine Infantino. Aparece en dos issues Bloodhawk tal vez un desperdicio el haberlo matado. Se hubiera convertido en un X-Men o en Avengers.

Avengers #181, escritor David Michelinie, arte John Byrne y la portada fue de George Perez, calificación 3/5 estrellas.

John Byrne vuelve a dibujar The Avengers desde los issues #164-166, es su arte lo mejor del capitulo. George Perez el dibujante titular o regular deja paso a Byrne.

Henry Peter Gyrich usa su prepotencia para hacer enojar a Iron Man, Quicksilver y a Hawkeye al imponer el rooster con solo siete miembros de núcleo y los demás serían asistentes en algun emergencia y ellos tendrán que dejar la Mansión.

La lista de The Avengers con El Chairman Iron Man, The Vision, Captain America, The Scarlet Witch, The Beast, The Wasp y Falcon.

Cuando Quicksilver y Scarlet Witch se desvanecen y caen inconscientes de manera misteriosa y sus mentes caen en unos títeres, todo esto es por acción de su anciano padre gitano.

Avengers #182, escritor David Michelinie, Arte John Byrne, Tintas Klaus Janson, portada Al Milgrom. Calificación 3.5/5 estrellas.

Jocasta avisa de la procedencia del rayo que tomó la ecencia de Ana y Mateo A. K. A Wanda y Pietro. En un edificio.

Django Maximoff el Shaman gitano usando la piedra Nivashi hace que los maniquíes sean reanimados y crea ilusiones de Toad, Princess Python y Nighthawk cuando se enfrenta a The Avengers Iron Man, Captain America, The Vision, The Wasp, Hawkeye, The Beast, Yellowjacket y Jocasta.

Django Maximoff era el tio de Wanda y Pietro. El estatus de paternidad de Magneto se removió del canon 616 después de que Marvel no tenía los derechos cinematograficos de los X-Men y desihieron lo que John Byrne propuso de que Magneto era el padre de Scarlet Witch y Quicksilver. Así automáticamente dejaron de ser mutants. Creo que eso fue un error.

Avengers #183, escritor David Michelinie, arte John Byrne, Tintas Klaus Janson, calificación 3.5 /5 estrellas.

Inicia el comic con Carol Danvers con una actitud muy masculina, Ms. Marvel como remplazo de Scarlet Witch.

Como un moustro de película de terror se ensambla el expresidiario criminal Crusher Creel conocido como the Absorbing Man en basurero, después de ser derrotado, Absorbing Man es demasiado poderoso para enfrentar a varios Avengers el solo,

Creel secuestra a una joven que el llama "chippie" de forma sexista, su verdadero nombre es sandy.

En este Comic hay discriminación hacia las mujeres Sandy qué es llamada como una prostituta, hacia un latino qué es retratado con poca capacidad para progresar, los afrodecendientes vistos como paracitos beneficiados, por Gyrich para quedar bien la administración precidencial por injusta imposición del gobierno.

Una adición a Falcon amigo de Steve Rogers para los Avengers no debio tomarse de esa forma.

Hawkeye por no pertenecer a una minoría debe quedar fuera de los Avengers titulares por acenso de las minorías raciales impuesto como un problema en vez de ser por la capacidad, para Clint Barton es un mal momento qué aun suspiraba por Wanda qué está casada con una maquina.

Creel con Sandy entran a un Tavern y ahí humilla a Barton y este llama a los Avengers para enfrentar a Creel.

Absorbing Man vs. Iron Man, The Wasp, The Vision, The Beast, Ms Marvel y Hawkeye.

Avengers #184, escritor David Michelinie, Arte John Byrne. Calificación 4/5 estrellas.

Crusher Creel The Absorbing Man solo puede dar muchas dificultades a The Avengers Iron Man, The Wasp, The Vision, The Beast, Hawkeye, Ms. Marvel, Captain America y Falcon.

Sandy Herkowitz no sufre síndrome de Estocolmo para mi, ella estaba atraída sexualmente por Crusher. La chica judía Sandy de cuerpo sensual fue a buscar al tipo grande y malo Creel, el la toma pero pierden el barco a Sudamérica y la deja libre.

Al absorber el poder de The Vision, Creel se le escapa a la presuntuosa Ms. Marvel al tratar de alcanzar el barco su esperanza para huir a Sudamérica se disuelve en el Mar.

Sandy lamenta al final tal vez no haber huido con el tipo malo.

Avengers #185, Trama Mark Gruenwald, escritor David Michelinie, Arte John Byrne, calificación 3/5 estrellas.

Al principio Hawkeye se va y deja los Avengers, Falcon tomo su lugar con todo y esa tontería de que el halcón Redflag entiende las indicaciones de Sam Wilson.

Carol Danvers se insinúa a Tony Stark en la mansión, Jocasta se siente discriminada por ser considerada una máquina no humana cuando habla con The Vision.

Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver llevan a Sr. Maximoff a Europa, en una taberna con cuartos para alojamiento. En la noche se le presenta en su cuarto Modred a Wanda qué duerme desnuda.

El hechicero engaña a Wanda Frank para llevarla a la montaña Wundagore. Quicksilver Pietro Frank hace un recuento de el origen de los gemelos, como fueron llevados dos bebés a el alto Evolucionario en la montaña Wundagore.

Django Maximoff menciona la soledad de la vejez alejado de sus hijos.

Al final Quicksilver cae de la montaña y se encuentra atendido por Bova.

Avengers #186, escritor David Michelinie, arte John Byrne. Calificación 3/5 estrellas.

Bova ofrece a Quicksilver sopa de leche, no especifica si es su propia leche. Bova cuenta como una mujer llega a Wundagore, la mujer de nombre Magda huye de su esposo y da a luz a Pietro y Wanda, esta mujer Magda huía de su esposo Magneto.

Magda deja a sus hijos a Bova cuando los Franks  pierden a sus hijos nacidos deformes en el nacimiento, Bova ofrece a los gemelos a Frank al enterarse de sus hijos huye Wizzer. El High Evolutionary deja a los gemelos a los gitanos Maximoffs qué perdieron a sus hijos Anna y Mateo.

Después no hay mucho Wanda pelea contra Modred y Quicksilver busca ayuda de los Avengers.

Henry Peter Gyrich se oponen a ayudar a Wanda y Pietro en Bulgaria, Captain America usa sus contactos y Gyrich recibe una llamada del presidente y accede a que los Avengers vayan a Bulgaria pero evita que The Vision vaya. El syntezoid se enfurece pero Captain America le pide que obedezca o perderán los privilegios del gobierno.

Wanda ha sido poseida por Chthon.

Avengers #187, trama Mark Gruenwald, Steve Grant, escritor David Michelinie, Arte John Byrne. Calificación 4/5 estrellas.

Gran cubierta portada de Avengers #187 dibujada por John Byrne. En todos los issues Avengers #181-187 John Byrne hizo un gran trabajo de arte.

El rooster de The Avengers Captain America, The Wasp, Ms. Marvel, Beast, Wonder Man, Falcon, Quicksilver y Scarlet Witch.

Como cliché el Quinjet se destruye al principio. Los Avengers son derrotados por Modred y Chthon.

Luego hay un resumen algo molesto sobre darkhold Chthon atravez de los siglos, Wundagore, El nacimiento de Wanda, hasta que Beast interrumpe.

Django Maximoff usa la muñeca de madera para que Wanda su alma entre de nuevo, Sufre Django un infarto y muere, Quicksilver con la ayuda de los otros Avengers hace que Chthon quede dentro de la muñeca, Quicksilver la arroja al desfiladero y Wanda la sepulta con la mitad de una montaña.

Entierran a Django y dejan a Bova al cuidado de Modred con la mente infantil. Avengers dejan Trasia.

Avengers #188 calificación 3.5/5 estrellas.

Lo mejor fue el arte de John Byrne.

Dejan The Avengers a Quicksilver en Atilan donde Crystal le anuncia qué será padre.

No sean tonto, el Capitán América y los Invasores no derrotaron a los nazis, fue la Unión Soviética en la vida real.

Se ven inmiscuidos camino a casa The Avengers en la unión soviética en una planta nuclear alguno tipos usan una maquina para convertirse en elementos de la tabla periódica cuando están a punto de transformar al novato Falcon es salvado.

The Avengers Captain America, The Wasp, The Scarlet Witch, Wonder Man, Beast, Ms. Marvel y Falcon los detienen a los terroristas y salen del país a toda velocidad.

Avengers Annual #9, contra Arsenal Thor pregóna qué es el Avenger más poderoso de todos pero es el martillo, sin Mjolnir no podría ni volar.

[DOUGLAS J BERRY · Rating 5 out of 5]

An important but unpopular run.

This is when marvel decided to drop the avengers down to seven key members. The howls of outrage were deafening. Everyone wanted their favorite heroes to be on the Avengers and have a solo mag.

[patricia contryman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good stuff! Nuff said.

Good stuff 😁 great to see all my fav characters just like I remember them when I was a kid.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Avengers don't get any better than this. Classic must-reading for Marvel fans.

[Tomás Sendarrubias García · Rating 2 out of 5]

Continuamos con Vengadores, y la verdad es que la cosa no mejora mucho. De hecho, me parece sorprendente que al mismo tiempo que se estaban publicando estas historias, en la Patrulla-X Chris Claremont estuviera contando su historia río en la Patrulla-X. Y es que la sensación que me transmite esta etapa de Vengadores es que las historias están cogidas por los pelos y sin demasiada continuidad entre unas y otras. Y aunque David Michelinie es el que toma las riendas de la serie de forma más continuada, me sigue dando la misma impresión de historias sueltas que en el tomo anterior con cuatro o cinco cabezas al frente del gui0n.

En este caso, los lápices corren principalmente a cargo de John Byrne y George Pérez, con algún número de dos clásicos como Carmine Infantino o Sal Buscema, así que en el apartado gráfico nada que decir, todo maravilloso. En estos números, vamos a vivir la irrupción de Gyrich en el mando de los Vengadores, con la limitación a siete miembros elegidos por él, lo que deja un equipo cerrado y formado por Iron Man, el Capitán América, la Visión, la Bruja Escarlata, la Avispa, la Bestia y el Halcón, dejando fuera al Hombre Maravilla u Ojo de Halcón... aunque siendo realistas, no se irían muy lejos de la serie, y de hecho, pronto se incorporaría también como habitual Miss Marvel, que viene para sustituir a la Bruja Escarlata sin que esta haya terminado de irse, así que nos vamos a encontrar fácilmente con nueve o diez miembros en el equipo.

En cuanto a los argumentos, tendremos un enfrentamiento con la el Hombre Absorbente, y la aparición de un personaje de nuevo cuño y vida breve, Halcón Sangriento, pero la historia que más ha trascendido sería la de la posesión de la Bruja Escarlata por el dios-demonio Chthohn, y que... quizá cuando lo he leído en otras ocasiones lo he leído con menos atención o estaba menos picardeado, pero me parece una copia descafeinada de la saga de Fénix Oscura, e incluso la resolución de la historia viene de una escena muy semejante a otra en el primer número de Byrne en X-Men, también con Fénix mediante.

En fin, que no me extraña que así, con el paso del tiempo, la Patrulla-X se fuera comiendo la tostada de los Héroes más Poderosos del Mundo...

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Avengers Masterworks Vol. 18 features a fair amount of filler material (including, in my opinion, one of the worst Avengers stories, taking place in issues #179-180), but the story with the Absorbing Man followed by The Yesterday Quest plotline make it all worthwhile.

Learning more about Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver's already-convoluted past is interesting and it's fun to see the friction between the team and the interfering Henry Peter Gyrich. In all seriousness though, despite my hatred for the character, he was really needed to provide some sort of structure to the superhero team. Members were constantly coming and going, leading to some very messy and chaotic writing. Annual #9 was also surprisingly emotional and better than Annual storylines tend to be.

Decent writing from David Michelinie and lovely art from John Byrne.

[Dimitris Papastergiou · Rating 2 out of 5]

Weeeellll... it was ok... artwork was great, which is why it gets +1 star but the story was hit or miss (mostly miss)

I was pretty much reading while thinking, hey, after a couple of issues I think Taskmaster is gonna show up!?