Name: Heroes Reborn Omnibus
Rating: 3.25 (4 reviews)
ISBN: 9781302918040

1,415 reviews14 followers

September 26, 2020

This was a fun journey into "yesteryear" for me, as I was collecting comics at the time these respective titles were "rebooted" after Marvel's Onslaught "big event." It was a nice attempt to reboot these four titles by members of other comic book companies, but I cannot say if it was only a "12/13-issue experiment" or if the four series of titles (Captain America, Iron Man, The Fantastic Four, and The Avengers) became "popular (enough)" again that Marvel wanted to bring them back into their fold. The artwork is really hit-and-miss, especially the "earlier" issues of Captain America. The character development is okay; some of the characters had better development than others. I imagine some of that had to do with the writers and artists changing on the titles after issue 6 of each title.

The issues are ordered somewhat sequentially in terms of continuity, so you might have two issues of one series (say, Captain America) followed by three issues of Iron Man and then two issues of the Avengers before having a slew of Fantastic Four issues. It was interesting to read the issues in terms of how the overall story took place, to read each issue in terms of "when it would have happened" in relation to the other titles as well as the “overall story."

I think the Avengers and Fantastic Four series consistently had the best artwork (granted, I would also say the artwork in the Avengers improved as the series went on whereas the artwork in the Fantastic Four started out strong and was consistently strong). I was not a big fan of the artwork in Captain America, whereas Iron Man was a bit hit-or-miss for me (although I think the art in Iron Man did start to improve towards the end). It is funny how most of the women in the early issues of each series seem to be mostly "long legs" and "breasts" and not much else, in terms how they are drawn. The men are not much better. How they are drawn does improve as each series progresses (even in the Fantastic Four). There is a picture of the Amora the Enchantress that is hilarious; I cannot imagine anybody standing like she is portrayed. And there is the hilariously bad picture of Captain America standing in a bizarre fashion as well, with unrealistic angles and . . . I don't even know how to describe how his upper torso is drawn.

The storylines of each series were also hit-and-miss; the Fantastic Four series probably had the "best continuous storyline" throughout its entire run (all 12 issues of it). The other titles felt like the writers were heading in one direction for how the stories were going to go, but then "the Bullpen" or whoever it was from Marvel (the Editors, I imagine?) wanted to institute a change of pace or something and got involved. I don't know if that is what happened or not; I remember reading something about it at one time but don't remember what was publicly said. I just know that it seemed like the artwork and stories in The Avengers, Captain America, and Iron Man started off with “one flavor” which changed (pretty dramatically) by issue 6 of each title. In terms of the story (and art), I think the Avengers improved the most of the four titles. Again, I felt the Fantastic Four was consistently "good" from start to finish. I felt like the Avengers started strong, stumbled a bit in the middle, but was able to finish strong in terms of its writing. I felt that Iron Man probably had "the best character development" because of how dramatically Tony's character changed. It also had a good start, stumbled a bit , but still finished strong enough in the end. Captain America had the strongest sense of going in one direction and then, in mid-stream, going in a completely different direction in terms of its story. I felt that Captain America was the weakest of the four titles and their respective stories.

I did get tired of Loki's machinations in the Avengers and wished the "remaining issues" (#'s 7-11) did not focus on his "master plan" so much. Neither did I care for "Nick Fury" turning out to be an LMD and preaching about a "white master race" taking over America and removing anybody of impure blood in Captain America. Granted, that storyline of "a pure 'white America'" seemed to be the "main premise" behind Captain America; I felt it was a wasted storyline, myself, but, whatever. Iron Man and the Fantastic Four had the "best" consistent overall storylines of the four titles, for which I was much appreciative (even if the FF had the best, overall plot).

The writers also tried to interject a sense of mystery into the four series of titles, but I do not know how well the attempted interjection worked. It started out with characters musing how quickly they came to accept their powers and abilities, like how the Fantastic Four barely questioned their transformations when they should have been in constant “shock and awe” over their abilities). Most of the “mystery” was probably to be found in the Fantastic Four, as they were constantly talking about the “stellar anomaly” that had been discovered and the consequences of said discovery. There was some “mystery” in the Avengers as well, but it was more along the lines of why their “villains” became progressively worse; it almost felt like the Avengers went from being “serious” to being “played for laughs,” at one point. Actually, now that I think about it, each series had its own “mystery” that was played out as well as the “overall mystery” behind this universe’s existence. Other than in the FF title, it felt like "the mysteries" behind this universe in which they lived were forced, that any revelations were also forced, and it took away some of the enjoyment of reading. The "main mystery" really kicked into high gear once the various heralds of Galactus were either introduced or interacted with humans, as the authors did not have much time left to get everything wrapped up that may have been left dangling.

Also, each storyline seems to run one-after-the-other. There is no real sense of "X-amount of time has passed" between each "story" or each title. Well, other than Bruce Banner having disappeared like he did and then periodically reappearing. However, when Iron Man and Doctor Doom take their trip "back through time," they go back "one year" to when Onslaught occurred. So . . . do these stories take place over the course of a year, after all? Or, do they take place in a compressed period of time prior to the "Return" of these heroes to the 616-MCU? Like, maybe a few weeks or months? I found it hard to believe that a "full year had passed" after rereading these comics "in order." It only makes sense that the events described within truly only take place in a relatively short period of time, regardless of any comments that may have been made to the contrary in each of the series.

There is one page (or blurb) from I believe Avengers 12 which is really fun and really cool. There is a gaggle of superhero women and, to be honest, it reminded me of Maria Hill's comment in the second Avengers move about "where are all the ladies!?" It has Wanda speaking with Susan Storm and two other women about her desire to lead the Avengers and the support she got from them while Rikki was walking past them. Next picture is a group from “each team” (Swordsmen, Doc Samson, and Johnny Storm) who are discussing the favorite discussion of comic collectors everywhere: who could beat who in a fight (it’s specifically Johnny betting Samson that Ben could defeat Hulk in a fight, which is funny). It was a cool pair of pictures that I thought nicely contrasted women and men on a “different level,” and I thought the authors did a nice job with it (the artwork and the contrasting of mindsets).

There were other things that I liked, too, about this “rebooting” of some of Marvel’s characters. I liked the introduction of the "second," real Thor into the Universe. That was fun. I also enjoyed the retellings of most of the characters, how there was a team of "Silver Age Atomic Knights" who had such dreams for "this world" (which sadly failed to coalesce). I thought it was an interesting idea that Captain America gave Sam Wilson a blood transfusion in hopes it would save his life and it worked; not only that, but Sam also gained the abilities given to Cap because of the "Super Soldier Serum." Ultron's "evolution" over the course of the initial Avengers issues was fascinating, I thought, and I kinda wished they'd done more with that (although they did make him a bit of a "lecherous creeper" when it came to Janet). There are several "splash pages" of the heroes scattered throughout the Omnibus (especially in the Avengers and FF, which only makes sense) which are things of beauty (especially towards the end). The "Lethal Legion" attacking the Avengers like they did seemed on par for the original series, but then it turned into a "comedy of errors" for these villains which I actually found funnier reading "this time around." The Thor from Avengers #1 strongly reminded me of Hercules, and the "original Thor" comments to his "brother" that the Thor of this reality reminds "our" Thor of somebody from the -616 reality (I can only assume it is Hercules, as they are quite similar in nature). Hulk fights pretty much everybody at some point, and there is a "hilarious" moment at the end where the two start fighting because they are bored (it's even funnier when She-Hulk and Johnny Storm make a bet on who'd win before Sue breaks up the "fight" and Johnny makes a snarky comment about "older sisters"). I liked Iron Man's "traveling through time" with Doctor Doom; that was pretty cool and reminiscent of their original journey back to Camelot and how they had to work together to return to the "present" in Iron Man #150. I also liked how Hulk's story was shared with Tony Stark in Iron Man but still interwoven into the Avengers as well.

The Omnibus collection does have some "Easter Eggs," which are "nice" (such as alternate covers, how the four #12's combine to form a bigger picture, trading cards sold at the time, "in-house ads"), but I found myself wishing it had more "meatier Eggs." I would have liked to have seen the addition of the discussions behind how the characters were going to be changed, how their stories were going to be told. It would have been nice to have "discovered" the "motivations" or ideas behind why the writers and artists took the routes that each of them took as well as how they were able to blend the four titles into a somewhat-continuous, overall narrative. Other Omnibus collections have comments, observations, "behind-the-scenes" "stuff", and "looking back" narratives which I think helps enhance the materials collected in the Omnibus; it would have been nice to have had such a thing for this collection, considering how "ground-breaking" it was, in some ways, at the time.

It was fun to revisit this "alternate universe" in which Marvel let certain authors and writers and whatnot of other companies rewrite the history of some important Marvel characters. Some of it has aged pretty nicely (such as most the art and the overall narrative from the Fantastic Four), but other elements, not so much. I remember enjoying these "new versions" of these classic heroes, though, and I still enjoyed rereading their stories. I do wish the writers and artists would have had a bit more time to flesh out these characters, maybe have it have been a 2-3 year project as opposed to "just" the "experimental" twelve issues (with the bonus 13th issues being thrown in). I know it would have "messed things up" in the "real" -616 world, but I think it could have had potential (especially with the way the stories were being retold). I would not be surprised if these four titles gave impetus to the creation of the "future" Ultimate Universe and its initial success, to be honest. I would probably rate it 3.2 - 3.4 stars, rounded down to 3-stars.

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Heroes Reborn (1996) #1-4

Heroes Reborn Omnibus

Rob Liefeld, Jim Lee, Whilce Portacio

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