Avengers by Brian Michael Bendis: The Complete Collection, Vol. 1

Avengers (2010) #1-2, Prime

by Brian Michael Bendis, Alan Davis (Illustrator), John Romita Sr. (Illustrator)

Bendis reunites the Big Three as he reassembles the Avengers! If Thor, Captain America and Iron Man can find a way to work together, they may just survive long enough to join Spider-Man, Wolverine and more on a new roster for a Heroic Age! Who will answer the call when Kang the Conqueror strikes from the future? There's worse to come when the Hood makes his move from small-time gangster to big-league bad guy - by hunting the all-powerful Infinity Gems - in a story that will draw in the secretive Illuminati and the not-so-stealthy Red Hulk! Plus: An angry Wonder Man returns, blaming the Avengers for the world's ills. And he's brought his own team of Revengers with him! Fight! Collects Avengers Prime #1-5, Avengers (2010) #1-12 and Annual (2012) #1 and New Avengers Annual (2011) #1.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Marvel, Science Fiction, Superheroes

437 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 26, 2017

About the author

A comic book writer and erstwhile artist. He has won critical acclaim (including five Eisner Awards) and is one of the most successful writers working in mainstream comics. For over eight years Bendis’s books have consistently sat in the top five best sellers on the nationwide comic and graphic novel sales charts.

Though he started as a writer and artist of independent noir fiction series, he shot to stardom as a writer of Marvel Comics' superhero books, particularly Ultimate Spider-Man.

Bendis first entered the comic world with the "Jinx" line of crime comics in 1995. This line has spawned the graphic novels Goldfish, Fire, Jinx, Torso (with Marc Andreyko), and Total Sell Out. Bendis is writing the film version of Jinx for Universal Pictures with Oscar-winner Charlize Theron attached to star and produce.

Bendis’s other projects include the Harvey, Eisner, and Eagle Award-nominated Powers (with Michael Avon Oeming) originally from Image Comics, now published by Marvel's new creator-owned imprint Icon Comics, and the Hollywood tell-all Fortune and Glory from Oni Press, both of which received an "A" from Entertainment Weekly.

Bendis is one of the premiere architects of Marvel's "Ultimate" line: comics specifically created for the new generation of comic readers. He has written every issue of Ultimate Spider-Man since its best-selling launch, and has also written for Ultimate Fantastic Four and Ultimate X-Men, as well as every issue of Ultimate Marvel Team-Up, Ultimate Origin and Ultimate Six.

Brian is currently helming a renaissance for Marvel’s AVENGERS franchise by writing both New Avengers and Mighty Avengers along with the successful ‘event’ projects House Of M, Secret War, and this summer’s Secret Invasion.

He has also previously done work on Daredevil, Alias, and The Pulse.

Reviews

[Christy Hall · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely enjoyed every part of this collection! The art work is stellar and the storytelling is also well done. This collection has a variety of stories about the attempted infinity stone-grab by Parker Robbins, post-Civil War issues between Cap and Tony, Wonder Man’s attack on the Avengers and so many more. It’s a great collection that has so many avengers assembled. It’s fun to see so many different ones work together. The humor is great, as always. The conflicts are interesting and every “bad” guy has a smidge of truth about him that makes a reader think about things. I really enjoyed this collection so much!

[Public Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Had to throw in the towel and return this to the library before completely finishing... but very entertaining... great lineup of primary Avengers. Who doesn't like having Wolverine and Spiderman fighting alongside Thor and Iron Man? Awesome.

[Omar · Rating 4 out of 5]

8 good. A good comic from Benids. Good writing and entertaining momments here and there. A nice selection for a read and has a great storyline. Brian Michael Benids writes this story greatly.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Collects Avengers Prime issues #1-5, Avengers (2010) #1-12, Avengers Annual (2012) issue #1, and New Avengers Annual (2011) issue #1

Between this Bendis title and the complement title "New Avengers," this is definitely the superior story. This version of the Avengers is made up of:

-Thor
-Spider-Man
-Wolverine
-Captain America (Bucky version)
-Spider-Woman
-Iron Man
-Maria Hill
-and multiple appearances from Steve Rogers

The first story in this collection is about Steve Rogers, Thor, and Tony Stark:

This comic book takes place immediately following "Siege," and tells a story that has the intent of mending the bridges between Steve Rogers, Tony Stark, and Thor, so that these three can work together on the Avengers unhindered by the events of the recent past.

The next story is about Kang:

This is a fun time travel story to start off for with this new iteration of the Avengers, but I can barely handle John Romita Jr. as an artist. He makes every male character without a mask look practically the same, and he seems to only be able to achieve one hairstyle for men.

The bad art aside, this story was actually pretty good, as Kang the Conqueror is one of the main characters that appears in this book.

Then there is a story about the Hood:

This book features an awesome story in which the Hood is back as the villain, trying to regain a power position, and using the Infinity Gems to do it. All of the various Avengers teams have to team up to take on this threat, and there are some really great moments in here.

And finally there is a story in which Wonder Man acts as the antagonist.

[Shane · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of the longest collections I've read, clocking in at 19 individual comics (Avengers Prime 1-5, Avengers (2010) 1-12, New Avengers Annual (2011) 1, Avengers Annual (2012) 1). This is the "prequel" to "The Heroic Age", the time after Norman Osborne has fallen as well as Asgard and the Sentry.

Pretty normal stuff, Infinity Stones getting stolen and almost destroying the universe, old Avengers coming back to destroy the current Avengers, though I did enjoy the Avengers Prime more with it's time hopping to meet the children of the Avengers in the future and a crazy-smart version of the Hulk.

The art in the Prime series was better too, the regular avengers art was completely sub-standard and awful.

[Jdetrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

You know, Bendis is good with dialogue almost always, but his plots leave a lot to be desired, and I'm still not sure, even after writing the Avengers titles for five years at this point, that he has all the personalities down. Some of them, like Spider-Man, he nails, but others, like Dr. Strange, either seem wildly out of character or are blank slates without a personality.

[Joey Amorim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Surprisingly, I actually enjoyed this more than the first New Avengers “Heroic Age” volume. The stories were definitely a lot more wacky and out there, but they were also way more dynamic and engaging. And John Romita Jr.’s art was actually pretty good!

[Doctor Doom · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the best story arcs I have read since the 1960s [except the WonderMan stories-those were junk]. Strange that someone who can write such great stories can produce such ill-conceived tripe. The good stories were fun, he bad ones seemed agenda driven and thus not true to the characters.

[strawberry! · Rating 5 out of 5]

if there's 'avenger' in the title, and bendis is writing it, i'm in.

[Fadzlee Abdul Rahman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Time travelling hurts. Not best JRJR work.