Marvel Masterworks: The Avengers, Vol. 6

Marvel Masterworks: The Avengers #6

by Roy Thomas (Writer), John Buscema (Penciller), Don Heck (Penciller)

Written by ROY THOMAS Penciled by JOHN BUSCEMA, DON HECK & WERNER ROTH Cover by JOHN BUSCEMA Get ready for Earth's Mightiest Heroes matched with two of comics' mightiest talents, Roy Thomas and John Buscema, as the Marvel Masterworks take you on a trip through one of the most stellar creative periods in Avengers' history! This baby's full to the brim with an amazing array watershed Avengers moments-the Black Panther joins the team, a pitched battle between the Avengers and the X-Men, the debut of the new Masters of Evil, the details behind Cap's fateful battle with Baron Zemo, a reality-bending battle between the current Avengers and the original Avengers, and the first appearance of the evil Ultron-5! Oh, and don't worry, we didn't forget-it all closes out on one heck of a high note with the first-ever appearance of the Vision and one of the most famous stories in all of Marveldom, "Even an Android Can Cry". Bring your tissues, True Believer, 'cause this one's gonna get ya right there

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

272 pages, Hardcover

First published December 13, 2006

About the author

Roy Thomas was the FIRST Editor-in-Chief at Marvel--After Stan Lee stepped down from the position. Roy is a longtime comic book writer and editor. Thomas has written comics for Archie, Charlton, DC, Heroic Publishing, Marvel, and Topps over the years. Thomas currently edits the fanzine Alter Ego for Twomorrow's Publishing. He was Editor for Marvel comics from 1972-1974. He wrote for several titles at Marvel, such as Avengers, Thor, Invaders, Fantastic Four, X-Men, and notably Conan the Barbarian. Thomas is also known for his championing of Golden Age comic-book heroes — particularly the 1940s superhero team the Justice Society of America — and for lengthy writing stints on Marvel's X-Men and Avengers, and DC Comics' All-Star Squadron, among other titles.

Also a legendary creator. Creations include Wolverine, Carol Danvers, Ghost Rider, Vision, Iron Fist, Luke Cage, Valkyrie, Morbius, Doc Samson, and Ultron. Roy has also worked for Archie, Charlton, and DC among others over the years.

Reviews

[Aaron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having nearly reached my Silver Age saturation point, I jumped ahead to this collection consisting of issues 51 through 58 (plus X-Men #45 and Annual #2) from 1968, my final goal for preparing for Avengers: Age of Ultron. Almost all of these issues feel significant, beginning with the induction of Black Panther into the Avengers and culminating in the introductions of the classic Avengers villain Ultron and his creation, the heroic android known as the Vision. The Avengers go up against the Collector, the Grim Reaper, the X-Men, the new Masters of Evil, Zemo (in a brief trip to the past), and the original Avengers from an alternate timeline.

The strange legacy of the late Simon Williams (aka Wonder Man) begins to be felt as the Grim Reaper seeks vengeance for his death, and then later Williams' mind is used as the template for the Vision's. The two issues concerning the X-Men are of course based around the X-Men having their minds controlled, giving the two teams an excuse to fight. Then came the Avengers' brief trip back in time and then the over-sized Annual showing a twisted alternate timeline where the original team not only never broke up but became tyrannical despots. The bait-and-switch introductory story of Ultron-5 and then the reveal of his being behind the creation of the Vision and Ultron's origins as a project of Henry Pym's which Pym was made to forget were strangely roundabout ways to introduce the characters, but they still worked well.

I'm wondering how much of this will be used for the upcoming movie, which will also include Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch as Ultron's followers, possibly reluctant as they are with Magneto in some of these issues. It looks like Ultron is now made by Tony Stark and something that's been largely kept quiet is the introduction of Paul Bettany as the Vision.

[Carl Walker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some day, someone is going to have to explain to me why Roy Thomas suddenly decided to make Simon Williams the center of everything! This collection loses a bit of steam compared to the last one, as the lineup gets weaker, the action less dynamic, and the less said about the crossover with the very weak sauce Silver Age X-Men, the better! But on the upside, a larger percentage of this volume is pencilled by John Buscema!

[Dimitris Papastergiou · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked it. Mainly the artwork. The stories are oldies so expect lots of laughs/cringing/some accidental racism/weird dialogue that no one talks like that and shit like that.

Other than that all good \o/

[Little Timmy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Marvel Masterworks volumes are fantastic reprints of the early years of Marvel comics. A fantastic resource to allow these hard to find issues to be read by everyone. Very recommended to everyone and Highly recommended to any comic fan.

[Edward Davies · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great collection, including the first appearances of Ultron, the revelation as to where he came from, and the birth of The Vision! Plus a crossover story with X-Men issue 45 in a desperate attempt to boost their sales as Marvel reprints The Avengers issues 51 to 58 and the second annual.

[Christopher Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite run of my favorite book of all time. Roy Rules!

[Brandt · Rating 4 out of 5]

If one wanted to look, historically, at why the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies have been so popular, one might want to take a look at Roy Thomas and John Buscema's run on The Avengers While there have been obvious nods to Ed Brubaker's run on Captain America in the stories presented by the MCU, one of the reasons The Avengers was a such a runaway success for Marvel Studios was because of the rich history of the team as composed, first by Stan Lee and later by Thomas.

As I stated in the previous volume's review, Thomas was hamstrung by Lee when he first took over The Avengers. In some way, Thomas' earliest Avengers stories feel like they can't shake Lee's heavy editorial hand. It was only after a few issues at the helm and the serendipitous addition of Buscema as the regular artist that The Avengers became truly classic. This volume contains many of the high water marks of the Thomas/Buscema run--Ultron, the Vision and the Scarlet Centurion (another manifestation of Kang) all make their first appearances in this volume. And the success is in spite of Lee, who was adamant that Thomas not be allowed to utilize former Avengers Iron Man, Captain America and Thor--after all, from a business perspective they all had their own books, and why would someone want to buy The Avengers if those heroes had their own books (little could Stan envision a world where eight million X-Men related properties would be published monthly.) However, Thomas did convince Stan to let these heroes make guest shots and by the end of the volume it seems like Captain America is back in the fold.

Of course, Ultron and the Vision have gone on to appear in the MCU movies, but their start is here. For comics released in 1968, the stories are more sophisticated, lumping the Thomas/Buscema team in with the work Denny O' Neil and Neal Adams were doing at the time over at DC on Green Arrow/Green Lantern. These visionaries were learning to push the envelope and opening the door for more sophisticated storytelling from the likes of Alan Moore, Frank Miller and Neil Gaiman among others. This was the necessary step to get from comics being for kids to being so much more.

[Alex Andrasik · Rating 4 out of 5]

John Buscema and Roy Thomas hitting their stride. Still not quite there. The promise offered by high concept ideas like the Ozymandias poem over the last page of 57, and the "even an android can cry" moment, aren't totally buttressed by the material betwixt and between. The annual is a fun introduction to the perennial confusion that is Marvel time travel and alternate realties.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

This volume continues the impressive Roy Thomas/John Buscema collaboration.

Thomas' writing goes from strength-to-strength and Buscema's artwork is as gorgeous as ever.

Highlights include Black Panther's and Grim Reaper's first appearance in #52, the return of the Masters of Evil in #54 & #55, and Vision's first appearances in #57 & #58. That final story is absolutely sublime.

[Jimbo · Rating 5 out of 5]

What can I say? Avengers are the best. Roy Thomas's stories are great and they FINALLY introduce The Vision. (And the Black Knight appears in a couple of these issues as well.

Kang the Conqueror, Baron Zemo, the first battle of the X-Men and the Avengers, also the New Avengers fight the original Avengers.

How can you go wrong?

[JW David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Avengers #51-58, Annual #2 & X-Men (Vol. 1) #45.

[Rick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Avengers #51-52 - First off, the Collector is back and up to his usual tricks of acquiring the Avengers for his collection. Thor and Iron Man show up and Goliath gets his full-range of size-changing abilities back yet again. Although it should be clear to everyone that this guy isn’t quite right in the head. Then the Grim Reaper is introduced in his attempt to gain revenge on those he feels killed his brother, the Avengers. And another new member joins Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, the Black Panther. (2/5)

X-Men #45 & Avengers #53 - This crossover event begins with a battle between Quicksilver and Cyclops, but it quickly explodes as the Avengers rescue the X-Men from the clutches of Magento, but fail to reduce their own captured teammates, Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch. Not the greatest crossover event, but it’s still fun. (3/5)

Avengers #54-55 - The Masters of Evil are back, under new leadership, with a new roster. And it’s a mess. Between traitorous Jarvis and the Crimson Cowl and the motivations of the various villains - none of this makes any sense. Roy Thomas basically hits rock bottom here, throwing anything and everything against the wall, desperately hoping something, anything, will stick. Part of the problem is Hank Pym, trying to make this deranged lunatic a coherent hero has always been a disaster, but a lot of it is the decision to remove all of the interesting characters like Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Hercules, and Scarlet Witch, and leave us with Hawkeye and the Wasp to try and handle keeping things together. Nothing against either of these two, they’re great and they’ll both have their eras in the history of the Avengers to more than shine, but neither of them are at their best in these issues. Thomas turns Jarvis into a petty two-faced liar, after turning Quicksilver into a rampant racist who’s little better than Magento, Hawkeye was finally coming out of his loud-mouth, trouble-maker attitude only to double down on it again, and Black Panther comes in being depicted as little more than a token who even alters his sacred name (initially going as The Panther in these pages) and costume to help prove that the Avengers aren’t racist (sure let’s throw away hundreds of years of Wakandan religion, ceremony, and tradition just to try and prove a point). (2/5)

Avengers #56 & Avengers Annual #2 - More retroactive continuity changes from Thomas? Or is this merely a pointless story where the events get erased because time is rewritten? Cap confirms Becky’s death. It’s original line-up Avengers vs the new Avengers. Except as time is being rewritten, Bucky may not have actually died now. Thomas inadvertently (and laughably) lays the groundwork for the Winter Soldier. (1/5)

Avengers #57-58 -

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Roy Thomas work leading up to this was adequate, but this is where his run begins to build an identity.

Grim Reaper makes his first appearance along with the Black Panther joining and stealing the scene.

I suppose there's some spoiling elements here but everyone's favorite Oedipal robot shows up in Ultron (5).

Both of these additions along with the new Masters of Evil, a reuse of Kang start revitalizing the Avengers Rogues Gallery, which helps bring identity.

But the most important thing that happens in this volume is the introduction of maybe the most important Avenger for the first 500 issues. Obviously many would protest this claim, but The Vision's pursuit of humanity I would argue is the most important drama of The Avengers book prior to Bendis revising what an Avenger character, team, and book is.

If I make it through those 500 issues again this pass, I will have to see how well I think my claim stands. But that all starts here. Which may mean that for my purposes, The Avengers starts here...

Older review:

In my Fantastic Four 60th anniversary read-through, I am tracking Black Panther through his Avengers career and thus this reread.

It is interesting to read this in a bit more isolation or more accurately comparison to FF and not it’s earlier Avenger books. As this is the point where Roy Thomas elevates the book, when I read this in the midst of Avenger continuity it shone out as a highlight. Reading it alongside one of the best of the Silver Age it doesn’t have quite the same gleam.

Still, some pretty iconic moments. First Appearance of Ultron, Vision, the new Masters of Evil, Black Panther joins the team, the Black Knight’s first adventure with the team.

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Roy Thomas's writing is still a bit clunky and comicbooky, but an improvement on Stan Lee's work for this particular title, which was one of his weaker efforts while he was writing it. Nevertheless, it's quite a page-turner. This introduces Ultron and the Vision, and much of the volume is devoted to that story, albeit with interludes often lasting more than an issue. Practically every Marvel superhero and a good deal of Marvel supervillains appear in this volume, as well.

[Adriano Barone · Rating 4 out of 5]

L'arrivo del Calabrone! Occhio di Falco diventa Golia! Il ritorno di Ultron!
Roy Thomas unleashed! Da leggere assolutamente!