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lanternatomika's review
adventurous
funny
hopeful
inspiring
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
In many ways, Kurt Busiek's seminal run on Avengers did a lot to bring Earth's Mightiest Heroes into the modern age of comics. He wrote some of the team's most iconic stories, and his work on Kang will/may/won't be part of the future of the MCU. But while it has a titanic reputation, the run itself is, at best, just very good.
Busiek's approach to the Avengers is very character driven, and he does a great job of writing character drama. Even the first arc, which features all 39 heroes who've served as Avengers, did a neat job of giving attention to every single hero, but once the roster narrows down, he gives each character their own arc and their own set of conflicts with the group (except maybe for Iron Man and Thor). I especially liked that, as characters hit stages of their personal arcs, they would leave the team to let other characters step into the spotlight. This is some of the best character work I've seen in a big team book - but it does have one big weakness.
Did you know that this run started in the late 90s and ended in the 2000s? I say this because it's really easy to forget when reading Busiek's dialogue, which doesn't just sound Silver Age, it sounds like a Silver Age cartoon. I get that it's hard to have write with a unique voice for such a big ensemble, but the dialogue feels so dated. It really takes me out of the action when characters are constantly talking to each other during big fights with 50s dialogue - Iron Man calls his foes jokers, Hawkeye refers to the three Time Keepers as Hewey, Dewey and Louie, and the Avengers get complimented on their moxie and gumption. Again, he started writing this in the 90s, after Watchmen, The Sandman and The Dark Knight Returns! Why does he sound like such an old man?
The one exception is Thor. The God of Thunder sounds like a genuine badass, and I wanna read more of his comics now.
It's weird because I thought the narration boxes would annoy me more, but I actually enjoyed them. When Busiek writes as the narrator, he's great at giving gravitas and tension to scenes. If only he'd done the same with the dialogue...
I suppose the dialogue isn't the biggest problem with this run. The plotting, or lack thereof, is probably its fatal flaw. Maybe my expectations are colored by modern comics, but I usually expect a run like this to have some kind of an overarching storyline that drives the smaller scale events of the book. I'd at least appreciate a series of medium-sized arcs. There are exactly three of those in this book: in the beginning, when the Avengers are reestablishing themselves; the Live Kree or Die crossover and the Ultron Unlimited 'event'. Unsurprisingly, these are some of the highlights of the omni.
The rest of the issues are honestly pretty formulaic - we begin with the villain getting up to no good before heading to Avengers Mansion to flesh out the character drama, and once the Avengers are alerted to the threat, the drama plays out during the action. This is another aspect that feels kinda like an Avengers cartoon - one of the good Avengers cartoons, to be sure, but there isn't much maturity to the plotting.
There is, of course, one big exception to all those complaints: Avengers Forever. That 12 issue limited series is present and accounted for in this omni, and it really showcases all the potential that's missing from the ongoing. Carlos Pacheco is a brilliant artist too, even if George Perez outshines him in the main comic. Forever is a Kang story, and I know that Kang becomes a factor in the latter portion of this run, so I'm hoping that its magic can somehow be recaptured in volume 2.
So I did enjoy this omni, but I think that the Avengers have come a long way in terms of exciting and innovative storytelling. Avengers Forever aside, this omni really feels like it was behind the curve even for its time, but there's entertainment value here. I'll totally pick up the second volume, but I'm not as excited for it as I could've been.
Before I go, I actually made a list of my favorite 'disses' from this omni, and I really need you to see this:
- jokers
- creepazoids (????)
- second rate and third rate
- busters
- looney tunes (I'm surprised Disney didn't have them edit this out)
- stumblebums
- Hewey, Dewey and Louie
- turnip-head
- jobronis (which isn't just funny, it's a typo on the word jabroni)
Busiek's approach to the Avengers is very character driven, and he does a great job of writing character drama. Even the first arc, which features all 39 heroes who've served as Avengers, did a neat job of giving attention to every single hero, but once the roster narrows down, he gives each character their own arc and their own set of conflicts with the group (except maybe for Iron Man and Thor). I especially liked that, as characters hit stages of their personal arcs, they would leave the team to let other characters step into the spotlight. This is some of the best character work I've seen in a big team book - but it does have one big weakness.
Did you know that this run started in the late 90s and ended in the 2000s? I say this because it's really easy to forget when reading Busiek's dialogue, which doesn't just sound Silver Age, it sounds like a Silver Age cartoon. I get that it's hard to have write with a unique voice for such a big ensemble, but the dialogue feels so dated. It really takes me out of the action when characters are constantly talking to each other during big fights with 50s dialogue - Iron Man calls his foes jokers, Hawkeye refers to the three Time Keepers as Hewey, Dewey and Louie, and the Avengers get complimented on their moxie and gumption. Again, he started writing this in the 90s, after Watchmen, The Sandman and The Dark Knight Returns! Why does he sound like such an old man?
The one exception is Thor. The God of Thunder sounds like a genuine badass, and I wanna read more of his comics now.
It's weird because I thought the narration boxes would annoy me more, but I actually enjoyed them. When Busiek writes as the narrator, he's great at giving gravitas and tension to scenes. If only he'd done the same with the dialogue...
I suppose the dialogue isn't the biggest problem with this run. The plotting, or lack thereof, is probably its fatal flaw. Maybe my expectations are colored by modern comics, but I usually expect a run like this to have some kind of an overarching storyline that drives the smaller scale events of the book. I'd at least appreciate a series of medium-sized arcs. There are exactly three of those in this book: in the beginning, when the Avengers are reestablishing themselves; the Live Kree or Die crossover and the Ultron Unlimited 'event'. Unsurprisingly, these are some of the highlights of the omni.
The rest of the issues are honestly pretty formulaic - we begin with the villain getting up to no good before heading to Avengers Mansion to flesh out the character drama, and once the Avengers are alerted to the threat, the drama plays out during the action. This is another aspect that feels kinda like an Avengers cartoon - one of the good Avengers cartoons, to be sure, but there isn't much maturity to the plotting.
There is, of course, one big exception to all those complaints: Avengers Forever. That 12 issue limited series is present and accounted for in this omni, and it really showcases all the potential that's missing from the ongoing. Carlos Pacheco is a brilliant artist too, even if George Perez outshines him in the main comic. Forever is a Kang story, and I know that Kang becomes a factor in the latter portion of this run, so I'm hoping that its magic can somehow be recaptured in volume 2.
So I did enjoy this omni, but I think that the Avengers have come a long way in terms of exciting and innovative storytelling. Avengers Forever aside, this omni really feels like it was behind the curve even for its time, but there's entertainment value here. I'll totally pick up the second volume, but I'm not as excited for it as I could've been.
Before I go, I actually made a list of my favorite 'disses' from this omni, and I really need you to see this:
- jokers
- creepazoids (????)
- second rate and third rate
- busters
- looney tunes (I'm surprised Disney didn't have them edit this out)
- stumblebums
- Hewey, Dewey and Louie
- turnip-head
- jobronis (which isn't just funny, it's a typo on the word jabroni)
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