Avengers Defenders War

Rating:
Summary: One Of The Greatest Team-Ups of the 70s
Review: Nowadays, comic book characters seem to get together all of the time and crossovers were rare once upon a time. This brought together Marvel's two most popular super-teams at the time (Uncanny WHO?). All of the cliches are there, first the teams battle each other and then come together to face the common enemy. Englehart's writing is enjoyable, particularly in the Hulk-Thor matchup. Brown's artwork is crude by today's standards but Sal Buscema's pencils are beautiful, particularly his rendition of the Avengers and the Hulk. A minor complaint is that some pages appear to be reproduced to appear like photostats of the comic book pages and not reproduced from the original artwork.

On my wishlist for further reprints, maybe they could consider the Kang saga (which introduced the Invaders), the Sentinel Story, or the Brand Saga (introducing a young penciller named George Perez). With Englehart at the typewriter, the Avengers were THE supergroup of the 70s, and this book is a great example of that.

Rating:
Summary: A review ...
Review: The Avengers/Defenders War trade paperback is a wonderful look back at a bygone era of the Marvel Age. It was the prototype for the kind of ultra-dramatic crossover spectacular that a decade and a half later reached binge proportions. Unlike the Secret Wars/Atlantis Attacks/Onslaught/etc. crossovers, the storyline is self-contained within the pages of the two team mags, and has a definite beginning and an ending. And it has loads and loads of charm- and thank goodness for that!

This trade covers the whole of Avengers #116-118 and Defenders #9-11, as well as the parts of Avengers #115 and Defenders #8 that acted as prologue to the later issues. The trade is 128 pages in length, with a stunning cover by fantastic contemporary comic artist Carlos Pacheco- it's a real winner! Not only that, but the pages have been recolored, which means no dot-matrix headaches for you and me. I like that! The art is fine, with able work done by Bob Brown and "steady as she goes" Sal Buscema, and Steve Englehart's scripts are never short on drama.

The setup of the story revolves around the dread Dormammu's planned conquest of "the Universe!" Unable to do so without compromising his pledge to Dr. Strange to never invade our universe (oh how honorable!), he enlists the aid of a blind Loki to help him undertake a plan to merge his universe with our universe. And voila! No inner conflicts, no cowardly deceit! Our universe is now his universe, and he can enslave it at will.

The plot involves drawing the Defenders unwittingly into gathering together the pieces of the Evil Eye, an artifact that will help Dormammu merge the two realities. Standing in the way of the unknowingDefenders is the Avengers, who slowly realize the import of what is happening. Several battles ensue, including Dr. Strange vs. Black Panther and Mantis in an Iowa cornfield, Vision and Scarlet Witch vs. Silver Surfer in a volcano, and Iron Man vs. Hawkeye in Monterrey, Mexico! My favorite battle is between Swordsman and Valkyrie. Those of us who know the inevitable tragic fate of the Swordsman will find in his dialogue the tragic pathos of one who's time is near, and the battle scenes are straight out of Errol Flynn- well planned and ably drawn.

The final chapter, en epilogue if you will, is kind of anticlimactic, and there is a weird glitch where the lettering is off balance in about 5% of the pages, which is annoying. And Englehart inflicted Loki with a strange case of Norse ebonics throughout, whereupon he would moan such ignominy as "I be blind!" But overall, it was a real hoot to read this trade, and would highly recommend it for fans of Avengers, Defenders, Marvel comics, and team comics in general.

Rating:
Summary: We need more 70's books from that bygone era!
Review: This is the classic Avengers/Defenders book that you can't put down! The classic 70's writers and artists are all here. Steve Englehart, writer and Bob Brown and Sal Buscema as artists. It's about Loki, the Avengers first adversary and how he teams up with Dr. Strange's nemesis, Dormammu! It's an all out slug festival to the finish with Marvel's finest talent. I wish they made them like this again. All the artists today get their contract and are in and out like yesterday's news. Bob Brown was one of Marvels most under rated artists. He also did the art chores on Daredevil. Sal Buscema was a workhorse and provided a lot of classic material that still stands up today. Writer Steve Englehart was another one of those names you never heard a lot about..however they were the mainstay at Marvel in the 70's ...

Rating:
Summary: We need more 70's books from that bygone era!
Review: This is the classic Avengers/Defenders book that you can't put down! The classic 70's writers and artists are all here. Steve Englehart, writer and Bob Brown and Sal Buscema as artists. It's about Loki, the Avengers first adversary and how he teams up with Dr. Strange's nemesis, Dormammu! It's an all out slug festival to the finish with Marvel's finest talent. I wish they made them like this again. All the artists today get their contract and are in and out like yesterday's news. Bob Brown was one of Marvels most under rated artists. He also did the art chores on Daredevil. Sal Buscema was a workhorse and provided a lot of classic material that still stands up today. Writer Steve Englehart was another one of those names you never heard a lot about..however they were the mainstay at Marvel in the 70's ...

Rating:
Summary: Old school, which explains a lot about the story
Review: This was a funner time in comics, campier and much more "Shakespearean" than we see today. Unfortunately, I am so used to the modern comic, looking back on this piece of the 70's, I can't really get too into it. They did a great job with the recoloring and it was a fun overall idea. The main problem was it made both teams seem like little children, who don't seem to think before they act. Dr. Strange comes out looking like an idiot, which is just wrong. The fights though, were fun and actually made some sense. The dialogue was too campy, and there were those cute little references they used to always make everywhere (i.e. "check out Avengers 145, bravo Bob - Timmy). I don't really regret buying this, but I know that I probably won't read it again. You just have to have a real appreciation for the comics of the past, and this is just before my time.

Rating:
Summary: Old school, which explains a lot about the story
Review: This was a funner time in comics, campier and much more "Shakespearean" than we see today. Unfortunately, I am so used to the modern comic, looking back on this piece of the 70's, I can't really get too into it. They did a great job with the recoloring and it was a fun overall idea. The main problem was it made both teams seem like little children, who don't seem to think before they act. Dr. Strange comes out looking like an idiot, which is just wrong. The fights though, were fun and actually made some sense. The dialogue was too campy, and there were those cute little references they used to always make everywhere (i.e. "check out Avengers 145, bravo Bob - Timmy). I don't really regret buying this, but I know that I probably won't read it again. You just have to have a real appreciation for the comics of the past, and this is just before my time.