Rating: 
Summary: Nostalgic look back at a time of simpler comics
Review: The "essential" collections by Marvel Comics give the chance to younger generations to see how the Marvel superhero-with-everyday-problems comics that made the silver age of comics come about in the early 1960's. If you're looking for muscles that would give century old tree-trunks a run for their money, don't buy this book. Don't buy this book, either, if you're looking for non-stop fight scenes and full-page panels from end to end. The Essential Avengers reprints in black and white the first couple of dozen stories by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and Don Heck of a series egged into creation by DC's team comics of the late fifties and early sixties. They are simple stories, seemingly one or two-dimensional in the light of the eighties and nineties work by people like Alan Moore and Frank Miller, but they are vital, well-balanced stories that have aged, yes (for example, they're sexist by today's standards - why is the Wasp always left out when the original Avengers are mentioned?), but the stories do show us how it all started. There would be no Miller and his ilk if there had been no Kirby, whose work here round about the time when he was co-creating the Fantastic Four, The Hulk, Thor and so many others is dynamic and alive. Heck's work is not up to Jack Kirby's, but is artistically competent and shows the artist's ability at visual story-telling. A good buy for comic nostalgia buffs.
Rating:
Summary: A Superteam like no other
Review: The Avengers debuted at the same time as the original X-Men and until the New X-men came along, they were Marvel's Superteam Supreme. The earliest stories feature powerhouses Thor, Iron Man and Hulk, along with Giant/ant Man and the Wasp. After a few issues the Hulk left and was replaced by Captain America in a classic must read story. The early team fought time spanning menaces like Kang and Immortus, villainous conglomerates like the Masters of Evil, and Wonder Man. (Although Zemo never seemed very menacing, an ex-Nazi with a hood permanently glued to his head by accident?) After a dozen or so issues, this team was replaced by Cap, Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, and Hawkeye. Can you say "power shortage"? And we're treated to a team that had a hard time defeating a fat robot and the Swordsman. SO they find themselves thoroughly outmatched when they meet Kang in the last 2 stories in this collection. But that was the charm of the Avengers. Their roster changed every dozen or so issues. While the Justice League would add a member here and there, you never saw anybody leave the roster. Imagine a JLA where Superman or Batman decided to call it quits for a few years. This is where we see the genius of Stan Lee. After forming a superteam of awesome strength, he allowed a change to bring in a team of also rans. Watch as Cap molds his group into a team that has to use wits instead of brute strength to stop their foes. At the time, it was a major change in team books. And as always, watch for the dated female characterizations, especially of the Wasp, who spends most of her time mooning over Thor and fantasizing what Iron Man looks like under the armor.
Rating: 
Summary: Poor stories
Review: The Avengers was apparently put together so that Marvel would have its own equivalent of the Justice League of America. Unfortunately, beyond that commercial calculation little thought was expended on these stories. The characters do not function well together, and most interesting aspects of their individual series - Iron Man's relationship with his employess, Thor's involvement with his nurse - are omitted. The stories tend to follow a routine format, designed to squeeze in a couple of combat scenes each issue and give each character a chance to display their super-powers.
Rating:
Summary: Beginnings of the world's greatest heroes
Review: The Avengers were initially an obvious recipe for success - take a number of characters already supporting their own comics and bring them together as a group, an idea as old as the Justice Society of America. So, in the debut issue, we have Thor, Iron Man, the Hulk, Ant-man and the Wasp joining forces as an unexpected consequence of a plot by Loki against his half-brother, Thor.However, the ideas changed quickly as the Hulk left and teamed-up with the Sub-mariner to fight his former allies and was replaced by Captain America, a World War 2 hero frozen between then and the 60s. And then again, to suddenly have all the original members depart, leaving Cap with Hawkeye, Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch, three super-villains seeking to reform, as his teammates. The stories in this volume represent a fairly diverse bunch, showing both the best and worst aspects of Stan Lee's writing at the time. Interesting team dynamics, where the characters are not always each others' friends, villains with motives beyond the banal, references to events in other titles, secrets and subplots that aren't resolved in a single story all show the hallmarks of a writer seeking to develop a loyal following. At the same time, we have blatant sexism and racism, villains with banal motives and some very hokey dialogue. The art is OK, the early Jack Kirby issues not his best work, and I've never been fond of Don Heck's art. It seems a little odd to be reading these stories in black and white, although this obviously keeps the price down. If you want to see how one of the best super-hero team series started out, get this.
Rating:
Summary: Chaff
Review: The hulk joins the circus to escape from the Avengers (this is issue 1), and Ant-man shows up and defeats him by having his ants quickly dig a tunnel that causes the ground under him to collapse. What? Then captain america is discovered imprisoned in a block of ice, where he is worshipped by Eskimos. Eskimos don't worship frozen human beings. And why is he still frozen, even though they've hauled him out of the water onto solid land? Then - get this - most of the Avengers decide to 'leave the team' and hire new heroes to replace them. Considering how loose-knit the group is (most of them don't live at the Mansion; and they already have their own adventures apart from the Avengers in their own books), what does it mean to 'resign from the Avengers'? Then, they hire three super-villains who have reformed within the last two or three months to replace them. Why trust these jokers. This issue (16) is the worst in this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Avengers Assemble
Review: This book is one of the great Avengers books. From the return/first silver age appearance of Captain America to the adventures of the Kooky Quartet, from the first battles with Kang and Immortus, and Wonder Man this is a must have for any Avengers, or comic book fan.
Rating:
Summary: Classic comics.
Review: This volume is a new reprinting of the first ten issues of The Avengers. Reexperience the formation of the group, the reintroduction of Captain America and the introduction of Wonder Man, early chapters in the Kang/Immortus saga, and the first attack of The Masters of Evil. This isn't high art here - it's really a collection of slugfests - but if the nostalgia factor runs high for you this will probably be an essential collection. (One of the most amusing things to me was an editor's note in issue #4, suggesting that the reader save the issue because it may become a collector's item!)
Rating:
Summary: Thor! Ant Man! Hulk! Iron Man!
Review: Thor! Ant Man! Hulk! Iron Man! Earth's Mightiest Super-Heroes! The cover to AVENGERS #1 screams. Marvel comics was promising a teaming up of four of its biggest heroes (leaving out Spider-Man and Dr Strange who worked best as loners and the FF who were already a team) and putting them all in one book to create the ultimate comicbook. Did it work? You bet! Spider-Man and Hulk were amazing and incredible characters. The Fantastic Four was the world's greatest comicbook. But the Marvel Universe began with the Mighty Avengers. Stan Lee and Jack Kirby took some of their new characters and put them together in one book. This is where you could really feel that these stories all happened in the same world and the characters were all tied together somehow. There are two prominent characters not mentioned, the Wasp and Rick Jones. The Wasp is the hopeful girlfriend of Henry Pym (who is both Ant Man and Giant Man). She is a relentless flirt and lone cheery voice in the ranks of the solemn Avengers. She didn't get much respect at first, but she slowly evolved into one of the most valuable members of the team. Rick Jones is the teen-age side-kick of Hulk and the leader of a teen group of short-wave radio enthusiasts (this was the sixties) the Teen Brigade. The fourth issue is a milestone in and of itself because it reintroduces one of the greatest golden age heroes back to comics-- Captain America, whom Kirby had created in the '40's with Joe Simon. Captain America lent an aura of legend to the group and would quickly become the heart and soul of the team. The fact that Iron Man and Thor and Giant Man were ultra strong and had an variety of powers at their disposal made them truly grand, but the fact that Cap with nothing but a shield and war-honed skills could always seem to outdo them made him seem even more wondrous than all the gods and monsters that filled the book. And they did indeed fill the book. In these ten issues we are transported beneath the sea to the realm of the Sub Mariner the Prince of Atlantis. We are taken under the Earth to meet the Lava Men, flown up to Asgard, home of the Norse gods-- and no less than three of them become enemies of the Avengers! We meet an alien from Limbo who can steal the body of anyone he chooses. We are introduced to an alien who can turn the Avengers to stone. Not one but two separate time lords assault the team. An old NAZI enemy of Cap's comes out of the past-- and an almost non-stop line-up of classic villains come after the team, one at a time, and then banded together. In addition to Captain America, there is also the first appearance of Wonderman (a character that would have to wait over ten years to be seen again). There are new villains like Baron Zemo, the Space Phantom, and Immortus who calls up from across time the legendary figures, Paul Bunyan, Attila The Hun, Goliath, Merlin and Hercules to take on the Mighty Assemblers only to be bested of course! But Stan and Jack mostly pulled villains that had already been used in their comics like Loki, The Enchantress, The Executioner, Kang The Conqueror, The Lava Men, Sub Mariner, Black Knight, The Melter, Radioactive Man and in a reversal one of their own members, the Hulk, becomes one of their greatest threats! These previously used villains added weight to the concept that the Avengers were independent heroes with a history of foes who would come from every corner of the Marvel Universe to match up against Earth's Mightiest Heroes. Here is the first, and only appearance of Iron Man's image projector that sends his transparent image all over New York. Captain America gets "sub-miniature transistors" in his shield that enables him to control it magnetically (something not used too often). Thor's hammer is revealed to control "cosmic magnetic waves"-- a trick I don't believe he ever used again. Evil Baron Zemo wields a "vibra gun" and the time traveling tyrant Kang lounges in a "transparent anti-gravity seat!" As is true of many of the classic Lee/Kirby comics more heroes, more vile villains and more fantastic places and concepts are introduced in ten issues than you would expect to find in years worth of comics!
Rating:
Summary: The Avengers assemble and then do their firs reassembling
Review: Volume 1 of "The Essential Avengers" represents the weakest stories in the history of Marvel's answer to DC's Justice League of America. Collected in this volume are the first twenty-four issues of "The Avengers," which overs up the first two lineups to answer the call, "Avengers Assemble!" These two lineups represent the strongest and weakest Avengers lineups. Originally we have Thor, the Hulk, Iron Man, Ant-Man, and the Wasp, with the Hulk being replaced by Captain America and Ant-Man deciding being Giant-Man is more interesting (In other words, you basically have all of the Marvel superheroes who were not Spider-Man or the Fantastic Four). The initial problem is coming up with somebody to fight that could actually provide some sort of challenge to that particular group. The three issues offer Loki, the Space Phantom, and Namor the Sub-Mariner. After finding and thawing out Captain America in issue #4, the Avengers go for multiple enemies such as the Lava Men and Baron Zemo and his Masters of Evil. But even then, it is really hard to pretend that these are even contests. After a year Stan Lee retooled the Avengers. At the end of issue #16 all of the original members leave and Captain America becomes the leader of the new quartet made up of Hawkeye, Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch. The radical change is twofold, because not only do the Avengers trade an over abundance of strength for skill (the original group had four membes stronger than the new group combined), but except for Captain America, none of the new Avengers have their own comic books (or time-share comic books in the case of Captain American and "Tales of Suspense"). With the new lineup emphasizing skill the villain can be super-strong (e.g., the Minotaur) or super-skilled (the Swordsman) and it works a lot better. Jack Kirby does the pencils on the first eight issues of "The Avengers," and then Don Heck takes over (except for #16, done by Dick Ayers). Since I was rather unimpressed by the new lineup and the contest between Pietro and Hawkeye to see who could be the bigger malcontent, having Heck, my least favorite Marvel artist, draw "The Avengers," made it my least favorite Marvel title during this period. To be fair, the three issues inked by Wally Wood are the best Heck drawn comics I have seen, and the one inked by John Romita, Sr. is pretty good as well. There is only one really classic story in these first two-dozen issues, #4 "Captain America Joins...the Avengers," but #23 "Once an Avenger," is the first appearance of Kang, who tends to become important now and then down the road. I picked up the second and third volumes of "The Essential Avengers" before I picked up this one, but you know how I hate to have a numerical hole in my comic book library. Now if we can just get the second volumes of "Daredevil," "Doctor Strange" and "Thor" out, as well as the first volume of the "Sub-Mariner," I could be a lot happier. But there appears to be no logic to the order of these "Essential" volumes.
Rating:
Summary: The Avengers assemble and then do their firs reassembling
Review: Volume 1 of "The Essential Avengers" represents the weakest stories in the history of Marvel's answer to DC's Justice League of America. Collected in this volume are the first twenty-four issues of "The Avengers," which overs up the first two lineups to answer the call, "Avengers Assemble!" These two lineups represent the strongest and weakest Avengers lineups. Originally we have Thor, the Hulk, Iron Man, Ant-Man, and the Wasp, with the Hulk being replaced by Captain America and Ant-Man deciding being Giant-Man is more interesting (In other words, you basically have all of the Marvel superheroes who were not Spider-Man or the Fantastic Four). The initial problem is coming up with somebody to fight that could actually provide some sort of challenge to that particular group. The three issues offer Loki, the Space Phantom, and Namor the Sub-Mariner. After finding and thawing out Captain America in issue #4, the Avengers go for multiple enemies such as the Lava Men and Baron Zemo and his Masters of Evil. But even then, it is really hard to pretend that these are even contests. After a year Stan Lee retooled the Avengers. At the end of issue #16 all of the original members leave and Captain America becomes the leader of the new quartet made up of Hawkeye, Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch. The radical change is twofold, because not only do the Avengers trade an over abundance of strength for skill (the original group had four membes stronger than the new group combined), but except for Captain America, none of the new Avengers have their own comic books (or time-share comic books in the case of Captain American and "Tales of Suspense"). With the new lineup emphasizing skill the villain can be super-strong (e.g., the Minotaur) or super-skilled (the Swordsman) and it works a lot better. Jack Kirby does the pencils on the first eight issues of "The Avengers," and then Don Heck takes over (except for #16, done by Dick Ayers). Since I was rather unimpressed by the new lineup and the contest between Pietro and Hawkeye to see who could be the bigger malcontent, having Heck, my least favorite Marvel artist, draw "The Avengers," made it my least favorite Marvel title during this period. To be fair, the three issues inked by Wally Wood are the best Heck drawn comics I have seen, and the one inked by John Romita, Sr. is pretty good as well. There is only one really classic story in these first two-dozen issues, #4 "Captain America Joins...the Avengers," but #23 "Once an Avenger," is the first appearance of Kang, who tends to become important now and then down the road. I picked up the second and third volumes of "The Essential Avengers" before I picked up this one, but you know how I hate to have a numerical hole in my comic book library. Now if we can just get the second volumes of "Daredevil," "Doctor Strange" and "Thor" out, as well as the first volume of the "Sub-Mariner," I could be a lot happier. But there appears to be no logic to the order of these "Essential" volumes.
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