Rating: 
Summary: Buy this now!
Review: This is an amazing collection of late 60s comics adventures. Here we have the cream of the Marvel heroes gathered together to fight some awesome menaces. Several heroes are added to the group and it is arguably one of it's most diverse incarnations. Black Panther, the greatest of the black superheroes, joins early on in this collection. The Vison, the lonely android, is given an original and membership. hawkeye becomes Goliath replacing Giant Man/Ant Man who becomes Yellow Jacket. Henry Pym's problems are the cause of several plot twists in these stories, from his multiple identities to his creation the Ultron line of robotic menaces. besides the evil robot, we're given excellent villains to battle the Avengers-Magneto, Grim Reaper (1st appearance), The Scarlet Centurion (another persona for the time traveling Kang/Rama Tut/Dr. Doom) and Zemo. Time travel figures in the Zemo story and the Scarlet Centurion epic (a 44 page slug fest beteween different versions of the Avengers). All in all an excellent collection. Roy Thomas is always at his best with superhero groups and this is where he honed his craft. John Buscema's art is excellent making group battle scenes flow without seeming overcrowded. The reproduction varies from stark black and white reprints to what appears to be muddy xeroxes of the stories, sometimes within the same story. Except for those few bits of murky copies, Marvel again shows why it dominated the field in the 60s. Listen up, true believers, Make Mine Marvel Essentials!
Rating:
Summary: Buy this now!
Review: This is an amazing collection of late 60s comics adventures. Here we have the cream of the Marvel heroes gathered together to fight some awesome menaces. Several heroes are added to the group and it is arguably one of it's most diverse incarnations. Black Panther, the greatest of the black superheroes, joins early on in this collection. The Vison, the lonely android, is given an original and membership. hawkeye becomes Goliath replacing Giant Man/Ant Man who becomes Yellow Jacket. Henry Pym's problems are the cause of several plot twists in these stories, from his multiple identities to his creation the Ultron line of robotic menaces. besides the evil robot, we're given excellent villains to battle the Avengers-Magneto, Grim Reaper (1st appearance), The Scarlet Centurion (another persona for the time traveling Kang/Rama Tut/Dr. Doom) and Zemo. Time travel figures in the Zemo story and the Scarlet Centurion epic (a 44 page slug fest beteween different versions of the Avengers). All in all an excellent collection. Roy Thomas is always at his best with superhero groups and this is where he honed his craft. John Buscema's art is excellent making group battle scenes flow without seeming overcrowded. The reproduction varies from stark black and white reprints to what appears to be muddy xeroxes of the stories, sometimes within the same story. Except for those few bits of murky copies, Marvel again shows why it dominated the field in the 60s. Listen up, true believers, Make Mine Marvel Essentials!
Rating: 
Summary: Moving towards greatness
Review: This third volume collecting the earlier issues of the Avengers sees the title emerging from the somewhat listless period on the last volume. Roy Thomas is now the writer, and is plainly undertaking the work with enthusiasm and a desire to create something very much worth reading.This volume sees the membership of the team in flux, with characters being added and removed, and some not even officially joining the team. The stories themselves see members departing for personal reasons, and older members, who are technically off the team, dropping by. It also sees the introduction of some elements that continue to have impact today: the first two conflicts with Ultron, the introduction of the Vision, Hank Pym taking up the identity of Yellowjacket, the Scarlet Centurion, the conflicts of loyalty that beset the Scarlet Witch and, in particular, Quicksilver... Art-wise, we are generally in the safe and capable hands of John Buscema, although there are a couple of issues illustrated by Barry (Windsor) Smith, who will soon go on to greater things... Also present are Don Heck, Gene Colan and Sal Buscema. The stories still show the elements of a relatively new writer working out what works and what doesn't in this format. However, they become increasingly self-assured towards the end, and Volume 4, when it is released, will show a far more mature writer...
Rating:
Summary: Moving towards greatness
Review: This third volume collecting the earlier issues of the Avengers sees the title emerging from the somewhat listless period on the last volume. Roy Thomas is now the writer, and is plainly undertaking the work with enthusiasm and a desire to create something very much worth reading. This volume sees the membership of the team in flux, with characters being added and removed, and some not even officially joining the team. The stories themselves see members departing for personal reasons, and older members, who are technically off the team, dropping by. It also sees the introduction of some elements that continue to have impact today: the first two conflicts with Ultron, the introduction of the Vision, Hank Pym taking up the identity of Yellowjacket, the Scarlet Centurion, the conflicts of loyalty that beset the Scarlet Witch and, in particular, Quicksilver... Art-wise, we are generally in the safe and capable hands of John Buscema, although there are a couple of issues illustrated by Barry (Windsor) Smith, who will soon go on to greater things... Also present are Don Heck, Gene Colan and Sal Buscema. The stories still show the elements of a relatively new writer working out what works and what doesn't in this format. However, they become increasingly self-assured towards the end, and Volume 4, when it is released, will show a far more mature writer...
Rating: 
Summary: The Avengers keep assembly but not much is happening
Review: Volume 2 of "The Essential Avengers" marks the point where the pendulum started to center for the series and Roy Thomas and John Buscema took over from Stan Lee and Don Heck. The Avengers started out as a group of super strong super heroes including the Mighty Thor, the Incredible Hulk, and Iron Man. This proved to be rather problematic with coming up with super villains who could plausibly give this group a stand up fight. So then the group went in the completely opposite direction and came up with a skill quartet of Captain America, Hawkeye, Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch. That lasted until issue #28 when Giant Man came back (now called Goliath), bringing along the Wasp. This not only gave the new Avengers some muscle, but with Henry Pym back in the fold the group had its requisite scientist for those times when brains can help brawn and the ability to throw a shield, shoot an arrow, run really fast, or cast hexes. Then for brawn without the brains, Hercules joins the group. Collected in Volume 2 are "The Avengers" #25-46 and Annual #1, which brings together the "original" Avengers with the Avengers of "today," against the Mandarin, Power Man, the Living Laser, the Swordsman, the Enchantress, and the Executioner. Thomas took over as writer with issue #35 and Buscema takes over as the primary artist with issue #41. The artistic improvement is obvious, especially for someone such as myself who was never enamored of Don Heck's artwork, but the more significant changes are coming from the writing. It was Thomas who brought Hercules into the mix, which upped the ante on the bickering in the group. In other words, with Hawkeye and Pietro vying for the role of the biggest malcontent in the group, always having to be slapped back into place by Cap, Hercules provides a joyful sense of having no regard for teamwork. Consquently, even more so than the Fantastic Four, the Avengers are the group that has to stop fighting itself to be able to fight the super villains. However, we are still a year or two away from getting to some of the classic issues of "The Avengers." The group starts off fighting Dr. Doom, weathers an attack by the army of Attuma, and Hawkeye falls for the Black Widow. Then there is another giant conspiracy with the Serpents, the attack of the Ultroids, and a visit from the Sub-Mariner. Of the three volumes of "The Essential Avengers" out to date, this is the weakest of the trio, without a really memorable story in the bunch. Again, part of the problem is that we are dealing with characters who were considered strong enough to only carry half a comic (e.g., Captain America with "Tales of Suspense"), if even that (e.g., Giant Man as the former Ant Man), and a couple of ex-members of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants (Wanda and Pietro). It was really not until the Avengers created their own characters (i.e., the Vision) that it really made it up to the next level in the Marvel Universe.
Rating:
Summary: The Avengers keep assembly but not much is happening
Review: Volume 2 of "The Essential Avengers" marks the point where the pendulum started to center for the series and Roy Thomas and John Buscema took over from Stan Lee and Don Heck. The Avengers started out as a group of super strong super heroes including the Mighty Thor, the Incredible Hulk, and Iron Man. This proved to be rather problematic with coming up with super villains who could plausibly give this group a stand up fight. So then the group went in the completely opposite direction and came up with a skill quartet of Captain America, Hawkeye, Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch. That lasted until issue #28 when Giant Man came back (now called Goliath), bringing along the Wasp. This not only gave the new Avengers some muscle, but with Henry Pym back in the fold the group had its requisite scientist for those times when brains can help brawn and the ability to throw a shield, shoot an arrow, run really fast, or cast hexes. Then for brawn without the brains, Hercules joins the group. Collected in Volume 2 are "The Avengers" #25-46 and Annual #1, which brings together the "original" Avengers with the Avengers of "today," against the Mandarin, Power Man, the Living Laser, the Swordsman, the Enchantress, and the Executioner. Thomas took over as writer with issue #35 and Buscema takes over as the primary artist with issue #41. The artistic improvement is obvious, especially for someone such as myself who was never enamored of Don Heck's artwork, but the more significant changes are coming from the writing. It was Thomas who brought Hercules into the mix, which upped the ante on the bickering in the group. In other words, with Hawkeye and Pietro vying for the role of the biggest malcontent in the group, always having to be slapped back into place by Cap, Hercules provides a joyful sense of having no regard for teamwork. Consquently, even more so than the Fantastic Four, the Avengers are the group that has to stop fighting itself to be able to fight the super villains. However, we are still a year or two away from getting to some of the classic issues of "The Avengers." The group starts off fighting Dr. Doom, weathers an attack by the army of Attuma, and Hawkeye falls for the Black Widow. Then there is another giant conspiracy with the Serpents, the attack of the Ultroids, and a visit from the Sub-Mariner. Of the three volumes of "The Essential Avengers" out to date, this is the weakest of the trio, without a really memorable story in the bunch. Again, part of the problem is that we are dealing with characters who were considered strong enough to only carry half a comic (e.g., Captain America with "Tales of Suspense"), if even that (e.g., Giant Man as the former Ant Man), and a couple of ex-members of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants (Wanda and Pietro). It was really not until the Avengers created their own characters (i.e., the Vision) that it really made it up to the next level in the Marvel Universe.
Rating:
Summary: The Avengers keep assembly but not much is happening
Review: Volume 2 of "The Essential Avengers" marks the point where the pendulum started to center for the series and Roy Thomas and John Buscema took over from Stan Lee and Don Heck. The Avengers started out as a group of super strong super heroes including the Mighty Thor, the Incredible Hulk, and Iron Man. This proved to be rather problematic with coming up with super villains who could plausibly give this group a stand up fight. So then the group went in the completely opposite direction and came up with a skill quartet of Captain America, Hawkeye, Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch. That lasted until issue #28 when Giant Man came back (now called Goliath), bringing along the Wasp. This not only gave the new Avengers some muscle, but with Henry Pym back in the fold the group had its requisite scientist for those times when brains can help brawn and the ability to throw a shield, shoot an arrow, run really fast, or cast hexes. Then for brawn without the brains, Hercules joins the group. Collected in Volume 2 are "The Avengers" #25-46 and Annual #1, which brings together the "original" Avengers with the Avengers of "today," against the Mandarin, Power Man, the Living Laser, the Swordsman, the Enchantress, and the Executioner. Thomas took over as writer with issue #35 and Buscema takes over as the primary artist with issue #41. The artistic improvement is obvious, especially for someone such as myself who was never enamored of Don Heck's artwork, but the more significant changes are coming from the writing. It was Thomas who brought Hercules into the mix, which upped the ante on the bickering in the group. In other words, with Hawkeye and Pietro vying for the role of the biggest malcontent in the group, always having to be slapped back into place by Cap, Hercules provides a joyful sense of having no regard for teamwork. Consquently, even more so than the Fantastic Four, the Avengers are the group that has to stop fighting itself to be able to fight the super villains. However, we are still a year or two away from getting to some of the classic issues of "The Avengers." The group starts off fighting Dr. Doom, weathers an attack by the army of Attuma, and Hawkeye falls for the Black Widow. Then there is another giant conspiracy with the Serpents, the attack of the Ultroids, and a visit from the Sub-Mariner. Of the three volumes of "The Essential Avengers" out to date, this is the weakest of the trio, without a really memorable story in the bunch. Again, part of the problem is that we are dealing with characters who were considered strong enough to only carry half a comic (e.g., Captain America with "Tales of Suspense"), if even that (e.g., Giant Man as the former Ant Man), and a couple of ex-members of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants (Wanda and Pietro). It was really not until the Avengers created their own characters (i.e., the Vision) that it really made it up to the next level in the Marvel Universe.
Rating:
Summary: The Avengers become interesting once the Vision joins them
Review: Volume 3 of "The Essential Avengers" is where the Marvel superhero group finally starts to grow up. Part of the reason is because John Buscema became the resident artist (through issue #62), marking the first time that the artwork was a strong selling point, but the more important reason was that the group finally came up with an original group member with the Vision. At that point the group really crystalized for me, so scripter Roy Thomas gets a big part of the credit. This trade paperback collects issues #47-68 of "The Avengers," along with Annual #2. I first seriously started reading "The Avengers" with issue #53, which is where the Avengers battled the X-Men, who were my favorite Marvel group in the Sixties. At that point the lineup for the Avengers had, once again, changed. At that point it was Golaith, the Wasp, Hawkeye, and the Black Panther. Getting rid of Hercules and the mutant tag team of Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch was a good move, although I can never really think of it as the Avengers unless Captain America is in charge (he bolts in the first issue here). But I never liked Hawkeye and thought making him the new Giant-Man and making Goliath into Yellowjacket, was ill-advised. The only reason I kept reading the book was because of the Vision, so that even when other Marvel superheroes who were incapable of sustaining their own books (e.g., the Black Knight) joined up it was the android that held my attention. . The Vision first popped up in issue #57, created by Ultron-5 to defeat the Avengers. Instead, he became their most interesting member, although it would be a while before the whole backstory on his creation came to be. At this point the idea that he was "an android...with the amnesiac brain patterns of a murdered man," Simon Williams a.k.a. Wonder Man, was enough. On top of that I liked the way Buscema drew the Vision with his eyes always completely shadowed. Buscema leaves the book during these issues, but he was replaced by Gene Colan, always a favorite, and then Barry Smith came in for a couple of issues drawn in the distinctive style that was still evolving and about to explode when he and Thomas started "Conan the Barbarian."
Rating:
Summary: The Avengers become interesting once the Vision joins them
Review: Volume 3 of "The Essential Avengers" is where the Marvel superhero group finally starts to grow up. Part of the reason is because John Buscema became the resident artist (through issue #62), marking the first time that the artwork was a strong selling point, but the more important reason was that the group finally came up with an original group member with the Vision. At that point the group really crystalized for me, so scripter Roy Thomas gets a big part of the credit. This trade paperback collects issues #47-68 of "The Avengers," along with Annual #2. I first seriously started reading "The Avengers" with issue #53, which is where the Avengers battled the X-Men, who were my favorite Marvel group in the Sixties. At that point the lineup for the Avengers had, once again, changed. At that point it was Golaith, the Wasp, Hawkeye, and the Black Panther. Getting rid of Hercules and the mutant tag team of Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch was a good move, although I can never really think of it as the Avengers unless Captain America is in charge (he bolts in the first issue here). But I never liked Hawkeye and thought making him the new Giant-Man and making Goliath into Yellowjacket, was ill-advised. The only reason I kept reading the book was because of the Vision, so that even when other Marvel superheroes who were incapable of sustaining their own books (e.g., the Black Knight) joined up it was the android that held my attention. . The Vision first popped up in issue #57, created by Ultron-5 to defeat the Avengers. Instead, he became their most interesting member, although it would be a while before the whole backstory on his creation came to be. At this point the idea that he was "an android...with the amnesiac brain patterns of a murdered man," Simon Williams a.k.a. Wonder Man, was enough. On top of that I liked the way Buscema drew the Vision with his eyes always completely shadowed. Buscema leaves the book during these issues, but he was replaced by Gene Colan, always a favorite, and then Barry Smith came in for a couple of issues drawn in the distinctive style that was still evolving and about to explode when he and Thomas started "Conan the Barbarian."
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