Adventures with Agents and Avengers
April 20th, 2007 by Gavok | Tags: agents of atlas, avengers, marvel adventuresThe new solicitations for July are out and Marvel looks to have quite the month. Annihilation 2 begins, Iron Fist takes part in Mortal Kombat for some reason, we get the conclusion to Ash Williams vs. Zombie Sentry, Deadpool and the Great Lakes gang get their own special, Eddie Brock gets his own story arc, Captain America makes friends with Optimus Prime, Namor does his thing and Thor makes his mighty return.
What really gets me excited is this blurb:
GIANT-SIZE MARVEL ADVENTURES THE AVENGERS #1
Written by Jeff Parker
Pencils and Cover by Leonard Kirk
Remember your history-The Avengers didn’t thaw out Captain America, and Kang the Conqueror became Master of the World throughout all time. To make a brighter future, our heroes have to go to the 1950’s and enlist the help of The Agents of ATLAS! Plus extras!
Now that is a comic worth looking at. I’ve already discussed Agents of Atlas here and there. It’s a great miniseries and it’s nice that Marvel looks to be trying to sprinkle their appearances through their various books. Gorilla Man is set to show up in X-Men: First Class, Namora is going to be a player in World War Hulk and now this.
I love how the cover is actually an update of the What If issue that created this “Avengers-before-the-Avengers” concept. Of course, back then, 3-D Man was a member of the team.
If you’re unfamiliar with Marvel Adventures: Avengers, you might be wondering why Storm is there in Thor’s place. Marvel Adventures is like the all-ages version of Ultimates. Instead of grim and gritty, we get a new continuity that has a friendlier, Saturday morning cartoon feel. As kiddy as it sounds, it’s actually pretty high-quality.
The roster is Captain America, Iron Man, Storm, Spider-Man, Hulk, Wolverine and Giant-Girl (Janet Van Dyne with a more useful gimmick). Yes, each issue is self-contained, but they cluster together to create story arcs. The first issue has them fight Ultron. The second issue has them fight the Leader. The third has them fight Baron Zemo. This all ties together into the fourth issue, where those three villains start up the Masters of Evil.
The second arc focuses on Loki. Somehow they’ve brought Loki in as a major Avenger villain without a single mention of Thor. Even more impressive is that they introduced Juggernaut as a villain without a single connection to Xavier or the X-Men. His new origin is actually really good and they tossed in the option of redemption if they ever want to make him like he is now.
Not to mention that there’s an issue where the team gets transformed into a bunch of MODOCs (C is for Conquest here. That’s good enough for me). Seeing them drive the Leader to tears by making fun of his inferior, “tiny” head is priceless.
I’m a couple issues behind, but damn if this series didn’t surprise me with its fun factor. I haven’t been this pleasantly surprised with a comic since Marvel Megamorphs.
No. Really. Megamorphs was good. I’m serious.
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As soon as I saw “C is for Conquest,” I somehow knew you’d go there. Good show.
The moral of Planet Hulk is that it’s not easy being green.
I’m a couple issues behind, but damn if this series didn’t surprise me with its fun factor.
I just started following this via the digests and I’ll be damned if it isn’t the most fun team comic Marvel or DC are putting out right now. Proves that all-ages doesn’t have to mean dumbed-down.
Speaking of Planet Hulk, I should also point out that this book is a nice vacation from the usual drama of Marvel. Spider-Man doesn’t have to worry about his loved ones dying. Captain America has a pulse. And Hulk isn’t at war with mankind and his fellow heroes.
That’s why #2 is one of my favorite comic issues of 2006. There’s this really sweet sense of friendship between Spider-Man and Hulk that I would actually like to see used in the mainstream somewhere along the line.
As much as I liked Agents of Atlas and MA: Avengers, I cannot forgive Jeff Parker for nixing 3-D Man from the 50s Avengers’ lineup.
I would love for Marvel to produce a “Superfriends” type cartoon based on that Avengers book; it would be just too much fun.
I agree. Despite Janet’s presense, it would be a complete 180 from the 90’s Avengers cartoon, that tried too hard to focus on the B and C-list.
I still can’t get over the last two seconds of that Avengers cartoon’s intro. They show the cartoon’s main roster together, such as Wonder Man, Vision and Tigra. Then, at the very last second, it pans up to show Cap, Iron Man and Thor, as if to quickly say, “These guys are on the team too, just don’t expect to see them.”