Friday 9 September 2016

Avengers (1998) # 36-56, Avengers: Celestial Quest (2001) # 1-8, JLA/Avengers (2003) # 1-4


(I originally read these comics between late March/early April 2015)

This entry brings the Kurt Busiek era of the Avengers to a close. He steered "Earth's Mightiest Heroes" from February 1998 to September 2002 - 56 issues. However, with crossovers and tie-in limited series, etc, that balloons to over 120 comics!

Issue # 38 was the one with which I became a regular buyer of the Avengers, though I have read the previous George Perez run in trade paperback since. At the time, I was pleased to see Alan Davis take over from Perez on pencils, only to be disappointed when his tenure proved so short. 


   
   
   
   
   
  


'Celestial Quest' is pretty poor. It's a belated sequel by Steve Englehart to his 'Celestial Madonna' saga from the 70s. I read that when it was published in trade in the early 2000s and found it very dull. (The lingering memory is of tree people...) The sequel isn't much better. Englehart gets to wheel out his pet creation Mantis again. She's the focus of both stories and is a lame character, not least because she refers to herself as "this one," which gets old real fast.


   
   


JLA/Avengers sounds like a dream come true, and was over twenty years in the making, but the sheer overwhelming scope of the universal threat and the story's cast of thousands means I found it pretty deadening by the halfway mark. We not only get appearances from every past and present JLA and Avengers member, but every iteration of those characters (long-haired Superman, Superman Blue, etc), and towards the end they change randomly from panel to panel. It's too much. George Perez' commitment to this project can't be overstated, though.


 
 


Avengers (1998) # 36-56, Avengers Annual 2001 and Avengers: The Ultron Imperative (2001) are collected in:

Hardcover:

Avengers (1998) # 36-44, Avengers Annual 2001 and Avengers: The Ultron Imperative (2001) are collected in:

Softcover:

Avengers (1998) # 36-40/56, Avengers Annual 2001 and Avengers: The Ultron Imperative (2001) are collected in:

Softcover:

Avengers (1998) # 36-40, Avengers Annual 2001 and Avengers: The Ultron Imperative (2001) are collected in:

Hardcover:

Avengers: Celestial Quest (2001) # 1-8 are collected in:

Softcover:

JLA/Avengers (2003) # 1-4 are collected in:

Hardcover:

Softcover:



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