Essential Avengers, Vol. 2

The second volume of Marvel's Essential Avengers sees not just the team but the magazine itself going through a lot of changes. When we begin with issue #25, the team's lineup is seriously under-powered. Thor, Iron Man, Giant Man and the Wasp are gone. Captain America is left to lead mutant siblings, the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver as well as the hot-headed sharpshooter, Hawkeye. Arguably this is the weakest incarnation of the Avengers ever!

How the comic book managed to avoid cancellation with such a puny roll call is beyond me. Yet, that was part of the genius of Stan Lee. Love him or hate him, the man knew how to sell a comic book and he managed to keep the World's Mightiest Superheroes relevant without any of Marvel's heaviest hitters. By issue #35, Stan would leave the title in the hands of his most trusted protege, Roy Thomas. Along with Don Heck, some of the weirdest tales ever told this side of Marvel's sci-fi and fantasy books would occur in the pages of the Avengers; including the heroes being abducted by aliens in the Bavarian Alps.

Eventually Hank Pym, stuck at the towering height of 25 feet, along with Jan Van Dyne, would return to the team, becoming the de facto leaders in the absence of Cap. A terrifying story of a fascist group of bigots calling themselves the Sons of the Serpent would do their best to infiltrate the ranks of our government as well as the boards of many Fortune 500 companies, declaring America for Americans only, would be an early test of Pym's leadership. Taking place in issues #32-33, you really couldn't tell if this story was set in 1966 or current day 2025. Extremely unsettling how undated that story of political terrorism was.

Heck would eventually leave after issue #49. His replacement was John Buscema. The change in artwork was so striking. Heck was great. Buscema was just a tad bit better. Along with the new artist would soon come a new character to the title, that Prince of Power, the Mighty Hercules. While not an official member of the team, the hero's presence as an exiled guest of the Avengers adds a powerful punch that has been missing since the absence of Thor. 

But don't fret thinking that Thor and Iron Man have completely turned their backs on the Avengers. They'll both make guest starring returns in a pair of stories, one of who's sees the heroes battling against the Mandarin and his team of 5 of the Avenger's most fearsome does.

I have an early print of this volume. The printing was terrible. I don't think any sort of remastering had even been attempted. Multiple panels were in desperate need of ink. Others seemed to have been over-inked. It was rare to find a complete page where there weren't any print flaws.

I had low expectations for this book. While the Sons of the Serpent story was a gut punch of a read, I really enjoyed this seemingly implausible lineup of Marvel heroes. I just wish my print was given the same amount of love and care as the original works were given.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.

Essential Thor Volume 5

I'm not really as big of a fan of the cosmic Thor stories. The ones I adore are those that delve into Norse myth or are the run-of-the-mill tussles with super powered baddies. I'm not sure why that is. But I really hated Thor: The Dark World and if it wasn't for the humor and use of the Asgardian goddess, Hela, I probably would've hated Thor: Ragnarok too!

Speaking of Ragnarok. The end of Asgard occurs at least twice in this book. One sees the fall of Odin. The other occurrence is a reprinting of a classic Stan Lee/Jack Kirby foretelling of the end of all things. 

Gerry Conway, one of my all-time favorite Superman creators, pens all of the original stories. Some instances were very good. But Conway sends Thor and company into space quite a bit in this huge 500 page plus volume. So, it was difficult to enjoy this collection thoroughly. 

I really got a kick out of the Marvel/DC crossover. Yes, 4 actual characters from the DC universe crossover into Marvel territory in a two-parter some 5 years before the Man of Steel will meet The Amazing Spider-Man. For some, this crossover might seem that much of a big deal. But if you were an avid reader of Justice League of America and The Brave and the Bold around 1968-1972, you'll get a kick out of the appearance of several minor but oh so import figures in DC history. 

Oh, wait, now that I think of it, there were 5 characters who crossed over!

The art by Sal Buscema, his brother John , Len Wein and others was amazing stuff. It's interesting how much the characters change when crafted by other artists and yet they still manage to look iconic too! 

An enjoyable read of Thor stories. However, it's just not my favorite collection of them either. With only 1 Marvel Essential collection of Thor stories, I am thinking that I am not going to ever get to the Walt Simonson era. I guess I am going to have to start looking for color collections or possibly start collecting Thor single issues in order to get to that and close out the Odinson's original series of tales.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.

Just Imagine... Stan Lee Creating The DC Universe Omnibus

Right around 2001, this story took the comic book industry by storm.  Career Marvelite, Stan Lee was going over to DC Comics to create his take on Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and the Justice League of America!

I wasn't back into comics just yet. But even when I heard this story, I thought it was both awesome and strange. Turns out I wasn't the only one as some of DC's most legendary talents including Joe Kubert, Jim Lee, and Dan Jurgens thought that this was a bizarre pairing too. But every single one of these guys heartily said yes to being a part of this historic project. 

Stan Lee doesn't seek to fix the DC icons. No, he merely gets a chance to create them in the Marvel way he established in the 1960s. Thus, Stan would give his ideas to his artists, they would draw out the characters based on Stan's tutelage and then the Living Legend would fill in all the text bubbles and captions himself. 

The overall premise of this storyline was that the mystic tree of life Yggdrasil was threatened by a demonic menace lead by Reverend Dominic Darrk. So, the tree used it's green hued life force to craft a team of heroes to defend the earth. It would be up to these unlikely heroes to rise against growing threat in an entity known as Crisis...

This book is divided into 2 parts. The classic characters of Batman, Green Lantern and the Flash make up the first half with Robin, Shazam, and the Sandman starring in act two. I preferred the second act of characters a lot more than Stan's take on the founding members of his JLA. Their origins were just too similar to how Marvel legends such as Spider-Man, Thor, and Silver Surfer were laid out by Stan the Man in the early 60s. 

But the second string of heroes such as Aquaman and Catwoman were so different and unique to just about anything on the market. I really hate that Shazam was pretty much a one-and-done thing because that new take on the character was really that good! I want to see this as a live-action series on Syfy! 

My least favorite revamp was Superman. Maybe it's because I am biased as the Man of Steel is my all-time favorite character (though Captain America could reclaim that title at any moment...) But this version of Superman was too much of a butt-head instead of inspiration and he was made way too weak. 

Okay, weakness is a big flaw in most of these characters. DC's characters are known to be sources of limitless power and resolve. The Marvel characters fathered by Stan Lee had weaknesses to which endured to comic book readers. But Stan's DC Universe seems to have chronic fatigue syndrome. 

While I have picked up a couple of Just Imagine issues in my travels through the bargain bins of America, this miniseries wasn't really on my radar. But with Ollie's massive DC blowout, I found this massive 700 page plus edition for only $13 and I could not pass it up!

It was a good read both for entertainment and historical purposes. But it's not the greatest thing from either DC Comics or Stan Lee that I have ever read. The jury is still out on whether I will keep this omnibus or not. It takes up a lot of real estate. However, should you ever come across this collection like I did for such a dramatic discount- do not pass it up! It will keep you entertained for hours.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.