The Avengers by John Byrne, part I

Many artists have left their mark on Earth's Mightiest Heroes and Heroines, and each with his unique talent, there is no doubt about that.

One of them has often carried the polemic, more as a writer than as an artist, and that is John Byrne. He usually liked to "do all the work", taking the duties of both writer, artist and sometimes inker.

So, without further ado, here's a peek to some renditions of Byrne concerning our favorite heroes:


The Hulk...and he's angry.



Loki versus the soon to be Avengers on their first encounter...



Against the Space Phantom!

As you can see, Byrne enjoys recreating classic Avengers' moments, like these first battles...hold on, there's more, because here come two of my favorite Avengers of all time:


Vision and Scarlet Witch in all their glory!

Well, there'll be more coming, but for now I leave you with these to enjoy!

Sam

Orkey's stuff, part 1: Avengers #57, the origin of the Vision and...well, go read it!

Yes, this is going to be a different post! Why? Might be more serious than others, but the issue to review demanded this seriousness, to be honest.
So without further introductions, let me give you our first piece of work from our guest analist and guest comics reviewer (who has decided to lend me a hand), David a.k.a Orkey, Avengers #57's review!

"Okay, folks, now that you've learned how the Black Panther got involved with out (sic) Avenging Assemblers, it's time to look in on the dramatic debut of the avengers' most enigmatic member of all. We think the title speaks for itself...
Behold The Vision!"
( Marvel Treasury Edition #7's introduction to the reprint of Avengers #57)

Avengers #57 tells a story about humanity. Roy Thomas and John Buscema shows us a few relationships and how our characters confront them as they change. Each relationship is unique and each is the same. Such richness in material was puddy in the hands of Roy and Big John. Of course, they introduced maybe the last great Silver Age hero, the Vision.

The story opens with our first relationship. What does Jan want and how does she go about getting it? If she was a child, she would had just spoken up. Tell Hank what she wants. Children are little wonders in the way they simply declare "More candy" or "I don't feel like it" or "Why?". Adults tend to forget such direct communications. Jan wants Hank to propose marriage and instead of saying"Let's get married", she is quietly upset when he says nothing except how his research germs need him now. Jan confronts her desire by being angry with Pym for not ..reading her mind?

Their relationship will advance despite Jan weariness of Hank's sense of duty to his research. Love will find a way. For our next relationship, love will find a separate way. Black Widow and Hawkeye are on the fritz. Like with Dr. Pym, the sense of duty rears its head- Hawkeye is clear that Avengering comes first and busy SHIELD agent, Natasha is clear that it has been weeks since they shared a dinner. Something has to give. She knows a change will come when she informs Hawkeye that she will be gone when he returns. Does Hawkeye know "gone" means breaking-up? A confrontation for another story.

T'Challa is gone. The young monarch has left his kingdom to find his purpose in life. He feels his duty to his subjects is not fulfilling him. He wants more. But what does this mean? He has been an Avenger and superheroing is not filling up his emptiness. He is on his way to discovering his purpose in life when he stops a street crime. The innercity neighborhood is buzzing about the famous Avenger saving their day, instead of saving the world from a threat.

The Black Panther will relate to his world, his kingdom and his community differently from now on. Change comes to him, too. He feels he must serve the people, who sometimes are not seen. All these big questions are knocking on each Avenger's door. Purpose in life? How to relate to others? Sense of duty to something greater than themselves?

The Vision does not knock when he makes his intro. He scares the bejesus out of Jan not once, but twice. She cannot believe this strange being has entered her penthouse apartment. And how "it" phases through her locked door. .

The Vision is a babe in the woods. He is a blank state. Well, almost. His only directive is "kill the Avengers". This sense of duty sums up his identity. While the other characters are able to chose duty over love or question what their duty is?, the artificial man is unsure if he even has his own will. Can he make a choice? goes hand in hand with another big question, "Who am I?".

To say the Vision is alienated from his society is putting it mildly. He is alienated from everything life has to offer. Readers should be able to relate with him as he demands answers. He feels Ultron is the one to give them. His only lead is the one he recalls sending him on his deadly mission in the first place. It is a pity that the first relationship Vision recalls is an unhealthy one with his "father". Thankfully, this relationship is like the other characters' because it is in a state of flux. The life of the Vision begins as he finds himself safe among a fellowship of heroes. He starts to grow as a man.

Relationships with the opposite sex, relationships with your community, balancing duty and desire, and relating to yourself are what makes us human. Our relationships are personal and yet very universal. We do share experiences in life.


The Vision...he is very much a human and his tale is a tale of humanity. Of us. This is the last relationship Roy and John showed us- the reader, the writer, the artist .. and the story.

More Classic Avengers' panels! Featuring Cap!

Okay, let's face it, on the poll you decided that Cap was the Avengers' heart while he was with them, so the least I can do is honor that by posting what I consider to be one classic and crucial moment for the Avengers and for Cap.

It takes place in Avengers #4, when they are coming back in their submarine and find something floating in the cold waters...something?

Or maybe someone?



The beginning...

Sam

Classic panels #2: Wasp and Thor!

On the team's first days, the dizzy Wasp was always teasing good old Hank, and with a nordic god on the team, I admit it was an easy task...one that she loved to play! And you know that gods love that mortals worship them, so even to the noblest of asgardians, these compliments were welcomed...

Some writers have taken this fact and twisted it into saying that Henry Pym felt little between the likes of Thor and Iron Man, though first ant-man and later Giant-Man were key to the team's successes.

By the way, this panel is from Avengers #3 (Jan. 1964), just before the team went to Gibraltar to fight Namor and the Hulk!

Sam

Today's review: The Mighty Thor #370

Danville, Texas, 1875. A loser cowboy named Sundance, whose aim with a gun is as good as his card cheating (for his disgrace) is going to be the key player in one of the gods' little games.

This little story is fun, quick and has plenty of that mythical stuff that makes a Thor tale worth reading. It has mystery at every turn, and it is full of wrong choices, second chances and of things that will never change, like the eternal battle between good and evil, between the good god and the trickster...between good trolls and bad trolls...

Nonetheless, there's a lesson on every classic, and today's is that no matter how bad things are for you or how bad you're doing; there comes a time when you've got to take everything you have inside, stop and do the right thing.
Sundance learned this lesson at the proverbial last moment, when Thor was surrounded by evil trolls, buried beneath them, and without his enchanted hammer to fight them with. He managed to get all his bravery together and, after defeating Fagan the troll, managed to hurt Loki and handle Thor the victory, in the form of a golden magic apple. And the trolls surrounded him no longer, for Thor broke free.

Magic apples? Yes, the apples of the goddess Idunn, which gods must eat from every given number of years, so they can preserve their eternal youth and live forever.

Magic apples? Yes, the ones that Loki, god of mischief and Thor's step-brother, stole from the goddess Idunn long ago, so that his accursed brother would go old and die, like any normal human.

Apples? ...yes, the ones that the troll that Loki trusted them with, hid on Earth, after adopting a human form and going to Danville, Texas.

So Loki became old, but finally found the troll and the golden apples...restoring his youth with just one bite!
But a white clothed man on a white horse had another ideas...to save the gods of Asgard from a certain death by bringing back the magic apples.

And here is where we started; Loki getting his due thanks to a brave shot by Sundance, and Thor succeeding in defeating the horde of trolls and going back to Asgard with some very special apples.

So, even the tiniest of men can be key to help the gods live and breath for some more centuries, even if he doesn't understand the scope of his acts.

Sundance started this tale as a kid, but ended it as a man.

Sam

On Saturday: Mighty Thor #370's review! And, coming soon...The Avengers #57, the origin of the Vision, will be reviewed here!

That's right, Here we love comics and as you see, The Avengers! So we are picking what we believe are classic issues to review and enjoy!

Next Avengers' classic reviewed will be the origin of the android Vision, by Roy Thomas and John Buscema!

And thanks again to our guest-reviewer, a man who knows an awful lot about the Avengers and certainly is willing to share!

Stay tuned!

Is the classic, angered and without control Hulk back?

I just thought about this after seeing a preview of World War Hulk (or like my girlfriend says: "Wild Wild Hulk"), the last "event" that Marvel's got on the stands. It features the Hulk beating heroes, basically, or that I've heard.

So, after 12 years of Peter David's great work on the title, developing the sad, tragic creature who Bill Mantlo masterfully had depicted, into a more intelligent and full of great twists (even comedic ones) Hulk...I said, after all this work, Marvel is giving people the same furious rage? Different garbs, ok. I just hope all the work these great authors did on the character isn't left on limbo.

Now, let's compare an scene from Avengers #1, 1963, with another from WWH #2, this very 2007. They're making him angry, and you wouldn't like him when he's angry...ask Iron Man, the Thing or Reed Richards, they seem to know it.

Classic Avengers' panels: Avengers #1

This is the moment where our heroes decide to band together and form a team, after their combined skills and powers had defeated Loki, the asgardian god of mischief.

I will be sharing with you some of the Avengers' most classic moments over the years, and obviously this had to be the first one.

Sam

This week's review is a very special western: The Mighty Thor #370!

To me this comic is a favorite since many years ago. Well, it doesn't really fit into any continuity or anything, so don't start getting mad at me.

Actually, it is a fill-in story (with a fill-in artist, some John Buscema) which happens to be much better and funnier than many other Thor stories.

So pay attention this week, for a godly review is near!

Sam

Hey, fellas, New Feature!!! Comic Reviews! Today: The Avengers #76

Arkon the magnificent, a warlord from a world whose survival depends on Earth's destruction. Wanda, a former witch and avenger without her mutant powers, kidnapped by Arkon to be his queen. Pietro, struck with fear for his sister's fate, rushing to the Avengers asking for help. Oh yes, all this and the creation of an atomic device to end with our planet...here we start our tale.

Once again, Roy Thomas and John Buscema show why they are considered one of the greatest tandems that has worked on the Avengers title over the years. Roy gives us a confident Vision; a technologically advanced T'Challa, able to create a device to break the gap between Arkon's world and the Earth; shows us Pietro's despair, only thinking about his sister's peril, never wondering about Earth's fate. And, although we have the big three at the end of the book, they are not the stars, but just the heavy weight that the team needed to win against Arkon's troops.

Roy used to do this very often. He had his team of Avengers, developing characters such as the Black Panther, Hawkeye (now Goliath), the Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver and, of course, his own creation, the Vision; but this didn't stop him from bringing back every now and then a very classic Thor or a genius Iron Man, just to provide the key to win the battle and eventually save the Earth.

However, the best part of this story may very well be the "Wanda - Arkon" story...a love story which takes place in the middle of a great crisis for two worlds. A love story where feelings change, and where we see a trembling Wanda almost giving herself to Arkon, realizing that maybe her fate is to become queen of an unknown world, and to marry a barbarian whose heart seems to get softened with her tender, sweet words.
The scene with Wanda holding the unique flower in her hand while reciting a poem that makes Arkon wonder if even the tiniest things can hold the greatest of secrets is wonderful. Roy makes it sweet and very intimate, while Big John shines here, drawing one of his most beautiful Wanda scenes. But, just like in real life, the hard reality comes at the worst moment, when the two of them were about to seal this beautiful moment with a kiss.

With Thor's arrival the team manages to cross the dimensions, taking the two lovers-to-be out of their dream, and awakening in Arkon the worst of barbarians once more, ready to defend his kingdom and crush the invaders, who are already shouting a well known battle cry: Avengers Assemble!

Being almost defeated, his troops down after the Avengers' terrific and thunderous attack, Arkon gets the device which will make the Earth explode with the power of the atom, and give his world light for countless eons, and heads for New York with his "prize", a confused and depowered Wanda Maximoff, who had been fooled by the ruler into thinking that Earth wasn't going to die in order for his world to live.

In the end the "reserve" avengers, Thor and Iron Man, manage to create and power a device which will give light to Arkon's world, therefore not being needed the cataclismic explosion on Earth that Arkon was about to provoke, by throwing the atomic sphere created with the knowledge of Earth's greatest physicians and the technology of Arkon's world.

But is this all? What about Wanda? And Arkon? What about what could have been, but never was?
What about that flower that helped the beauty show so much to the barbarian?

All these questions have one answer: Arkon ended becoming a nobler man thanks to Wanda's sincere words and care, and Wanda saw the best and worst that a man can offer, knowing that tenderness can be everywhere, even in a barbarian's cold heart...or inside a certain android, but that's another story...

Sam

Hola Amiguetes!!

Os acordáis del famoso trailer de Spider-Man con las Torres gemelas?
Como sabréis lo prohibieron, pero aquí lo podéis ver sin pagar un céntimo. Creedme, merece la pena!

Cuidaos!

Avengers United Cartoons!

Yeah, you read correctly! Those cartoons you loved, where the Avengers had futuristic armors and were leaded by none other than Hank Pym, the master of many sizes, as Stan used to call him!

Ant-man! Tigra! Vision! Wanda, a.k.a Scarlet Witch! Simon Williams, a.k.a Wonder Man! Hawkeye the marksman! The Falcon! And the winsome Wasp!

Here they are for you to enjoy!

Special thanks to my good pal David!

This is only the start...

Thanks guys! Gracias, amigos!

Thanks for the comments and the support! I don't know yet what kind of features I will be uploading here, but your ideas (Avengers title's reviews) or Homenaje a los Vengadores sound pretty good!

So, 'til next time, Avengers Assemble!

Sam

Hi

HiHi everybody