avengers | the m0vie blog

Kurt Busiek’s Avengers – Avengers Assemble! Vol. 3 (Review/Retrospective)

Posted on April 18, 2012 by Darren

April (and a little bit of May) are “Avengers month” at the m0vie blog. In anticipation of Joss Whedon’s superhero epic, we’ll have a variety of articles and reviews published looking at various aspects of “Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.”

Read our review of The Avengers here.

And so we reach the end of George Perez’s tenure as artist on Kurt Busiek’s Avengers run. Many would claim that the book would never really recover from the loss of the artist, though Busiek would produce over twenty subsequent issues and arguably the climax of his entire run in The Kang Dynasty. I am, to be honest, not quite so sure that this represents a turning point for the series, but I do confess that Perez would be sorely missed as the series moved through a rake of guest artists in the months that would follow. (In fact, I’ll confess to being quite fond of Busiek’s final year or two on the title.

An Avengers Assembly...

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: affirmative action, avengers, avengers assemble!, captain america, chris claremont, comic books, Comics, george perez, grant morrison, iron man, kang dynasty, kurt busiek, marvel, racism, review, Silverclaw, Triune Understanding, Watergate Scandal | Leave a comment »

Mighty Avengers: Dark Reign (Review/Retrospective)

Posted on April 17, 2012 by Darren

Read our review of The Avengers here.

Dan Slott’s Mighty Avengers is so distinct from Brian Michael Bendis’ run on the second Avengers flagship book that it might as well have been a different title. Indeed, the name (and, arguably, the use of thought balloons) represent perhaps the only ties to the second major Avengers title. While still defined by it, the status quo has little to do with the aftermath of Civil War, and the lineup is markedly different. In a way, you could argue that Bendis and Slott had similar goals with the title: an attempt to tell more bombastic and traditional Avengers stories, with high stakes and a global focus, in contrast to the relatively “urban” feel of Bendis’ New Avengers. There’s no denying, however, that Slott handles the nostalgia and conventional superheroics with far more aplomb than his predecessor.

Not so Mighty...

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: Avenger, avengers, bendis, brian michael bendis, captain america, Dan Slott, dark reign, Henry Pym, marvel universe, mighty avengers, Mighty Avengers: Dark Reign, new avengers, Scarlet Witch, stan lee, United States | 2 Comments »

Kurt Busiek’s Avengers – Avengers Forever (Review/Retrospective)

Posted on April 13, 2012 by Darren

Read our review of The Avengers here.

In many ways, to me, Kurt Busiek’s Avengers run represents comic book nostalgia given form. I can’t help but read it as an attempt to call back to the “good old days” of mainstream comic books, with all the illogical and insane twists and an old-school approach to dialogue and characterisation. On the best of days, I’ve found his approach giddy and enjoyable – it’s hard not to get caught up in his genuine enthusiasm for the material. However, when Marvel gave Busiek a twelve-issue Avengers miniseries, it seemed inevitable that the writer wouldn’t just seek to nostalgically emulate the past, but tie it all together as well. In this respect, as it weaves through decades of Avengers continuity, Avengers Forever feels almost like continuity porn. Hardcore continuity porn.

Avengers! Avenge!

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: Avenger, avengers, Avengers Earths Mightiest Heroes, avengers forever, captain america, carlos pacheco, comic book, comic book continuity, Comics, continuity, Henry Pym, iron man, joss whedon, kurt busiek, lockout, marvel, Marvel Comic, marvel comics, retrospective, review | 1 Comment »

Brian Michael Bendis’ Avengers – Dark Avengers (Hardcover) (Review/Retrospective)

Posted on April 12, 2012 by Darren

Dark Avengers actually reads quite well as a self-contained volume. It’s relatively short, running sixteen issues (fourteen of which are collected here, with the other two collected in Utopia) and an annual. It sits between two gigantic crossovers, Secret Invasion and Siege, so it isn’t as frequently derailed as Bendis’ New Avengers was (or even Mighty Avengers was). Instead, it feels like a nice little self-contained chapter in the epic superhero saga that Bendis has been writing for quite some time, dating back to the first issue of New Avengers, an exploration of the modern superhero myth in this cynic world so keen to deconstruct our idols in the wake of classics like Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns. It’s not a perfect book, but it’s a clever and succinct summary of the themes the author has been exploring, in a fun and dynamic sort of way.

Maybe it should be called “Moodily-lit Avengers”…

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: anti-heroes, Avenger, avengers, bendis, brian michael bendis, comic books, Comics, dark avengers, dark knight returns, green goblin, iron man, iron patriot, joss whedon, marvel, mighty avengers, Molecule Man, new avengers, nick fury, norman osborn, secret invasion, spider man, tony stark | 2 Comments »

Kurt Busiek’s (& George Perez’s) Avengers – Avengers Assemble! Vol. 2 (Ultron Unlimited) (Review/Retrospective)

Posted on April 11, 2012 by Darren

I want to enjoy Kurt Busiek’s Avengers run. It’s apparently one of the better Avengers runs out there. In fact, I can actually see the reasons why one would fall in love with it. It has great characters, great villains and great stories, written by a writer who adores the subject matter and an artist who is among the best in the business. And yet I can’t help but feel locked out of the series, as if this is a book intended for those who like a particular style of old comics – rather than those seeking accessible and fresh takes on classic characters coming together to fight evil. This second volume is perhaps the highlight of the run, collecting – as it does – the Ultron Unlimited storyarc, perhaps regarded as Busiek’s finest hour on the title (with only Avengers Forever and The Kang Dynasty competing, depending on who you ask).

Boy, is his face red...

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: Avenger, avengers, avengers assemble!, avengers forever, Busiek, captain america, Comics, continuity, george perez, hank mccoy, Henry Pym, iron man, joss whedon, kang dynasty, kurt busiek, marvel, marvel comics, nostalgia, Scarlet Witch, The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, the beast, Triune Understanding, ultron, ultron unlimited | Leave a comment »

Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, Volume 1 (Review)

Posted on April 10, 2012 by Darren

It’s fascinating how Marvel managed to effectively reinvent the Avengers franchise over the better part of the last decade, pushing the title to the centre of their publishing line and revitalising it – both through Mark Millar’s alternate-continuity Ultimates and Brian Michael Bendis’ New Avengers. Both were poles apart from the type of books fans associated with the property, favouring sweeping and blockbuster storytelling in the place of the more conventional soap opera antics. As such, Joe Casey’s miniseries, offering a reflection on the first few years of the team, feels like something of a polite acknowledgment of the legacy of the team, and an attempt to celebrate their history together.

Not quite a train wreck…

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: avengers, captain america, captain america: the first avenger, Earth, Earth's Mightiest Heroes, hulk, Hulk (comics), iron man, Joe Casey, joss whedon, mark millar, marvel, Marvel Studios, robert downey jr, scott kolins, the avengers, thor, tony stark | Leave a comment »

Brian Michael Bendis’ Avengers – New Avengers Vol. 5-6 (Hardcover) (Review/Retrospective)

Posted on April 6, 2012 by Darren

You know, at this stage I’m wondering what an Avengers book might look that wasn’t plowing from one event (Secret Invasion), through another event (Dark Reign), towards yet another event (Siege). I actually quite enjoyed Bendis’ opening two arcs on New Avengers, before the book effectively became the primary tie-in to whatever big crossover event was happening in the Marvel Universe on a given month. It was Grant Morrison who once wrote that every panel in a comic book should be an event, and I agree – stand-alone series don’t gain any extra validity by tying themselves in to a big crisis crossover. Make the stories themselves compelling and worry about the “event” later.

The evil empire…

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: avengers, bendis, brian michael bendis, dark reign, iron man, joss whedon, luke cage, Marvel Comic, marvel comics, matt fraction, Savage Land, secret invasion, skrull | Leave a comment »

Kurt Busiek’s (& George Perez’s) Avengers – Avengers Assemble! Vol. 1 (Review/Retrospective)

Posted on April 3, 2012 by Darren

It is good to be together again.

– Thor, Once An Avenger…

A lot of life is context. In order to fully appreciate things, you need to know the history and events which drive it. Kurt Busiek’s massive almost-five-year run on The Avengers is well loved by comic book fans, but is quite hard for me to get a read on. The plots are simple, the cast is over-crowded and the dialogue is corny. However, these are perhaps the reasons why the run is held in such high esteem, because the fictional Marvel Universe of 1998 was quite different from how it looks today.

Consider them assembled... all of them...

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: Avenger, avengers, avengers assemble!, comic book, comic books, george perez, iron man, joss whedon, kurt busiek, marvel, Marvel Comic, marvel comics, marvel universe, once an avenger, Rob Liefeld, Scarlet Witch, thor, villains | Leave a comment »

In Defense of “Obnoxious” 3D…

Posted on January 12, 2012 by Darren

Discussing the upcoming adaptation of Marvel’s The Avengers, it was strange to hear director Joss Whedon assure fans that the film would not be “obnoxiously 3D.” I am hardly the biggest fan of 3D, for a multitude of reasons I’ll undoubtedly get into in a minute, but I can’t help but feel a little disappointed. After all, since Whedon isn’t filming in 3D, what’s the point in doing it at all if you aren’t at least going to treat it like the gimmick that it is?

Out of their depth?

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: 3-D film, 3d, 3d film, art, avatar, avengers, film, gimmick, Hugo, james cameron, joss whedon, martin scorsese, Movies, steven spielberg, The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn, the avangers (film) | 7 Comments »

Iron Man 3: Tony Stark to Face Real World Baddies…

Posted on March 8, 2011 by Darren

You know what? I was sad to hear that Jon Favreau wasn’t coming back to direct Iron Man 3, especially after Marvel so thoroughly mucked with his vision of Iron Man 2 – turning the second act into an extended infomercial for The Avengers. However, I was kinda glad to see Shane Black come on board, if only because his last collaboration with Robert Downey Jr. (Kiss Kiss Bang Bang) was pure gold. Anyway, Black – as a screenwriter – will be writing the new Iron Man film, and he’s promising a Tom Clancy plot and “real world villains.” So what exactly does that mean?