In the 1990s, the Avengers were in a bit of a slump. During the events of Onslaught: Marvel Universe (October 1996), the Avengers, alongside Dr. Doom and the Fantastic Four, seemingly perished, sacrificing themselves to stop the evil psychic entity known as Onslaught. However, it turns out that Franklin Richards, the near-omnipotent son of the Fantastic Four's Reed "Mr. Fantastic" Richards and Sue "Invisible Woman" Storm, had transported them to a pocket dimension of his own creation. In this "Franklin-verse", these lost heroes lived new lives, oblivious to what happened to them.
In real life, at this time ,Marvel had "farmed out" some of their titles to other studios to produce. Captain America and Avengers went to Rob Liefeld's Extreme Studios, and Iron Man and Fantastic Four went to Jim Lee's WildStorm Productions. I'm not exactly sure why they did this, maybe it had something to do with Marvel's financial problems at the time, I don't know.
During this time, there was an attempt to update the heroes' origins for the then-modern 90s. The reception was...mixed. Some liked, some hated it, some did not freakin' care. One of the more controversial changes was the creative team of Captain America. You see, Mark Waid and Ron Garney were the creative team before this whole thing, and under them, the book was acclaimed and was selling rather well. Eventually, the heroes would return to the "real" Marvel Universe, and with that, the Avengers would also be reborn. And with that, let's take a look at Avengers #1!
The cover is a wraparound, and it is an awesome one. Yeah, technically, it is just depicting Avengers just running, but it's awesome because well, it's a Perez piece, and it also is a way of showing the team's history. Keep in mind, at this time, the team was celebrating its 35th Anniversary. Many members have come and gone. And this cover helps show many of the heroes who were on the team at some point up till then.
"Once An Avenger..."
Writer: Kurt Busiek
Penciler: George Perez
Inker: Al Vey
Colorist: Tom Smith
Letterer: Richard Starkings, Comicraft/Kolja Fuchs
Editor: Tom Brevoort
Editor-in-Chief: Bob Harras
The story beings in Café Transia, a Slavic restaurant in Manhattan. There, a family is enjoying a meal. Well, no ordinary family. Pietro "Quicksilver" Maximoff, his fraternal twin sister Wanda "Scarlet Witch" Maximoff, his wife Crystal of the Inhumans, and his daughter Luna. Pietro is grumbling and complaining about some bureaucracy. Wanda is having a laugh, and Crystal tries to soothe him by reminding him that red tape is inevitable with characters returning from death. Luna spots something, and the little girl is scared out of her wits.
Flying Trolls of Thryhem on the rampage. That'll ruin a family dinner. Near Albuquerque, New Mexico, one Bonita "Firebird" Juarez is out collecting blankets and clothes for a church so they can help the needy. She gets attacked by strange creatures erupting from the ground. The scene then shifts to Wakanda. T'Challa, the Black Panther, is attending a wedding. I bet he does that on occasion, surprises his subjects by attending their weddings. Well, it does happen to be a good thing he showed up, because a dragon decides he wants to experience how Wakandans give beatdowns.
It turns out past members of the Avengers have been getting attacked by various monsters everywhere. Hawkeye, Swordsman II, Magdalene, and Darkhawk in New York City. Hercules in Cincinnati. Living Lightning at UCLA. Moondragon in Las Vegas. The Julia Carpenter Spider-Woman in Denver. Namor at the Hebrides. The Hebrides are a group of island off the west coast of Scotland. She-Hulk in San Francisco. Another Avenger, Rage, gets attacked in the Bronx, but gets some backup from his fellow New Warriors Firestar and Justice. However, as quickly as the monsters attack...they vanish.
The Avengers members are all left confused. I have to admit, I love this part as it not only establishes the scale of this threat, it also shows us a bit of each of these characters' personalities. From Namor's arrogance, to Firebird's devotion to her faith. Very nice.
We then go next to Avengers Mansion, under a dark and stormy sky. A reporter recaps that since the Avengers seemingly died fighting Onslaught, SHIELD had been using it as a base of operations in New York City. But with the Avengers being back, the Mansion has been returned to the Maria Stark Foundation, the long-time financial backers of the Avengers. The reporter also explains that several of the founding Avengers are at the mansion now, and this may lead to a rebirth of Earth's Mightiest Heroes. And true to the reporter's words, several of the original Avengers (The Steve Rogers Captain America, Hank Pym Giant-Man, Janet Van Dyne Wasp, and the Tony Stark Iron Man) are having a meeting.
Yeah, in the comics, Cap was not technically an founding Avenger. The original five in the comics were the Bruce Banner Hulk, Tony Stark Iron Man, Hank Pym Ant-Man, Janet Van Dyne Wasp, and Thor Odinson. Cap was the sixth superhero to join, but in the comics, he is considered a founder because the Avengers found him and brought him on board not long after they started adventuring together...and Hulk bailed after a couple of issues.
I am so tickled that they have a very large mug for Hank Pym whenever he's doing the Giant-Man thing. They are discussing the attacks on past Avengers members. Iron Man believes that the attacks are from Asgardian creatures because they match the description of monsters that have been attacking. He wonders why the Avengers got disbanded during their time in the "Franklin-verse".
Cap theorizes it could be Loki. It's a theory that makes sense, as Loki was the cause of the Avengers getting together in the first place. They hear the storm growing more powerful outside, unnaturally powerful. The window bursts open in a blast of wind.
You should expect an organ crash at this moment. It's Thor, and he looks like hell. He also feels like hell, as he was on a great journey. Wasp asks Jarvis to get him some mutton and mead, as he looks half-starved. Thor brushes off the help, and states that the world is in danger. The other Avengers immediately offer to help. Thor is concerned, as the others are mortals. Cap basically tells him to let them worry about that. Iron Man gives his support, and the Avengers hold out their hands.
The next day, an arrow hits the gate of Avengers Mansion, and one Clint Barton, aka the Avenging Archer, Hawkeye, ziplines down with his bow. He sees a cab pull up, and is able to land in time to open the door for the occupant: the Scarlet Witch. He goes to put in his Avengers membership card, but Quicksilver beats him to the punch. Crystal is deal with some more legal niceties, and the idea of it utterly bored the speedster, so he went ahead to the Mansion, Crystal will join them later. They are merely the latest arrivals.
What I love about this spread, like the earlier attacks on the Avengers, are the little flashes of character, like Spider-Man on the ceiling away from the others reflecting his traditional distance from the other heroes, and Black Widow's posture and pose showing her struggle with being involved with the Avengers again. You see, she led a team of Avengers when the main ones vanished, and it didn't go so well. A little funny moment there is with D-Man. At the time, he had become a protector of a group of homeless people called the "Zero People". Unfortunately, it had led him to be neglectful of his personal hygiene, so he's not smelling like a rose garden.
Firestar and Justice of the New Warriors had reluctantly joined up with Rage at the Mansion, but Rage and Darkhawk convince them to stay because they could be helpful. The original Avengers that had gathered earlier remark that everyone who can make it has made it. Everyone else is either dead or somewhere in other time periods. Reed Richards and Susan Storm can't make it, as the Fantastic Four have their own concerns. Hulk calls up and basically says if they bother him, he'll...visit. To smash. As in "break people to pieces" smashing.
Captain America starts to address the other Avengers. Hawkeye grumbles that he and Wanda should be up there as well, considering they led Avengers teams in the past (Hawkeye led the West Coast team, Wanda led Force Works). Spider-Man speaks up, saying that he can't really help at the moment, but he's occupied by legal problems in his own books at the time. Swordsman mocks him and calls him a coward, but Cap shuts him up and lets Spidey go. After the Wall-Crawler leaves, Sandman threatens Swordsman that if he ever mocks Spidey again, he'll eat sand. Cap is able to get them to settle down, and Thor takes the podium.
Thor recounts his battle with Doctor Doom in Heroes Reborn: The Return #4 (December 1997). Doom had kidnapped Franklin Richards and tried to use his immense power to rule the Franklin-verse. Thor was unable to force the madman back into some kind of space ark, so he created a dimensional rift with Mjolnir to toss himself and Doom into. Thor does so, and is unsure what happened next.
Thor then woke up in Asgard, only to find it destroyed, and its people vanished. And that was not all. The gnomes, the demons, all was gone. Thor had spent days searching, but everyone seemed to have completely vanished. In his search, Thor had made another horrifying discovery: The Twilight Sword, a massive sword that was known as the most dangerous weapon in Asgard, is gone. Thor found a piece of the Rainbow Bridge nearby, and when he grabbed it, he got transported to Chicago.
Dane Whitman, the Black Knight, wants to know what the Twilight Sword actually is. Thor explains that the sword was a weapon forged by Surtur in the heart of the Burning Galaxy. He also reveals that in his travels, he discovered the Norn Stones, a group of magic rocks, have also gone missing. He senses that the stones are in five places on Earth. Justice of the New Warriors points out that with the attacks on Avengers members and now this, it could be a trap. Hilariously, the Avengers all give Justice a look that says "WE KNOW, SIT DOWN."
Heh heh, poor Justice. Anyway, a quintet of Quinjets fly off (Try saying that five times fast). The planes are observed by Moon Knight. Despite the Avengers' security devices, he was able to listen in on the meeting. He swings off, as he's not really the team player type anymore. Back at the Mansion, an injured Rick Jones, who is using Professor X's floating yellow wheelchair he had in the 90s, asks Jarvis how does he do it. How does he watch the Avengers leave for missions all the time, and have faith they always come back?
Jarvis's answer? He doesn't. But he does know this. As he feeds Aragorn, the Black Knight's horse, Jarvis explains that he has to keep things running for the Avengers so they can concentrate on fighting the big threats. To him, it's an honor. It's a nice moment. Shows Jarvis's devotion to the Avengers.
One of the Avengers Quinjets heads towards Tintagel Head in the United Kingdom. BIG hint of who the villain is here. One of the Norn Stones is there. The Quinjet, containing Hercules, Crystal, Quasar, D-Man, Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, and Captain America gets hit by an unnaturally powerful whirwind that knocks the Quinjet around. Quasar and Crystal go out to try and deal with the winds. Cap gets a garbled transmission from Black Panther. The other Norn Stones have vanished...and they appeared at Tintagel.
Wanda has an idea to stop the whirlwind. She uses her hexcasting powers and is able to stop the winds. The Avengers spot the Twilight Sword and disembark the Quinjet. Hercules grumbles at D-Man because of his smell. Cap, after telling Herc to shut up, asks how things are going in Zerotown. D-Man assures Cap that they're alright there, and they have to save the water there for drinking, not washing. Otherwise that, they'll get through the winter. It is then that the possible villain stands revealed.
Yes, it's Mordred. Yes, the same Mordred from Arthurian myth, the son (or nephew, depending on the telling) of King Arthur himself. Mordred decides to mockingly act the cheerful host, then creates ground tentacles to grab and kidnap Wanda. He then sends some rock trolls to take out the other Avengers. While they fight the trolls, Quicksilver takes advantage of Mordred's distraction to give him a superspeed-charged Mighty Punch from behind.
Mordred screams that the mindless rock trolls will go on a rampage and urn on him if he doesn't banish them. Pietro lets him do so, then tears off his armor and demands he tell them where Wanda is. Ah Pietro, ever the insanely overprotective brother. Mordred says don't ask him, ask her.
Yup, Morgan Le Fay, Mordred's aunt. Like Mordred, she is also from Arthurian legend, a powerful sorceress often portrayed in a villainous role. The Marvel version of her was mainly an enemy of the Jessica Drew Spider-Woman, but has fought the Avengers in the past, notably Avengers #240-241 (February-March 1984). Around her neck are the missing Norn stones. Captain America, being the ever-optimistic Star Spangled Man With the Plan he is, says that Morgan may have the advantage, the Avengers will beat her in the end.
Morgan laughs at this, and shows the other groups of Avengers valiantly fighting off various monsters. Black Widow leads one team against a giant serpent in the South Pacific. In the Arctic, the Wasp leads a team of Avengers against some Frost Giants. In Equatorial Africa, Iron Man leads a team of Avengers against the Fomor, beings from Celtic mythology. And in Central America, a Thor-led team of Avengers battle...zombie conquistadors. I'm guessing Morgan ran out of monsters. Or just felt lazy there.
Morgan then says they are too late, anyway. Because her ancestry is close to the Dark Elves of Svartalfheim, she is able to use the Norn stones. She wasn't able to use the Twilight Sword...until now. Thanks to Wanda's mutant powers and her connections to Chthonic magic, Morgan can use her to bridge the gap between Morgan's own Celtic magic and the power of the Asgardian artifact. Mordred explains the attacks on Avengers past were a ruse to draw Wanda to Morgan. Morgan grabs the Sword, Wanda screaming in pain. This causes Pietro to rush to her aid.
The story ends with Morgan slashing the sky with the Twilight Sword, cleaving reality itself. As everything fades to white, Captain America has one last thought: that Iron Man would hate this...
Next time, we are promised a Brave
This comic...is AWESOME. I absolutely love it. It manages to recall the events of the Avengers' return in a way that felt organic to the story and was not confusing at all. Busiek manages to pack quite a bit into this comic, action, character stuff, continuity stuff, even a little bit of humor, and it all works so well. It's just fun to read. His dialogue can be a bit cheesy here, with the heroes all acting chummy in a way, but it's a good kind of cheesy. It doesn't hurt anything. And as for George Perez's art...Dear GOD, I CANNOT gush enough over his art! I don't think he can do bad art even if he WANTED to. The layouts, the detail, the little bits of character, all fantastic! He is the master of what he does. I can stare at his art for hours, it is that good. I love it that much.
I cannot praise this era of the Avengers enough. This era made me fall in love with the Avengers, and it made me fall in love with comics, too. If you find this era of Avengers in trade form, you would be INSANE not to pick it up. George Perez only stuck around for the first three years, but Kurt Busiek also got to work with some other fantastic artists, like Jerry Ordway and Alan Davis. Get this stuff, this is real fine comic booking right here. Next time...worlds lived, worlds died, and the DC Universe will never be the same again...
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