Avengers #1.1

[laughing_tree]

"I’ve been itching to tell this story for a long time. I love, as I did with Captain America: Man Out of Time, to be able to tell flashback stories within continuity..." -- Mark Waid

Comments

[icon_uk]

The original Avengers do come across as a bunch of dislikeably self-absorbed pillocks

"Hey Cap, you have no social life, YOU run the team whilst we go off and deal with things we like doing.

Oh, and we're dumping you with a bunch of (possibly) heroic oddballs that you've never even met, never mind been consulted about joining the team or agreed to take charge of"

At least Jan seems to realise just how much of a dick move that was.

[mastermahan]

Seriously. The guy's still suffering from anywhere between 2 and 7 decades of culture shock. This is the sort of thing you need to consult people on.

[zylly]

I always feel bad for Cap visa vie the sliding timescale. His original 20 or so years were bad, but not insurmountable. Now...

[junipepper]

Poor Steve Rogers is gradually becoming Buck Rogers.

[zylly]

Ha!

You're not wrong.

[thehood]

Never mind how they treated Hulk, which caused him to leave. There's a reason Banner stayed away from the Avengers for years.

[kenn_el]

He paid them back when he recruited the Black Panther to lead the team without consulting them. So they're even.

[starwolf_oakley]

This has its moments. But I think I like Hawkeye and Jarvis' interaction in Joe Casey's "Earth's Mightiest Heroes" miniseries a bit more. Because in that, Jarvis is how Hawkeye joined the Avengers.

[byc]

Why is Medusa there?

Losing to Paste Pot Pete is embarrassing, but at least Sandman and Wizard are there too.

[scorntx]

Because Medusa, when she first appeared, was having a spot of AMNESIA (*dramatic sting*) and wound up being a part of the Frightful Four.

[filthysize]

She was a villain. She's a founding member of the Frightful Four.

[thanekos]

" Why does he have no costume? "
" The question you should ask is- why does he have no clothes? "
" Wait, that's- you mean he's- "
" Hey, it's convenient! And frankly, comfortable. "

[mastermahan]

"You ever get sand in your underwear? Now imagine how well clothes work for me."

[icon_uk]

"I hate sand... it's coarse and rough and irritating and it gets everywhere."

"Well, that's just CHARMING!"

"What?? Oh not YOU Sandman... I meant sand in general..."

"Is that some sort of racial slur? I'm proud of my Silicate American heritage"

[locuatico]

"HOld on, Iron Man. You are Tony Stark's employee, your armor was given to you by him to act as a bodyguard and stuff. If you have "personal stuff" in the way, couldn't stark just hire someone to act as a Stand-In?"
".......erm... OH! LOOK AT THAT! I JUST RECEIVED A CALL THAT MR. STARK'S SECRET PERSONAL JET JUST HAD A MALFUNCITON WHILE HE WAS SECRETLY PILOTING IT! HAVETOGOBYE!"

[bruinsfan]

I wouldn't assume the hero is replaceable just because his equipment is (allegedly) provided by someone else. And the "Tony Stark's bodyguard" cover story does at least give him a good reason to be elsewhere.

Hank running off to indulge his hobby of creating murderous AIs, less so.

[locuatico]

Yeah, you can probably justify it somehow (and if he had said that protecting Tony Stark meant he could no longer work for the Avengers, that would be fine) I just find it highly amusing how it comes across as him saying personal stuff in his life makes him unable to do (as far as everyone knows) his literal job and that Tony did not have someone ready to act as a (temporal) replacement other than the dude who tried to kill him like two weeks ago.

[thanekos]

Points for the lettering.

(If only they could've yellowed the gutters- probably wouldn't have looked great, though.)

[fiddlingfrog.livejournal.com]

It needs more thought bubbles but otherwise yes, the lettering was spot-on.

[docfilth]

Having Barry Kitson do the art makes it feel more like a companion piece to JLA: Year One, which he drew as well.

[mastermahan]

I've always been very fond of Cap's Kooky Quartet. They're low-powered, damaged, and dysfunctional, and their interactions are just fascinating.

Cap means well, but is still suffering from culture shock. Clint is an arrogant, contrary pain in Cap's ass. Wanda is mopey as hell. Pietro is an overprotective hothead. They're screwed-up underdogs, and it's amazing.

[tigerkaya]

Stick to writing DC and indie titles Waid

[tianyulong]

Aw, but I like this

[philippos42]

Clint has some good moments in these scans.

[sarahnewlin]

Hi Wanda. Now I hope they don't make her lose her mind.

[kenn_el]

She wasn't powerful enough yet to have her go crazy. She had ill-defined powers so that she could give Marvel Girl something to do.

[bradygirl_12]

I remember the snarkiness of this particular group. Clint was angling to be the leader and the Maximoff twins were all sorts of screwed up, and of course Cap with his culture shock issues, including mourning Bucky. Somehow they managed to become a team, though the winning panels were usually what went on in the Mansion between missions. :)

[kenn_el]

I thought the twins were interesting. This was still close enough to WWII that they held cap in extremely high regard, for a non-mutant, to the point that Wanda crushed on him, and Pietro might have approved. They were much more antagonistic toward Clint. Pietro always tested him (possibly sublimating some urges), and Wanda saw him as sort of a low life. They were, after all, part of Magneto's group through obligation, and, therefore "honorable" by comparison.

[bradygirl_12]

Yeah, 'carnies' are never considered high on the social scale.