More GoodReads reviews: Avengers Assemble and more

Avengers Assemble, Vol. 1 by Kurt Busiek

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
There are some elements of cheesiness, and a '70s/'80s throwback style, that are occasionally stumbling blocks for the Busiek/Perez (and later Busiek/Davis and Busiek/other artists) new millennial run of Avengers.

However, as someone whose definitive Avengers was the Roger Stern/John Buscema era, who still thinks Mark Gruenwald wrote the definitive Captain America, who would hold up the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition as one of the best comics Marvel ever published? Well, that's me, and that means this stuff was pretty much up my alley. Certainly more than the all-new, all-different (and sadly, all-so-much-better-selling) New Avengers Marvel is currently peddling.

I've got my problems with this run, including the awful new characters of Triathlon and Silverclaw, the obsession with "fixing" Hank Pym and any use of Morgana Le Fay, who was interesting in the Arthurian myths but sucks as a supervillain (no matter what universe she's in). But it's also got gorgeous art, makes use of the classic Avengers while also trying to move things forward a bit (true, Busiek's version of New Warriors' Justice and Firestar is a bit grating to long-time fans, but at least he tried to move them up to the big leagues) and is generally solid slam-bang superhero action.

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Graphic Novel A Day: Avengers Assemble Vol. 4 HC

Writer: Kurt Busiek
Artists: Jerry Ordway, Steve Epting, John Romita Jr., Alan Davis & more
Company: Marvel Comics
Price: $34.99 ($23.09 at Amazon)

It's funny, I didn't wholly appreciate how good Busiek's Avengers run was at the time. I mean, I loved a lot of it, but I fell off several times, and I seem to recall loving some of the issues collected in here and being lukewarm on some of the others. But looking at this hardcover, which collects the Avengers vs. Intergalactic Federation story Maximum Security and the post-Perez Avengers segueing into Alan Davis' all-too-brief run, all I could think is that this is sort of the baseline I'd like for the Marvel Universe. Fun for all ages but not dumbed down, loaded with continuity and characters but not restricted to only longtime fans, packed with action and respectful of the style of the superhero genre. The heroes are heroic, but their struggles still have tension, the stories are action-packed but they don't leave out characterization. It's really the closest the Avengers got to what is to me the untouchable greatness of Roger Stern's run. I loved this book, and hope there's at least one more on the way to finish out Busiek's run on the book. The only sadness is that reading this, I realized that the type of superhero shared universe I want is probably dead and gone, replaced by the Civil War/Identity Crisis-tinged modern universe that, quite frankly, usually holds little to no interest for me.

Graphic Novel A Day: Superman Up, Up and Away

Writers: Kurt Busiek & Geoff Johns
Artists: Pete Woods & Renato Guedes
Company: DC Comics
Price: $14.99 ($10.64 at Amazon)

I was disappointed in the "One Year Later" Superman when I first read it, and stopped reading after a couple issues. I wanted Superman, not depowered Clark Kent and friends. However, Superman Confidential, All-Star Superman and good word of mouth on the Busiek/Johns run had me in the mood to give the book another go, and I'm kinda glad I did. I'm still not in love with the run, and I'm not convinced that the best way to return Superman to greatness was several months of him without any powers, but... there's some damn good writing and really terrific art here. I've always liked Pete Woods, but he's at a whole new level on this trade, with some lush work reminiscent of the best of Leinil Francis Yu. I also really dug Busiek and Johns' take on Superman's rogues' gallery, particularly the work done with Luthor and the new Kryptonite Man, and to be honest, even liked seeing Clark and Lois dealing with life without Superman. After reading this trade, I want to go back and check out the rest of the One Year Later stories that have been going on in the Superman books.