THE AVENGERS: EARTH’S MIGHTIEST HEROES Volumes 3 & 4

Review copies provided by the studio.

Collecting the second half of the first season, The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes volumes 3 and 4 are now available on DVD. The first batch of Avengers episodes was a pleasant surprise, with solid designs by the late Boyd Kirkland, smooth animation by Film Roman, and stories that modernized classic Avengers battles with only a small amount of annoying Ultimization. The series clearly improves as the episodes continue, as the character designs tighten up, the digital color palate grows more complex, and the stories develop into multi-part, Avengers-worthy epics. Plus, that irritating mall punk theme song has been chopped in half in the later episodes.

It’s hard to imagine an Avengers fan not getting a kick out of most of these episodes. The storylines draw inspiration from everything from Walt Simonson’s “Casket of Ancient Winters” Thor arc, to Kurt Busiek’s global Kang vs. the World storyline from his final Avengers days. Characters you never really expected to see, such as Mockingbird and Ms. Marvel, even make appearances. Actually, Mockingbird does more than make an appearance; she’s a lead character for a few episodes. This must be what DC fans felt like when characters like Vixen and Captain Atom showed up on Justice League Unlimited. Not that Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes is quite on Justice League Unlimited’s level, but it’s the closest any Marvel series has come so far.

Whether or not you wish to own these episodes on DVD likely depends on your level of fandom, but the sets are absolutely worth a rental. The entire first season has also been available via Netflix’s instant streaming service for a while now. I’m not sure when season two is set to begin, but hopefully the wait won’t be too long. This is a show that could easily match the episode runs of the ‘90s Spider-Man and X-Men series, assuming Marvel plays its cards right.

AVENGERS: EARTH’S MIGHTIEST HEROES Volumes 1 & 2

Review copies provided by the studio.

Yes, a mere seven months after its debut, Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes is coming to DVD on April 26^th. These kids today don’t know how lucky they are. It took twelve years for Batman: The Animated Series to be released on season sets. Sixteen years for X-Men! Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes Volume One collects the original seven episodes (with the “micro-episode” compilations counting as five episodes), while Volume Two has six more episodes, ending with the “Gamma World” two-parter. For the first time, Disney has included special features in a Marvel animated series season set. Both volumes have interviews with Joshua Fine and Christopher Yost, teasing future events for the upcoming season. We learn that Vision is coming soon (yay), while Captain America is getting an Ultimate redesign (boo).

As an entitled fanboy, I proudly reject virtually all post-2000 Marvel continuity, along with the Ultimate Universe. As such, I have numerous nitpicky complaints whenever a “contribution” by Brian Michael Bendis or Mark Millar makes its way into the series. Luckily, the show borrows from almost every corner of Avengers continuity, so the use of an “Ultimate” version of a character is usually balanced out by a classic Hawkeye, or an appearance of an obscure villain or B-lister. One thing I can’t get past is Iron Man’s horrific voice acting, which is the worst Robert Downey, Jr. impression I could imagine a professional actor getting paid to do. I like the Iron Man movies, but I’m afraid they’ve cursed future generations with an endless steam of “witty” quips and smirky performances. On the other hand, Jeffery Combs is playing the Leader, so the casting department has at least one major score going for it. Actually, most of the voice acting is at the very least competent, which makes the casting of the subpar RDJ clone even more confusing.

The animation is provided by Film Roman, generally regarded as the best studio currently doing American television animation. The early episodes look a bit rough, the character designs are all over the place and the colors are just too bright, but the quality improves as the season continues. By “Gamma World” you can see a marked improvement, putting the show on the same level as Film Roman’s other Marvel cartoons, X-Men Evolution and The Superhero Squad Show. (Although, for some reason, Superhero Squad’s digital coloring still surpasses almost every Avengers episode.)

The stories on these episodes broadly follow the original Stan Lee issues, right down to the original Avengers line-up. They don’t even cheat and let Captain America in as a founder. He’s got to wait until the team forms, moves into the mansion, and fights Hulk a few times before his body is unfrozen. Surely, this is the way The Man intended. The villains range from Klaw to Baron Zemo to Man-Ape. It’s hard to think of a villain who doesn’t show up (King Cobra, Purple Man, and Wendigo are in the same episode!), and most of them have solid designs. I don’t know which animator designed Abomination, but I would say his look rivals any design from the comics. I’m not sure when the next DVD set is due, but future episodes continue to borrow heavily from classic Avengers storylines, so Kang and the Masters of Evil make appearances, as the show drops some hints regarding a war between two certain alien races. Allegedly, the plan is for the series to run 52 episodes; hopefully they’ll continue to lean towards the classic Avengers and stay away from “New” or “Ultimate” anything (although Cap’s redesign doesn’t give me a lot of hope). Even if I personally dislike some of the material chosen to be adapted, it’s still fun to see an Avengers cartoon that gets so much right. And, none of the characters are stuck wearing animal-themed cybernetic armor, which is always a plus.

ONSLAUGHT Crossovers Part Two – September 1996

Amazing Spider-Man #415 (DeFalco/Bagley/Malhstedt/Milgrom/Comicraft/Sharon/Malibu) – This installment doesn’t advance the Onslaught story at all, as it just uses the Sentinels as villains while the book continues its ongoing storylines. It’s amusing to read the first page of this issue, as the narrative captions recapping the past few years of storylines provide a list of events Marvel soon dismissed (MJ pregnant, Aunt May dead, Peter Parker’s a clone, etc.). This was published during the awkward period when Marvel pretty much admitted that Peter Parker would be back as Spider-Man, but his return would have to wait until the Onslaught crossover was over. The story involves Peter evading Sentinels with Mary Jane, as Spider-Man (Ben Reilly) takes on another Sentinel. One of the Sentinels heavily infers that Mary Jane’s unborn child is a female mutant, which I’m sure was supposed to be a big revelation at the time. Reading any Spider-Man comic from the past twenty years or so gives me an odd feeling now, as I have no idea what’s supposed to be in-continuity, what was never in-continuity, and what was once in-continuity but has since been retconned within continuity. Consequently, I really don’t care (and it’s not just the continuity headaches that bother me, it’s Marvel turning its back on the idea that Spider-Man comics are supposed to be about the continuing life of Peter Parker). Even if it was published during a strange period in the character’s history, it is a fairly enjoyable story about Spider-Man fighting Sentinels. DeFalco does a nice job of depicting the Daily Bugle’s reaction to the crisis, and helps to convey the seriousness of the event more than some of the main Onslaught chapters have.

Avengers #402 (Waid/Deodato/Palmer/Kalisz/Oakley) – This is actually the final issue of the first volume of Avengers, so it’s sad that it’s dedicated to an X-crossover and not to any of the title’s own storylines. In this issue, Iron Man finishes the psionic armor that’s going to be used against Onslaught, and the team is soon attacked by Post and Holocaust, who want to destroy it. Waid tries to make the story more about the characters than the event, as he focuses on the Avengers’ reactions to the chaos in New York, and emphasizes the toll that it’s taking on Captain America. Predictably, Cap eventually figures out a way to defeat Post and Holocaust, as the citizens of New York cheer the team on. The ending’s certainly cheesy, and it seems like something tacked on to make the final issue seem more sentimental than it really is, but the majority of the story works pretty well. The art’s improved from the previous issue, and the action moves at a steady pace. “Heroes responding to a massive catastrophe in a major city during a crossover” is probably its own subgenre at this point, and while this issue doesn’t do anything new, it’s still a decent read.

ONSLAUGHT Crossovers Part One -August 1996

AVENGERS #401 (Waid/Deodato/Palmer/Oakley/Kalisz) – Following Uncanny X-Men #335, Gambit joins the Avengers as they track Magneto's energy signature to the Southeast. The rest of the issue mainly consists of Rogue and Joseph fighting off the Avengers, who think that Joseph is still his old self. Rogue's afraid that if Joseph finds out about his past, he'll revert into Magneto again, so she spends a lot time yelling at the Avengers and telling them to shut up. The conflict ends when the Scarlet Witch recognizes that Joseph isn't the man she knew, and convinces everyone to calm down. This is the classic "heroes fight over a misunderstanding" issue, but Waid's characterizations keep it from getting too dull. As far as crossover tie-ins go, this isn't so bad. There's some nice work with the Scarlet Witch, and a few amusing interactions during the fight scene. Pairing Mike Deodato with Tom Palmer is an odd look, and Palmer's influence unfortunately doesn't tone down some of the more egregious '90s poses and anatomy.

Fantastic Four #415 (DeFalco/Pacheco/Wiacek/Starkings/Comicraft/Lenshoek) – Carlos Pacheco was taken off of Excalibur in order to draw these final two issues of the original Fantastic Four series. This issue contributes to the plot by re-establishing Franklin Richards’ latent mutant power (which is described as the ability to “restructure matter”) and sending Onslaught after him. Onslaught reverts to Xavier’s form and tries to convince the Richards into sending Franklin to his school, as a team of Avengers and X-Men members arrive to stop him. There are also a few pages dedicated to resolving storylines from DeFalco’s utterly bizarre run on this title (although editorial restraints seem to have calmed him down by this point). The rest of the issue is mostly a large fight between Onslaught and the various Marvel heroes. There’s a clever bit that has Onslaught clouding Franklin’s mind while he plays a card game as the battle goes on around him, but Pacheco’s art is the only real redeeming aspect of the fight. If Onslaught is such a devious, cunning foe, it seems like he would’ve had a better plan than just knocking his way through any heroes who happened to be in the FF’s headquarters that day. Since he’s supposed to be the most powerful telepath on Earth, he could’ve used his mental powers in a variety of ways to easily get Franklin away from the team.

AVENGERS #369 – December 1993

Bloodties The Finale – Of Kith and Kin

Credits: Bob Harras (writer), Steve Epting and Jan Duursema (pencilers), Tom Palmer (inker), Bill Oakley (letterer), Mike Rockwitz (colorist)

Summary

Exodus creates a psionic shield over Genosha, preventing anyone else from entering the country. He takes Luna from Fabian Cortez and apparently kills him. The Avengers and X-Men meet and respond to Professor Xavier’s call for help. They arrive and assist Xavier, Beast, and US Agent against the Magistrates’ backup. Exodus faces the combined teams, inciting the Mutates into violence and threatening to kill Luna for the sin of being born human. Xavier and the Black Knight defeat Exodus, after Jean Grey telepathically sends information on his weaknesses. Exodus leaves, but not before injuring Quicksilver. Xavier appeals to the Genoshans to stop the violence, asking them not to follow the example of a man willing to kill a child.

Gimmicks

This issue has a cardstock, foil embossed cover.

Review

And, in the final part of this storyline, the X-Men and Avengers fight the same villains they’ve been fighting for the past three chapters, only now they do it together. This structure could actually work if the villains were remotely interesting, but generic Mutates and generic guys in body armor get old fast. Almost two full issues of this crossover were dedicated to selling Exodus as a major villain, but in the end he’s defeated in a two page sequence after Xavier mind-blasts him and Black Knight slices him with his sword. All of the effort spent on building him up seems wasted. Cortez’s apparent death is really the only aspect of the crossover that impacts continuity, and it’s treated pretty casually. Taken on its own, though, it’s actually not that bad of an issue. Harras seems to be invested in the story, and Epting does a good job on the X-Men/Avengers team-up scenes. As the finale to a five-part crossover though, you get the feeling that a lot of the previous chapters have just been filler.

AVENGERS WEST COAST #101 – December 1993

Genosha, Mon Amour

Credits: Roy Thomas (writer), Dave Ross (penciler), Tim Dzon (inker), Steve Dutro (letterer), Bob Sharen (colorist)

Summary

Hawkeye and the Avengers left in America protest the UN’s decision not to get involved in the Genoshan civil war. In Genosha, Scarlet Witch and Crystal search for Luna while the remaining Avengers fight Exodus. Professor Xavier, Beast, and US Agent discover a tunnel with hundreds of Mutates living in inhumane conditions, overseen by the Magistrate Elite soldiers. The other X-Men continue to fight Cortez’s mutant guards, and learn that Cortez was only speaking through a shapeshifter earlier.

Continuity Notes

Revanche was with the X-Men in the previous chapter but has disappeared. US Agent was shown secretly following Professor Xavier on a dirt road in the previous chapter, and now he’s openly joined him in the tunnels beneath Genosha.

The Genoshan Magistrate Elite soldiers claim to be working for Fabian Cortez, which can't be reconciled with the other chapters in the crossover. Human soldiers working for Cortez kind of goes against the whole "mutant/human civil war" idea.

Review

I can only imagine what a regular Avengers West Coast reader thought of this issue. Of course, the title was being cancelled with the next issue and relaunched as Force Works, so I guess they had lots of wonderful memories ahead of them. This is the weakest chapter of the crossover so far, as the story moves incrementally and the heroes just fight the same villains they fought in the last chapter. Roy Thomas, considered by many to be one of the best Silver Age X-Men writers, doesn’t seem comfortable with the characters for some reason. Beast is shown making a condescending remark about “non-mutants” that requires a scolding from Xavier. Of all the X-Men, Beast would be the least likely to say something like this, especially in the middle of a human/mutant civil war. It’s followed a few pages later with Rogue and Gambit talking about how proudly Southern they are. Uh, okay. It’s a weak comic, but I guess Marvel succeeded in their goal of getting me to buy a series I didn’t normally collect.

AVENGERS #368 – November 1993

Bloodties Part One – Family Legacy

Credits: Bob Harras (writer), Steve Epting (penciler), Tom Palmer (inker/colorist), Bill Oakley (letterer)

Summary

Magneto’s EM pulse wave has inadvertently created a civil war in Genosha. Fearing that Magneto would inspire the Mutates to rebel, human Genoshans are exterminating them. The Mutates are using their powers to fight back. The government wants Nick Fury and SHIELD to prevent the Avengers from getting involved, fearing their presence would escalate the violence and affect human politics. When pressed, Fury admits to the Avengers that intelligence reports hint that they might be attacked to make a statement against the world’s indifference towards Genosha. Crystal assumes that Luna, her daughter and Magneto’s grandchild, would be a target. The Avengers discover that Luna has been replaced with a Mutate shapeshifter. The Mutate blows herself up to make a statement. The Avengers attempt to go to Genosha, but are blocked by SHIELD agents. Meanwhile, Government agent Henry Gyrich and Avenger US Agent are sent to recruit Professor Xavier, hoping that he can ease tensions in Genosha. Fabian Cortez makes a statement to the world, holding Luna and claiming that he is the leader of the Mutate rebellion. He says that now all humans will be exterminated in Genosha.

Review

This is the start of Bloodties, a crossover between the X-Men and Avengers franchises intended to celebrate their thirtieth anniversaries. I can maybe understand a special issue to celebrate an anniversary, but doing a crossover between two franchises because they started in the same year seems like a stretch. It’s not a bad issue, as Harras is able to make the setup for the storyline pretty interesting. The characters at least have an emotional stake in the story, which sets it above a lot of the crossovers from this era. Steve Epting’s art certainly isn’t at his current level of quality, but it’s decent enough.

There are some natural connections between the Avengers and X-Men, and the first part of the storyline exploits a few of them. Former Avenger Beast is paired again with Henry Gyrich, calling back to the late 70s/early 80s era of Avengers. Crystal is the mother of Magneto’s grandchild, so it’s logical that she would be drawn into the human/mutant conflict. Even though the first part of the story is in an Avengers issue, the crossover already feels more heavily balanced towards the X-universe. Genosha is firmly an X-book concept, and the impetus for the civil war is directly related to the recent X-crossover. The main villain, Fabian Cortez, is also firmly grounded in the X-universe. I’m not too familiar with this era in Avengers history, but it seems like the title is undergoing an X-makeover anyway. The leather jackets, headgear, bad haircuts, headbands, and odd costume designs all look like attempts to mimic the look of the X-titles. Characters with more traditional costumes, like Hawkeye and Scarlet Witch, look extremely out of place. One of the letters on the letters pages praises the book for having “attitude” now. Marvel’s promotional material for this event definitely hasn’t aged well, with even Captain America featured in a leather jacket and chunky headgear.

With Apartheid coming to an end, Marvel apparently decided to look for other global atrocities to find a new direction for Genosha. It looks like they decided on the civil war in Yugoslavia. Fury and SHIELD are introduced into the story solely to indicate the UN’s reluctance to get involved. I have a mental image of a dry erase board in Marvel’s conference room, with names like “North Korea”, “Bosnia-Herzegovina”, “Sudan”, “Afghanistan”, “East Timor”, and “Tibet” written all over it. “Okay, guys…I think we’re on to something…” If Marvel published this story today, I can just imagine Joe Quesada all over cable television, bragging about how smart and relevant this story is. I’m starting to miss the days when the media just ignored us.