Avengers v3 #1 discussion post

[elspethdixon]

Avengers #1 - Once an Avenger...



Writer: Kurt Busiek
Penciler: George Perez

The Avengers return from being temporarily dead something something handwave let's never talk about that last storyline again, guys; we relaunched this title for a reason and discover that random villains all over the world are attacking former Avengers. The only solution is to reassemble!

And drink tea with Jarvis. Lots of tea. And bring Thor some mead and that cold mutton from the refrigerator.

Comments

[captainshellhead]

No tea for Tony though. He's much too busy staring moodily out the window to figure out how to drink it with the faceplate down.

[elspethdixon]

You'd think that after all these years an engineer would figure out a way around that problem.

[marinarusalka]

This is another one of those times when I'm confused about Tony's secret identity status. I know he's still feeding the "bodyguard" story to the public, but don't the other founding Avengers know at this point? Why can't he just lift up his faceplate and drink his damn tea?

[marinarusalka]

I kind of love the fact that Tony's tea service includes a giant-sized cup for Hank. Though why Hank can't just turn back to normal size to drink his tea, I don't know. Jan is at normal size and not drinking out of a thimble, but no, Hank has to stand there leaning on the chandelier.

Also, damn, that's a whole lot of Avengers. I always forget how much turnover the team has had over the decades. Is there anyone in the Marvel Universe who hasn't been an Avenger by now? Aside from, like, the supervillains.

(Actually, if you count the Dark Avengers, some of the supervillains have bee in too.)

[elspethdixon]

Tony's tea service probably includes a teeny-tiny Wasp-sized cup as well, if Jan wanted it. She's just not as much of a drama queen as Hank.

Is there anyone in the Marvel Universe who hasn't been an Avenger by now?

No. No there isn't. (I swear there's actually a joke about that in one of the next couple of issues).

[dorothy1901]

Aside from, like, the supervillains

Technically, a decent number of (former) supervillains have made it into the Avengers: the Black Widow, Hawkeye, Quicksilver, the Sandman, the Scarlet Witch, etc.

[marinarusalka]

Good point. Though I'm not sure Hawkeye counts, I think he was a villain for, like, a week and a half before he decided he didn't like it. :-P

At least the characters you mention all took the trouble to reform before joining up, as opposed to the Dark Avengers. Then again, once you've put "Dark" in your name, you kind of have to live up to it, I guess.

And on that note, I love that Mordred actually refers to himself as "Mordred the Evil."

[vibraniumstark]

And of course, we can't forget these Very Important Panels



Steve. Steve you're possibly dying and your last thought is of Tony?

[Gaaaaaaaaaay]

[ckhatter]

That is literally the only thing I could think of when I read that.

[elspethdixon]

Hee, yes ^_^. Usually Tony's the one doing the "my last thoughts will be of Steve"/"As [bad thing] happens to me, I draw strength from my memories of Captain America!" thing.

[dorothy1901]

It's interesting to see how much influence Stan Lee's writing style still has over later Marvel writers. There's the same declaiming, the same portentous captions ("From now on, where the Moon Night glides -- he glides alone.") However, there are also more subtle touches, like the auditorium scene where all the Avengers are trying to get as far away from D-Man as possible. There's also the wacky stuff, like zombie conquistadores.

[eruiel]

When I read through the issue there were particular parts of the narrative which I heard in Stan Lee's voice. Your quote being one of the shining examples. I've been marathoning books from the early 2000s and I honestly wasn't expecting so much classic Stan Lee in this period.

[eruiel]

I am always impressed when writers manage to find individual characters' voices in such a large ensemble cast. One of the bits I really enjoyed during this issue was Clint's opening line. I felt even if he had been dressed in civies without his bow I still would have known him without question.

Other moments I enjoyed/needed to comment on:

Although Steve's thoughts at the end are undeniably shippy, my favourite Steve and Tony panel was the silent frame of Steve's gloved hand resting on top of Tony's. Steve is the first to follow him into this new venture. No matter what goes down in 616 it always seems to come back to Steve and Tony following each other.

Apparently Loki is everyone's first choice when Asgardian shit hits the fan. How put off must Mordred and Le Fey be that they were both mistaken for Loki?

However far you think Wanda and Pietro's relationship goes (I'll argue for unrequited love on Pietro's part at the very least) I thought that Pietro's diatribe and some of his anguished expressions really highlighted their co-dependency. House of M makes more and more sense. But seriously can Marvel let poor Wanda catch a break?!

I have a terrible affection for the somewhat overplayed trope of Tony's issues with magic. And now I see it is not just an invention of fanon. How hard does Tony have to cling to Clarke's third law?

I'm going to take Jan's statements about flagons and mutton as evidence that Thor!speak has rubbed off on the team. Or more likely that Jan effects Thor's speech patterns subconsciously as a way to make him feel comfortable.

I don't have adequate words for how essential Jarvis is to this team. So in conclusion: yay Jarvis.

[dansrusse]

I think without Jarvis they would fail to function as people. Also, I love Tony not getting magic! It's so much fun.

I figured Jan was shouting about flagons and mutton because they most accurately described what she wanted Jarvis to bring? I figured they kept a store of Asgardian food or something for Thor, just to keep him happy.

[sparksliner]

I...just have to say this, but Tony's armor is awful.

Mad respect for Perez here, by the way. That shot of all the Avengers in the living room! I'm frequently impressed with Perez's attention to detail in everything he does. Sometimes his two-page spreads make me think I should start looking for Waldo.

Justice bb, it's okay, you'll have your turn in the big leagues soon enough!

Also: rude, Steve and Tony, talking while Thor's making his speech. Team leaders should set a better example!

[elspethdixon]

Sadly, it represents an improvement over the armor he was wearing immediately before this:






I have no idea what the weird metal bunny ears sticking up from his shoulder were for, and I suspect the artist didn't, either. Also the gold cables look like horrifying Liefeldian muscle fibers.

[captainshellhead]

It looks like some sort of weird Blue Beetle knockoff lol

[sparksliner]

Oh geez, is this another part of the "we don't talk about vol 2" agreement?

[elspethdixon]

Weirdly, the volume 2/Heroes Reborn Iron Man was actually comparatively decent when held up against the incoherent writing and eye-searing Liefeld art of the rest of volume 2 (among other things, volume 2 Captain America is where that infamous "Liefeld Cap with pulsating chest muscles" .gif comes from). It's a much better Alternate Universe version of Iron Man than Ultimate Iron Man was, though that's admittedly not saying much.

But since it all took place in an artificially constructed pocket dimension created by Franklin Richards and none of it was actually real, we still don't talk about it. It's like the really badly drawn 90s version of House of M.

1 day late because I forgot my login info

[dansrusse]

Written as I finish reading.

1) I love how Tony's comments are in gears.
2) People know Tony is Iron Man, right?
3) Thor looks so manly!
4) The pages feel much more cluttered than I am used to.
5) The quinjets are totally flying eggs.
6) Justice is a lil' cutie.
7) Gosh, Wanda, the 80's are over. But good job matching your lipstick to everything else you have on. Also, her powers seem to be "whatever the plot demands". OMG I hate her tights. I love Wanda, but I have ISSUES with her outfits. They suck.
8) I love Jan's cleavage.
9) OMG who just announces themselves as MORDRED THE EVIL? That is so BORING, can't he think of anything better? What kind of comeback is "so we all say?"
11) Quicksilver just stripped this dude as a form of torture. WTF, bro.
12) Morgan le Fay is a tacky bitch. She makes Wanda look classy.
13) Iron Man and Cap are boyfriends.

Re: 1 day late because I forgot my login info

[elspethdixon]

Also, her powers seem to be "whatever the plot demands".

Since they're technically a combination of probability manipulation and chaos magic, they kind of literally are whatever the plot demands. Not quite as much as Doctor ex Machina Doctor Strange's are, but close.

"Chaos magic" is Marvel canon's gift to lazy writers.