COMICS FOR DUMMIES #6: AVENGERS RESEMBLED!

[Jim Lemoine]

<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/logos/cfdlogo.jpg" align=left border=0 alt="Comics For Dummies logo">By Raul Grau, RJacknite@aol.com

Avengers Resembled!

Earth's Mightiest Heroes were facing their darkest hour. It began with a bang- a diminutive hero was viciously struck down on the steps of the formerly safe haven of Avengers Mansion. A longtime member revealed himself to be under the control of one of their greatest foes. Without warning, one of their own had turned against the still reeling heroes, increasing the carnage and leaving the Wasp in critical condition. All was obviously not well- Tony Stark was acting suspiciously and forgotten heroes were making their return. Youth was on the horizon, but the past would not stop haunting the present, and things would never be the same!

Of course, I could only be speaking of The Crossing, intended to be the single most defining moment in Avengers history. Nine years ago, Marvel promised that this crossover... no, this event, would unify the Avengers line, and shake things up to the point where the team will never be the same again! And it did just that... for about seven months, until the next status quo came along that is. So now here we are in 2004, older, wiser, and in the midst of Avengers Disassembled, a crossover... no, wait, an initiative, that promises to redefine the Avengers line, and shake things up to the point where... well, you get the idea.

For those of you who do not recall (and shame on you for being so young), The Crossing came along at a very unfortunate time for the Mighty Ones. The team had just emerged from their own 'evil twins' saga (and no one could be more malevolent than a Dark Black Knight), when they became ensconced in Captain America's 'final' battle with Red Skull. Membership was remarkably low, especially after the complete resignation of the Wackos. Labeled redundant, Avengers West Coast (the smoggy alternative to the East Coast branch) was proactively folded, and then proactively rebooted as Force Works, a team proactively known for being... oh, what was that 90s buzzword again? Oh yes, they were uninteresting.

Those Avengers who had been touched by the hand of God (or in this case, Marvel editorial), and blessed with their own solo titles, were faring little better. Thunderstrike (known as the Thunder God with an earring) received the double slap of death and cancellation. War Machine (known as Iron Man with a mini-gun) had lost his armor, but rather than attempt to live a normal life, free of the constant threat of death, Rhodey hooked up with an alien symbiote that would make Venom jealous, but he wasn't an Avenger anymore anyway. Captain America had just spent a full year dying (slowly... very slowly... painfully slowly) from a breakdown of his Super Solider Serum, but he wasn't an Avenger anymore anyway. Thor faced off against Warren Ellis and walked away a mere mortal, but he wasn't an Avenger anymore anyway. Iron Man... well, it really doesn't matter, as no one was reading his solo title, and he wasn't an... well, again, you get the idea.

Then The Crossing comes along, with its $4.95 price tag, foil wraparound cover, and promises of real, lasting change... of course we were all suckered in. It had action, intrigue, betrayal, and lots of yummy, yummy carnage. One by one, the biggest names from the Avengers were cut down, sometimes permanently... the second Yellowjacket, the not-so-Eternal Gilgamesh (dubbed 'The Forgotten One'), the second Swordsman, the alien plant creature inhabiting the body of the first Swordsman, that Inhuman woman who babysat for Luna, the teenage version of Luna from a future that may no longer exist, that corporate blonde who hung out with Force Works... like I said, all the big names.

But the real meat in the Crossing submarine sandwich were the shocking revelations. Iron Man, the most trusted member of the Avengers (excusing that long period where he battled his drinking problems), was secretly under the control of Kang the Conqueror, and had been for several years (and now you see why every heroic team needs at least one telepath in its ranks). Mantis, the flighty cosmic valley girl we had hoped to be rid of, was back and looking for synthetic blood. You see, she felt slighted by the Vision, who had (for some unknown reason) chosen the beautiful Scarlet Witch over her awkwardly speaking and really quite pushy self. Sure, she was the Celestial Madonna, destined to couple with a plant guy and give birth to the Celestial Messiah, but she wanted more from her life. So, like any mature woman, she ditched the man (well, plant man) who loved her deeply, hooked up with Kang, a temporal bad boy, and viciously attacked her former friends, out of misguided jealousy.

Kang wanted to turn humanity into his personal puppet army, and Earth into a beachhead for his ongoing war with his most hated (Immortus) and secret (Immortus) foe. To seize the planet, he needed a patsy of great intellect, position, and power... and when Hank Pym proved too unstable, he went with the next best genius (and Black Sabbath's favorite hero), Tony Stark, the Invincible Iron Man. For years, Stark secretly designed ultra-powerful weaponry and doomsday devices to aid in this initiative, all of which proved to be easily breakable in the end. He savagely attacked his teammates, and managed to kill the female Yellowjacket and mortally wound the Wasp, though felling the most ineffectual members tends to make the rest of a group of heroes just a little angrier. Stark also indirectly presented the Avengers with the means to his ultimate defeat, so it has been argued that he had secretly desired to be stopped all along, but I think he was just being really sloppy with his evil workmanship.

You see, the other Avengers realized that the only way to stop a super genius of the caliber of Tony Stark was with another super genius of the caliber of Tony Stark. Rather than ask Reed Richards, a former member who happened to live relatively close by and who I am sure the Avengers have on speed dial, they went with the much more arduous plan of traveling back into the past, and wrecking history entirely by 'borrowing' a younger Tony Stark from an alternate timeline. Little Tony did manage to get the team into Iron Man's Arctic Fortress of Solitude, but had his cardiovascular system ripped asunder by his older counterpart (talk about self-hate). In the end, the elder Stark had his moment of redemption, sacrificing himself Hal Jordan-style to stop Kang, while dying in the process. Teeny Tony was saved (thanks to those Stark-brand chestplates), and nothing was ever the same again!

For a while, that tagline was actually completely true. The Wasp emerged from the event with a new partially insectoid body, slightly new powers, and a sort of new love interest, in the form of her formerly bitterly estranged ex-husband, Hankie Pym. The membership of the Avengers were (in a way) revitalized, with Captain America, Thor, Iron Man (well, Iron Man IX, with Tony Junior in the armor), Hawkeye, Vision, and Scarlet Witch (all former members, of course) joining the ranks. The comic line itself did in fact get more cohesive as well, with Force Works and War Machine both canceled due to sluggish sales. Creatively, the surviving titles did undergo a bit of a renaissance, with the Iron Man series completely refreshed by its younger star, and Mark Waid taking over the writing chores on both The Avengers and Captain America. All was good (well, at least slightly better), and this new era of Avengers history lasted... for a whopping seven months.

The one thing that the Avengers, their editors, and their fans did not... could not have prepared for were those silly X-Men. For those of you who do not recall (and bless you for your innocence), Onslaught (which, it turns out, is what you get when you mix Xavier and Magneto) had a firm grip on New York, and the combined forces of the non-mutant superhero community were forced to sacrifice themselves to stop him. Well, technically, they were not forced to sacrifice themselves, they chose to sacrifice themselves. All they really needed was living matter to absorb their noncorporeal enemy, so they could have used trees, or random bystanders, or their archenemies (and before you scoff at that idea, they did forcibly recruit Doctor Doom into their cause, which is tantamount to murder)... *deep breath*

Anyway, when the deed was done, the Avengers (from Captain America to Lil' Tony) were dead... sort of. It turns out that they were just shunted to an alternate reality created by the uber-powerful Franklin Richards, where they lived in a nightmarish world where Rob Liefeld was their creator and they all had tiny feet. Eventually, the heroes made their way back to their preferred reality, and Franklin even went so far as to make some corrections while they were in transit. Wasp ditched her stylish, orange-tinted form, and Iron Man was neither evil nor a teenager any longer, so all those nasty lingering physical changes were gone. Any physiological aftereffects were also deftly handled, as we soon learned that the whole of The Crossing may in fact have been a massive hoax perpetrated by Immortus. Things were not only the same again!, they were more the same again! than when The Crossing started, with Captain America, Thor, Iron Man (Iron Man I, of course), Hawkeye, Vision, and Scarlet Witch all back on the team and using their old costume designs. Heck, even Mantis is a hero again.

Fast forward to the present, and we find ourselves three months into Avengers Disassembled. Another inheritor to a Hank Pym codename (this time, the second Ant Man) has been killed on the steps of Avengers Mansion by a former member (this time, Jack of Hearts). Vision revealed himself to be under the control of Ultron, and She-Hulk turned against her comrades, critically wounding the ever-vulnerable Wasp. Tony Stark is acting strangely... again, and we already know that youthful counterparts are on the way, but this time for several heroes, not just Iron Man. After all is said and done, the titles that make up the Avengers line will be rebooted... again (the third time, by my count). There is even a $4.99 foil covered (though, sadly, not wraparound) first chapter available.

So is Disassembled just The Crossing, The Sequel? Thankfully not. This one is making room for a true gallery of former members, and not just the easily killable ones. This time around we will actually see a profound membership change, as the New Avengers appear to be as 'new' as their name implies. On the creative side, while Bob Harras may have been a talented editor (and I'm sure that statement will garner debate), Brian Michael Bendis is clearly the victor in the dialogue department. Other high-profile writers are also involved, including Robert Kirkman and Mark Waid presently, and Ed Brubaker and Warren Ellis forthcoming (trumping a double dose of Mark Waid, I would think). Plus, whereas The Crossing was a 22 issue interlocking crossover (boo!), Disassembled is a 26 issue event (boo!), consisting of independent arcs, which need not all be purchased to be enjoyed (yay!).

Disassembled has been stronger out of the gates, but will this turn out to be another seven month sprint of change, or a true marathon? Well, that I can't answer. Bendis says that he has long-term plans for the title, and hopefully there are no Onslaughts lurking around the corner. Maybe Marvel learned a lesson from The Crossing, and is giving us a shakeup that actually shakes some things up. Only time, and sales charts, will tell. If nothing else, Marvel seems to be leaving out the time travel this time around. The only sure way to lose an audience is to devote whole chapters to making their collective heads hurt.

<center><hr width=75%></center>

Raul Grau managed to write an entire article on The Crossing without ever mentioning that the sometimes nonexistent children of Scarlet Witch and Vision were among the forces of Kang. He feels that certain plot twists are just too silly to ever bring up.

<center><hr width=75%></center>

The opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer, and are not reflective of ComiX-Fan or its other staff in general.

[Kevin Sutton]

Well done.

Avengers West Coast (the smoggy alternative to the East Coast branch) was proactively folded, and then proactively rebooted as Force Works, a team proactively known for being... oh, what was that 90s buzzword again? Oh yes, they were uninteresting.

Hilarious.

[Matt Lazorwitz]

Bravo. God, I thought the Crosing was forgotten, or maybe I hoped it was. The Cap in armor thing was truly that characters low point, and... wow. Just so traumatic a period. But I am enjoying what parts of Disassembeled I'm reading.

[Dylan McKay]

You're getting to good at these.

I really do wonder why fans keep buying into the hype. By just trying one issue you keep encouraging them...

[STYLUSS]

I believe that Marvel still sells their main titles because it shows your favorite heroes on the cover whith some poses most people wouldn't get caught doing and some stories that are just so the comic still comes out every month. Marvel should think what they put out isn't interesting for the long fans but it interests the guys who buy comics because of great covers and cause when they flip the pages "it's got action n a great cliffhanger". When we have some stories that are just so beautiful like Y or Planetary and Marvel doesn't learn that most people besides buying books like Avengers or F4 they buy original concept stories.

[Wolverine]

Originally Posted by DarkKnight1013

The Cap in armor thing was truly that characters low point

I reckon Cap-wolf was up there with armoured cap in terms of terrible ideas

[sto110]

Originally Posted by Wolverine

I reckon Cap-wolf was up there with armoured cap in terms of terrible ideas

awww cmon capwolf was cool. hahaha (JK)

[Ann Nichols]

I'm old enough to remember the Crossing, but (thankfully), it ran while I was mostly avoiding American comics. Well, I wasn't going to come back to the Avengers until the Vision and the Scarlet Witch were reunited (nothing like friends who still collect to keep you up with unpleasant happenings). Now that the Vision is dead and I have seen a list of the new membership roster , I definitely see no reason to come back.

[Brandon Yates]

The good thing about Avengers West Coast being cancelled was the final issue, which still holds up as a great character-conflict issue. I recommend everyone buy that back issue. Excellent stuff.

[Zacek]

I have to strongly disagree with Brandon: The last issue of Avengers West Coast was perhaps the worst. Most Avengers, if not all, were completely off-character, specially the Scarlet Witch. The conflict seemed forced, and at moments, completely irrational.

Instead, I highly recommend the first issues of the series, when Englehart was the writer. Issues 1-24 are particularly good. Nice character progression and realistic tension.

[Jonny Demonic]

I knew I had read this some time ago...but I just couldn't put my finger on it....Hmmmm...

Now, if Kang comes out at the end of this and yells "Surprise!", I'll stick to X-Books and 4 only.

[raul grau]

Thank you, guys. For the record, I enjoyed the Crossing (sure it was long and convoluted, but it was still interesting), though I absolutely hated what followed it. If Disassembled can avoid being another case of 'the perception of change, but no actual change', then I might stick around with the A-books. Assuming, of course, that I like the actual changes.

Originally Posted by Wolverine

I reckon Cap-wolf was up there with armoured cap in terms of terrible ideas

The all-time worst would have to be the 2-issue stint where Cap was almost turned into a woman. I loved Gruenwald's work, but sometimes I doubted his sanity.

Originally Posted by Brandon Yates

The good thing about Avengers West Coast being cancelled was the final issue, which still holds up as a great character-conflict issue.

Originally Posted by Zacek

The last issue of Avengers West Coast was perhaps the worst. Most Avengers, if not all, were completely off-character, specially the Scarlet Witch. The conflict seemed forced, and at moments, completely irrational.

I agree with... both of you.

AWC #102 was a great read, and a wonderful showcase of the kind of subtle action that can exist without 5-page fight scenes. However, it was also a case of a new writer handling a dozen characters for the first time, so, yes, everyone received a slight personality alteration, in order to fall into the roles that he needed. So, good book, not good Avengers book.

For a great AWC storyline, I would have to recommend the frighteningly bizarre Immortus arc, written by the master of convoluted revamps, John Byrne. Despite the inane parts, it was still a fun read, and he did get a good handle on the often-ignored stepchildren of the Avengers family.

- Raul

[James Groves]

Great Column!

Cant really remember the crossing though,i think it was just before i got into comics.

From the sounds of it though, i really hope Avengers Disassembled isnt going the same way.

[Chris Day]

interresting, but i doubt i will be getting either new avengers of young avengers after avengers and thor end.

I'm sure i will be much happier with thunderbolts instead.

[KenB3]

Wow, while I remember some of that (I am the only one who admits to being a Thunderstrike fan, I think) I had no idea it so closely paralleled what is going on right now. I wonder if this revamp will end up the same way.

I'm pretty disappointed with the Avengers so far. I read 500 and it started with the characters standing around and talking. They kill three characters, and in the next issue . . . they stand around talking. It's like the major attack was some chore Bendis had to get out of the way so he could get back to his dialogue. The characters were just killed with no emotional impact at all, just for the sake of doing it. Plus the two renumberings in 4 months is just cheap as hell. Might as well break out some chrome to put on the cover while they're at it.

[Dylan McKay]

They already have chromed the cover of the directors cut...

[M-Angel]

You made me glad I was too young for The Crossing.
I'm relatively new to the avengers (4 years) and aside from the infamy in Chuck Austen´s stories, I've loved everything.
And I'm loving dissasembled and i will purchase New Avengers, Young Avengers I'm not sure but New Avengers is a must

[screamer]

Oh boy... I remember the crossing... and how it and the onslaught saga turned my bank account to null ( I was still in junior high at the time .. holy crap that was alot of money back then) and that eventually turned me off of american comics (and onto other forms of graphic novels). I just recently started collecting comics again. Now that I can afford buying all the crossover titles, it's not so bad... until I realize I just got back from the comic shop and bought over 20 comics :greed:. Damn you bendis DAMN YOU! :aargh:

[Dylan McKay]

I have no problem buying 20 comics if there all good. When my shop had a sale recently, I was really tempted to just buy 20 back issues of the Question.

[screamer]

Originally Posted by Dylan McKay

I have no problem buying 20 comics if there all good. When my shop had a sale recently, I was really tempted to just buy 20 back issues of the Question.

I have no problem buying that many too (considering I do) and I enjoy reading a ton of different stuff. It's just that I'm the kinda guy that has to know everything that is happening (this will be my downfall one day)... it's sometimes hard to keep up with crossovers and the many stories within the big plot and keep my sanity at the end of it.


I actually bought about 15 back issues of xmen a few days ago... Im gonna catch up one of these days

[raul grau]

You should have bought those, Dylan. Question had a great run, and I'm sure you would have gotten a good price.

I don't know what precisely to think of the New Avengers and Young Avengers yet... perhaps because the two series have yet to be released, and all we have to go on are rumors and convention buzz. That does male it a bit difficult to construct an informed opinion, I would think.

However, I am looking forward to Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes. Joe Casey writing the original assemblage of the Avengers sounds like a sure bet for me.

Originally Posted by KenB3

I'm pretty disappointed with the Avengers so far. I read 500 and it started with the characters standing around and talking. They kill three characters, and in the next issue . . . they stand around talking. It's like the major attack was some chore Bendis had to get out of the way so he could get back to his dialogue. The characters were just killed with no emotional impact at all, just for the sake of doing it.

No emotional impact? It was the emotional impact that drove She-Hulk to rampage. It was the emotional impact that almost brought Hank and Tony to blows. Just because the characters are not lying prostrate, rending their garments, and gnashing their teeth, does not mean that nothing important is going on.

- Raul

[Douglas Cuckler]

Originally Posted by Jim Lemoine

Raul Grau managed to write an entire article on The Crossing without ever mentioning that the sometimes nonexistent children of Scarlet Witch and Vision were among the forces of Kang. He feels that certain plot twists are just too silly to ever bring up.

Great artilce Raul. Informative recap on situations I try to block out. Thanks for the chuckles.

[Dylan McKay]

Originally Posted by jcknite

You should have bought those, Dylan. Question had a great run, and I'm sure you would have gotten a good price.

Oh, I agree, The Question is one of my favourite characters and Denny O'Neil's run is a classic. I just got 2 though, a few other issues I grabbed just because I like diversity and had some holes to fill. Plus, i diverted some of the money to not wait any longer to get Tales From the Bully Pulpet.

[bwilliams]

"It turns out that they were just shunted to an alternate reality created by the uber-powerful Franklin Richards, where they lived in a nightmarish world where Rob Liefeld was their creator and they all had tiny feet."

That was pretty funny. This was a particularly bad time for comic books

[X-Treme]

I'm hardly an Avengers fan. I vaguely remember the Crossing, but I had nothing to do with it.

But for everyone here who's disappointed with these silly "revamps" that last all of 7 mos. before another "revamp" brings it back to normal, now you know what it's like being an X-Men fan. For you Avengers fans, it's been since Onslaught, for what little I know of those guys, since there was a major shakeup, but they're fairly regular with the X-Men. See what happens is that some creators are there, then there's a revamp and they switch X-books, then they move back to other X-books, and the cycle of fan-Xcitement continues like so. And all those people in the "Xavier's Institute" forum, me being the ONLY exception, is buying into the X-Men: Reloaded BS.

So trust me. I feel for you guys.


I actually bought about 15 back issues of xmen a few days ago... Im gonna catch up one of these days
Did you find it worth it? Since the double threat of Chuck Austen and Claremont arrived(or just moved around, however you want to look at it), and even a little before that, there's been no quality storytelling. I realize I've been wasting my money. It's hard being a completist.

Oh boy... I remember the crossing... and how it and the onslaught saga turned my bank account to null ( I was still in junior high at the time .. holy crap that was alot of money back then)

Yeah, I was in 4th grade during the Onslaught thing. I was in debt to my father for quite a while.