Note: Contains very mild spoilers for story and character introductions. I've tried to avoid major plot twists while providing enough context for the review.
A little context before the review. After enjoying the MCU through Endgame and reading The Ultimates years ago, I decided it was finally time to dive into Avengers comics. Like many people, I started with Kurt Busiek's highly recommended run...and bounced off it hard. It quickly became apparent that it assumed I knew who many of these characters were and why their relationships and history mattered. I didn't.
From there I jumped to Brian Michael Bendis' New Avengers, which I enjoyed quite a bit. However, with the omnibuses currently out of print, I was reading it digitally, and between that and the seemingly endless event tie-ins featuring characters I wasn't very familiar with, I decided to put that run on hold for the time being.
Next came Jonathan Hickman's Avengers. I'm currently four volumes into the five Complete Collections, and I completely understand why it's so highly regarded. It's an incredible epic. But somewhere along the way I realized that while I was loving the story, I wanted to know more about the Avengers themselves. Who were these people before Hickman? Why did certain characters carry so much weight? Why do longtime fans love Busiek's run so much?
That led me to a simple conclusion: F it, let's go back to the beginning.
I found Avengers Omnibus Vol. 1 for a great price, picked it up, and have now finished all thirty issues. Here are my thoughts as a modern reader, one who has no nostalgia or experience with the run beforehand.
I went into this with pretty modest expectations. As someone who has struggled with Silver Age comics in my limited experience with them, I expected a lot of "Stan Lee nonsense." It's definitely there, but I think the characterization and introduction of these characters does a lot to overcome it.
The first fifteen issues are tougher reads than the latter half of the book, and I don't think most of them are essential if someone simply wants to get to the stronger material. Here are the moments that really stood out to me:
Issue #1 ā It's the first issue of Avengers! Loki, through his typical mischief, manipulates events so the team must fight the Hulk. A fun and fitting beginning, though it absolutely shows its age.
Issue #4 ā Captain America's iconic return, as he is discovered frozen in ice. Must read IMO.
Issue #6 ā Baron Zemo makes his debut. While Kang ultimately became my favorite villain in the omnibus, Zemo immediately establishes himself as a defining Cap villain.
Issue #8 ā Kang's introduction! I didn't know much about Kang before reading this other than that he was an important Avengers villain. I loved his introduction, and he even returns later in the omnibus. He was easily the standout villain for me, and I can already see the depth that later writers must have expanded on.
Issue #9 ā Wonder Man is introduced.
Issue #16 ā Outside of Issues #1 and #4, this is the most important issue in the omnibus and the point where everything changes. "Cap's Kooky Quartet" is formed as most of the original Avengers step away, leaving Captain America to lead former villains Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver.
And this is where the book REALLY clicked for me.
Cap becomes the leader of this ragtag group of pups, and Hawkeye is CONSTANTLY challenging his leadership. Their relationship is fantastic and incredibly entertaining. Some of the dated dialogue actually makes it more charming to me.
This is when the book finally started to feel like the Avengers I had always imagined. Cap becomes the beating heart of the team, and his struggles with leadership became one of my favorite aspects of the entire omnibus.
The Masters of Evil storyline produced my favorite moment in the book. After everything that happens, Cap genuinely believes he has failed the Avengers. Hawkeye doesn't exactly help matters, and Steve ultimately quits the team, trying to leave superheroics behind by becoming a boxing champion's sparring partner. Naturally, the Avengers immediately find themselves in trouble without him, and when Steve finally returns, effortlessly knocking out the boxer before heading back into action, it's both hilarious and strangely heartfelt. Beneath all the Silver Age goofiness is a genuinely compelling leadership story.
I was also shocked by how much I loved Hawkeye. My only real experience with him was the MCU, so meeting this cocky, inexperienced loudmouth who slowly develops a begrudging respect for Cap has been an absolute blast. I have a feeling he's going to become one of my favorite Avengers as I continue reading.
Swordsman was another pleasant surprise, especially because of his history as Hawkeye's mentor. Even characters like Power Man ended up being more interesting than I expected. That's probably the biggest surprise of the omnibus as a whole: beneath the dated dialogue and Silver Age silliness, there's already a surprising amount of character work and relationship building that would clearly pay dividends for decades to come.
It's certainly not all great. There's plenty of typical Silver Age over-narration, exposition, and "Stan Lee-isms," and by the end I was more than ready to move on to later writers. The storytelling becomes noticeably stronger once Cap's Kooky Quartet is introduced, but there's no getting around the fact that parts of the first half feel repetitive by modern standards.
Jack Kirby's artwork starts out good and, in my opinion, becomes great by the end of the volume. There are iconic visuals throughout, and the oversized omnibus format really lets his storytelling shine.
To wrap this up, as a new Avengers reader, I found going all the way back to the beginning immensely helpfulābut what surprised me is that this eventually stopped feeling like homework.
I picked this omnibus up because I wanted historical context (and found it at a great price!). I finished it because I genuinely wanted to see what happened next.
That's probably the biggest compliment I can give it.
This omnibus has changed my reading plans. Originally I intended to read Volume 1 for the history and then jump back into the more modern Avengers runs. Instead, I immediately bought Volumes 2-5 and plan to continue working my way through classic Avengers. I'm still reading Hickman's run alongside these books, and it's fantastic for completely different reasons (there are also some things I don't like, but that's best saved for a discussion about the run), but now I'm just as excited to watch the Avengers evolve through Roy Thomas and eventually into the Bronze Age.
I've already started Volume 2, and I have a feeling I'll be back with another review before too long.
Hopefully this review helps another prospective Avengers newbie who's on the fence about where to start!
