Read All the Comics!: Avengers, Avengers Annual

12/2/17

Posting of the reviews I wrote before I started the blog has caught up with the writing. Woots.

Missed writing yesterday because our company party went later than I expected. It’s an hour of writing for me tonight. The Top 8 of the World Magic Cup tournament is streaming on Twitch, I’ve got a glass of orange juice, let’s do this.

Avengers 251-254

Vision’s slow burn towards world domination finally comes to fruition. The standard “I know what’s best, so I’ll take over all the nations’ computers and rule over a world of peace” trope. At least we’ve seen the last of Al Milgrom, as Bob Hall pencils these four issues. Which means that we get some nice moments, including this sequence as Vision begins his assimilation all the networks.

Nice colors by Julianna Ferriter as well.

Anti-climactically, after a full year of build up, it takes the rest of the Avengers literally two pages to convince the Vision that maybe this isn’t the best course of action. Two pages. Not that I was eager to see this story dragged out any longer, but come on, Vision! Have the strength of your convictions.

Cap and the others are surprisingly quick to forgive Vision, who with the Scarlet Witch leaves the team in the aftermath.

Other notes:

A cheap joke, but still amusing:

Waiting for the Hercules/Rat Creatures crossover.

I’m flabbergasted at the price of a VHS tape back then. I love Scarlett, but kids are paying 65 cents to buy this comic. 35 bucks might be asking a bit much of them. And their parents.

I totally wanted this when I was seven.

Regret buying? No

Would buy again? No

Would read again? No

Rating: Fine. The upgrade from Milgrom bumps it up a notch.

Avengers 255-261, Avengers Annual 14

Joy of joys, John Buscema takes over to show everyone the full potential of the Marvel Way. Given that Roger Stern remains the writer, the improvement in art has got to be the reason why my enjoyment of these stories immediately increased. Terminus feels far more epic than the usual monster-of-the-month that he ends up being, and I’m positive I would have been bored silly with the Skrull/Nebula arc in the hands of a lesser artist.

Which isn’t to say that Buscema is anywhere near my list of favorite artists. He does a fine job, and I think that it’s his time on Avengers that I fondly remember about Stern’s run. But look at this odd panel layout. I intuitively want to read the lower left panel before the one on the right, but he opts for the clockwise flow instead.