Why do you love the Avengers?

[woodside]

Obviously, what brings us to this board day after day is our mutual love of the "Avengers." Whether it be classic Silver Age, the rockin' Bronze Age, the crazy 80s and 90s, or the controversal era of today . . . we all love the Avengers!

SO! My question is why do you love the Avengers? What makes them tick? What story hooked you? What made you continue to pick up the books?

I'm thinking we'll try and keep this thread nice and positive, focusing on the aspects we love of the title rather than the aspects we hate.


For me, when I was first starting to get hard-core into comics in the 90s, I always saw the Avengers being at the core of Marvel Universe. Seeing as how I more of an outcast because of my nerdiness, I leaned more towards X-Men.

But then there was "Onslaught." Seeing the Avengers battle the Sentinels in X-Men # 55 and watching as Thor smashed through Onslaught in Uncanny X-Men # 336 to rescue Professor X were both absolutely awesome. Then, watching these titanic heroes sacriface themselves alongside the Fantastic Four was very momentous for me.

Their glorious return in '98 kept me addicted. With those first four epic issues by Busiek and Perez, I was hooked for good. These were huge iconic characters who were also flawed and human. They fought in a massive battles, yet had personal problems.

These days, I'm interested because the Avengers really are at the heart of the Marvel Universe. Even during the 90s, when I believed the Avengers to be where the attention was going, the attention was really on the X-Men. Now, it's switched. The saga of the Marvel Universe unfolds in the Avengers titles now -- a narrative linking Secret War, Disassembled, House of M, Civil War, Intiative, Secret Invasion, and now Dark Riegn.

So what about you?

[Dr. Hank Pym]

+1 for the excellent question, which I will try to find some time to answer in a day or two!!

[starfoxxx]

I believe one underyling "motif" in what interests me is the variety and interchangability that the Avengers represent. At a very young age, I was captivated by a well-illustrated classic-style book of the Greek gods, and I remember I really was interested in how each god/hero/etc. represented a different element/power/motif. Same with Star Wars, I wanted to line up ALL my action figures, the different shapes/sizes/ and COLORS blew my mind. So when I started reading comic books, I was most intersted in the books with ALL the heroes, and the Avengers in the early 80's had the most colorful crew. Like the Greek gods and Star Wars creatures, they all had histories and backgrounds that I took upon to uncover, and have been ever since. (The X-men, the JLA, the Defenders, the Teen Titans, the Doom Patrol, etc, etc etc, but the Avengers just were the best, IMO).

And I was hooked on my first issue #240, with Spider-Woman, Dr Strange (how cool, they're just "friends" of the Avengers?), Wasp (wait....she wears a different costume every coupla issues?), She-Hulk, Tigra, Starfox, hey where's Captain America and Iron Man? This issue piqued my interest in what the heck was going on in the Marvel Universe, and I picked up every next issue until #343, and also filled in from #211, while snatching G/VG back issues like #8,10,12,13,25,33,38,56,143,151,167,181 ----for $2 or $3 bucks each, in some "Comic Book Guys'" basement comic shop. ahh, memories of my Mom trying to get me to leave that shop, while I examined EVERY plastic-wrapped cover in EVERY long box.

I still like lining up all my loose Avengers figures, for the ultimate roster, like a human version of the Collector.

And I've always loved a great cover (and still buy some comics just for the cover) and the Avengers always delivered there (Avengers #200 is one of my all-time favorite images, period).

[spiderwasp]

I certainly remember the Dr. Strange/ Spiderwoman story as well Starfoxx, but I'm afraid I have to date myself a bit more than that for my first Avengers experience.

For me, it all started with Zodiac. It was team versus team in what is still one of my favorite stories, though I'm well aware that it greatly due to nostalagia. I think I especially connected to the story because I am a Gemini as were both my parents and my grandmother. Since the Zodiac planned to kill all the Geminis in NY, that really struck a chord with me and probably made me root for the Avengers to save the day even more strongly. I was hooked.

Within the next couple of years came some of my fondest comic book memories - Nuklo and the Whizzer's connection to the Scarlet Witch, the wedding of Quicksilver and Crystal (Even though I wasn't too familiar with them, I loved how the Avengers, the FF, and the Inhumans all came together for the wedding just like real people do when someone they know gets married) and the whole origin of the Vision story. These characters had depth and personality that was far greater than I was expecting. There was so much more here than just whomping on a bad guy.

As the years went by, I stayed hooked. Oddly, it wasn't the big three that kept me hooked. I liked Cap and Thor but could always have lived without Ironman. But it was the interwoven, complicated lives of Vision, Scarlet Witch, Wasp, Yellowjacket, Hawkeye, Quicksilver, and more that really kept me enthralled. I loved that new members came in but only replaced the old ones in the official line-up. Previous member might pop back up at any time because "Once An Avenger, Always An Avenger" and even though members of the team had problems with each other from time to time, they always had each other's back when the time came.

I think we all had fantasies as well about what it would be like to be a superhero. In the MU, the Avengers was where you'd want to be if you were. They were a goal that a superhero could strive to. The FF were all created together and were basically a family - even if you got in, it would only be as a temporary replacement. The Inhumans were completely family. To be a member of the X-Men, you had to be a mutant. The Defenders weren't really an official team. But the Avengers - that was the cream of the crop. All you had to do was be one of the best - no other criteria needed. But you had to really be a hero. There was no room for ambivilance on that. The Avengers stood for something and they were clearly the good guys. Fights among each other were secondary squabbles. The real fighting was always as a united front against the forces of evil.

This was longer than I intended for it to be, but I've been a fan for an awful long time and there's a lot I love about our merry Assemblers. I still long for the return of all the elements I've described above and will be first in line with my wallet open when it gets here.

[Dr. Hank Pym]

I became a fan because my Dad, who was a big comic book fan, had a ton of back issues of the Avengers, from what was then ten years ago. I was like seven or so, and was bored on Saturday, so I spent the whole weekend reading old issues, and I got hooked from there!

My Dad had other books, like Daredevil and Fantastic Four, but it was the Avengers that was what really stood out to me. It wasn't a roster of all of the strongest people in the Marvel Universe -- in that for every Thor there was a Swordsman or... well, Hank himself! It was a roster mixed with strong characters (Thor, Hercules, Wonder Man,) smart characters (Hank Pym, Black Panther, Beast,) fun characters (Wasp, Hawkeye, Swordsman,) and COOL characters (Iron Man, Vision, Black Panther again.) To me it was a team, that while strong, had its flaws, which made the team seem more human to me than any other superhero team of the time. And of course, there were lame points in the series, but to me the great stories like the Korvac saga, Kree-Skrull war, the marriage of Hank and Jan and others, were what made me want to keep coming back for more!

That's why, even if the writing is horrific currently, even if the characters personalities make no sense, even if the book is just poor in general, I can never fully dislike the Avengers, and will continue to have a soft spot for the team.

After reading a lot of my Dad's Avenger books, I decided to focus on collecting old comic books in general, as I had noticed that my Dad's older books to me were better than the then recent (mid to late 80's) books. I had a great almost complete run of The Avengers (Had a few of the earlier issues, but they were harder to find so I was missing a lot of the early books,) and had a decent sized collection of the other books. Unfortunately, it was much easier to get a complete run then as compared to now, and I heavily regret selling my old collection six or so years ago. But, I have recently begun collecting once again, because I will always love and have a passionate interest in what to me is one of the things that I will never grow tired of: comic books.

[dlw66]

As I've said elsewhere, my first Avengers comic was a Marvel Triple Action that reprinted Avengers #19. Around that same time I later acquired Avengers #119, 120, and 130. What really drew me in was the relationship aspect between the characters. As I read that reprint of #19, my only other comics experience was a JLA/JSA crossover (can't recall the number) and a couple of funny-animal comics (really can't remember if it was Disney or from the Warner Bros. characters). That Avengers story just grabbed me. The story was not at all like the JLA, although from that point on I loved group books more than solo titles. Cap's leadership in the face of adversity, and Hawkeye's and Quicksilver's pining over that same leadership role was nothing like anything DC would have done. Marvel's characters had a real-worldliness to them that even a 6-year old could grasp and appreciate.

Over the years I grew up with the Avengers, from the Celestial Madonna to the Serpent Crown affair, to the Bride of Ultron and so forth. The team grew and changed, the storylines were interesting... the writers made me love those characters and the concept. Although the rosters changed, the changes seemed to make sense -- new characters never (at least to me) dominated the old -- the Avengers was a book about the whole, and not the parts.

But it's funny, because of the books I've really loved (Avengers, FF, the Legion of Super-Heroes, and Amazing Spider-Man), the Avengers for me has had the most prolonged dry spells. The classic stories (again, for me) fall into the categories of #1-200, 250-300, and certain parts of the Busiek/Perez run. Most of the rest of the title's output I can leave.

[Shiryu]

Good question...

As I mentioned before, I became an Avenger fan in the early 90s, with stories from the Shooter and Stern periods. The reason why I bought the first book however was because I was trying to find out which group Spider-Man belonged to ;D At the time in Italy the Avengers shared the book with Cap (and Alpha Flight), and on the cover there was Captain America fighting Machineman's androids. One of them looked like Spidey, so I thought I had hit the target.
It wasn't the case, but I liked the Avengers' story (the one with Elfqueen, exactly before the infamous issue where Hank hits Jan) and was intrigued by Thor, who at the time didn't have his own book yet in Italy.

I soon had to drop the book, because I was already buying Mickey Mouse weekly and couldn't afford another regular comic, but the Avengers remained in my mind and I eventually went back to them when my income became a bit better. I think the main reasons have been Captain America and Thor (I really can't see the team without them) and generally liking team books. Strangely enough, neither the X-Men nor the FF cought my attention in the same way.

It's also interesting that my very first encounter with Hank Pym was during the lowest time of his life. With such a start, it took me a long while and a lot of reading old books to see him as a hero.

[Tana Nile]

I go back a bit further than most of you - my first exposure to the Avengers was issue 92 (that's volume 1, kids!). I don't recall how I got this issue exactly; my older brother was into comics so of course I was too. While he seemed to prefer Spider-Man and Conan, I gravitated toward the team books, particularly Avengers. Of course, when I started reading them it was during the Kree-Skrull War, so it was a good time to jump in!

I think there are several reasons that Avengers became my favorite book. One was the mix of characters - gods, mutants, androids, anything you could imagine, all together in one book. I liked the interactions between these disparate characters. Early on I was fascinated by the Vision, awed by Thor, and amused by Hawkeye. Like DLW, I was also getting Marvel Triple Action, so I got to see Cap's Kooky Quartet in action too. This provided a real sense of history and a gravitas to the team. As Spiderwasp said, the Avengers were the best, the team any superhero would aspire to join. And they had Cap. Nuff said.

[Wonder Man 2]

I have admit that my first Avengers "fix", actually came from a reprint of when Thor, Captain America, and Ironman were forced to fire Golithe(Clint), Vision, Scarlet Witch, Rick Jones(on the team as Mar-Vell's side-kick), and I beleve Quicksilver, for their bad PR. I was drawn to the fact that a comic had all these powerful characters that weren't absolutly perfect on any level. In fact, it was their human flaws that drew me to them and have continued to keep me hanging on. They are like a normal family, like the X-Men, but so more diverse and intresting. Hopefully we may even witness the return of the greatest team in Marvel history, the West Coast Avengers! But yeah, all in all, it's the fact that they seem like they could be anyone, makes me want to keep on reading.