20th Anniversary Announcements!

[Van Plexico]

Avengers Assemble!!

As this year (2015) is the 20th Anniversary of the AvengersAssemble.net site, I will be adding new content to the site all year long.

I have just updated the main page with that information, or the beginnings of it at least.

1. David Wright, Kell Carpenter and I just recorded a podcast episode of the White Rocket show, discussing the origins of the AA.net site and related matters. Most of the episode, however, we talked about the Avengers themselves-- the characters, the villains, the stories and more. I've put a link to that show on the main page, along with a link to the episode where Jim Yelton and I discussed Marvel Phase Three movies. Earlier episodes may be of interest, also-- I did a couple on Guardians of the Galaxy including a roundtable review show. The entire series can be found on iTunes (search "White Rocket Podcast") or at whiterocket.podbean.com.

2. As many of you know, ASSEMBLED! 3 never came together as a book. Several of you donated terrific articles for it, but as we lost our book designer and then I moved and changed jobs, got married, had a family, began a professional writing and teaching career, etc-- I never was able to edit the book together. Over the last few years I have attempted numerous times to find a new editor and designer to put it all together, but nothing ever panned out. And eventually the material in those wonderful articles became dated, and more dated, and very very dated, and pretty much completely out of date.

To the point that I could no longer in good conscience ask people to pay money for the book, IF it ever even came together.

SO.

I have decided to give the material away to Avengers fans for free!

Beginning this month and for the rest of the year, or until it runs out, I plan to post, unedited, as I originally received them, all the original chapters that would have gone into ASSEMBLED! 3 on the AvengersAssemble.net site, for everyone to read and enjoy.

That includes the chapter written by KURT BUSIEK himself, talking about his experiences writing Avengers.

I will try to remember to post here on the Message Board when I put something new on the main site, but it wouldn't be a bad idea to check in there from time to time and see what's what.

Also, I'd appreciate it if you followed the link through to my Sentinels site, and took a look at the (now massive) Avengers-ish superhero universe I've created in the seven Sentinels novels (number 8 is on the way) and one anthology. You can also see some of Chris Kohler's awesome art for the series.

So, there you go-- a 20th Anniversary celebration begins this month. Let me know what you think.

--Van

[defdave]

Van,

It was a pleasure doing the podcast.
Any time the topic is related to The Avengers, I'm happy to join the conversation.
I'm glad to see new content going up on the site.

Def Dave
Jarvis Head since '99

[humanbelly]

That's always been one of my favorite Black Knight images, there, defdave! Good choice for an avatar.

Van, it's great to have you pop in and give us a booster shot, eh? VERYVERYVERY much looking forward to seeing that AVENGERS 3 material appear for our perusal-- sort of bittersweet, but still much appreciated. It's sort of reminiscent of "The Greatest Film Never Made"-- an abandoned 1937 production of I,CLAUDIUS, starring Charles Laughton-- where one can still enjoy the surviving pieces, and fondly imagine how delightful the finished product might have been. A big ol' issue of "WHAT IF-?" for us to peruse, as it were.

Goodness, a 90-minute podcast! I was able to catch the first 8 or 9 minutes before being whisked off to do something domestic-- definitely will have to be installment-style listening-! What's particularly delightful, of course, is to hear folks' real voices-- and there you guys all are: a collection of Southern Gentlemen, all charming and smooth. *sigh*-- yer probably totally chick-magnets with that, aren'tcha?

HB (always missing the topic bullseye, it seems)

[Doctor Bong Crosby]

Jan 24, 2015 6:33:48 GMT -5 humanbelly said:

That's always been one of my favorite Swordsman images, there, defdave! Good choice for an avatar.

Van, it's great to have you pop in and give us a booster shot, eh? VERYVERYVERY much looking forward to seeing that AVENGERS 3 material appear for our perusal-- sort of bittersweet, but still much appreciated. It's sort of reminiscent of "The Greatest Film Never Made"-- an abandoned 1937 production of I,CLAUDIUS, starring Charles Laughton-- where one can still enjoy the surviving pieces, and fondly imagine how delightful the finished product might have been. A big ol' issue of "WHAT IF-?" for us to peruse, as it were.

Goodness, a 90-minute podcast! I was able to catch the first 8 or 9 minutes before being whisked off to do something domestic-- definitely will have to be installment-style listening-! What's particularly delightful, of course, is to hear folks' real voices-- and there you guys all are: a collection of Southern Gentlemen, all charming and smooth. *sigh*-- yer probably totally chick-magnets with that, aren'tcha?

HB (always missing the topic bullseye, it seems)

... and always confusing your sword wielding avengers, right...? You mean the Black Knight! lol

[humanbelly]

Jan 24, 2015 13:10:54 GMT -5 Doctor Bong Crosby said:

Jan 24, 2015 6:33:48 GMT -5 humanbelly said:

That's always been one of my favorite Swordsman images, there, defdave! Good choice for an avatar.

Van, it's great to have you pop in and give us a booster shot, eh? VERYVERYVERY much looking forward to seeing that AVENGERS 3 material appear for our perusal-- sort of bittersweet, but still much appreciated. It's sort of reminiscent of "The Greatest Film Never Made"-- an abandoned 1937 production of I,CLAUDIUS, starring Charles Laughton-- where one can still enjoy the surviving pieces, and fondly imagine how delightful the finished product might have been. A big ol' issue of "WHAT IF-?" for us to peruse, as it were.

Goodness, a 90-minute podcast! I was able to catch the first 8 or 9 minutes before being whisked off to do something domestic-- definitely will have to be installment-style listening-! What's particularly delightful, of course, is to hear folks' real voices-- and there you guys all are: a collection of Southern Gentlemen, all charming and smooth. *sigh*-- yer probably totally chick-magnets with that, aren'tcha?

HB (always missing the topic bullseye, it seems)

... and always confusing your sword wielding avengers, right...? You mean the Black Knight! lol

OMG-- Thank You, Bong! Yes, I am happily corrected on my slip!
(Hey, you're you again for a bit here-- how nice!)

HB


*There-- I went and fixed it in my original post, at least-! HB

[starfoxxx]

Between the cold weather and a road trip, I got to listen to a few WhiteRocket podcasts from iTunes, concerning the Avengers, Marvel Phase 2 movies, X-men movies, and Marvel cartoons.....episodes, 54, 51, 49, and 45, and they were VERY enjoyable. I have been missing having a comic book podcast to listen to regularly (I download free from iTunes), the last one was called About Heroes (it seems to have vanished from history)
It was a bit more irreverent than WhiteRocket, but some of the hosts were a bit annoying (and too fanboy for my tastes)

WhiteRocket podcast is very interesting, moves along at a nice pace, no lulls, and the hosts are very knowledgeable, and I seemed to agree with most of their tastes ( I imagine they are around 40 like myself). I haven't had much contact with Van, probably since the Assembled books came out, but I like that I identify with most of his opinions, and share a lot of favorites when it comes to comics.

Regarding the Avengers podcast, I have to say some of my favorite Avengers stories have been "new Line-up" issues like #137, 151, 181, 211......as much as I complain about comics without battles, I like when the "old order changeth", especially the Avengers.

I'm partial to an arc early on in my comic book addiction (seems common)....the Eternals/Maelstorm issues @#250....that cover to #250 with both Avengers teams is still one of my favorites.
Also, although it was in Uncanny X-men (#190-191) the Avengers appearance vs Kulan Gath (when they turn "barbarian") is one of my favorites, too.

When it comes to my favorites, outside the Big 3, I would have to go with Hawkeye, Beast, and Hercules.
Van also mentioned Hercules being a favorite.....I'd have to recommend checking out the 80s Hercules mini-series, they're a fun read.

It was only after the Avengers movie that I started considering the Hulk a "real" Avenger, his tenure wasn't long enough for me to take his membership serious (just like the Whizzer and Two-Gun Kid..NOT REAL AVENGERS!)

One facet of Avengers history I'd like to hear more about is Kirby's return to draw the covers for issues circa #151. Really cool covers, IMO.

The discussions of X-movies and Cartoons were great, too. I have to agree with Van, again, I didn't think X-men 3 was bad at all.
And I also think it's strange how DC did a 180 from "softer" comics to "gritty" movies, I don't get it. I agree Batman doesn't fare well on film, I've never been very interested in his movies. And I LOVED "THE WOLVERINE" too.

The young man who was a guest really impressed me with his knowledge and insight..He really seems to "get" what makes the Marvel and DC universe great.....

So I'm excited to have a new podcast to subscribe to....Great Job!

[Van Plexico]

I'm glad you folks have been enjoying the White Rocket show. I've been fortunate enough to be a guest of a number of fine shows over the last few years, and I have tried to take what I learned from those and apply it to mine. Namely, focusing on one main topic, keeping the goofy kidding and laughter to a minimum, and having serious, knowledgeable guests.
In Anniversary news, I posted the first of the articles from ASSEMBLED 3 on the web site today, along with the cover design by Anthony Schiavino. (Compare that cover to the covers of the first two books and you'll see what we were going for!)