As of today.. the new number one's of Fantastic Four, Captain America, Iron Ma,
and Avengers has come out.. MOST are written and drawn by GREAT creative
teams.. the main exception being Lobdell on FF..  Iron Man and Avengers both
being written by Kurt Busiek as labors of love..  I beg of all you
Marvel-haters.. pick up Avengers #1.. andread it.. please.. this ends my plea

12 responses total.

woo-hoo!! as of Fantastic Four #5 or 6.. Lobdell is gone!!
taking his place.....

Chris Claremont!!

(_Avengers_ #1 is going to be the first Marvel comic I've picked up in
a _LONG_ time [since the quasi-Savage Dragon appearance written by
Steve Gerber in _Marvel Team-Up_]. from what I understand, both Busiek
_and_ George Perez [the ultimate Avengers artists, IMO] are very excited
about bringing _Avengers_ back to the quality book it SHOULD be. I've even
managed to squelch my fear that Busiek and Perez will leave within twelve
issues and that some flavor-of-the-month hot-shot thin-talented creative
team will takeover and ruin it in the new Mighty Marvel Manner.)

[sidebar: I'm reminded of an old Marvel fan who was disappointed in the
drop of quality and continuity of the line over the years and suggested
that we should pretend that Marvel stopped publishing comics right around
the time of the Secret Wars, {i.e., when the heroes were whisked away to
Beyonderworld, they never came back} and simply remember the heroes as
they were, because the stories that were never went away and did not need 
to be forgotten or revised to fit the quasi-continuity that has developed.
I might enter an item to discuss the pros and cons of such revisionist
thinking.]

Kurt Busiek is on the Avengers Mailing List I'm on..
this is one of the three books he's always wanted to write.. (Avengers)
the other two?  Iron Man and Green Lantern.. so if he gets GL...
BUY THIS BOOK!!!

(I did buy [and read] _Avengers_ #1, and I actually enjoyed it. I'm
hesitant to call it an instant classic, but I'll definitely buy #2.
it's certainly an entertaining and nostalgic read.)

Woo-hoo!!

(...and speaking of the revival of once-great supergroups, has anyone 
else been following the new JLA series over at DC? one of the big 
selling points for it is that every major DC superhero is a member this 
time around, just like back in the old days, when it was the typical 
12-year-old kid's wet dream. I actually have mixed feelings about the 
series; the art is really distracting at times, and the story isn't 
always clearly laid out. check out the pages in this month's issue [14?] 
where the Joker blows a hole in the Luthor's alien. [note to aspiring 
writers and artists: plot isn't the only place to look for continuity 
gaffes; sometimes it can happen in the space of a panel.] however, there 
are some very nice touches, namely Grant Morrison's characterization of 
the individual heroes, and his portrayal of their interactions. I did 
pick up the first story arc, and I've also picked up the most recent 
story arc, "Rock of Ages." after the next issue, when the line-up 
changes to 14 [!] members, I'll go back to picking it up on an issue by 
issue basis.)

(...but I am wondering what other people think of the series. [hint, 
hint.])

some Marvel News:

Peter David is off Hulk with #467 (I'm almost positive on this..

Event Comics Creative teams will be doing 4 Marvel Books.. all in-continuity
this time.. the books are: Punisher, Inhumans, Daredevil, and Dr.Strange(?)
this is all by memory so it might have errors.. 

Kevin Smith of Clerks, Mallrats, and Chasing Amy fame.. will possibly be
writing  Daredevil and DC's Green Arrow soon. watch for Jay & Silent Bob ;)

It was Black Panther not Dr.Strange.

(I was pacified by the latest JLA story arc. I'm not wound up over
some of the characters they added. I must say that I *do* prefer the
art team from the Prometheus one-shot and JLA #17 (Jorgenson and
someone) over the regular art team.)

(the Avengers story arc, I'm fascinated by. I've added it to my
regular pull-list. Perez's art is simply fascinating, and Busiek's
writing manages to incorporate many of the things I used to love
about Marvel comics, as well as giving nearly every character something
to do instead of filling in as background noise.)

yup, the new Avengers books is probably the best comic i'm reading..
although the books i'm reading is a small list..
I agree.. Perez is doing wonders with all the detail in his art..
Busiek's writing is excellent and his love for the characters is obvious
if you're not reading it.. YOU SHOULD BE!! :P

oh.. and pick up Busiek's Iron Man as well..
as he's finally making Tony/Iron Man interesting again.. and an adult..
"No Teen Tony, No Bug Jan." -- Kurt Busiek on Iron Man and Wasp, said
shortly after the news of his getting the Avengers and Iron Man titles 
about his plans for the books.

(the line-up for the Avengers, at least for now, has finally been 
selected. there were a couple of surprises, at least for me. I would 
have liked to have seen the old camaraderie shared by Wonder Man and the 
Beast from way back when, but I'd already resigned myself to neither of 
them making the current roster. =^) it looks like a classic line-up: a 
balance of founders [Cap, Iron Man, and Thor] along with some of the old 
West Coast team [Hawkeye, Vision, Scarlet Witch], plus Ms. Marvel, who 
now goes by the name of Warbird. there's also two new never-before-been 
Avengers with reservist status. [Busiek promises to work them into the 
team shortly.] this definitely harkens back to the classic days circa 
issue #200, which would have been just before I started reading the 
Avengers; my first issue was #211, which was also a new roster issue, 
and a classic, IMO.)

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