I Didn't Plan on Buying The Avengers #1 But I Had To And Now I'm Glad I Did

As you may have figured out, I'm primarily an X-Men guy. On the DC side I read Batman and Wonder Woman, but most of the Marvel titles on my pull list are X-Men related. I don't think I've bought an Avengers book since Remender was writing Uncanny Avengers. Having said that, I always get hooked by great cover art. So today as I was picking up my books from Twilite Zone Comics, I see this book out of the corner of my eye and it starts screaming, "Buy me!"

The reasons are pretty clear just from the cover.

1. It's obviously an Alex Ross cover and it doesn't get much better.  If Alex Ross wanted to make millions, he should turn his art into wallpaper so that comic book nerds could paste it all over their houses.

2. Mark Waid is writing it. His Fantastic Four run is considered one of the best ever and his writing on Daredevil won him both an Eisner and a Harvey. Need I say more?

3. Mike del Mundo art. I can't explain how much I love this guy's artwork. His cover art for the 2013 X-Men Legacy series is mind boggling (it also won him an Eisner).  If I had a spare wall for artwork (my wife only allows me to decorate my office), I'd frame every cover of that series and put it in a grid from floor to ceiling.

4. Spider-Man: okay. Captain America: it's Avengers, right. Wasp: sure. Thor: fine. Vision: that's cool. HOLY SHIT! Is that Hercules back in the Avengers!?  I couldn't be more happy.  Hercules needs this. He can be such a great character.  Dan Abnett just gave us six wonderful issues making him more than just a drunken oaf with big muscles. I hope Waid makes him a contributor instead of just the muscle.

If those weren't enough reasons, after reading it I can tell you that this initial issue has a great hook involving Kang the Conqueror. Waid does a great job of mixing the formation of the new team (though we still don't know how Civil War II ends) and the introduction of the story thread for the first arc. The pacing is perfect. Maybe that's Waid's script or del Mundo's layouts but it works seamlessly.

Mike del Mundo's artwork is amazing as usual. Based on this book, I'm not sure anyone else should be allowed to draw and color someone changing size unless they've taken lessons from del Mundo.

See what I mean?  Here's another.

The only unfortunate is that this issue was $4.99 though it is oversized. 34 pages I think. I'm assuming the price is because of the #1. At $3.99 for future issues, this series just got added to my pull list.

Marvel Hires Writer for a Black Panther Movie

 I was quite giddy when I read this.  Marvel has hired a screenwriter to come up with a draft for a Black Panther movie.  It appears that most of Mark Bailey's  work has been on documentaries so it's tough to say whether this is a good or bad choice.  Regardless, I have a feeling that this means we may see a cameo of T'challa in Joss Whedon's Avengers movie.  Here's The Hollywood Reporter's story:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/blogs/heat-vision/black-panther-development-marvel-74005

Widowmaker #1

I picked up this book primarily because I like Black Widow. Hopefully someone will follow my brilliant idea and cast Anna Chapman in the Avengers movie instead Scarlet Johanssen. Anyway, it was a difficult book to get into since I haven't been reading Avengers books. Lots of ref's to what I assume are the past few years of Avengers. If you've been reading all that, you might find this book enjoyable. Though I will warn you that the Soviet Super Soldiers or whatever they're called now show up towards the end. I always thought they were really lame.

What Pip Bought and Was It Worth It 12-3-10

Generation Hope #2 - Worth it. I like this book that spun out of the "Five Lights" story in Uncanny X-men. Newly mutated mutants discovering their powers. Some of them headstrong, others hesitant. Though like all X-books there's absolutely no continuity. Here Wolverine is in Tokyo while in Uncanny he's in Utopia, in X-force he's on the moon, and in X-men vol 3 he's just finished being a vampire. Can we go back to three or four X-books please?
Wolverine: The Best There Is #1 - Speaking of Wolverine, I was quite disappointed in this book. Sure it's the bloody and gross bordering on a horror title Wolvie fans have always wanted, but why are we bleeping characters especially when there is a Parental Advisory on the cover. To top it off Wolverine is dancing in a night club. Worth it for the 1st issue but won’t be buying #2.
Heroes for Hire #1 – Definitely worth it. Artwork is amazing. I’m hoping that this will be the basis for one of the rumored shows that Marvel has in development. It’s also nice that fans of characters who don’t sell as well as the big names now have a book to call home other than some Avengers book. I quit reading the Avengers titles because it seems these days everyone is an Avenger.
Batman 80 Page Giant – I bought this based on the recommendation of InvestComics for the collector aspect. To be honest I’ve only gotten a chance to reader the first Joker story but it was wickedly cool. Worth it.