Year One Comics

  We are sad, as we examine the last two issues of Kurt Busiek's historic run on the book, one finishing up the Kang War and the other showing the inner workings of the Maria Stark Foundation (Avengers vs accountants!)!

The Kang War ends at last!  The heroes win (no surprise) but is Kang punished for what he has done?  And what is the final fate of the Scarlet Centurion?

This episode we start with a pseudo-Astro City issue, with Kurt Busiek and Brent Anderson teaming up to tell a story together about Wonder Man and the Scarlet Witch!  And then the heroes gather to fight Kang for the final time!

It's the silent issue from Nuff Said month, and then we finally get to move into the pay off for the Triune Understanding storyline!

We start with a Carol Danvers focused issue before jumping back into the Kang War with both feet!

It's a giant issue with four of the most important Avengers writers to this point and bunches of artists, most of them never having touched the team before!!  Oh, and it features Ultron, but not for some time.  

The Kang War kicks into high gear as we see battles being fought on multiple fronts and a surprising ally (or is he?) shows his face.

Its the 2001 annual and this year we're solving the mystery of just what is going on with Hank Pym!  And we've got three Hanks to do it with!  Which Hank will control all at the end?

Its the end of the Alan Davis run (sniff, sniff) as the Kang plot continues with a threat in Russia and another master villain enters the fray!

The Avengers have beaten Diablo, but now they have to face the menace of Kang and the Scarlet Centurion!  Kang wants to take over the world, but only for the best of reasons!  

The Avengers have a big green problem...actually a lot of big green problems when the population of an entire town are turned into Hulks!  Who's behind it?  Whoever it is, Silverclaw fights them alone!

Steve Epting sticks around for one more issue as Kurt Busiek surprises us all in bringing back one of the 90'siest characters to ever 90s, Bloodwraith!  And then the next art team of Alan Davis and Mark Farmer arrive to help usher in a new era for the team!

After what seems like forever, we're back to the main title, with not nearly as many side trips, since the limited series are going to be pretty...limited for the remainder of this Avengers volume.  We start out by checking in on the crew from Avengers: Infinity as they collide with the current Marvel crossover, Maximum Security!  And then former Avengers artist Steve Epting returns to help us move some subplots forward!

Woo hoo!  This week we are interviewing one of my favorite writers....Fabian Nicieza!  We discuss a lot of his early work, which happens to include quite a few Avengers issues, as well as some Thunderbolts and his thoughts on the Avengers in general.  He's a super nice man who was so gracious with his time and we hope you all enjoy the conversation

The end of the miniseries and the end of at least one character in the miniseries! Characters we thought were dead turn out to be alive and other characters who don't die, just fade into oblivion.  Was the ending worth everything that led up to it?

It's random Eternals!  It's the plant Swordsman!  It's the living (?) embodiment of Death!  Face it True Believer: this miniseries has it all!

We're back for more of the Celestial Quest, as things get even weirder and we wonder....is that the real Thanos?

It begins here!  The eight issue Celestial Quest miniseries from epic Avengers scribe Steve Englehart, which surprisingly, features Mantis (who'd thunk it?)!  If you listened to our interview with Tom Brevoort, you already know how we feel about it, but why not find out in detail?

We finish off our discussion with Tim Brevoort, getting more into Volume 3 of the Avengers and all of the miniseries that from early in that run that we've discussed on the show!  As I said last week, Tom Brevoort is a prince of a man, generous with his time and his intimate knowledge of Marvel Comics.  We can't thank him enough and we encourage everyone to check out any title he might be editing, as his instincts are spot on! And check out his writing at The Tom Brevoort Experience – Stuff From the Self-Indulgent World of Tom Brevoort!

If you're a fan of a Marvel comic published in the last few decades that isn't about a mutant, chances are that Tom Brevoort had a hand in it.  He's Marvel's Executive Editor and Senior VP of Publishing and he stewarded the Avengers from Heroes Return to very recently.  We spoke to him for so long that we had to split it into two episodes, and this week we talk about his early time in comics and some of the thinking behind Heroes Return.  Tom Brevoort is also an incredibly knowledgeable person about comics in general and very generous with his time.  We can't thank him enough for his time!  You can read his writing at The Tom Brevoort Experience – Stuff From the Self-Indulgent World of Tom Brevoort and even though he's now working on books with mutants in them, I'd highly recommend trying them out!  His instincts for what makes good comics are exemplary!  

We're finishing up the Avengers: Infinity miniseries this week, where we finally get to meet the Infinites and set this cosmic team of characters on a path to come back to Earth in time for a line wide crossover!  Lucky them!

We start off an Avengers miniseries that features a great cast of Avengers, with fan favorite Roger Stern in the writer's chair!  The cosmic storyline isn't great but the characterization is top notch!

Hokey smokes!  We have a real live professional on the podcast this week, and an incredibly talented one at that!  Alex Segura has written an Avengers story exclusively for Marvel Unlimited and we discuss it, but he has written so much more!  He's written many Marvel and DC characters, plus creator owned and Archie comics!  And then there's all of his novels, including Secret Identity and its newly released sequel, Alter Ego!  He's got Marvel character novels, Star Wars novels and noir detective novels!  You can find out about everything he's doing at Alex Segura | Author,  

We talk about the end of the Nefaria Protocols, the big Avengers/Thunderbolts crossover!  And we are joined by author Jason Lady who helps us talk about these last Avengers issues by George Perez.You can find more information about Jason Lady's books at Jason R. Lady- Author of fantasy and sci-fi for young readers!  

It's the beginning of the Nefaria Protocols storyline, which begins the last storyline of George Perez's run on the title (sniff, sniff) and features so many fun characters!  Besides the Avengers we have the Thunderbolts, Count Nefaria, Madame Masque, the Grim Reaper and some various other fun B villains!    

We start off discussing a Patsy Walker centric annual that has some fun art and a surprise group of villains for a magic centered story.  And the Avengers are kind of in it as well!   And then we look at a special 1.5 issue by Roger Stern and Bruce Timm that tells an untold tale of the original team!

Its three issues by Roger Stern and Mark Bagley that team up two of the most fun Avengers (when they're together), Wonder Man and the Beast!  So this must be a slam dunk, right? Well, maybe not, unless you read and loved Wonder Man's solo series.  

We finish up the good tie in comic to the bad Avengers cartoon, where we see Dr. Doom and Jason's favorite villainous punching bag, the Collector!  

Back in the 1990's, Fox Kids decided to follow up their successful (and good) X-Men and Spider-Man cartoons with an Avengers one.  It was...not as successful.  However, the comic tie in is actually good and we discuss the first half of that series in this episode!

It's the conclusion of the Death Song of Kulan Gath, as Triathlon becomes more fully a part of the team and Silverclaw joins!  Is it in time to stop the end of the world?

We get a new team roster!  Lots of members quit, old members return and a new member is inducted!  And then we start a plotline revolving around a Conan the Barbarian villain and visit Silverclaw's home country (and her origin).  

We finish up the Domination Factor crossover with the Fantastic Four, where mysteries are revealed and time travel is the name of the game!

It's a crossover with the Fantastic Four!  Domination Factor is an eight-issue miniseries involving both teams and we're covering the first four parts of it this week!  And we've got writer/artist Jerry Ordway back for the Avengers issues!

We finish off the big return of the Exemplars, and then we have an issue without the regular team in it, which brings the Triune Understanding back to the forefront of the plot!

This week we see the matters between Wonder Man and the Vision come to the head and then the first part of a follow up to the crossover called The Eighth Day, which introduced the Exemplars!  Don't worry if you don't remember it...it wasn't an Avengers crossover and no one really remembers it.  

Ultron Unlimited wraps up this episode with one of the best panels in comics, and we discuss just how amazing this storyline is!

This week we start what John considers the best storyline of the Busiek/Perez issues, a run filled with a lot of great stuff!  It's Ultron Unlimited, one of the best uses of Ultron ever!  Watch the Avengers fight an Ultron at his most evil and vicious!  

We finish off the Jerry Ordway fill in and then we do a special Wizard issue that serves as a prelude to the next big plotline....Ultron Unlimited!!!

Loving the Kurt Busiek and George Perez issues?  Well, we've got a three issue fill in that we're starting today by writer/artist Jerry Ordway!  These issues guest star the Wrecking Crew, Monica Rambeau and the Black Knight!  It also stars an obscure villain from the 1970's!

We take a look back at what happened while the heroes were "dead' during Heroes Reborn and we learn a lot of secrets.  Characters who have been missing for years turn up and the biggest mystery surrounding Jarvis is finally solved!

We finish our tour of the MC2 universe with the alternate Avengers going to ANOTHER alternate reality to help defeat some familiar alternate foes.  Then we see the team go up against some enemies from around the MC2 universe!

We're moving through the rest of the A Next title, and we're introduced to a new mysterious villain who will be plaguing the team a little later.  We also find out the secret of Mainframe!  And we get an updated Sons of the Serpent, because we can never get away from racists, sadly.  Come join us!

The MC2 Universe continues to throw old characters we know at the Avengers as well as some new ones with connections to ones we know.  A fan of Doctor Doom or Hercules?  Then you're going to want to check out this episode!  (Non fans should check it out too.)

We continue looking at the Avengers of the MC2 Universe, where we get the return of the original Defenders and some new members for our team!

It's time for another side trip outside the regular Avengers series, and this time we're going to a completely different universe!  It's the MC2 Marvel Universe, or the Spider-Girl universe, since the entire thing is centered on her (although we won't be seeing her in this series).  This universe has their own team of Avengers, and even though they call themselves the Avengers, the comic is called A Next!  Come meet the new team and see some old familiar faces as well!

The Beast is back!!!  And the first issue also guest stars famous comic book characters Kurt Busiek and George Perez!  Then we learn more about the Triune Understanding with the return of Triathlon!

We start off this week with a giant size issue featuring the return of Hawkeye and his new pals, the Thunderbolts!  We follow that up with an issue guest starring the New Warriors and one that features a new role for the Scarlet Witch!  

Avengers Forever is over and we're back to more Busiek and Perez goodness!  The mystery of Wonder Man is finally settled, and if you're dealing with Wonder Man, you're likely also dealing with his brother....the Grim Reaper!  Plus count how many of the dead Avengers in this issue are still dead in 2024!  Its not that many.

This is it....Avengers Forever ends here, with more alternate universe Avengers than you can shake a Quinjet at!  See the death of Immortus!  See the rebirth of Immortus!  See the Supreme Intelligence get a pretty jewel!  Everything gets wrapped up with huge fight scenes that Carlos Pacheco poured his heart and soul into!

We're back with more from the 1999 Avengers Forever series!  We have an issue that focuses on (and does some retconning to) Kang's history and then the plot kicks back in as we prepare for the grand finale in the next episode!

The Avengers get captured, escape and are captured again when one of their own turns against them!  In between all that we get a LOT of retconning of plotlines going back decades, but especially plots from the 90s.  Strap in, because this is a big one!