Hank McCoy: Before the Fur
When I was a kid, the Avengers were really lame. Seriously. I know it’s difficult to believe- right now, there are at least three different excellent Avengers comics (New Avengers, Mighty Avengers, and Ultimates). Suddenly, some of the best writers in the business are scrambling over themselves to crank out Avengers comics. But really, if you read anything in the late 80’s or early 90’s with an Avengers label on it…well, it wasn’t exactly epic story-telling. It was kind of like the
The lineup changed so fast you could barely understand what was happening in the book and the art wasn’t exactly stellar. I mean, it wasn’t without ANY merit- in fact, there were a few cool characters tucked away in there that I really liked (Sersi,
But today, obviously, the Avengers have had a come-back of sorts. And a strong one at that. Somehow, this comic went from one of the worst to the best written anyone had seen in a while. I admit, the new line-up in New Avengers has enticed a lot of readers- it’s been really cool to see Spider-man and Luke Cage step up to the big leagues for a change. Of course, Jessica Drew has stolen the spot-light a bit- Wolverine and Cap on the same team? It was something to watch.
But the thing is, it’s hasn’t just been the switch-up. A lot of older Avengers characters are popular again- Carol Danvers, Black Panther, Hawkeye…I attribute a great deal of this success to Bendis- I swear, that guy could make the Tick a poignant, riveting comic series if he put his mind to it. But if I could point to one thing and say “there, that’s what changed”, I’d really have to tip my hat to Mark Millar’s run on the Ultimates.
Of all the modernized revamps in the ultimate continuity, this one has been really rewarding. Years ago, if you had asked me if there was ever going to be an Avengers movie, I would have assumed that chances were pretty slim. I mean, it was such a bizarre story to tell- even for comic books. It could have degraded into campy-ness so easily. But the fan friendly Ultiamte continuity always has a little bit of that blockbuster Hollywood movie, hour long primetime T.V. show flavor going on. And Millar made Ultimates WORK and for the first time- I could SEE a tangible movie coming together. This incarnation of the Avengers were a lot less super-hero, and a lot more…Tom Clancy government strike-team, kind of thing. They were young, worried about their careers, worried about the press, and in the media spotlight. At the same time, they enforced S.H.I.E.L.D. policy like a military police force. It came together so cleanly, like it was always meant to- even Thor. In fact, I’ve really gotta hand it to this modern day clean-up of a character that flew around saying things like: “Hark! Fowl Villains await our arrival! Methinks a trap awaits!” and so on. I mean, who would believe this character right?
But that’s the thing in Ultimates- they don’t believe him. When Thor starts talking about Asgard and Loki, Cap gets a disgusted look on his face and says “Thor, please!” and storms out of the room. It makes sense- well, more sense than the modern world wholly accepting that the Asgardian realm is just out there, floating in space somewhere.
SPOILER ALERT
You may have noticed Samuel “Colonel Fury”
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