Avengers Forever has, for quite a while, been one of those comic book series which I continuously hear about when it comes to 'titles you should read before you die' type lists going around the internet. Because of this, and because Kurt Busiek's name is attached to it, I added the title to my wish list early last year (or maybe even the year before).
Well, fortunately for me, Avengers Forever became another title to be picked up in the Birthday/Christmas 2018 gift list and so I could finally see if the hype was true.
And so, I finally got to reading it a few weeks ago (posts to go up are still rather backlogged) and I've got to admit, the hype is certainly true, although up to a point.
In case you (like me up until recently) haven't read it, the cliff notes. Rick Jones, long time friend of the Avengers, is in danger. Immortus, the time travelling future self of Kang the Conqueror, means to kill Jones due to the power inside him. However, Kang and the villain Libra from the Zodiac don't want this and, using Jones' power, bring together a time displaced team of Avengers from all across the team's great history in order to thwart Immortus and save the World (as usual).
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| Avengers Forever, where the cover pretty much shows just how packed the story is. Image from Comixology. |
The main trouble I had with AF was that I struggled to keep up with what exactly was going on. I struggled to figure out the reasons for everything going on up until the end of the fourth issue. Had I have been reading this as single I may have even dropped the series at that point. The thing is, after reading the introduction by Busiek, I understood that he and Roger Stern were doing a sort of 'fly by the set of their pants' thing with the story and just winging it and so maybe I'm just spoiled by more detailed planning in comics today. I feel this is confirmed by the art and just how crowded it feels throughout the book, which infers to me that I would never have gotten on with 90's comics in general.
Of course, I've just focused on the negative points and would seem to be saying that I wasn't a fan of this series. However, surprisingly, nothing could be further from the truth. This is because, for reasons I can't really quantify, I absolutely loved Avengers Forever!!! It's really weird to say that because I am struggling to put into words what it is about it that I loved. However, if I could best summarise my feelings, it's that Avengers Forever, feels unashamedly retro.
I think what I love about this is most definitely Carlos Pacheco's art which, despite my earlier admission that it looks crowded, just looks absolutely. I especially enjoyed the characters, particularly Yellowjacket and Songbird whose stance and look (respectively) just look tremendous. Speaking of the characters, I adored the cast brought together for this series, and really liked how they all played off of each other. I also really loved being able to see an aspect of other Avengers era's that I've never had the privilege before. However, what really got me on board with Avengers Forever wasn't the art or the plot or the characters but how, when mixed all together, regardless of whether I thought any one part was good or bad, this series just felt so incredibly epic. It had to have been the most epic story I've ever read.
So, is it as good as what I felt was implied around the net? Maybe not but am I glad that I got a copy (and a print copy at that) to read? Abso-bloody-lutely!! Thinking back I do wonder if how I read it (on the bus to and from work) was an influence on my criticisms towards the series and if a second read through would be worth my time and opinion.
Fortunately, it made enough of an impact on me that I'm more than happy to do that.
However, not just yet. I have some other comics to read first.
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