Product Description: Heroes out of time! Through the years, the Avengers have fought myriad villains and monsters, protecting Earth and her inhabitants from harm. No matter the odds, no matter the sacrifice, Earth's Mightiest Heroes have always found a way to reach victory. Now, they face a different kind of menace. A menace so great, it has made allies out of sworn enemies. This seemingly unconqerable enemy is... the future! Seven time-lost Avengers - plucked from the past, present and future - must protect longtime ally Rick Jones from death at the hands of Immortus, Master of Time. To find out why Rick Jones has been targeted for elimination, the Avengers join forces with Kang the Conqueror, one of the team's deadliest, most implacable foes - and the ancient Immortus' younger self, as well - in a cosmic battle that stretches from the Old West to the End of Time. And as they do so, they discover that they're fighting not just for one life, but for the very destiny of mankind, against a greater foe than they could possibly imagine! Collects Avengers Forever #1-12.
SUPERB READ ^ I BOUGHT THIS IN COMIC FORM A FEW YEARS AGO AND FORGET HOW GOOD IT WAS,A GREAT OLD FASHION TYPE MARVEL STORY THATS SADLY MISSING TODAY,BEAUTIFUL ARTWORK FROM PACHECO AND MERINO AND A VERY ENTERTAINING STORY FROM BUSIEK,THIS IS THE AVENGERS I REMEMBER.
Everything I love about comics ^ I recently came across this collection and was instantly intrigued because I remembered Carlos Pacheco's excellent work from the X-Men in the 90s. I'd never read Avengers before, but seen them come and go in different X-Men stories over the years. I had no knowledge of Kang, Immortus, the Supreme Intelligence or the Kree-Skrull War. I was wary because of the other review that mentions it would be good to have a sense of Avengers' history before reading this, but that fear disappeared in a hurry.
The plot gets going fast, and everything is explained and recapped in enough detail along the way that I never felt lost, despite the fact that the story was obviously spanning decades of Avengers history. There were even some great moments of reflection on plotlines leading up to this story that to me were great for learning the history of the Avengers.
The story and plot ideas were great, with good character moments and dialog throughout. I had a hard time putting the book down as I was reading it, and kept wondering what was going to happen next. The artwork was just a pleasure to behold. Carlos Pacheco's storytelling is awesome and perfect for a book like this. This book really epitomized what I love about comics so much -- lots of interesting, diverse characters, an epic threat, and crazy time travel with alternate realities that somehow didn't seem corny at all.
An epic done right! ^ The product description provides the basic outline of this story and the previous review discusses the slight danger of coming to this epic without knowing much about Avengers lore. I didn't read Avengers before buying this maxi-series when it was first released in single issue form, and while some of the story was unfamiliar to me, the lack of understanding about some of the more obscure details the series referenced had the unexpected effect on me, of making me like the story even more. It gave the series a sense of importance and grounded it in a sense of history that made it seem complex, gave it an air of having consequences, and also made me curious to read more Avenger tales. That's a pretty successful series in its own right.
But over and above all of that, Avengers Forever is just one of the most fun, fantastic, well plotted, cosmic, and pretty cool comics twelve parters out there. It's satisfying read on many, many levels, and frankly, only comics can entertain in this way. Without going into more detail, I like this series so much that, I own the single issues, the trade paperback, and now this hardcover. I like it that much. I can't give a better recommendation than that.
Finally though, and this is really my reason for writing the review, since the previous review doesn't specifically mention it, the art in this volume by Carlos Pacheco and Jesus Merino is absolutely wonderful! Unlike many comic epics, with multiple artists, all twelve issues of Avengers Forever are drawn by Carlos Pacheco and are therefore stunning. Pacheco's figure work and storytelling are dynamic and unmatched in the industry, and the level of detail included on the pages here is often breathtaking. Waiting for the single issues to be released was sometimes difficult, but worth it. Pachecho draws several blockbuster like scenes and several epic battles, and somehow manages to never repeat himself or draw a boring panel. For the masterful art alone therefore, AF is worth the money and should at least be considered by any comic fan. It is certainly a must-own for any Marvel comics fan.
Although I'm not a fan of sequel's, I wish Busiek and Pacheco did another twelve parter for Avengers. This one was such a fun read.
one of Marvel's all-time greats gets its due... ^ ...in this fantastic new hardcover edition!
collecting the entire 12-issue run of writer Kurt Busiek's and artist Carlos Pacheco's masterwork, "Avengers Forever" is one of the most ambition, researched, brilliantly executed, and outright fantastic comics in the history of the medium.
this collection, in terms of content, is pretty straight-forward (none of the bacon, sour cream, and chives of DC's "Absolute" series), but for the price range of this sucker, that's pretty much what you expect. there is a nice introduction from 2000 by Busiek himself, as well as a gallery of the title's alternate cover artwork and (hooray!) a reproduction of the reference lists originally printed in issues 1 and 2 (if i am remembering correctly...) of the title's original release.
i really do not wish to divulge what exactly this story is about, primarily because i fear ruining a perfectly outstanding reading experience by saying too much, but also, with the levels of "involved" this storyline achieves, to pull at any thread is to seriously run the risk of painting oneself into a corner that will require MUCH explanation to get out of, therefore taking us back to fear no. 1.
i would like to add, however, that as wonderful as i (and so many, many others) feel this story is, it really should be said that if you are looking to begin your literary romp through the world of the Earth's Mightiest Heroes, "Avengers Forever" is NOT the book with which to do so.
please know that, in my opinion, this is INDEED the finest story in the entire history of these characters, but several of the absolute key issues central to the plot of this tale have roots seeded incredibly deeply in "Avengers" history, some stretching all the way back to the absolute earliest days of the series.
this is not meant to turn you off to this story in any way, just to say that a bit of knowledge about the overall series beforehand makes the read SO. UNBELIEVABLY. MUCH. BETTER.
if you're interested in getting your feet wet, i would suggest starting with any of the following instead:
-Essential Avengers vol. 1 if the idea of starting at THE beginning does it for you, here's your jumpin' on place.
-The Kree-Skrull War the first (and in the mind's of many, still the best) Avengers "epic".
-Avengers Under Siege where "The Kree-Skrull War" (and "Avengers Forever", for that matter) is a massive, galaxy (or time) spanning epic, Roger Stern's "Avengers Under Siege" is a five-issue powder keg that explodes and explodes and explodes. riveting, action-packed, and yet another classic.
-Ultron Unlimited Busiek's first undisputed classic in his run on Avengers, "Ultron Unlimited" finds everyone's favorite Henry Pym-obsessed death-bot wreaking more havoc than ever (believe it or not) on our heroes. in the vein of "Under Seige", "UU" is a lighting-paced, all-out action affair that not only contains the most wicked awesome moment in Avengers history ("Ultron, we would have words with thee..."), but may very well make you a fan of the book (and of Busiek) for life.
any of these will set you off on the good foot in terms of becoming an Avengers mark, and if one of them does even the slightest bit for you, come back RUNNING to "Avengers Forever" at your earliest convenience. after a wee bit of exposure to the series in general, you will be so glad that you did.
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