Amph [Image Heavy] Marvel: THE HEROIC AGE

I'm absurdly excited for this new direction Marvel are apparently heading. Coming out of DARK REIGN and through the SIEGE...

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If you've been living under a stone or are a die-hard DCer you might have missed the several announcements. Take a look at the upcoming Avengers teams:

THE AVENGERS

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THE NEW AVENGERS

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THE SECRET AVENGERS

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AVENGERS ACADEMY

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THUNDERBOLTS, ATLAS and YOUNG ALLIES

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We've endured the AVENGERS DISASSEMBLED metaarc for what? Eight years? Time for some payoff or else!

 

The two teams that are actually loading for me at the moment (Avengers and New Avengers) both look good. I figure that the Secret Avengers will include Cloak and Dagger, maybe Hank Pym, not sure who else. It should do well. Avengers Academy will probably bomb horribly, unless some top talent is put on it from the get-go.

My biggest issue: I don't want books about line-up changes. That was a trap that the Teen Titans and Justice League fell into over at DC, with line-up changes essentially making up the story. Avengers has had some degree of that as well, though things feel stable enough for the moment. Give me a couple of heroes and keep them together, let them jell, set up long term plots that eventually pay off. Stuff like that. Of course, this is comics, so it probably won't happen.

...and that's why I read fewer comics.

 

I'm thinking War Machine is one of the secret Avengers. And maybe the Scarlet Witch.

 

Reptil? Hazmat?

 

The fist Secret Avengers silhouette looks like Beast. I'm gonna guess Moon Knight, Scarlet Witch, Marvel Boy, and War Machine as the others.

 

I don't think it's Wanda that's the female member of the Secret Avengers, but Carol Danvers/Ms Marvel.

 

How's that worse than... well, than any existing superhero name?

Reptil is an existing character, from the Super Hero Squad toons, but the rest are newcomers. I hope some of the Avengers: The Initative characters make the cut. Cloud 9 and Komodo have lots of potential.

 

Reptil was also in A:TI. He was mostly a background character but had a one-shot at some point. I forget what it was called.

 

A:TI Featuring Reptil. It was great.

 

Too many Avengers teams. Why do we still have Secret Avengers when the big three are back in regular Avengers? Is registration still in effect?

I don't think that's Ms Marvel, she's more blond. I hope she's still around, I've liked her (mostly because of the gratuitous shots from the rear)

 

I assume the SHRA dies with Siege but, who knows. I'll give Secret Avengers a chance: I've loved everything Brubaker has done for Marvel excluding his abysmal Uncanny X-Men run.

 

I can't help but wonder if the Secret Avengers will serve a similar purpose to X-Force - The ruthless team that performs the actions, the main public team cannot, but we all know its something that must be done etc etc.

Similarly I can see each team playing a different role. The main Avengers team would be the primary force against the bigger international threats. The New Avengers are the street level team, uniting the guys who deal with the day to day crime in NYC as a unified force rather than a bunch of individuals all fighting the same war separately. And of course Avengers Academy will be the training of the next gen of heroes.

Of course this is all pure speculation.

Any word on the Young Avengers or are they just going to show up everytime there is a crisis or funeral?

 

I was hoping the concept of "black ops heroes" would take a rest. I mean, I've loved the new X-Force and the Dark Reign era Thunderbolts are okay but the concept is starting to sound as used and tiresome as the old "proactive heroes".

 

Sorry, just thought this was funny:

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The Walking Dead one was the best.

 

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For those who haven't seen it...

 

I think you're looking at Nomad. AFAIK there will be no A:TI characters in Young Allies. It looks totally skipable to me anyway.

I've been loving Dark Avengers. It basically acted as a sequel to Ellis' run on Thunderbolts. If you haven't read that you're doing yourself a disservice. Plus, I'm one of the few people who LOVE The Sentry. Anytime he gets unleashed and rips someone's head off the 12-year old in me gets absolutely giddy. Obviously, I'm enjoying Siege quite a bit.

Agreed on Atlas. I have no interest in that. But Juggernaut alone is enough to make me want to continue reading Thunderbolts.

For me New Avengers has been THE Avengers book for the past few years. I'm glad to see that it's sticking around. I know a lot of people ragged on Wolverine and Spider-Man being on the team but I've loved every minute of it. Bendis has been telling some amazing stories that I've loved in all the Avengers books he's written; New, Mighty, and Dark.

I somewhat agree. After Secret Invasion, I realized that I didn't enjoy it half as much as I enjoyed The Infiltration, the SI build up. Even if it was a total rip off of BSG, the whole "Who Do You Trust?" angle totally enthralled me. I spent a lot of time arguing with friends about who could possibly be a Skrull. Plus, I totally called Spider-Woman.

 

I feel you, man. I've loved The Sentry since his first mini, to the mockery of my peers. I used to think Bendis didn't "get" him but Dark Avengers #15 totally changed my perception on him. Not only he gets him but I'm sure Siege is going to be the Sentry event I had been waiting for.


Also:

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While I'm not a huge fan of the Sentry (except that I sort of like that the most powerful super-hero in the world is a drug addict completely off his rocker) I'm a huge fan of Lindy.

 

Is Thing quitting FF?

 

No. Just pulling double duty like Wolverine.

 

The Children's Crusade 8-issue bi-monthly mini-series by Heinberg & Chung is due to start July.

Agreed, the problem with Bendis' Avengers run is that it has become the prelude to each next big Marvel event which erodes the Avengers sense of identity as a title in itself. IF Marvel is serious about the Heroic Age, then it needs to either compress and speed up or do at least 2 years of story as 4 6-parters = 4 stories.

For me, in the end, it all under-performed: The most interesting work with the various concepts have happened in the lower-profile titles. One of Marvel's most consistent yet overlooked set of titles has been the cosmic ones which DnA have been steering for the last 3 years.