Classic Review: Marvel Masterworks- Avengers Vol. 19

Quick Summary

Pros: A few of the conflicts are exciting and memorable. The personal stories surrounding the individual members of the Avengers are all interesting and help develop them as characters. A few of these personal stories also end up having some great humor. The artwork is mostly positive and improves a few of the more lackluster stories.

Cons: Some of the conflicts here are just average. One of the chapters, Avengers #200, centers around an incredibly flawed concept that reads horribly today.

Overall: This collection trends positive, except in one key chapter. The majority of the volume tells entertaining stories that allow the members of the Avengers to shine as heroes while also maintaining their humanity. However, one of the chapters is terrible and is genuinely rough to read through. If readers are able to look past Avengers #200, the rest of this collection will prove to be an entertaining read.

Story

Marvel Masterworks: Avengers Vol. 19 has some really good stories, some average stories, and one of the worst stories in Avengers history. The good stories are memorable representations of the Avengers in this era. A few are genuinely exciting and many of them do a fantastic job of humanizing the members of the team, whether that be through character development or humor. The average stories don’t do much to offend but also don’t do much to inspire; they feel forgettable but don’t drag the collection down. Then, Avengers #200 comes along and weighs down the entire collection with a story that improperly handles rape, romance, and support from friends. In the end, there are a lot of positive features in this book but readers will have to make their way through some negatives to reach them.

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The majority of Avengers Vol. 19 consists of decently entertaining adventures. The Avengers deal with legal problems, fight the Grey Gargoyle, and are forced to take down a giant robot. Wonder Man and Vision also get their own solo stories, both of which have their fair share of thrills. These adventures aren’t the most spectacular conflicts from their history, but they are all entertaining enough to satisfy most readers.

A few of these conflicts even manage to stand out more significantly than the rest. The Taskmaster presents a serious threat to the Avengers and is a unique villain in general. His plan is also well thought out in a way that most comic book villain plans, from this era, are not. In addition, the trip to Pittsburgh puts the Avengers in a unique situation, where the “monster” isn’t the biggest villain in the room. Plus, a reappearance from Ultron almost always leads to a good time and this reappearance is no different. All of these encounters are memorable adventures for the team.

However, where Avengers Vol. 19 really manages to define itself is through the personal stories surrounding the members of the Avengers. Some of these stories are fun and frivolous. Readers get a chance to see Wonder Man’s job on a kids’ TV show and get to see Beast and Wonder Man hit the town. There is even a quick story focused completely on Jarvis, which is a downright wonderful read.

Some of the other personal stories are more meaningful. Readers get a chance to see how the changeups in the Avengers roster negatively impact individual heroes, specifically Falcon and Hawkeye. The turmoil within the team also starts to wear on Iron Man, whose decision to step down as chairman feels like a big move for his character. Plus, Scarlett Witch is forced to contend with the fact that she may never have children of her own, which, temporarily, puts a strain on her relationship with Vision. In general, this volume does a great job in making the Avengers feel like real, interesting people, who just happen to save the world from time to time.

Unfortunately, Avengers Vol. 19 also contains one of the most troubling issues in the history of this comic series. The now-infamous Avengers #200 is a story that has an extra-dimensional human trap Ms. Marvel in a relationship, rape her, impregnate her with himself, and convince her to live with him forever, all of which the rest of the Avengers are perfectly fine with. It is a horrifying series of events that is presented as some sort of cute fairy tale, which makes it all the more horrifying.

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Art

Avengers Vol. 19 is filled with great artwork. John Byrne’s work in the beginning of this book is dynamic and allows action to flow nicely from one panel to the next. Then, George Pérez takes over around the collection’s halfway point and really steps up the quality of the visuals. The Pérez chapters look wonderful and are able to fit an amazing amount of storytelling into the visuals on their own. In some places, the visuals significantly outshine the story and actually manage to improve some of the more average chapters The only real drawbacks are some chapters where the inks fail to let Pérez’s artwork stand out in the way it should. Overall though, the visuals throughout this collection are great and are a definite plus for the volume as a whole.

Continuity

Marvel Masterworks: Avengers Vol. 19 continues the story from Marvel Masterworks: Avengers Vol. 18 (Review).

The story here will continue in Marvel Masterworks: Avengers Vol. 20.

This volume also makes references to other comic books, detailed below:

• In Avengers #189, Thor mentions his conflict with the Celestials. This conflict started in Thor #284, collected in Marvel Masterworks: Thor Vol. 18.
• In Avengers #189, Yellowjacket mentions the Wasp’s troubles in Vegas. These troubles are detailed in Defenders #76-77.
• Ms. Marvel fought Deathbird back in Ms. Marvel #9, collected in Marvel Masterworks: Ms. Marvel Vol. 2.
• Avengers #190 mentions many of the Avenger’s past exploits. These include:
  • Preventing Egghead from launching a death-ray at the planet in Avengers #63, collected in Marvel Masterworks: Avengers Vol. 7 (Review).
  • Stopping Ultron’s invasion of the U.N. in Avengers #68, collected in Marvel Masterworks: Avengers Vol. 7 (Review).
  • Defeating Graviton in Avengers #159, collected in Marvel Masterworks: Avengers Vol. 16 (Review).
• Captain America’s involvement in the fall of a West Coast criminal stronghold took place across Captain America #228-231.
• Daredevil’s recent team-up with Captain America, from Captain America #234-236, is mentioned.
• The Grey Gargoyle was launched into space in Thor #259, collected in Marvel Masterworks: Thor Vol. 16.
• Thor fixed his hammer in Pittsburgh back in Journey into Mystery #120, collected in Marvel Masterwork: The Mighty Thor Vol. 3 (Review).
• Iron Man’s alcohol problems have been a plot point through Iron Man #117-128.
• Scott Lang became Ant-Man in Marvel Premiere #49, collected in Ant-Man: Scott Lang.
• Red Ronin was severely damaged in Godzilla #14,
• Immortus fought Thor back in Thor #282.
• Marvel Premiere #55 mentions Iron Man’s fight against a Dreadnought from Iron Man #129.