Roger Stern Reassembles The Avengers!

While I stopped reading new comics from Marvel well before 2019, I couldn't resist the temptation to take a look at a one-shot issue published that year during the company's 80th anniversary celebration--reuniting one of its most popular super-team titles with one of its most distinguished writers, while fulfilling its anniversary obligation by dealing in the very adversary responsible for the team's creation.



By this time, over thirty-two years had passed since writer Roger Stern had left The Avengers due to a dispute with Editor Mark Gruenwald over the book's direction; and so it's perhaps understandable if this scripting assignment for the sake of commemorating a well-publicized anniversary comes across as rather belated. Jude Terror, writing for Bleeding Cool, is less tactful in his own assessment, though he makes a fair point:

"... one might be tempted to wonder how much Marvel really respects creators who helped build their universe, like Stern, or Chris Claremont, for example, when they only trot them out for one-shots like this rather than actually use their talents to create comics on a regular basis. But lofty questions like that are outside of the scope of this press release, we suppose. Besides, it's not like Marvel publishes 118 new comics in a single month or anything, so there just aren't that many slots open for the industry's legends to take up... oh, wait, they did publish exactly 118 comics in May. Hmmm. Well, beats the @#$% out of us then."

At any rate, Stern, now in his late 60s, turns in some nice work in this thirty-page tale--picking things up directly after the siege of Avengers Mansion by the Masters of Evil, as the Avengers literally begin to pick up the pieces in the aftermath. Joining Stern is artist Ron Lim, who has adapted his style to reflect Marvel's across-the-board preference for character appearance that has left the work of greats like John Buscema, Neal Adams, John Romita, et al. far behind in favor of a more inviting "kid-friendly" look (there's no other way to put it)--perhaps not so much a stretch for Lim, whose style in the '80s and '90s wasn't far removed.

As we turn the page, the story opens as it did in the fall of 1963, with the scheming of Loki, the God of mischief and evil--in this case, searching for new sources of power, with his wife, Sigyn, at his side, hoping to be of help. As for the Avengers, they haven't the luxury of such diversions, having suffered a brutal battle that has gutted their mansion headquarters and left casualties in its wake--leaving four of their original members to convene and assess their situation.



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