Avengers Epic Collection 11 The Evil Reborn
prhcomics.com/book/?isbn=9781302955236 Publication Date: 21 May 2024
An unforgettable era of AVENGERS, courtesy of comic book titans George Pérez and John Byrne!
Henry Peter Gyrich has his sights set on stripping Earth’s Mightiest Heroes of their government charter, but when the Grey Gargoyle crashes the hearing, the only motion is Avengers Assemble! Then, the action moves to Pittsburgh before a new nemesis arrives in the form of the Taskmaster. In his first appearance, the villain who can replicate any hero’s actions, holds his own against the Avengers, Yellowjacket, the Wasp and Scott Lang, the new Ant-Man! On the way to issue #200, the team battles the towering robot Red Ronin and then unites against Ultron in an all-time classic. Also featuring Chris Claremont and Michael Golden’s iconic Avengers Annual #10 that introduces Rogue and co-stars Ms. Marvel, Spider-Woman and X-Men!
COLLECTING: Avengers (1963) 189-209, Avengers Annual (1967) 10; material from Tales to Astonish (1979) 12
512 pages
$49.99 USD, $62.50 CAD
Avengers 189 is cover dated November 1979 the same month as Amazing Spider-Man 198, Fantastic Four 212 & Uncanny X-Men 127.
www.mikesamazingworld.com/main/features/newsstand.php?publisher=marvel&type=cover&month=11&year=1979&sort=alphaAvengers 209 is cover dated July 1981 the same month as Amazing Spider-Man 218, Fantastic Four 232 & Uncanny X-Men 147.
www.mikesamazingworld.com/main/features/newsstand.php?publisher=marvel&type=cover&month=7&year=1981&sort=alphaAvengers Annual 10 is cover dated November 1981 the same month as Amazing Spider-Man 222, Avengers 213, Fantastic Four 236 & Uncanny X-Men 151.
www.mikesamazingworld.com/main/features/newsstand.php?type=cover&month=11&year=1981&publisher=marvel&sort=alpha&checklist=null&variantex=null&collectionex=nullCover is Avengers 200
Title is Avengers 201
Another BIG Important book for Avengers in more way than one.
All starts very much business as usual with the continuation of the superb Byrne run. Michelinie is absent till Byrne's last issue, 191, but you hardly notice because Roger Stern makes his Avengers debut filling in for a couple of issues. Then after Byrne leaves he gets replaced by a returning George Pérez !
Obviously everything in this book has been Masterworked but in Paperback Trade Issue 189-196 (and 188 & Annual 9 from the previous Epic) are reprinted in Avengers Heart of Stone, which follows on from Avengers Knights of Wundagore. 194-196 and the B story from 201 were also reprinted in Avengers George Pérez Visionaries.
Avengers 201 has a B story because that issue marks the point Avengers transitions from being 17 pages, as all Marvel books were in the late Seventies, back to standard of 22 pages which was the norm for the majority of Marvel's existence. So 201 is the planned 17 page main story + a 5 page backup added to bring it to strength. Several titles use this option on or shortly after the month where they change. Another option, and Star Wars used this as they were reprinting Empire Strikes Back, is to insert pinup pages. The month the transition occurs is November 1980.
Back to issue 197, which is a fill in drawn by Carmine Infantino before Pérez draws the run in to 200 as the Avengers battle a rampaging Red Ronin. I had a B&W reprint of 199 when I was younger and then picked up 198-200 as a fill in in an issue of the UK Avengers United Panini title in the late 90s/early 2000s. As far as I can see neither the Infantino issue or the Red Ronin story have been reprinted in colour paperback before.
And then there's issue 200, the culmination of Ms Marvel's express pregnancy. For those unaware as to the background to this notorious issue I will quote Brian Cronin writing in Comic Book Legends revealed on Comic Book Resources
www.cbr.com/comic-book-legends-revealed-409/<QUOTE>
The plot began in Avengers #197 by writer David Michelinie...
However, Avengers #200 was written by Michelinie as well as Jim Shooter, with plot assistance by Bob Layton and George Pérez (Pérez drew the issue).
This is because Shooter actually had stepped in and changed Michelinie's ORIGINAL plot! Originally, Michelinie was going to reveal that Ms. Marvel was artificially impregnated by the Kree Supreme Intelligence, who had always wanted to have a human/Kree hybrid. In fact, as commenter fraser points out, in Ms. Marvel #19, the Supreme Intelligence had even expressed interest in using Ms. Marvel in this fashion...
So Michelinie was actually following up on a plot for her own title!
However, in a then-recent issue of What If...?, the issue concluded with the Supreme Intelligence using the dead body of Rick Jones to make...a Kree/human hybrid...
Shooter felt that the two stories were too similar (especially being released so close together) so he made Michelinie change his story, which resulted in the explanation we saw in the issue...
Think about how many things would have been different if we had just not had that one issue of What If...? I bet that issue's writer, Tom DeFalco, never could have imagined how things changed just because of his issue! Would Ms. Marvel have even left the Avengers? If there wasn't the Marcus story, would Chris Claremont have Rogue take her powers away? What would Rogue be like without her Ms. Marvel powers? So many, well, What Ifs!!
</QUOTE>
The What If issues appears to be What If 20 written by Tom DeFalco and cover dated April 1980, the same month as Avengers 194 and thus 6 months prior to the release of Avengers 200.
www.mikesamazingworld.com/main/features/comic.php?comicid=48938marvel.fandom.com/wiki/What_If%3F_Vol_1_20This issues did not go down well and still has a bad reputation even now. Chris Claremont, who'd written Ms Marvel's solo title was particularly incensed and goes on to write Avengers Annual 10, which very much acts as a rebuttal of Avengers 200 and moves Carol into the X-Men's orbit for the next few years. As you can see from the link above Avengers Annual 10 occurs a few months after most of the issues in this book and it's place here effectively stops issues 210 & 211 being included in this volume which would have provided a nice clean line up with the existing Trial of Yellowjacket thick trade. However the annual *NEEDS* to be read prior to 211, which you can make a very good argument should be grouped with the rest of the second Shooter written run, and having it in the same book as Avengers 200 provides a decent counterpoint.
While I have some sympathy for the writers of Avengers 200, working against a deadline to come up with something at very short notice, what's produced isn't great especially from Carol's Point of View! But what were editorial up to? Did Editor Jim Salicrup not see the resemblance to the What If story? Or did he judge them to be minimal and was Jim Shooter overreacting to the similarities? It's interesting that Avengers 200 comes out the month after X-Men 137, another of Shooter's famed interventions in the culmination of a running plot.....
It's worth looking at the creative talent across the book, and into the next Epic, before we talk about Epic 11's rear portion
189 Grant/Byrne (also reprinted in Hawkeye Epic 1)
190 Stern/Grant/Byrne
191 Stern/Michelinie/Byrne
192 Michelinie/Arvell M. Jones
193 Michelinie/Sal Buscema
194 Michelinie/Pérez
195 Michelinie/Pérez
196 Michelinie/Pérez
197 Michelinie/Infantino
198 Michelinie/Pérez
199 Michelinie/Pérez
200 Michelinie/Pérez (also reprinted in in Ms Marvel Epic 2)
201 Michelinie/Pérez
202 Michelinie/Pérez
203 Michelinie/Infantino
204 Shooter/Budiandky/Michelinie/Don Newton
205 Budiandky/Michelinie/Kupperberg
206 Mantlo/Colan
207 Budiansky/Fingeroth/Colan
208 Budiansky/Fingeroth/Colan
209 DeMatteis/Kupperberg
Annual 10 Claremont/Golden (also reprinted in in Ms Marvel Epic 2 & X-Men Epic 8)
210 Mantlo/Colan
211 Shooter/Colan
From a period of relative stability we now get a revolving door of writers and artists. Now I have a fondness for this pre Shooter II run because it does still feature what I consider to be one of the strongest Avengers line ups of all time and because I read parts of a number of issues from it in the UK Spider-Man weekly back in the 80s. But "something" has gone and in my opinion the title is being kept afloat by the team's lineup.
The confusion is emphasised by issue 206 announcing Bill Mantlo as the new regular Avengers writer from Avengers 211. Mantlo wrote 206, and returns for 210, but come 211 the new regular writer is a returning Jim Shooter, Marvel's Editor In Chief. Regular readers will know I am not keen on his second Avengers run but I'll hold off giving it both barrels till we talk about Epic 12!
Annoyingly this book finishes on 209, two issues shy of the start of the Trial of Yellowjacket trade. Trial of Yellowjacket segues into Absolute Vision and Legacy of Thanos and annoyingly after that book there's a 2 issue gap before the start of Epic 15!
Epics 1-11 - Avengers 1-209, Annuals 1-10
The Trial of Yellowjacket Avengers #212-230.
Absolute Vision - Book One Avengers #231-241, Avengers Annual #11-12
Absolute Vision - Book Two Avengers #242-254 & Avengers Annual #13.
The Legacy Of Thanos Avengers #255-261 and Annual #14
Epics 16-26 Avengers 264-388, Annuals 15-23
Avengers 262 & 263 are in a medium sized paperback trade, The Once And Future Kang, but most of that is in Epic 15. Avengers 263 *IS* in an Epic thought, X-Factor 1.
There's then a 1 issue gap between there and the Avengers issues in the two Iron Man Crossing Epics:
21 The Crossing Iron Man #319-324; Avengers #390-394; Avengers: The Crossing #1
22 Age of Innocence Iron Man #325-332; Avengers: Timeslide #1; Avengers #395-396
So we're FOUR issues short of an Avengers run in Epics and thick trades from 1-396, Annuals 1-23
I said I'd read the issues in between Michelinie & Shooter II in the Spider-Man weekly: In fact nearly this entire book has been reprinted in Marvel UK
The start of it was printed in glorious oversized black & white as part of Marvel Superheroes, a monthly Marvel UK title that started life as the weekly Mighty World of Marvel. The first monthly issues entitled Marvel Superheroes was issue 353 in September 1979 and reprinted issue 159
comicvine.gamespot.com/marvel-super-heroes/4050-3088/?sortBy=ascThe Avengers issues in this book, from 189 onwards, appear in issues of Marvel Superheroes numbered 384 onwards:
384 Apr-82 189
385 May-82 190
386 Jun-82 191
387 Jul-82 192
388 Aug-82 193
389 Sep-82 194
390 Oct-82 195
391 Nov-82 196
392 Dec-82 197
393 Jan-83 198
394 Feb-83 199
395 Mar-83 200 first half
396 Apr-83 200 second half
397 May-83 201
From issue 377 the Dave Thorpe and Alan Davis Captain Britain original strip became the regular backup with a variety of supports. Alan Moore replaced Thorpe for issues 387 & 388 before the strip transferred to Marvel UK's new Daredevils Title. Soon after Marvel UK's other long running title Rampage -
comicvine.gamespot.com/rampage-monthly/4050-34318/?sortBy=asc - merged into Marvel Superheroes and we had Avengers 198-291 alongside Byrne/Claremont X-Men 137-140 for 5 UK issues with all but the same month's US issues running side by side. The title closed with Marvel Superheroes issue 397 in May 1983. X-Men transfers nearly immediately to the new Mighty World of Marvel in colour and, after something of a gap in the UK, Avengers resumes at a similar point for it's US issues, with issues 202 & 203 being skipped, in the UK Spider-Man weekly with issue 602, cover dated September 22nd 1984
comicvine.gamespot.com/spider-man/4050-47656/?sortBy=ascHere's what else was in those weekly issues with The Avengers
PPTSSM = Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man
MTU = Marvel Team Up
ASM = Amazing Spider-Man
602 PPTSSM 89, Avengers 206, Hulk 230
603 MTU 140, Avengers 206, Hulk 230
604 MTU 140, Avengers 204, Hulk 135
605 MTU 75, Avengers 204, Hulk 135
606 MTU 75, Avengers 205
607 UK original Spider-Man story, The Last Starfighter, Hulk 231
608 UK original Spider-Man story, The Last Starfighter, Hulk 231
609 UK original Spider-Man story, The Last Starfighter, Captain America 230
610 UK original Spider-Man story, The Last Starfighter, Captain America 230
611 ASM Annual 18, The Last Starfighter, Hulk 232
612 ASM Annual 18, The Last Starfighter, Hulk 232
613 ASM Annual 18, The Last Starfighter, Hulk 233
614 MTU 147, Hulk 233, Avengers 207
615 MTU 147, Hulk 234, Avengers 207
616 MTU 148, Hulk 234, Avengers 208
617 MTU 148, Hulk 235, Avengers 208
618 MTU 149, Hulk 235, Avengers 210
619 MTU 149, Hulk 236, Avengers 210
620 MTU 150, Hulk 236, Avengers 211
621 MTU 150, Avengers 211, Hulk 237
622 MTU 150, Avengers 211, Hulk 237
The observant amongst you may spot that the Hulk issues there are in the forthcoming Hulk Epic so you'll be seeing this table again shortly!
211 is the last issue of the Avengers reprinted in the UK until the later half of the 250s is reprinted in the Secret Wars II comic.
Avengers sets a few records for the Epic Collections with this book:
First Epic line to 11 consecutive Epics from the start.
First Epic line to 200 consecutive issues from the start.
Thor will pass both of the counts Avengers set here when Epic 10 The Eternals Saga is released later this year.
A major reprinting milestone is also passed in this book: ALL of the black & white Essential Avengers has now been reprinted in colour in Epics!
Essentials
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essential_Marvel1 The Avengers #1-24
2 The Avengers #25-46, Annual #1
3 The Avengers #47-68, Annual #2
Later edition adds X-Men #45 & Marvel Super-Heroes #17
4 The Avengers #69-97;
The Incredible Hulk (vol. 2) #140
5 The Avengers #98-119;
Daredevil #99;
The Defenders #8-11
6 The Avengers #120-140;
Giant-Size Avengers #1-4;
Captain Marvel #33;
The Fantastic Four #150
7 The Avengers #141-163, Annual #6;
Super-Villain Team-Up #9
8 The Avengers #164-184, Annual #7-8;
Marvel Two-in-One Annual #2
9 Avengers #185-206, Annual #9,
Tales to Astonish (vol. 2) #12
This is the longest Essential series yet completed in Epics: Only ASM (15 books, 248 issues) & X-Men (11 books, 280 issues) have longer runs in Essentials. FF equals Avengers in books but runs to one issue further to 207! Fantastic Four Essentials should complete next year but ASM & X-Men have some way still to go!
The state of play for Avengers Epics then is this
1 Earth's Mightiest Heroes 1-20
2 Once an Avenger 21-40
3 Masters of Evil 41-56 Annuals 1-2
4 Behold... The Vision 57-76
5 This Beachhead Earth 77-97
6 A Traitor Stalks Among Us 98-114
7 Avengers/Defenders War 115-128 GS1
8 Kang War 129-149 GS2-4
9 Final Threat 150-166 Annuals 6-7
10 The Yesterday Quest 167-188 Annuals 8-9
11 The Evil Reborn 189-209 Annual 10
12
13 Seasons of the Witch 227-237, ASM Annual 16 (due 12th November 2024)
14
14
16 Under Siege 264-277 Annual 15
17 Judgement Day 278-285 Annual 16
18 Heavy Metal 286-303 Annual 17
19 Acts of Vengeance 304-318 Annual 18
20 The Crossing Line 319-333 Annual 19
21 Collection Obsession 334-344 Annual 20
22 Operation Galactic Storm 345-347
23 Fear The Reaper 348-359 Annual 21
24 The Gatherers Strike! 360-366 Annual 22
25 The Gathering 367-377 Annual 23
26 Taking AIM 378-388
27
28
29
Epic 11 The Evil Reborn nearly squeezes in the entire pre Shooter run: I could never get that to Map properly, I could see it waving at me but couldn't get the numbers right to get it to land correctly.
Epic 12 then is now a one volume gap consisting of 210-226 & Annual 11: One of Mantlo's two issues (the other is 206), the entire Shooter II run through to the issue before the Stern run starts - I always thought that looked like a far too tempting target for them to ignore. Annual 11 is same month as 226 but probably should be between either 218 & 219 or 220 & 221. I make that 19 issues worth - is there enough room for Vision & Scarlet Witch 1-4 which I expected to be in Epic 13? If not they could bulk the book up with resolving the hanging plot thread of Jocasta's fate in MTIO 92 & 93 (Jocasta & Machine Man)
For me the remainder of the Stern Gap maps thus:
14 238-250 Annuals 12 & 13
That's 18 issues. On my possibles list for this period are Marvel Fanfare 14 Vision, Secret Wars 1-12, MTU 142 Captain Marvel, MTU 143 Starfox.
No way that Secret Wars will get in but I've listed it here, between 242 & 243, as that is where it would be placed. Marvel Fanfare 14 would be very nice because issue 253 refers to it.
15 250-263, Annual 14, FF Annual 19, FF286
(21.5 issues)
Then down the end of the run we have what I think is three books to finish the original run off. All three are HEAVY on Crossover material: First The Crossing, then First Sign and finally Onslaught
EPIC 27
Avengers 389-392
Last Avengers Story 1-2
Iron Man #319-323
Avengers:The Crossing
Force Works #16-28
War Machine #20-21
(20 issues worth)
EPIC 28
Avengers #393-396
Force Works #19-20
War Machine #22-23
Iron Man #324-326
Avengers: Timeslide
Age of Innocence - The Rebirth of Iron Man (Double Sized)
Captain America 449
Thor #496
Force Works #21 & 22
(20 issues worth)
EPIC 29
Avengers 397-402
FF 414-415
Uncanny X-Men 335-336
X-Men 55
Hulk 445
Onslaught X-Men 1
Onslaught:Marvel Universe
Black Knight: Exodus
