Avengers Endgame Prelude

Bought at Boocup, Kerry Parkside Mall, Pudong, Shanghai, China.

Title: Avengers Endgame Prelude
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Date: 2019
Writer: Will Corona Pilgrim, Jim Starlin, Brian Michael Bendis
Artist: Paco Diaz, George Perez, Josef Rubinstein, Tom Christopher, Valerio Schiti, Phil Noto, Andrea Sorrentino, Ed McGuinness, Mark Morales, Arthur Adams, Kevin Maguire, Mark Bagley, Andrew Hennessey, Sara Pichelli, Filipe Andrade
Colorist: Dono-Sanchez-Almara, Max Scheele, Ian Laughlin, Richard Isanove
Letterer: VC's Travis Lanham, Jack Morelli, VC's Cory Petit
Editor: Mark Basso, Jennifer Grunwald

This trade paperback was released in anticipation of the Avengers Endgame film. It contains three parts: A complete adaptation of the film Avengers: Infinity War, a reprint of the first issue of the original Marvel series The Infinity Gauntlet from 1991, and a reprint of Guardians of the Galaxy #19 from 2015.

Much like DC's Harley Quinn and the Birds of Prey (reviewed here), this collection has something of a thrown-together feel to it, like Marvel was fishing for relevant material in anticipation of the movie release.

The adaptation of Avengers: Infinity War has issues with pacing, and scenes that needed to be cut for space considerations. It fails to make the kind of visual impact that the film does, and the humor in the dialogue also falls flat when translated into the comic medium. The serious dialogue does work reasonably well, so that the emotional beats of the story still pack a punch. As a recap for people about to watch Endgame, it accomplishes the purpose of refreshing the major details of the story, but it doesn't do so in a way that is particularly memorable.

I read the original Infinity Gauntlet storyline when it was released and was not impressed with it at the time. That may have been partly due to having a bit of crossover fatigue after several years of collecting and reading major titles from the "Big Two", but upon rereading it, The Infinity Gauntlet still strikes me as a pretty dumb story. It's the story of how a person gets godlike power that go above and beyond the already godlike power of other established beings in a universe full of beings with godlike power. And then he proceeds to squander it all in a series of bad decisions, because there is no way for the heroes to ever win this scenario. It's Thanos' scenario to lose. And lose he does. Of course much of that nonsense happens later in the series. The first issue is mostly Thanos trying to decide what to do with his power and trying to impress his Lady Death, while Mephisto looks on with amusement and Silver Surfer tries to warn Doctor Strange of what is coming. The first issue ends with the Snap, and its immediate aftermath, mostly as felt on Earth.

While I was never a fan of this series, one thing that I failed to give it credit for was the art. George Perez knocks it out of the park, and rereading this now was worth it just to get another look at the visuals of this first issue. There is some spectacular and inventive "Marvel-cosmic" imagery, but also tremendous detail work on characters and their emotional reactions and body language.

The final part of this collection is a fairly goofy Guardians of the Galaxy story with Thanos leading a coalition of alien forces in an attack on Earth that is thwarted handily by the Guardians and multiple allies. It makes Thanos look like a chump, and he comes off the best of his villain allies. The story is very feel-good, but with this being released with Endgame on the Horizon, it felt a bit out of place to be jobbing out the MCU's #1 BBEG in what felt like an afterthought.

The story had some good laughs, nice visuals (with a big crew of guest artists brought in for Brian Michael Bendis' finale on the series), and even a tender moment or two between Kitty Pryde and Peter Quill, who I did not realize were a thing, but who apparently are.

So, a movie adaptation, a very pretty bit of history/nostalgia, and a goofy throwaway story with Thanos getting beat more easily than he probably should. Probably not necessary to get anyone in the mood for a movie that was already the one of the most anticipated of all time.

Rating: 4/10

Avengers: Age of Ultron Prelude

The Kiddo bought this at am imports bookstore in Pudong, Shanghai.

Title: Avengers: Age of Ultron Prelude
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Date: 2015
Writer: Zak Penn, Joss Whedon, Will Corona Pilgrim, Roy Thomas, Kurt Busiek, George Perez, Brian Michael Bendis
Artist: Joe Bennett, Agustin Padilla, Marcio Loerzer Bennett, Wellinton Alves, Manny Clark, John Buscema, George Klein, George Perez, Al Vey, Bryan Hitch, Paul Neary
Colorist: Jay David Ramos, Tom Smith, Paul Mounts
Letterer: VC's Clayton Cowles, Sam Rosen, RS & Comicraft, VC's Cory Petit
Editor: Jennifer Grunwald, Sarah Brunstad, Stan Lee, Tom Brevoort, Lauren Sankovitch

This is essentially a promotional book, released to hype the second Avengers film. It contains a comic adaptation containing most of the plot of the first Avengers movie, plus adaptations end-credit scenes and DVD extras to bridge the gap leading up to Age of Ultron. The film adaptations take up about the first fourth of this graphic novel.


The remainder is reprints of classic Avengers stories involving Ultron, starting with the original appearance of Ultron and the Vision in 1963, 1998's ultron storyline from Avengers #21-22, and Avengers 12.1 from 2010.

The movie adaptations are a nice summary, but lack the emotional impact of the films, and from the point of view of a reader, they feel more like a recap than a particularly immersive experience. The pacing also feels rushed.


The reprints were fun. I hadn't read any of these stories previously, and there was a lot of good material here. The original Vision story from 1963 is a particularly strong piece of writing by Roy Thomas, and it holds up quite well after over 50 years.


The story from 1998 has Ultron wiping out (and robot-zombifying) the entire population of the fictional nation of Slorenia (not to be confused with Serkovia... or Latveria for that matter), which is one of those excessive bits of extreme violence that get casually thrown into recent comics way too often. The idea is to add emotional impact, but really, it has the opposite effect.

That being said, it improves as the story progresses, and the final scenes, focusing on the often-overlooked Hank Pym, are excellent. George Perez does a great job with the art, including a breathtaking two-page spread involving hundreds of Ultrons.

The last story is a prelude to a new Ultron storyline by Brian Michael Bendis. It focuses on Spider-Woman, who has been captured by a crew of (mostly B-grade) villains, and her rescue by her Avengers teammates. A lot of the story is played for laughs, which clashes somewhat with the doom-and-gloom proclamation that it ends on. In general it felt a bit inconsistent, although it had some amusing individual moments and one-liners.

This book feels like it's unsure of who its target audience is. It's trying to be an introduction to Ultron to movie fans who aren't regular comics readers, but it's also trying to function as a "Ultron's greatest hits" collection for diehard fans. It makes a decent attempt at performing both functions, but it is not exceptionally good at either.

Rating: 6/10

Worlds' Finest #1

Another foray into the seemingly endless backlog of unread comics. I picked this one up at my local Newbury Comics a while back during one of those "Well, it's issue #1. You never know." moments.

Title: Worlds' Finest
Issue: 1
Publisher: DC Comics 
Date: July 2012
Writer: Paul Levits
Penciler: George Perez, Kevin Maguire
Inker: Scott Koblish, Kevin Maguire
Colorist: Rosemary Cheetham, Hi-Fi
Letterer: Carlos M. Mangual
Cover: George Perez, Hi-Fi
Editor:  Wil Moss

A reboot of the classic "World's Finest" comic, which traditionally has been a Batman/Superman team-up book. Notice the clever placement of the apostrophe in the title. "Worlds' Finest", as in multiple worlds. If you're not into silly DC-Multiverse multiple-Earth stuff, you might not want to get started with this.

This book features Huntress, formerly Robin of Earth-2, and Power Girl, formerly Supergirl of Earth-2. Huntress, AKA Helena Wayne, is the daughter of Earth-2's Batman, who was killed by Darkseid along with Earth-2's Superman and Wonder Woman. Also, this version of the Huntress has apparently been assuming the identity of the previous Huntress, Helena Bertinelli, who was killed in the past on Earth-1.

If this all makes perfect sense to you, you might be a DC Comics fan.

Actually, if you can get past all of the multiple-worlds nonsense, this book was a lot of fun. The interplay between the two characters generally wins out over continuity confusion, even through multiple flashback scenes. Helena and Karen have a really good vibe between them, and their loyalty to each other and determination to make the best of being stranded in a strange world come shining through nicely.

Some attempts to joke about the scantiness of Power Girl's traditional costume are more eyeroll-inducing than clever, but generally the the dialogue and interaction are entertaining. The story exists mostly to set up the new background and current situation of the heroines, with a villain being introduced on the last page in a cliffhanger that leave the reader feeling like the villain is the one who's really in peril here.

Generally harmless fun.

Rating: 6.5/10

Superman #4

Continuing to make my way through the #4's.

Title: Superman
Issue: 4
Date: February 2012
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: George Perez
Artist: Jesus Merino
Colorist: Brian Buccellato, Brett Smith
Letterer: Carlos M. Mangual
Editor: Will Moss, Matt Idelson
Cover: George Perez, Brian Buccellato

No massive battle this time. Instead, the pattern gets broken for the sake of a transitional issue focusing mostly on the supporting cast.

And that is a good thing. The supporting cast, especially Daily Planet and Galaxy Broadcasting staff, are getting their chance to shine, or at least to develop some individual personalities, and there are plenty of good workplace intrigue subplots happening. We also see some storyline progress made on Superman's evolving relationship with the Metropolis Police Department and the mayor's office. And there is also the problems that Clark is having with keeping his cover stories straight.

Eventually, the three alien elemental creatures from the previous three issues do return, setting up a cliffhanger which continues the silver-age feel that this series has had from the beginning. Some of the actual details seem a bit arbitrary (Bugs. Why did it have to be bugs?), but all in all it builds nicely toward what will probably be the climax of this plotline next issue.

Rating: 6.5/10

Superman #3

Title: Superman
Issue: 3
Date: January 2012
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: George Perez
Artist: George Perez, Nicola Scott, Trevor Scott
Colorist: Brian Buccellato, Brett Smith, Blond
Letterer: Carlos M. Mangual
Editor: Will Moss, Matt Idelson
Cover: George Perez, Brian Buccellato

The latest in a series of attacks on Superman involves a sort of ice-elemental with similar powers to the fire-creature of the first issue. This time, however, the human host for the monster is a friend of Clark Kent's, and Superman must risk her life for the sake of saving Metropolis.

Around the battle scene is some intrigue between the staffs of Galaxy Broadcasting and the Daily Planet as Lois Lane must decide whether to run an investigative feature on Superman. It's not quite a J. Jonah Jameson "Threat or Menace?" type of story, but it's not exactly a fluff piece either (and it functions as an introduction/recap for this issue).

There is nothing terrible here, but there is an awful lot of repetition. I'm not sure a major recap was needed. We're only in the third issue. And on a similar note, the threat of the ice-monster is so similar to that of the previous fire-creature from the first issue, that this felt mostly like retreading old ground. The fact that Superman was aware that a person was being possessed by the creature added a bit more dynamic to the fight, but the clear threat to the city made the outcome inevitable.

There are some nice little touches here, including Clark visiting the grave of Ma and Pa Kent, and the supporting cast gets some good additional development, but that still left too much of this issue feeling like just more of the same.

Rating: 5.5/10

Superman #2

On to the New 52 #2's!

Title: Superman
Issue: 2
Date: December 2011
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: George Perez
Artist: George Perez, Jesus Merino
Colorist: Brian Buccellato
Letterer: Carlos M. Mangual
Editor: Will Moss, Matt Idelson
Cover: George Perez, Brian Buccellato

Let me get this out of the way first: George Perez over-writes. Dialogue good, but every so often it veers into the realm of slightly-too-wordy. Narrative captions are WAY too wordy. Remember the old adage in writing, "Show, don't tell."? Well Perez is doing way too much telling, especially considering that he's got an entire art team (which HE is part of) to present the story visually. Everything that happens in this book is over-explained, especially in the first-person narrative captions in Clark's voice.

Which is too bad because plot-wise I'm digging this series. It's old-school Superman, and it is the exact kind of story that I always liked best with Superman: The kind where Superman, in spite of all those powers, has to rely on his intelligence to win. This has a very Silver Age feel to it, with Superman taking on a monster with a kind of extreme invisibility. None of Superman's super-senses can detect this critter at all. Fortunately, though, the monster is perfectly visible to everyone else, and Clark ends up using a pretty amusing tactic to get the better of the creature.

This is the second random monster in a row, and it looks like we're set up for a third one next issue. I know some fans won't be into this, but as I said, I like some old-school Superman action.

There's also a really good scene here between Clark and Lois as Lois is moving into her new corner office. I liked the handling of their friendship and their professional relationship. A few of the lines were slightly forced (and wordy; see above), but for the most part it was a nice chance to give the two character the space to show some different sides of their personalities.

We also get the reintroduction of another supporting character from the 1970s: Cat Grant. And General Lane gets an extended scene as well. He's being played up as the J. Jonah Jameson of the series, with the overriding motivation that he thinks Superman causes more problems and danger (to his daughter!) than he solves.

The flaws in the writing are definitely an issue here, but I'm still having fun with this title.

Rating: 6.5/10

Superman #1

Title: Superman
Issue: 1
Date: November 2011
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: George Perez
Artist: George Perez, Jesus Merino
Colorist: Brian Buccellato
Letterer: Carlos M. Mangual
Editor: Will Moss, Matt Idelson
Cover: George Perez, Brian Buccellato

The cover is this issue has a very 80's feel to it, which is appropriate with the involvement of George Perez (who wrote this issue and was credited with the breakdows for artist Jesus Merino). And we continue the nostalgia with the return of Galaxy Broadcast Systems and Morgan Edge (with a completely new look, and only a tiny bit more subtlety).

The focus here is the purchase of the Daily Planet by Galaxy and the resulting restructuring that occurs. Lois Lane is heading up new production while Clark Kent turned down a promotion, wanting nothing to do with the new ownership.

There are a lot of characters being introduced and reintroduced here and there's a lot going on. Terrorists are driving a truck loaded with explosives and chemicals while a strange creature of living fire arises out of the newly-constructed Metropolis Astrodome.

On top of the ongoing stories, we get a thread of caption narration relating the situation in the form of a Daily Planet news story. There's also an ongoing theme about the decline of printed news in the age of digital media. Oh, and a one-page Stormwatch crossover that comes totally out of left field.

Did I mention the alien fire monster?

I caught a bit of a bad vibe from the internet about this book, but you know what? Perez manages to pull these threads together reasonably well and comes up with a good fun story with some twists and turns and a lot of development of minor characters.

Is it perfect? Not by a long shot. There's the seemingly unnecessary Stormwatch cutaway, and some preachy writing about the whole print vs. digital issue (Perry White actually says at one point "I want the kind of detail and analysis on this only print can offer!"). The Daily Planet narrative in the captions is wordy and doesn't do all that much for the story. And there's an annoyingly awkward scene at the end where it's revealed that Lois has a boyfriend who's not named Clark Kent in the most blatantly obvious way possible.

But in spite of those issues, this is a fun story that has a bit of a nostalgic feel to it even as it sets up the new versions of the supporting cast. The alien fire monster is not the type of villain I'd like to see in every issue, but it works as a one-shot deal here.

Rating: 6.5/10

Green Arrow #1

More from DC's "New 52".

Title: Green Arrow
Issue: 1
Date: November 2011
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: J. T. Krul
Penciler: Dan Jurgens
Inker: George Perez
Colorist: David Baron
Letterer: Rob Leigh
Editor: Sean Mackiewicz, Pat McCallum
Cover: Dave Wilkins

Oliver Queen gets one of the biggest makeovers in the "New 52". He's the owner of a tech corporation now, a fairly blatant ripoff of Apple (there's even a Q-Pad *sigh*). So I guess they're not so much making Ollie into Steve Jobs. They're making him into Tony Stark.

Ollie skips board meetings to travel the world hunting down (third-rate, so far) super-villains. In this case he takes on Dynamix, Doppelganger, and Supercharge in what is essentially an extended jobber squash. Ollie barely breaks a sweat as he dismantles this crew of idiots with an array of trick arrows, plus a few of the old-fashioned pointy kind. Sadly, no boxing-glove arrow, though. No Phantom Zone arrow either. That was a classic one they need to bring back sometime. But really, just one use of the boxing-glove arrow for old-times sake is all I ask!

Ollie has a support team that consist of a woman named Naomi, who is basically a poor imitation of Oracle just by the fact that she is not Barbara Gordon. She seems to wish she was on the support team of someone with fewer scruples about just blowing the bad guys up. Maybe Frank Castle is hiring?

There is also a guy named Jax who reluctantly designs weapons, and he's the best character in the book so far. Which means he'll probably get killed off around issue 3.

Ollie gets in some good lines as he lectures the villains while administering a beatdown. The experienced team of Jurgens and Perez does a great job with the art, and the action is fast-paced without losing attention to detail.

This is one of the more radical departures for a classic character that we've seen in the "New 52", and I had a bit of a hard time reconciling this corporate version of Ollie with the fight-the-power aging hippie version from earlier series. I did think this version was a huge improvement over the (awful) "corporate" version of Ollie presented in one of the Flashpoint crossovers. This character is at least competent and heroic.

Dinah is also conspicuous in her absence, and I'm hoping they have plans to get her involved somehow.

But this is an enjoyable, entertaining superhero book, and the series definitely hit the ground running.

Rating: 6.5/10