The Old School Gives Way

Avengers Vol. 3 #37

Written by Kurt Busiek

Art by Steve Epting and Al Vey

It's amazing what a difference a few years can make. Just look at Marvel comics. A scant few years ago, a concept like The Avengers played second fiddle to 90's juggernauts like Spider-Man and the X-Men. It wasn't until the rise of Marvel's current cinematic universe that characters like Thor, Captain America, and even Iron Man would get any kind of reaction from the casual fan, much less a positive one.

Seriously, do you remember Tony Stark being nearly as cool as he is now pre-Robert Downey Jr.? Of course you don't. It took a great director and killer performance to bring that character to life in a way that a mainstream audience can digest and appreciate. The material and potential were always there, but it needed a kick in the pants in terms of presentation.

I also feel there's a point in the comics where the Avengers needed a kick in the pants. Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Millar would do the kicking in this scenario, however. Back in the late nineties, The Avengers was a quality comic book for sure, with Kurt Busiek writing and the living legend George Perez on art duties, but with indy books like The Authority and Powers deconstructing super-powered characters in new and interesting ways, the classic super-heroics in Avengers may have seemed stale by comparison. Busiek and Perez had a storied three year run that would've been more at home a few years prior I think, harkening back to the Roger Stern era with the constantly shifting team roster, rogues gallery of classic big bads, and the kind of storytelling bombast Stan Lee and Jack Kirby built the Marvel house on.

Despite being a favorite run of many O.G. Avengers fans, Busiek and Perez's run was not to last. Busiek himself would continue on the title as the writer for a stretch, which is where today's back issue dive springs from. And stepping up to the plate on art, with the unenviable task of having to follow George Perez, is Steve Epting.

Epting was an Avengers vet already, although his work here is leagues beyond the material he produced for the original Avengers series during the (shudder) Bob Harras run. The work here seems simpler and cleaner, perhaps the result of Al Vey's inks. Vey worked with Perez during his tenure on the book, and most likely wanted to maintain a certain visual continuity, even with a new artist jumping on. Epting is also far from done with the Marvel stable at this point in his career. Most recently, you may have seen his work in Ed Brubaker's Captain America and Winter Soldier runs. And don't forget about their image series Velvet!

Issue #37 is the conclusion of a skirmish between the Avengers and the terrifying, stories-tall Bloodwraith, as he rages across the ruins of Slorenia, a fictional third world country ravaged by Ultron in a previous arc, the classic "Ultron Unlimited". Meanwhile, a separate team of Avengers must deal with the villains Pagan and Lord Templar back in NYC. Newbie member Triathalon is on display here; secretly an agent planted by the Scientologists . . . . I mean, the Triune Understanding. With Wanda's chaos magick, Avengers Team A is able to trap the Bloodwraith within the war torn country while Avengers Team B is usurped by Triathalon. The new hero succeeds where his peers have failed, much to the chagrin of the Avengers and the crows that has gathered to watch them in action. All the while, the Triune Understanding looks on and schemes.

This particular issue is a bit of a jumble. There are many characters flying around doing things and a lesser writer would resort to simplifying the action so as not to let characterization suffer. Busiek doesn't so this; instead he's able to distill a character's personality within whatever little bit of "screen time" they're given.

I can't necessarily recommend Avengers #37 as a single issue. Not unless you want to trek further back and read the Busiek run in its entirety (or at least as far back as the Ultron Unlimited story). It is an example of an Avengers book in what I like to think of as the twilight of "classic" marvel. Joe Quesada's Marvel Knights imprint and rise to power during this time would eventually influence the entire line, and the shift to "writing for the trade" would become the go-to method of producing monthly comics. I still find the cover very striking though; it always jumps out at me when I see it in longboxes.

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