Ever wonder what it was like before comic books had to based in boring reality? Instead, we got awesome superhero stories with amazing science fiction and fantasy overtones. Yes, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby gave us The Avengers with founders Iron Man, Thor, Wasp, Ant-Man, Hulk, and later Captain America. 

Marvel Masterworks The Avengers Volume 1 brings us the first 9 issues from the first series The Avengers. It features Loki becoming a villain, Baron Zemo leading the Masters of Evil, Kang the Conqueror, Immortus, the Lava People, and the often overlooked Teen Brigade. The story was different than the Fantastic Four. Where as the FF were a family, the Avengers were a team with people of very different backgrounds and perspectives.

Stan Lee and Jack Kirby were the founders of great comic book writing. I still think that they are the best, though Jack Kirby has gone to that great artist commune in the sky, these men were the masters were of comic books. They put Marvel Comics on the map and I often wonder what they think ever since comics started to go more politically correct.

Back then, the stories were exaggerated and had no basis in real life, but I think that is what made them special. This movement to “normalize” comic books, in my humble opinion, have only served to ruin artistic creativity. This volume serves to remind us what made us love these characters. 

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