Posted in: Avengers, Comics | Tagged: ant man, avengers, captain america, HRL, hulk, iron man, Lacey reviews, loki, marvel, Review, she-hulk, spider-man, thor, wasp

Marvel Comics Digest – Avengers Review: How A Team Was Formed

Previously, I reviewed the first Marvel Digest and I wasn't impressed. The stories were a mess of inconsistencies and felt more random than a concentrated volume. What was supposed to be a highlight of Spider-Man as a character fell flat. So how does the second digest — this time focusing on the Avengers — fare?

It's pretty great, actually.

The biggest problem with the Spider-Man digest was how it bounced all over the place and never really found a steady voice with Peter. Even with movie relevant villains, it was hard to care about anything going on. Marvel Comics Digest: Avengers fixes this by keeping a very clear goal in mind: introduce and highlight each Avenger and hit some key points in their stories as a team.

Sequential issues help this book out tremendously. It starts out with a pair of classics: Avengers #1 and #2. Both great reads, even if only to recall the origins of our favorite team. Despite the focus on gritty action in a lot of superhero movies nowadays, the original origin of the Avengers was really just one of convenience. And, of course, with some good old-fashioned meddling in the form of Loki. It's great to see an unashamed embrace of the past without any bells and whistles and really sets a lighthearted but action-oriented tone for the rest of the volume.

What this book doesn't do is laser-focus on only the MCU characters, for which I'm incredibly grateful. While characters like Hawkeye, Cap, and Widow appear, The Wasp, She-Hulk, and Monica Rambeau's Captain Marvel also get their time to shine. Funnily enough, in the beginning issues of this digest, Spider-Man is featured quite heavily and better represented than in his standalone digest. With other characters to play off of, Peter's humor comes off as charming and youthful — especially in his interactions with She-Hulk.

The structure of the book is fantastic. Just when you begin to grow tired of the endless "fight the baddy of the day and pick up a new Avenger" plot line, MODOK's issue appears for a much-needed source of humor. While it could have devolved into a disjointed mess after this issue, the digest jumps right back on track with the solid writing found in Marvel Universe: Avengers Assemble #1.

All in all, this digest has better issue picks, better consistency, and a more dynamic theme. I can't recommend it enough.

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