Writer: Joe Casey
Artist: William Rosado
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Price: $3.99
Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes II is (unsurprisingly), a follow-up to Joe Casey and Scott Kolins’ miniseries from a couple of years back, Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, although not a direct sequel. While the original series went behind the scenes and weaved its way through issues 1-16 of the original run of The Avengers, this one investigates and expands upon the events of a far smaller period, between issues 58-60.
The first issue in fact follows on from the end of the classic issue 58, Even An Android Can Cry, and it does so quite well. Casey has stated in interviews that he wants to fill in the gaps in this era, as in the space of a couple of issues the Vision goes from being a strange android in the employ of the deranged robot Ultron to being a loyal member of the team, and Hank Pym starts calling himself Yellowjacket, claims to have disposed of Hank Pym, and yet somehow persuades Hank’s girlfriend Janet to marry him. It doesn’t take too much to see that there are some pretty big blanks to fill in here.
Casey is off to a good start. He fills in what happened since the previous mini through a scene where the more established Avengers reminisce among themselves, and again later via Hawkeye filling the Vision in on the team’s recent history. Much like the previous miniseries, Casey expands upon the Avengers’ downtime as much as the action, delving deeper into their interpersonal relationships and their outside activities.
Rosado has almost as big a pair of shoes to fill as Casey, filling in as he is between issues by John Buscema. He has a clear, straightforward style, which helps to fit it in with the older stories; all too often, flashback stories are done in art styles which clash with the original issues. There’s not much that he can do, however, with the Wasp’s awful costume; although thankfully she changes that by the time they’re covering the events of issue 59. Most importantly, he manages to draw Hawkeye and Captain America, two blonde-haired all-American boys, with different faces and hairstyles, making them easily distinguishable – a feat that eludes many people.
Overall, this is a promising start to what will hopefully be an enjoyable series, and a vast improvement on Casey’s last exploration of Marvel history, Fantastic Four: First Family. If Casey can pull this off as well as he did last time, it will shed new light on some classic stories, and hopefully in the process clarify a few of the glossed-over moments. If you’re an old-school Avengers fan not happy with the current title, or just someone who appreciates classic superheroics, this could be just what you’re looking for. It’s a shame that, at $3.99 every two weeks, it may be outside the price range of more than a few people.
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Russell Hillman was born in London but now lives in Coventry. His hobbies include precious little. He doesn’t get out much, but thinks reading a lot of comics makes up for it. He’s wrong.