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Hey everybody, welcome back to another thought provoking edition of Marvel Snapshot. This week I’ll be discussing the future of The Avengers! Yes Earth’s Mightiest Heroes are in for some big changes and I for one am pumped to see what is going to happen after Siege has concluded.

It has been a couple of weeks now since the news of all the Avengers titles being cancelled and to be honest, at first it made me mad. After careful consideration though, it might not be that bad. Right now Marvel has four main Avengers books: New Avengers, Mighty Avengers, Avengers Initiative, and Dark Avengers. All are good books but in my opinion the Initiative book has really been dragging for a few months so I wouldn’t miss that anyway. I’ve really liked New Avengers from day one and if the new book(s) don’t have a lot of those same faces I’ll definitely be disappointed.

Mighty Avengers has been a solid read to. It’s certainly had some ups and downs but overall I think it’s really shown that it can carry itself with the team of characters in that book from month to month. I’m a Khoi Pham fan so I really would like to see him on an Avengers book after all is said and done with the re-boots. Dark Avengers finishing up is no surprise to anyone that’s been reading Avengers since Secret Invasion. Norman has been setting himself up for a big fall and I’m sure the rest of the Marvel U. will be happy to give him a little push…well, at least we know Loki gladly will.
I for one am looking forward to the old team getting back together but I guess only time will tell if Steve, Tony, and Thor will figure out a way to compromise and get back to being the best team since 1963(sorry to inform all you X-fans out there). Don’t misunderstand, I’ll miss Hank Pym trying to be a leader, the underground resistance feel to Luke Cage’s team (yes I feel he’s the leader), and even the college dorm room vibe to Initiative. Really though, who isn’t yearning to see Steve Rogers slinging his trademark shield, while Iron Man fires his repulsor rays, and Thor swings Mjolnir as he ascends from the sky for battle?

Marvel did basically tell us a few months back that Siege was going to bring together the big three (Cap, Iron Man, and Thor) to take down Norman and his Dark Avengers. I’ll actually be happy to see villains like Bullseye go back to being themselves instead of masquerading as heroes. It was fun for a while but I think it’s run it’s course for sure. Anything past this point and time would be overkill.
Marvel has already sort of tipped their hand by showing teasers of the “Heroic Age” and “Avengers #1, I am an Avenger” titles that are due out in May. These seem to be new titles that will just condense the Avengers into 2 books instead of 4. To be truthful, Marvel is wise to do this because sales were lacking in Mighty Avengers and Initiative anyway for sometime. Taking these characters from those 2 books should only make the new titles all that more strong because of the diversity they will have. Let’s be honest, everybody’s wallet could use a break with all the regular titles, one-shots, limited series, and so on. I think as long as the writing and artwork are great, who cares if they trim the fat a little. I would love to see Pham stay on an Avengers title, Pak and Van Lente are great on Hercules to, so I wouldn’t mind seeing them stick around either. Bendis is good at weaving a story and Immonen’s artwork is consistently good to. I’m sure none of these guys besides Bendis is guaranteed anything but it would be nice to see the same consistency in these new books that the old ones had for the most part.

That’s all for this edition but I’ll leave you with a couple of images from Marvel about the two new series coming up in May. As always leave comments stating your thoughts on the subject, especially all my fellow Avengers fans. See you next week!

Billy Dunleavy
billy@comicattack.net