COMICS 101: EARTH’S MIGHTIEST HEROES, PART 2: AVENGERS ASSEMBLED
November 12, 2003
By Scott Tipton

(excerpt)

A variety of writers helmed the Avengers throughout the late 1970s and early 1980s, including Gerry Conway, David Michelinie, Bill Mantlo, and Marvel’s then-editor-in-chief Jim Shooter. Consistent (if appearing sporadically) through all of these writers was the work of artist George Perez, who was making a name for himself as the Avengers artist, with his insane attention to detail and ability to deftly handle the rendering of a large cast.

Some of the high points of Perez’s run as artist include several excellent Ultron stories and the beginnings of another of the Avengers’ notable “cosmic” adventures, the Korvac saga.

In “The Korvac Saga,” (appearing in AVENGERS #167-168 and # 170-177) the Avengers find themselves facing an almost unbeatable foe in Korvac the Machine Man, a near-omnipotent being from the 31st century who has retreated to the 20th century home of his ancestors, determined to use his new power (swiped from the abandoned home of Galactus) to begin his reign of universal rule. When the Avengers finally locate him, let’s be charitable and say it doesn’t go well...

AVENGERS: KORVAC SAGA TPB

AVENGERS LEGENDS #2: THE KORVAC SAGA (Mar 2003) Marvel Comics

Re: Question for Tom Brevoort: Why was the 4 last pages of the first korvac trade left out of
Posted by Tom Brevoort on Sunday, April 20 2003 at 04:04:10 GMT

> was the 4 last pages of the first Avengers: Korvac Saga trade left out of the newest one?

That epilogue was done years after the fact, written by the otherwise-saintly Mark Gruenwald, and it basically revealed that the story you had just read was fundamentally flawed, that Korvac's plan could never have succeeded based on things Mark had decided about the Marvel Universe after that story had been done. I thought it was terribly unnecessary and disrespectful when it first came out, so given the opportunity to correct it in the current printing, I asked that it be taken out.

> Are there any other Avengers Legends trades scheduled?

Yes, there's some other stuff in the pipeline.

Tom Brevoort

Re: JLAvengers 5 page preview Posted by Tom Brevoort on Sunday, April 20 2003 at 00:41:33 GMT >I can't wait to see it (unless it's just the pages we saw month ago. Nope. Different stuff. And lettered. Tom Brevoort Re: question for MrBrevoort about gap in Avengers tpb's Posted by Tom Brevoort on Saturday, April 19 2003 at 04:10:58 GMT > Between the Collection of the Ultron Story line, and the Kang Dynasty, there are a lot of Avengers issues that have not been collected into a TPB. Are there any plans to add those issues to the tpb library? Probably at some point, yes. It seems likely that we'll do the next collection of Kurt & George material to coincide with AVENGERS/JLA. Tom Brevoort

AVENGERS LEGENDS #2: THE KORVAC SAGA (Mar 2003) Marvel Comics

Re: Korvac Saga TPB cover? Posted by Taxman on Thursday, March 27 2003 at 03:24:43 GMT I looked at it a little, it does have glossy paper. The cover is not original, it is a varient of the back cover of the previous edition, similar to what I have posted below. Also, the epilouge produced for the previous edition has not been included in this one.

Re: Korvac Saga TPB cover?
Posted by Taxman on Thursday, March 27 2003 at 03:24:43 GMT

I looked at it a little, it does have glossy paper. The cover is not original, it is a varient of the back cover of the previous edition, similar to what I have posted below. Also, the epilouge produced for the previous edition has not been included in this one.

AVENGERS LEGENDS #2: THE KORVAC SAGA (Mar 2003) Marvel Comics

Shipping This Week: March 26 The following products are expected to ship to comic book specialty stores this week. Note that this list is tentative and subject to change. Please check with your retailer for availability. JAN031605 AVENGERS LEGENDS VOL 2 THE KORVAC SAGA TP $19.95

HISTORY OF THE DC UNIVERSE TP

THE HISTORY OF THE DC UNIVERSE TP - relist Written by Marv Wolfman; art by George Pérez and Karl Kesel; painted cover by Alex Ross In stores March 5. This unusual project, which spun out of the universe-changing events of CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS, is reoffered to coincide with the release of THE NEW TEEN TITANS: THE JUDAS CONTRACT TP - NEW EDITION. Narrated by Harbinger (a central figure from CRISIS), HISTORY brings readers back through time and space to the dawn of creation, and continues on to the end of recorded history - as Harbinger reveals "the History of Heroism." FC, 104 pg. Trade Paperback $9.95

WONDER WOMAN: PARADISE LOST

WONDER WOMAN: PARADISE LOST TP - relist Written by Phil Jimenez, J.M. DeMatteis, George Pérez, Joe Kelly, and Devin Grayson; art by Jimenez, Andy Lanning, Pérez, and Cam Smith; cover by Adam Hughes In stores March 19. Reoffered to coincide with the release of the WONDER WOMAN: PARADISE FOUND TP. Reprinting WONDER WOMAN #164-170 and the "Who is Troia?" story from WONDER WOMAN Secret Files #2, this trade paperback features the 4-part "Gods Of Gotham" storyline guest-starring Batman, Nightwing, Robin, Huntress, and others. Plus, an Amazon civil war nearly destroys Paradise Island, and Lois Lane gets the scoop on Diana during a "day in the life" of Wonder Woman. FC, 176 pg. Trade Paperback $14.95

AVENGERS LEGENDS #2: THE KORVAC SAGA

AVENGERS LEGENDS VOL. 2: THE KORVAC SAGA COVER BY GEORGE PEREZ JIM SHOOTER, DAVID MICHELINIE & BILL MANTLO (W) GEORGE PEREZ, SAL BUSCEMA, DAVID WENZEL & TOM MORGAN (A) Back in Print! Hailing from the unimaginable era the 31st century, Korvac the Machine Man flees through the timestream, pursued by the futuristic defenders the Guardians of the Galaxy. Establishing a secret presence on present-day Earth in the persona of the mysterious unassuming Michael, Korvac contemplates the elements of a universe he thirsts to command. Yet despite the subtlety of his machinations, the mighty Avengers discover his cosmos-conquering scheme, drawing the two titanic forces into inevitable conflict. Collecting AVENGERS (Vol.1) #167, 168, 170-177. (RETAILER NOTE: This is a resolicitation and all previous orders have been cancelled). 192 PGS./FC/MARVEL PG.....$19.95

AVENGERS: CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER

AVENGERS: CLEAR & PRESENT DANGERS COVER BY GEORGE PEREZ KURT BUSIEK (W)/GEORGE PEREZ (P) Still Available! 208 PGS./FC/MARVEL PG.....$19.95

INFINITY GAUNTLET (2000)

INFINITY GAUNTLET COVER BY GEORGE PEREZ JIM STARLIN (w)/ GEORGE PEREZ, RON LIM (p) Still Available! The mad Titan, Thanos, seeks to reshape the universe in the visage of his true love, death. Only the combined forces of Earth's heroes and villains stand in the way. 256 PGS./FC/MARVEL PG.....$24.95

According to Amazon.com: AVENGERS: KORVAC SAGAwill be (re)published in June 2003. I know this has been out of print for a while, so this is good news for those fans who don't already own the original trade paperback.

THE JIM SHOOTER AVENGERS INTERVIEW
--A WONDER MAN: COOLER THAN SUPERMAN EXCLUSIVE--
INTERVIEWER: MITCHEL

(excerpt)

9-In Avengers 160 Wonder Man's costume gets trashed by the Reaper's scythe. Instead of getting it back the next issue he is sporting a new one made by the Beast (George Pérez). Why the change in costume?
Because George wanted to do it, and George is both irrepressible and too talented to argue with.

13-I thought it was great the way you had Ultron use Hank & Jan, his "parents" in a very Frankenstein monster way to create a bride for himself. The way you had the Wasp dialogue throughout the creation of Ultron’s mechanical bride start coming from Jan and end up coming out of the metallic female robot next to her was wonderful and creepy at the same time. When you created Ultron’s bride, Jocasta, did you intended her to be a one story character or you were planning on making her an Avenger all along. Was George responsible for the "Metropolis" look on Jocasta or was it something you had specified? Were you happy with George’s design?
I thought Jocasta could be a significant character. George did the design for the character with no more direction than that she should be appealing. George is great.

25-Going back to your Nefaria story, did you enjoy working with John Byrne? Was Nefaria a fun villain to write? What motivated you to write this story? Have you read what we could call a sequel to your story by Busiek & Perez in volume 3?
John was, believe it or not, still learning the craft in those days. His draftsmanship was great, but his storytelling wasn’t top notch. Soon afterward, he immersed himself in Kirby stuff, got the essence of communicating in comics format and made the leap to hyperspace. To answer your question directly, yes I loved working with John. Like Miller, he was a guy you could watch developing page by page. His stuff was exciting even before he’d learned all the basics. He’s an amazing talent. Nefaria was a hoot to write-such a baaaad bad guy. I haven’t read the Busiek and Pérez sequel.

35-Something I’ve always wanted to know is why didn’t George Perez finished the entire Korvac Saga since he is well known to be great at doing this type of story with lots of characters, also George seemed to be able to do one monthly book maybe more at the time.
George was a contract artist for Marvel at that time, meaning he had a monthly quota of pages to draw. He had personal problems that interfered with his work. Also, DC, trying to steal him away, offered him the Justice League right about then. George wrote me a letter of apology, telling me that drawing the JLA was a childhood dream. He went to DC partly to get a clean start and partly because of the chance to draw the JLA. That left me scrambling for artists to finish what George got me into.

[ Read more on Wonder Man: Cooler Than Superman ]

(Vu: For some reason, the 3rd page of this interview does not load up on Netscape 7 - and presumeably all previous version of Netscape, but it works fine in IE6. I viewed the source and I think it is just a bad table code. Also, George was mentioned numerous time, I have only include the most informative bit.)

AVENGERS: THE KORVAC SAGA
Written by various, cover by George Perez.

From the minds of Jim Shooter, George Perez and more comes the time-spanning story of Korvac. Fleeing through the timestream from the futuristic Guardians of the Galaxy, Korvac has established a secret presence on Earth as the mysterious Michael. When the Avengers catch wind of his scheme to dominate the universe, they must find him before the Guardians - or risk certain annihilation! Featuring the work of David Michelinie, Bill Mantlo, Sal Buscema, David Wenzel and Tom Morgan. Reprinting Avengers (Vol. 1) #167, #168, #170 - #177.

192 pages, $19.95.

CBM: How did "The Korvac Saga" come about?
Pérez: Well that was Jim's and my desire to do a big, epic Avengers storyline. I mean, they're going to have to rise from the dead to win this battle! And the guardians of the Galaxy? "Hey, these are characters I haven't drawn! More costumes, more characters! Hey, this is going to be fun!"
      He wanted to do it in order to use me as best he could. I guess that was as close to drawing as many characters as Legion had, that he'd be doing on The Avengers. And then I had to double-cross him by going through personal hassles and everything else - my marriage was falling apart - and I ended up not even finishing the saga that Jim started with the intention of it being a big magnum opus from the team of Shooter and Perez. And I was gone. And that was the big regret [for me about] that story - like, unfortunately, too many stories in my career - I started off with all maximum strength, some of the best I could do, but for one reason or another, I just could not finish it. And that was my regret because I think Jim and I were doing some really, really kick ass on that.