Pipeline, Issue #387
Tuesday November 9, 2004
written by Augie De Blieck Jr.

(excerpt)

MARVEL GETS COLLECTION MANIA IN 2005

Marvel has so many series that it becomes far too easy to confuse them all. That's what happened last week when I confused the LOKI mini-series with THOR: SON OF ASGARD. The LOKI that's being collected is, indeed, the four issue mini. It is complete in one volume. Sorry for any confusion.

This past week, Marvel released a provisional publishing schedule for its 2005 collections through May. There is a lot to look forward to, and a lot of personal buying habits to rearrange.

If you're a hardcover junkie like I am, you'll have a fourth such collection of ULTIMATE X-MEN and a second FANTASTIC FOUR collecting the Waid/Wieringo era in February. AVENGERS ASSEMBLE collects a second batch of the Busiek/Perez-era series, and SUPREME POWER's first 12 issues are under one cover in March. April brings us a BEST OF THE FANTASTIC FOUR hardcover, with stories from all the major eras of the series. Consider it your gift suggestion for when the movie hits the theaters. It has a nice selection of stories spanning all eras. There are also new MARVEL MASTERWORKS volumes, as well as STAN LEE and STEVE DITKO special editions, but I can't get too excited about those. Call it a personal failing if you must.

AVENGERS ASSEMBLE HARDCOVER
Tuesday, July 27, 2004 4:44:51 PM

A gorgeous, substantial hardcover, AVENGERS ASSEMBLE collects AVENGERS #1- 11 and ANNUAL 1998, with the stellar art of George Pérez and fine storytelling of Kurt Busiek. This deluxe collection features the greatest heroes of the Marvel Universe—including Captain America, Iron Man and Thor—in action-packed full-color stories. And at $29.99 it's a great value! Another Avengers collection, LIVING LEGENDS, also arrived this week, with "outstanding, detailed artwork by Pérez—man, can he draw superheroes!" - Bud.

Recommended. By Kurt Busiek. Illustrated by George Pérez. The Avengers embark on one of their strongest eras ever! Busiek and Pérez have renovated the comic book field with such works as Astro City and New Teen Titans; now see their take on Earth's Mightiest Heroes. We really love Pérez's fine artwork on this thick new collection! Collects AVENGERS #1-11 and ANNUAL 1998.
Product code: AVH. Your price: $29.99

(Vu: Includes a nice large scan of the AVENGERS ASSEMBLE HC Cover.)

This is the definitive Avengers collection - at least for the first year of volume three. It is primarily comprised of the following trades: AVENGERS: THE MORGAN CONQUEST, AVENGERS: SUPREME JUSTICE and AVENGERS: CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGERS.

They got it right with this one. All the credits are correctly displayed on the contents page. Avengers roster are correct (just enough characters for unfamiliar readers). All the covers of AVENGERS for that year, including ALL variant covers (including the Wizard cover, with a different background color), unpublished covers ("Wanda in Chains"), and, as a special bonus, the 30th Anniversary Poster recolored for this collected edition.

Another bonus is that AVENGERS ROUGH CUT is also included in this massive collection.

But wait, these's even more. A new introduction by Kurt Busiek, and the original correspondence between Tom Brevoort & Busiek early in development of the new Avengers series. It is pretty fascinating to see issue by issue plot overview for the first year (#1-12).

I do have two complaints, however. Obviously, the absent new material from George Pérez, I would've liked to see maybe even a little foreword, or photographs of the two creators together, or something ? The second complaint is (at least on my copy of the book), that chapter 11 suffered from either a poor printing source (it looks like a 2nd or 3rd generation film as it's blurry/colors are awful), or that the printer just broke down on chapter 11. It's still readable, but compared to the very crisp printing of the first 10 chapters of the book, it simply looks bad.

I absolutely love Marvel's collected paper, it's glossy and thick and colors are rich, unlike the poorly produced newsprint of DC's cheap trade. I am mentioning this because if DC & Marvel published the same book and DC uses the newsprint, they'd somehow charge the same price. I don't know how Marvel is doing it, but the quality of the paper doesn't affect their prices.

Again, the Avengers Assemble Hardcover is worth your $29.99. Value-wise, it's great because if you add up the three previous trade, it comes up to about $50 (and they're all softcover!). I do not know why DC or Marvel doesn't do more of these yearly collection. I realized that not every series will break well by 12 issues (and the annual), but still... I would love to see more of these massive collections. I'm betting that #12-23, and Annual #2 will be around the corner if enough fans buy this book and write and ask for it. I'm asking for it!

Think of it this way, television DVD Season collections vs Television "singles". I know for a fact that I would never touch these single DVDs. If I work it out, buying the singles you probably end up paying as much, if not more, than a boxset. Also, you do not get all the special packaging of the boxset. There's many factors, but basically it comes down to this: I do want it all in one nice package.

Shipping This Week: July 21, 2004
Monday, July 19, 2004 10:15:37 AM

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.

MAY041713 AVENGERS ASSEMBLE HC $29.99

Brief Notes: Avengers #500 Poster
week of 6/7/2004

Marvel Assembles "Avengers Disassemble" Lead-in Projects
The beginning of the end for the Marvel Universe's mightiest super-team is drawing closer in three upcoming Marvel Comics projects. Thor #82 (MAY041636, $2.99) will introduce its new creative team - writer Michael Avon Oeming & artist Andrea DiVito - and a new direction with a tie-in to the big "Avengers Disassemble" event that will force Thor to endure the ordeals of Odin in order to save Asgard.

The Avengers Assemble HC (MAY041713, $29.99) will collect the acclaimed Avengers #1-#11 and Avengers Annual '98 by another super-team: Kurt Busiek & George Pérez, with Carlos Pacheco.

Lastly, the 48-page Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Avengers 2004 (MAY041637, $3.99) will provide current and new Avengers readers with complete profiles of more than 20 past & present members, wrapped in a cover by Salvador Larroca, and digitally painted by Richard Isanove. The Handbook and Thor #82 are slated to ship on July 7, followed by the HC on July 14. A 24" x 36" Avengers #500 Poster (MAY041709, $5.95), drawn by David Finch, is also offered, and scheduled to ship on July 14.

Avengers 41 Th. anniversary image by Perez /Smith
Posted by Tom Smith on Wednesday, May 19 2004 at 18:41:37 GMT

1000 × 656 A 30 th ann poster.jpg (184 kb)

Hi guys..

Check this out.

After 11 years Marvel asked me to re-color this monster using computer color.

It will be used as a 2-page-spread in the Avengers Assemble HC which is on sale in July and in the July Marvel Previews catalog.

I changed a few things ... can anyone pick them out?

Enjoy..
Tom Smith "Ex-ACAL!"

DIAMOND DIALOGUE, page 14 (May 2004)

Special thanks to Outpost 2000 for lending me this DIAMOND DIALOGUE (May 2004), published by Diamond.

The feature ran for one full page and covers the Avengers Disassembled Event (spotlighting on the various crossover issues like Thor and Iron Man).

The bottom half of the page spotlight on various collected Avengers books, basically trying to tell retailers to order heavy on these books in case converts from the Disassembled fans decide to want to read more about the Avengers.

>>>
Avengers TPs, HCs Introduce Readers to Earth's Mightiest Heroes

AVENGERS ASSEMBLE HC (Jul 2004) AVENGERS: LIVING LEGENDS TPB (Jul 2004)

This summer's Avengers Disassembled event is sure to have True Believers spellbound by the events therein and "New" Believers eager to find out more about the team at the center of the storm. Retailers can take advantage of this potentially lucrative opportunity by offering new and backlist Avengers trade paperbacks to give curious customers everything they need to know about Earth's Mightiest Heroes.

AVENGERS ASSEMBLE HC (DCD: MAY041713D4, UPC: 75960611573000111) - This mammoth 384-page hardcover edition collects the seminal work of two Avengers legends: Kurt Busiek and George Pérez. These consummate storytellers relaunched Avengers, cementing their positions at the top of the creator charts! The recent JLA/Avengers series has propelled the two to even greater heights and this volume will only complement their popularty and further whet fans' appetites.

AVENGERS: LIVING LEGENDS TPB (7DCD: MAY041715D4, UPC: 5960611561700111) - This 208-page trade represents the final collection of issues by Kurt Busiek and George Perez: Avengers #23-30. this run finds Earth's Mightiest Heroes encountering Juggernaut, ancient sorcerer Kulan Gath and even each other!

AVENGERS ASSEMBLE HC (Jul 2004) JLA / AVENGERS: THE COLLECTOR'S EDITION OVERSIZED, SLIPCASED HARDCOVER (Aug 2004)

PREVIEWS OF JUNE 2004
Friday April 30, 2004
Pipeline Previews for July 2004
written by Augie De Blieck Jr.

(excerpt)

Marvel, in the meantime, is churning out more stuff, most of which you saw last month. This month, however, the issue numbers have been incremented! The big news is the "Avengers Disassembled" storyline starting up with AVENGERS #500. I'm not quite sure how much I care at this point.

The book from Marvel that I'm most excited about is AVENGERS ASSEMBLE, the hardcover collection of Kurt Busiek and George Perez's first year together on the title. It contains issues #1-11, plus the Pacheco-drawn ANNUAL '98. It is well timed, coinciding with the JLA/AVENGERS hardcover the following month and the "Avengers Disassemble" event in July. I wonder if DC is ticked off that Marvel is producing a hardcover Busiek/Perez AVENGERS hardcover mere weeks before their expensive AVENGERS/JLA hardcover hits stands?

Marvel Comics Solicits for July 2004
Posted: Tuesday, April 20
Posted By: Shawn Patty

AVENGERS ASSEMBLE HC (Jul 2004)

AVENGERS ASSEMBLE HC
Written by Kurt Busiek
Illustrated by George Pérez with Carlos Pacheco
Cover by George Pérez

The Avengers embark on one of their strongest eras ever! Kurt Busiek and George Pérez have renovated the comic-book field with such works as Astro City and New Teen Titans, respectively; now, see their take on Earth's Mightiest Heroes. Fresh from the Heroes Reborn fiasco, the Avengers find themselves thrown into yet another alternate reality, under the power of Morgan Le Fay! Meanwhile, on the home front, the Squadron Supreme challenges their very identities! Collects AVENGERS #1-11 and ANNUAL '98.

384 PGS./MARVEL PSR...$29.99
UPC: 5960611573-00111

AVENGERS: LIVING LEGENDS TPB (Jul 2004)

AVENGERS: LIVING LEGENDS TPB
Written by KURT BUSIEK
Pencils by GEORGE PÉREZ with STUART IMMONEN
Cover by GEORGE PÉREZ

The long-awaited final collection of AVENGERS issues by the legendary team of writer Kurt Busiek and artist George Pérez finds Earth's Mightiest Heroes on the outs! They've shared the same brain patterns – and loved the same woman. Now, Wonder Man and the Vision go head to-head! Can the Scarlet Witch possibly pick a side? Next, the Avengers encounter the Juggernaut – but as foe…or friend?! And Cap leads the all-new team of Silverclaw, Warbird, Captain Marvel and Ant-Man into all-out action! Finally, the Avengers battle ancient sorcerer Kulan Gath amid a nation lost in time! Can they avert his attempt to turn back the clock on humanity? Collects AVENGERS #23-30.

208 PGS./MARVEL PSR …$19.99
UPC: 5960611561-00111