cap_ironman | Discussion for Avengers Vol 3 Issue 1 (First Half)

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discussion wednesday

Discussion for Avengers Vol 3 Issue 1 (First Half)

Scans of this half of the issue can be found here on my LJ if you need to refresh your memory or weren't able to obtain a copy of the trade. Please don't comment there - come back here for that!

Under the cut are some discussion points, but feel free to talk about anything that struck you while reading.

Of vital importance: Jan's two new costumes! Would Tim Gunn approve?

The writer obviously put thought into which Avengers were introduced though the mass attack at the beginning, using some lesser-known Avengers to make it diverse. How many of them did you know? Did any stand out?

Early volume 3 uses news reports as an in-story way of giving background. Do you prefer this to recap pages?

Tony seems on edge when we first see him. Is it because he can't have hot tea through a straw?

How do you feel about Thor's font? His facial hair?

A narration box on the last page reads, Captain America speaks normally - not once raising his voice above a pleasant, firm baritone. But even so, his words stir the others - What would you most like to hear Cap recite?

On Thursday we'll have more to talk about, as the second half of this issue contains exposition and fight scenes galore. You can read it here.

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Okay, so this first part was mostly set-up and exposition, but a few things stood out for me.

Wow, that's a lot of Avenggers! I recognized most of them at least by name, but a few were totally new to me. Living Lightning? Sersi? Moondragon? Starfox? How am I supposed to keep track of all these people? And hey, no one ever told me there was an oceanographer superhero! Cool!
I liked seeing some of the more obscure Avengers fighting in the prologue. It gave a sense of how wide-spread the attack was, that it wasn't just the big guns being attacked.
The tea-drinking scene: Hank apparently has a special giant-sized tea cup made just for him. Are there giant forks and spoons in the mansion's silverware drawer, too? Do they have little thimble-sized cups set aside for Ant-Man? Also, Steve has a little tea towel draped over his leg while he drinks his tea. How cute is that?
Wasn't I lamenting just the other day about Tony and his control-freak tendencies? Here he's getting all snippy because he apparently thinks that he should've somehow known in advance about the attacks. And somehow stopped the Avengers from being disbanded. Uh, Tony, you were in another universe and presumed dead. Give yourself a break, man.
Steve, of course, wants Tony to calm down and focus on the current problem. Steve is a tactical thinker rather than a strategic one, which makes sense given his background.
Carol is Binary here, huh? I don't think I've read anything with her as Binary before.
I don't care for Thor with a beard, it makes him look old and scruffy. *is shallow*

Overall, this is definitely fun so far. And the art is so pretty and shiny!

That is a lot of Avengers. I think I first encountered Living Lightning in Great Lake Avengers: Misassembled, which is mostly a mess of dark parody, slapstick, and gross-out humor, but which has a few good moments. At one point the team was trying to find members to replace those who had been recently killed, and they asked Living Lightning if he'd join the GLA. He said he'd been meaning to join them for a while, and when the team expressed surprise, it turned out that he thought GLA stood for Gay/Lesbian Alliance. I guess other than that he's mostly in West Coast Avengers, which I mostly haven't read. Moondragon plays a large role in Avengers: Celestial Madonna, which is considered a very classic story arc.

The huge cup baffles and amuses me to no end.

I generally agree with you about Thor's beard, but overall I'm anti-facial hair.

The teacup makes me giggle, because first of all -- Hank can change size at will, right? Why does he need the big cup, and why does he choose to drape himself over the chandelier in order to drink his nice cuppa instead of shrinking down to normal size and sitting next to Jan. Is he just that determined to show off?

Also, I LOL imagining Tony going out and ordering custom-made dishes and cutlery for various Avengers. Is there an extra-giant adamantium cup for the Hulk?

Well, there was a period of time where Hank was stuck at supersized, so I guess they could have bought him extra large dinnerware then..? And maybe he feels like since it exists, he might as well use it..? It's just, Jarvis must have to make a whole pot of tea just for him, and that seems wasteful.

I'd rather see what tiny cups Ant Man and the Wasp might use. I can picture Jarvis at a craft store browsing the minitures isle for tiny little plates and bowls. I'd love to read a fic where they spend a whole day pixie-sized and hang out at a toy fair like the one in the music video for Hurricane Bell's This Year.

I don't know how the Hulk drinks, but an adamantium cup could only help.

Speaking of the Hulk, I love that Jan invited him to the gathering, and that he didn't just ignore the invitation but actually took the time to call and yell at the Avengers before stomping off. It's totally something I can imagine Avengers:EMH Jan and Hulk doing.

Hank apparently has a special giant-sized tea cup made just for him. Are there giant forks and spoons in the mansion's silverware drawer, too? Do they have little thimble-sized cups set aside for Ant-Man?

God, think of the size of the tea cosy.

Oh, I remember this story line. I have several things to say about it, but most of the serious stuff covers later events, so I won't say anything about that.

Instead, I'll just comment about Scarlet Witch taking a cab in full costume. I mean, only in New York, right?

Also, D-Man. What ever happened to that guy?

Residents of Marvel's NYC wouldn't even blink at the Scarlet Witch, I imagine. With costumes like Namor's and Moondragon's around, Wanda's is practically casual.

No idea about D-Man. I wish Marvel had 'Where Are They Now?' features.

Frankly, the residents of the real NYC wouldn't blink at the Scarlet Witch, either. Compared to, say, the Naked Cowboy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naked_Cowboy), she's positively demure.

Lol, I think I saw him on The Peoples Court or something, suing someone for copying him.

D-Man was in an I Am An Avenger issue, in a pie-eating contest. There's a scan up here.

I don't know why, but all I'm left with after reading comics are the stupid things.

Like Thor's derpy face in his big panel.

XD! I didn't notice, but now that's all I can see...

*resists making icons*

It's pretty terrible. THOR SHOULD NOT HAVE TWO LAZY EYES.

I'm always one to go for the underdog, so to see so many secondary characters in one place makes me quite happy! I'm now quite curious about D-Man... is he secretly kickass, like a ninja!bum?

I like the page layout for the attacks, how they get smaller and quicker, like the battles are picking up speed, even without showing the whole of any one fight.

Steve knows how to handle Tony's worrying over not knowing everything.Keep it up, Steve!

I prefer shaven Thor, though a beard does make him look more Viking. Needs braids for the full effect.

I like that you mentioned the page layout for the attacks. It does visually pick up speed, but I had to force myself to slow down to look at each box, as my eyes wanted to scan over them quickly. Anyone else have that problem?

If anyone can handle Tony's worrying, it's Steve ;-)

I did read it too fast and skipped some, then I re-read it carefully. I usually read too fast with anything I'm enjoying, so I'm pretty used to it.

I think I've seen an icon of this panel somewhere, can't be sure. But, god, so adorable.

Yes! Yhey would be the first to hold hands wouldn't they?

Adorable, heartwarming and tragic. Oh boys.

Heya! *waves to everyone*

I think I remember buying this arc after Heroes Reborn because I thought it was a great jumping on point for Avengers without needing to read a billion back issues. It also looked pretty.

Hotheaded Pietro reminds me about all those anger-management classes the boy needed. But wasn't it a little weird to see him and Wanda sitting down just having a meal? I mean, I look at PastWanda and want to hug her and tell her it'll be okay, but then...

God I miss Jan too. She was/is a good character, a hero and lovely person. Reading this again just makes me want her to come back and show those 'boys' how to actually relate to each other as human beings again.

Her face when Hulk bitched them out? She's adorable. The costumes are fabulous of course. Jan's already got two down in the first issue so i'm looking forward to how creative Perez can be with superheroine attire. Not too many bikinis I hope.

I also thought Busiek did a good job of giving all those different Avengers little snippets of dialogue. Black Widow's convo with Falcon was a great touch with plenty of meaning in just a few lines.

Great start. I'm restraining myself from reading ahead, because most of this I can't remember and I want the 'wow' factor again.

Oh, I don't mean I doubt Perez can draw awesome ladies. He was the one who invented her new-costume-every-week thing, but i'm interested to see if he can keep the designs great or ridiculous on this run too. :D

Seeing Wanda, Pietro, Crystal and Luna together and relatively happy (until the monsters attack) is certainly bittersweet. Same with Jan. I can't wait until they're both back in action in the Marvel Universe. I'm reminded of the first issue of Mighty Avengers when Carol and Tony are putting together a new team and Carol calls Jan 'the best Avenger', which, I still don't know how that fits Carol's characterization, but I don't think she's wrong. In the hands of a good writer, Jan really is the kindest and the bravest.

You have better restraint than I. I only read this for the first time about a year and a half ago, and yet I still can't resist reading ahead ;-)

Stupid question: What's the state of Tony's Secret Identity at this point? *is a n00b*

Still secret from the public, but nearly all of the Avengers know. There have been a couple of retconned public disclosures, but it won't stick for good until Johns' run after Busiek's.

Perez and Davis are by far my favorite Avengers artists, and Busiek is way by far my favorite modern Avengers writer (oh my God, I can't wait until y'all get to the Kang Dynasty arc). I actually did a full rant on tumblr about the gloriousness of his Jan-writing.

Ooh, html fail

I love Busiek's writing so, so much also. There's some occasional stuff that makes me wince (Thor claiming the Avengers are colorblind, for instance) but every one of his characters comes off as fully human, and that makes him a jewel of an author. I love how Wanda and Carol and Jan and Angel shine and make mistakes in different ways, and Monica's cameo is awesome. Also, the plots move at a good pace for me, and don't do that flashforward/flashbackward thing that a lot of modern plots do.

Basically, IA.

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Discussion for Avengers Vol 3 Issue 1 (First Half)

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This is all I got.

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Oh nostalgia.

Re: Oh nostalgia.

Re: Oh nostalgia.

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