Guardians Of The Galaxy: Tomorrow's Avengers Vol. 2 and Avengers: Korvac Saga

Note from your trusted blogger:
I was in the process of reviewing Avengers: Korvac Saga when I received the Guardians vol. 2 tpb. The first half of the Guardians book reprints the entire Korvac Saga, plus other stories that featured the Guardians, so I thought it would be more efficient to post a joint review of these books.

Guardians Of The Galaxy: Tomorrow's Avengers Vol. 2
Reprints Thor Annual #6; Avengers #167-168, 170-177, 181; Ms. Marvel (1977) #23; Marvel Team-Up (1972) #86; and Marvel Two-In-One (1974) #61-63 and #69

Written by Jim Shooter, Len Wein, Roger Stern, George Perez, David Michelinie and Bill Mantlo.
Penciled by George Perez, Sal Buscema,Dave Wenzel, John Byrne, Mike Vosburg, Bob McLeod, Jerry Bingham, Ron Wilson and Tom Morgan.
Inked by Klaus Jason, Pablo Marcos, Ricardo Villamonte, Gene Day, Dan Green, Joseph Rubenstein, Bob McLeod, Bruce Patterson, Rick Bryant, Winslow Mortimer and "Diverse Hands".

Avengers:The Korvac Saga
Reprints Thor Annual #6 and Avengers #167-168, 170-177

Summary:
The Guardians of the Galaxy and the Avengers star in one of the most epic sagas of all time...and more!

In the 31st century, the Guardians were formed by Vance Astrovik, AKA Vance Astro, who time-travelled from the 20th cenutry. They serve as a protectors of the future Earth and occasionally time-travel back to our present day. 

Thor, Norse God of Thunder, is foiling a terrorist attack on a nuclear facility when he's transported into the 31st century. He winds up on the spaceship of the Guardians of the Galaxy! They're attacked by evil cyborg Korvac and his minions. But the attack on the Guardians is merely a distraction.

Korvac hates Earth. He wants to destroy it and all who inhabit the planet. His hatred of Earthlings led him to side with the Badoon when they conquered Earth. But the Badoon overworked Korvac until he passed out due to exhaustion.

Thor & Starhawk faceoff against Korvac, while the
rest of the Guardians tackle Korvac's minions.

They turned him into a cyborg and wired his brain to circuits. But Korvac's computer skills helped him make himself a dangerous villain. The combined might of Thor & the Guardians is enough to defeat Korvac and save Earth, just in the nick of time. But Korvac escapes.

The Guardians & Beast get off to a bad start, but cooler heads prevail.

Korvac time-travels back to 1977 in order to kill Vance Astro, who is still a teenager in the present time. This will prevent Astro from growing up, traveling into the future and founding the Guardians, allowing Korvac to rule his time unopposed. The Guardians get a house near young Vance's home so they can watch over him, while the "adult" Astro stays in space.

The Guardians explain how Korvac has changed 
and become more dangerous than ever.

But Korvac is more dangerous than before. He has aquired the Power Cosmic by using knowledge he stole from Galactus.This has made Korvac a virtual god and one of the most powerful beings that ever lived! He uses the knowledge to return himself to his human form. Korvac calls himself "Michael" and lives in a house in Queens, NY. Unbeknownst to the Guardians and Avengers, Korvac is omniscient and sees their every move.

Korvac, as "Michael", monologues on how the most powerful
beings in the universe don't know of his existence.

Korvac talks of bringing peace and order to the universe and making himself its all-powerful benevolent dictator.

Guardians' member Starhawk discovers where Korvac is hiding and seeks him out. Korvac says they will battle on every plane of existence. Their fight rocks the Earth's orbit, causing extreme weather events. Korvac wins and kills Starhawk, then resurrects the hero. But Starhawk will have no memory of the battle or where Korvac is hiding. He will also be unable to perceive Korvac in any way.

Korvac gains the upper hand in his cosmic battle with Starhawk.
Great artwork from George Perez & Pablo Marcos!

The Avengers and Guardians search for Korvac continues until they finally track him down in Queens. It leads to a showdown between the heroes and Korvac. Earth's Mightiest Heroes and the Guardians of the Galaxy will be in for the toughest fight of their lives!

Korvac gets angry & attacks the heroes!

But Korvac is not the only menace the Avengers have to worry about. One of their greatest foes has returned: Ultron! The mechanical madman sends his creation Jocasta to the Avengers mansion and she leads the heroes to Ultron. The Avengers are surprised to find Ultron hiding out in a convent!

On top of that, the evil, super-strong Atlantean Tyrak attacks New York Harbor.

Vision zaps Tyrak with his thermo-optic beams!

Plus, a fashion show organized by the Wasp is attacked by the Porcupine!  
(The following stories are reprinted ONLY in the Guardians Of The Galaxy: Tomorrow's Avengers Vol. 2):

After the Kovac saga, the Guardians go on to further adventures.  

On the Drydock space station, Vance Astro teams up with Ms. Marvel against the alien villain known as the Faceless One!

Vance Astro doesn't recognize Ms. Marvel (due to her
recent costume change) and thinks she's a villain.

Nikki, Starhawk and Martinex return to Earth and encounter Spider-Man. After an initial misunderstanding, they realize they're all good guys. Which is good, because Spidey and the Guardians will need each other's help when they're attacked by Hammer and Anvil!

Her, the genetically engineered demigoddess emerges from a protective cocoon. She seeks out Ben Grimm's girlfriend, Alicia Masters.

Her interrupts the Thing & Alicia's dinner date.

Her is seeking Adam Warlock (formerly know as Him) and believes Alicia can help her locate him.  Ben gets some surprise assistance when Starhawk shows up and offers to help find Alicia. Moondragon also gets involved and informs Her that Warlock is dead.     

After that, Vance Astro visits 20th century Earth. Starhawk learns of this and asks the Thing to help the Guardians find Vance. The 16-year-old version of Vance Astro is alive on Earth and a meeting between the two "Vances" would create, in Starhawk's words, "a catastrophe." Ben says he will help and also enlists the aid of his Fantastic Four teammates and the Avengers.

Review:
A great story featuring plenty of great fight scenes, high drama and a little bit of suspense. Korvac is an interesting character, invented as a throwaway opponent for Doctor Strange for a few pages in a Defenders story. He ended up being the deadliest foe the Avengers faced in the Bronze Age.

Story:

The first story, from Thor Annual #6 is a perfect example of a good Bronze Age annual. It's a story that stands on its own, with guest stars, a major villain and a threat to the world itself, all done in one issue. Len Wein penned this very entertaining story and it makes for a great "Chapter 1" for the tpb.

The Korvac Saga is often cited as a high point of the Bronze Age and it's a story that lives up to its hype. Jim Shooter (with a plot-assist from Roger Stern in the first issue) wrote the bulk of the story and it's his crowning achievement. Korvac always comes across as rational and reasoned, never devolving into a mustache-twirling maniac. Shooter gets credited with the plot of every of the Korvac stories, with Bill Mantlo and David Michelinie scripting some of it in Shooter's absence.   

He's another in a long line of powerful people who believe they know what's best for everyone else.  Shooter wrote a great "villain" in Korvac, and also makes good use of Ultron in this story. Only in the Korvac saga could Ultron be upstaged by another Avengers adversary.

The rest of the stories reprinted in this book aren't as strong as the Korvac material, but they're still solid, fun Bronze Age tales.

Chris Claremont wrote the Ms. Marvel story that guest stars Vance Astro. The villain they battle, the Faceless One, had only one prior appearance and has not been seen since the story that's reprinted here.  This ended up being the last issue of Ms. Marvel's first solo series.

The Faceless One takes Carol Danvers captive;
The villain doesn't know Carol & Ms. Marvel are one & the same.

The Guardians' team up with Spider-Man was also written by Claremont. Marvel Team-Up was always a hit-and-miss series, but Claremont wrote a good story here, even if it uses the trope of "two heroes each think the other is a villain before teaming up".

The Marvel Two-In-One stories were written by Mark Gruenwald and are excellent. The three-parter that centers on Starhawk and Her is good. Gruenwald does a nice job bringing Her back from obscurity. These were the first stories to deal with Adam Warlock since his death a few years earlier. I recently reviewed the previous Warlock story, the Thing/Her/Starhawk tale serves as a nice sequel to that
saga.

Vance Astro meets with his younger self.

 
If there's a low point in this tpb, it's in this in this image below, where the Thing spanks Moondragon.

I'm a big fan of Gruenwald's work, but that's not one of his better moments.

Art:
If there's a weakness in this book, it's the lack of a steady artist in the primary storyline. The "Korvac" portion gives us a bunch of artists. The Thor story contains pencils & inks by Bronze Age stalwarts Sal Buscema and Klaus Janson, respectively and it looks great. When we get to the Avengers portion, George Perez and Pablo Marcos give us some excellent art for the first four chapters, giving way to Buscema's pencils for the next two.

I love the way the credits are displayed on this great splash page!

Dave Wenzel (inked by Marcos) finishes up the story. While Wenzel is no Perez or Buscema, he does a decent job here.

Bob McCleod provides great art for the Marvel Team-Up story. I don't recall him drawing Spider-Man very often, but the webhead looks great here. Check out the splash page, inked and penciled by McCleod:

The Marvel Two-In-One stories feature pencils by Jerry Bingham and Ron Wilson, with inks by Gene Day. Their art is good as well.

The heroes & the High Evolutionary look at Counter Earth.

How Does It Look?:
Great. Here's a scan from a copy of Avengers #167:

And here's the same page, reprinted in Guardians Of The Galaxy:Tomorrow's Avengers Vol. 2:

Looks like a good, accurate reproduction of the original page.

Extras:

This tpb contains The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe entries for each member of the Guardians, plus Korvac and the Collector. We also get several pages of original art and an essay by Ralph Macchio about the Korvac stories.

Both the tpbs reviewed here are highly recommended. If you don't own the Korvac Saga tpb, picking the Guardians Vol. 2 is a no-brainer. But even if you own it, the extra stories make it worth buying, especially for the Marvel Two-In-One stories it contains.

J.A. Morris' rating:

4 Sals!

Avengers: Bride Of Ultron

Reprints Avengers #157-166
Written by Gerry Conway, Jim Shooter.
Penciled by George Perez, John Byrne, Sal Buscema, Don Heck, George Tuska.
Inked by Pablo Marcos.

The Avengers are home at their mansion on Christmas Eve. Suddenly the mansion is attacked by their ex-teammate, the Black Knight! Or, to be more accurate, by a statue of the knight claiming to be the real deal. He takes out all of the Avengers except the Vision. Can the synthezoid defeat the Black Knight statue?  

Later, tensions are rising between the Vision and his "brother", Wonder Man, AKA Simon Williams.  The android Vision had Simon's brainwaves transferred into him when he was created. Now Wonder Man seems to be interested in Vision's wife, the Scarlet Witch. The two heroes slug it out until Iron Man breaks it up.

Vision tangles with his "brother" Wonder Man.

In the middle of this, the Avengers are called to the Rocky Mountains to halt the attack of Graviton! He controls gravity and easily defeats the team. Graviton then pulls an entire town into the sky and takes it to New York City. The villain threatens to drop the town on New York, which would kill thousands of people.

Graviton takes down the Avengers.

The only remaining Avengers are Thor and Black Panther. It's up to them to stop Gravition and free their teammates.

Graviton pulls a town out of the ground.

Following that battle, Wonder Man's brother Eric Williams, AKA Grim Reaper attacks the Avengers mansion. He defeats and imprisons the team and decides to place Wonder Man and Vision on trial. The Reaper says only one man can truly be his brother Simon and if he rules against either one of them, the verdict will carry a sentence of death!

Wonder Man decks Grim Reaper (note the error in the top right panel: Reaper's scythe disappears!)

Next up, the Avengers are attacked by Ant-Man! Henry Pym has lost his memory and thinks it's the early days of the Avengers. He wonders who these Avengers are and presumes they're enemies. As Ant-Man, he sends hordes of ants to attack the Avengers. Thankfully, the Wasp is able to defeat him.

Ant-Man attacks the Avengers!

We eventually learn that Pym is being manipulated by his own creation, Ultron! The mechanical madman needs Pym's technical expertise to construct a bride for him. Ultron attacks the Avengers in their mansion headquarters and captures Wasp. He plans to transplant Wasp's life-force into a robot body. It looks like Ultron will finally defeat the Avengers...but Iron Man has an ace up his sleeve that could save the team. 

Ultron returns.

Subsequently, Iron Man summons Hercules to New York. Herc brings along his teammates from the Champions, Black Widow and Iceman. When they arrive, Iron Man attacks them. We learn that Iron Man is being forced to do this by the giant Greek god Typhon, who is holding Beast hostage.  Eventually, the heroes figure out what's going on and team up against Typhon.   

Scarlet Witch uses her Hex power against Ultron.

Finally, the Avengers' old enemy Count Nefaria shows up in New York. He seeks out Power Man, Living Laser and Whirlwind and offers to boost their superpowers. The villains call themselves the "new" Lethal Legion, they rob a bank and encounter Captain America, Wasp and Yellowjacket.  At the same time, Nefaria is meeting with former Nazi scientists in an attempt to gain super powers for himself.

Cap & Yellowjacket battle the Lethal Legion.

The Legion is giving the Avengers all they can handle. But all of a sudden, their powers disappear and they're easily dispatched by the heroes. Nefaria shows up and reveals that he has siphoned off the Legion's power and given it to himself. His scientists have helped him become one of the most powerful beings on Earth. Nefaria picks up an entire 40-story building on drops it on the Avengers. The battle appears lost, but Thor shows up and gives the Avengers hope.

Thor takes on the super-powered Count Nefaria.

Review:

A mostly great collection, with some exceptions (see story & art below). It's interesting that this hardcover mentions Ultron in its title, but the longest (and best) storyarc is the three-part Nefaria story.  I guess Ultron has more drawing power than Nefaria. 

The Whizzer tries to stop Count Nefaria.

Story:
This collection starts out with a weak entry. The story that centers on the Black Knight statue isn't very good. We never learn why the statue attacks the Avengers or who is behind said attack. Many years later it was retconned that (SPOILER ALERT) Ultron was controlling the statue, so I guess it makes sense in that context to include it here.
 
But most of the book contains excellent examples of Bronze Age stories. These are some of Jim Shooter's best Avengers stories. We get two-parters that feature battles with Graviton, Grim Reaper and Ultron. I've always seen Graviton as a poor man's Magneto, but he's portrayed as an A-list villain here (his first appearance).    

The Ultron portion of the book is great, too. I truly felt sorry for Hank Pym, ranting maniacally at the Avengers due to Ultron's brainwashing. Not to mention the Wasp, who has some of her life-force stolen while (seemingly) losing her husband to madness.

After Ultron is defeated, we get another fill-in story featuring Typhon. This is a difficult story, because there's an attempt to shoe-horn it into continuity. The previous story ends with Pym's aforementioned rant, the Typhon story gives us a one-panel explanation of the treatment Pym is receiving, and the next thing we know, he's back to normal. Weird.

Lastly, the Count Nefaria three-parter is the highlight of the book. It features one of the greatest battles of the Bronze Age, as the newly super-powered Nefaria gives the Avengers one of their toughest fights.  I also liked the way Power Man is initially reluctant to join Nefaria.

Art:
Two issues reprinted here contain less-than-stellar artwork. The first story is penciled by Don Heck. He did some great work in the Silver Age, but Heck's art in the 1970s wasn't so great. Same goes for the Typhon story drawn by George Tuska, another great artist who'd seen better days by the Bronze Age.  Tuska's portion comes right after George Perez', and the change is quite jarring.  

But the pencils by Sal Buscema, Perez, and John Byrne are all excellent. Take a look at this page here from Perez:

While I'm not crazy about the helpless depiction of the Wasp here, I love the way Perez uses halves of her and Jocasta to frame the action. Byrne and Buscema deliver some of their best Avengers work here as well, and Pablo Marcos (who inks everything in this book) does a good job as inker, embellishing the pencils without ever detracting from their power.

How does it look?:

The pages here look great, as you can see by looking at the scans in this review, including this great splash page:

The Avengers: Bride Of Ultron is a great book, featuring some of my favorite Avengers stories. It's great to have them in glossy reprints after all these years. It's definitely worth picking up, but the "fill-in" stories prevent me from giving it my highest rating.

J.A. Morris' rating:

.5


3 and a half Sals.