All-Time Favorite Avengers Story?

[Jim Thompson]

Off the top of my head, in no particular order:

• JLA/Avengers
• Ultron Unlimited
• Avengers Forever
• The Last Avengers Story
• Avengers #158-159 (Graviton)

[Specimen 297]

Can you refresh my memory on some of the ones in bold? I think I know them, but I'm too lazy to go check them out.

Peace

Grudge Match = The West Coast issue where they vote in a new team and Hawkeye and U.S.Agent have their big punch-up
When Giants Walk the Earth = The annual where Erik Josten becomes Goliath and fights the (then newly formed) West Coast Avengers
Infamous Monsters of Filmland = 4 part story where the West Coast Avengers vs Night Shift
Soul Gauntlet = 3 part story where West Coast Avengers vs Lethal Legion (Mockingbird's "death")
Many Faces of Doom = 2 part story where Doom attacks the Avengers... Sandman and Rage edition
Betrayal = The annual 2-parter with Quicksilver betraying the Avengers (and them all playing softball)

[Nomads1]

Grudge Match = The West Coast issue where they vote in a new team and Hawkeye and U.S.Agent have their big punch-up - Thought so.
When Giants Walk the Earth = The annual where Erik Josten becomes Goliath and fights the (then newly formed) West Coast Avengers - Iron Man Annual?
Infamous Monsters of Filmland = 4 part story where the West Coast Avengers vs Night Shift - Great story.
Soul Gauntlet = 3 part story where West Coast Avengers vs Lethal Legion (Mockingbird's "death") - One of my favorites. I always say that Thomas and Ross' run on WCA was vastly underrated.
Many Faces of Doom = 2 part story where Doom attacks the Avengers... Sandman and Rage edition - Hama's swan song. Thought so.
Betrayal = The annual 2-parter with Quicksilver betraying the Avengers (and them all playing softball)

Thanks. Good picks.

Peace

[Vic Vega]

This isn't in any particular order:

Avengers-Defenders War

The Korvac Saga

The Nefaria Saga

The Wondagore Saga

This Evil Undying(Ultron)

The Death Of Thanos

Seige Of Avengers Mansion

Galactic Storm

Ultron Unlimited.

Will post others as I think of em.

[Specimen 297]

- Iron Man Annual?e

Was it? I never knew what book it was, I thought it was a West Coast Annual or Special... I missed it first time around but when I picked up the West Coast Assemble trade it was in there. I just remember liking that story a lot and was perplexed how I hadn't come across it before.

I kinda wish Goliath had appeared more in West Coast... he would've been a good reoccurring foe. I've always thought that him, Crossfire and Graviton were set-up well enough to be the big foes for the team... but instead it seems like Ultron, Mr Pandemonium and Phantom Rider took up those roles.

[Nomads1]

Was it? I never knew what book it was, I thought it was a West Coast Annual or Special... I missed it first time around but when I picked up the West Coast Assemble trade it was in there. I just remember liking that story a lot and was perplexed how I hadn't come across it before.

I kinda wish Goliath had appeared more in West Coast... he would've been a good reoccurring foe. I've always thought that him, Crossfire and Graviton were set-up well enough to be the big foes for the team... but instead it seems like Ultron, Mr Pandemonium and Phantom Rider took up those roles.

Graviton, I'd have liked to see in a more proeminent role. I thought he was truly wasted. Goliath and Crossfire, I saw as foes to the individual members, not the team.
One WCA I'd have liked to see developed more than he actually was is Master Pandemonium. I always sought he had the makings of a big Avengers villain (although that whole thing of his arms and legs detaching was kinda stupid. He should merely have had the powers of the demons that were attached to his body. Ie, strength, unbreakable claws, hellfire, flight, etc... And be able to summon and control legions of demons, of course).

Peace

[Specimen 297]

Graviton, I'd have liked to see in a more proeminent role. I thought he was truly wasted. Goliath and Crossfire, I saw as foes to the individual members, not the team.
One WCA I'd have liked to see developed more than he actually was is Master Pandemonium. I always sought he had the makings of a big Avengers villain (although that whole thing of his arms and legs detaching was kinda stupid. He should merely have had the powers of the demons that were attached to his body. Ie, strength, unbreakable claws, hellfire, flight, etc... And be able to summon and control legions of demons, of course).

Peace

I don't disagree that Crossfire and Goliath were specific to one of the members but they were both set-up in a way that they could've easily went on to be foes for the entire team. It really couldve beene asy to establish them as credible threats to the West Coast team - and giving them their own rogues gallery instead of just using Ultron loads.

[Nomads1]

I don't disagree that Crossfire and Goliath were specific to one of the members but they were both set-up in a way that they could've easily went on to be foes for the entire team. It really couldve beene asy to establish them as credible threats to the West Coast team - and giving them their own rogues gallery instead of just using Ultron loads.

How many times was Ultron used in WCA? 5, 6? (though the one used in Byrne's first issue was a fake). Ol' Ultry really was the WCA most recuring foe. I don't think any other was used as much. Other foes that I really liked of the WCA, and that I would have liked to have seem established as their "Masters of Evil" were the Pacific Overlords. They just needed to work a bit more on the visuals of the membership, and maybe added a couple more of powerful females.

Peace

[marshal99]

Towards the end of their run , i thought the avengers west coast were adding to their rogues - the aforementioned Pacific overlords , the russian version of the FF - Bogatryri , DeathWeb etc - all of which would have made spendid foes of the WCA.

[Specimen 297]

How many times was Ultron used in WCA? 5, 6? (though the one used in Byrne's first issue was a fake). Ol' Ultry really was the WCA most recuring foe. I don't think any other was used as much. Other foes that I really liked of the WCA, and that I would have liked to have seem established as their "Masters of Evil" were the Pacific Overlords. They just needed to work a bit more on the visuals of the membership, and maybe added a couple more of powerful females.

Peace

Ultron apparently appeared in 19 issues of WCA (some of those would've just been sub-plot pages when he was harassing Hank over the phone though).

They started adding to the rogues too late on... and as a result a lot of the decent concepts for villains weren't brought back. Another problem was particularly towards the end of West Coast Avengers where stories were 5-parters and what not... it meant people like Morning Star or Hangman were actually only really involved in 1 or 2 stories. As it stands, Ultron and Phantom Rider (16 issues) wound up their most reoccurring foes.

Other notables include:
Immortus = 12 issues
Doctor Demonicus = 9 issues
Master Pandemonium = 8 issues
Magneto = 8 issues
Grim Reaper = 7 issues
Hangman = 7 issues
Satannish = 6 issues
Morning Star/Bogtyri = 6 issues
Graviton = 5 issues
Night Shift = 5 issues
Night Shift = 5 issues
Lethal Legion = 5 issues
Goliath/Atlas = 4 issues

This is just including the West Coast books... no crossover appearances like the Iron Man annual or Wonder Man's solo book.

[Nomads1]

Towards the end of their run , i thought the avengers west coast were adding to their rogues - the aforementioned Pacific overlords , the russian version of the FF - Bogatryri , DeathWeb etc - all of which would have made spendid foes of the WCA.

Which is why the Thomas/Ross run is my favorite of the book. They really started to build a rogues gallery for the west coast division, instead of just resorting to left-overs from the east cost branch (even though many of these villains did have stronger connections to members of the WCA). I would love to see parts of it collected.

Peace

[icctrombone]

I have the entire WCA run and i never saw it as more than ok. I just never connected with the combination of characters. I enjoyed the Byrne run.But the Al Milgrom artwork was off putting.

[Specimen 297]

All the cat people stuff towards the start bored me to tears at times.

I agree with the sentiment that it was only just "ok" when it was Engelhart and Milgrom. It did have its highs (Lost in Space-Time, Betrayal, everything with Pym)... but when Byrne took over it was consistently good from then on. Other than Roy Thomas' rather shakey conclusion to Byrne's story and him calling characters the wrong names and not really getting their relationships for a while (remember "John Walters" anyone?).

[icctrombone]

It made me sad to see Thomas' writing on this series, Almost like seeing Willie Mays stumbling in the Mets outfield in his last season.

[icctrombone]

The Byrne stuff was very good but he ended up leaving after throwing a tantrum , as usual.