The Heroes Return Era of the Avengers

[Mister Mets]

Heroes Reborn: The Return #1-4
I wasn’t sure on whether to read this, since the Hulk, the Fantastic Four and even Spider-Man seem to be more important than the Avengers to the narrative. It makes sense partially. The Fantastic Four are here because Franklin Storm created a pocket universe. Peter David’s writing the Hulk, but part of the Heroes Reborn status quo was that Bruce Banner was divided into two universes. Spider-Man gets in two all-star quips, and it makes sense for someone from the 616 Universe to be excited that the heroes are alive and well, and ready to kick ass. But it is a bit weird to have such a minor role for the Avengers, when that’s 3 of the 4 Heroes Reborn titles (and 4 of 5 Heroes Return titles if you include the Jurgens/ Romita Jr Thor.)
The narrative is kind of epic. The Celestials are ready to be done with humanity, since their grand experiment was supposed to end when Franklin Richards got enough power to create a new universe. It seemed like something that doesn’t really work with the Marvel Universe at the time, but in fairness they’ve done more with the Celestials in the last few years, building on the reveals in the Earth X mini-series. These types of mini-series that are supposed to get characters from Point A to Point B have a tendency to suck, since there are inevitably artistic consequences. It’s more than a bit of a mess, although there is a larger point about the meaning of humanity and all that jazz.
B-

[Hypestyle]

Since I’m going to check out Christopher Priest’s run of Black Panther, and his Captain America & Falcon mini-series, it’s worth checking out his earlier work with the Falcon, which also features a character which will be relevant to his Black Panther run.



The Falcon #1-4
The first issue has art by Paul Smith, who I love from his brief X-Men run, Nexus fill-ins and Leave it to Chance. The rest is by Mark Bright, who is solid.
It starts quite weird morally. A drunk kid is about to rape his girlfiend, when the Falcon stops him and encourages her family not to press charges, which fits with his civilian identity as a social worker. There is a sense of a guy trying to prevent someone from his neighborhood from becoming a lowlife, even if the story would be told differently now. An important context is that these comics are 40 years old. If you were to use Fantastic Four #1 as the start of a new era of comics, this is in the first third of Marvel. I’m not sure I should think about how old these comics are.

In the second issue, Falcon is attacked by a malfunctioning Sentinel, which I recall Jarvis addressing in the Busiek Avengers run. It delays him, which results in a tragic police shooting and a race riot, a story that is quite ahead of its time. Later issues feature the kidnapping of President Reagan, and a showdown with a major Spider-Man villain. It’s unrealistic even in the context of superhero stories, but there are some good sequences, and it’s legitimately thought-provoking.
B

Please tell me that wasn't a Klan/Secret Empire mask being pulled off of "Ron".... (you know what, let me leave it alone, lol)...

I'd love it if Priest was the main Avengers writer now. At least 3 years worth of arcs. Alas...