The Avengers Appreciation 2021

[strathcona]

And this was one of the strangest line up of Avengers since Druid was on the team. But it worked so well.

Dr. Druid wasn't on the team during Harras's run. He was a member during Stern's run, a decade earlier. Harris was Black Knight, Sersi, Crystal, Black Widow, Hercules, Vision, Captain America, Deathcry, Swordsman and Magdelene...

[Marvell2100]

Dr. Druid wasn't on the team during Harras's run. He was a member during Stern's run, a decade earlier. Harris was Black Knight, Sersi, Crystal, Black Widow, Hercules, Vision, Captain America, Deathcry, Swordsman and Magdelene...

Go back to what I said:

And this was one of the strangest line up of Avengers since Druid was on the team. But it worked so well.

Didn't say Druid was on the team during Harras' run. I said it was the strangest since Druid was on the team.

[Marvell2100]

Now, seriuosly, talking about the Crossing. Unlike most Avengers fans, I liked it. It had tons of potential, but, IMHO, it fell short in the execution. Mostly on the resolution of the storyline.
As for the deaths:
Marilla - Sure, no prob. A kind of useless secondary character to get the things running. I'm good with it.
Rita DeMara/Yellowjacket - As a fan of the 90's GotG, I loved her. I've loved her even before then. But her death was a good one. It gave an idea of the stakes, and nothing can beat that last scene of Tony Standing over her dead body. Since time travel was involved, it wouldn't have been much trouble bringing her back, though they never did.
Gilgamesh - With that one I have an issue. It seemed sort of pointless and gutless. "Let's kill another Avenger no one even remembers and likes to show how bad the bad guys are." Even in the later retcons of the Crossing, IMHO, they failed to adress it properly. It would have been bolder to have a more proeminent Avenger bite the dust on that one. Plus, his whole relationship with Kang and Mantis' twins was very quickly and poorly explored.
The changes in the characters -
Wasp - liked the idea, hated the design. A more discreet cosmetic change would have had the same effect on a person as vain as Jan, putting again stress on her relationship with Hank, who did that to her to save her life. Sadly, that bit was also poorly explored, since, not long after, they went on to the Heroes Reborn world.
Iron Man - IMHO, Timeslide was when the Crossing really started to go off the rails. Teen Tony was such a ridiculous concept. I mean, the power of the guy is being a top notch engineer, something that accumulated knowledge and experience are crucial for. In that field, inspiration only takes you so far (which is also why I find characters like Riri Williams so stupid). So, their sollution was getting a less knowlegable and experienced Tony to face the one they have? The worst of it was that, during the storyline, they'd already planted the seeds for, IMHO, a much better resolution. In Force Works, the evil Cybermancer and Wonder Man came from a world where Kang had already corrupted their Tony Stark. So, what if our Tony had been replaced by that one? It would still give him a chance for a redemptive death at the end, it would not have tarnished our Tony, since Kang replaced him because he failed in corrupting him, and it would still leave our Tony under a shroud of distrust (Did Kang really fail to corrupt him? Why did the Conqueror think he was the one to do it to in the first place?). As a bonus, our Avengers, or our Force Works, would have to go to the dark world to rescue our Tony, pitting them against more of that world's corrupted versions of our heroes.
Mantis - I love Mantis. Love what has been done to her in the new GotG. However, I thought it was a real stroke of genius to have her be the driving force behind Kang in the Crossing. Her motivations were solid. A mother who had her son taken from her, a situation the Avengers sort of placed her in. Her turning to the enemy, Kang, for confort, who gave her what she most wanted, a family. I really loved it. Plus, as much as I liked the character, if you had to tarnish a character with that storyline, better her than a major character like Iron Man.
Other than that, you had a "familiar" HQ the Avengers couldn't trust. The sort of reunification of the team, an overwhelmingly powerful enemy, dimensional travelling, mysteries galore, the return and introduction of many characters, etc..
All in all, though not all it could have been, I found the Crossing a fun and enjoyable storyline.


Peace

As a Tony fan, I hated The Crossing.

[Tony Stark]

As a Tony fan, I hated The Crossing.

Same here brother! It felt like character assassination to me when it was happening.

[PlanetaryDevastation]

Same here brother! It felt like character assassination to me when it was happening.

It was character assassination. The people in charge felt like Tony was a dead character and wanted to replace him with Teen Tony. That was the point of the story. The writer quit because he didn't want to be known as the man who ruined Iron Man. Smart man, that one. Marvel, amiright?

[Marvell2100]

Same here brother! It felt like character assassination to me when it was happening.

I haven't read it since it first came out. The Crossing was far worse for Tony than Civil War.

[ARkadelphia]

Go back to what I said:



Didn't say Druid was on the team during Harras' run. I said it was the strangest since Druid was on the team.

Now go back and read that sentence using the synonym “because” as a replacement for “since”. You shall see why people were confused.

[strathcona]

Go back to what I said:



Didn't say Druid was on the team during Harras' run. I said it was the strangest since Druid was on the team.

Sorry, I misread that. I thought you were saying since he was on the team it was strange.

[Tony Stark]

It was character assassination. The people in charge felt like Tony was a dead character and wanted to replace him with Teen Tony. That was the point of the story. The writer quit because he didn't want to be known as the man who ruined Iron Man. Smart man, that one. Marvel, amiright?

Yes. You are correct. I heard that is why Len Kamanski left the book and I don’t blame him one bit.

[Nomads1]

Yes. You are correct. I heard that is why Len Kamanski left the book and I don’t blame him one bit.

Harras was also barely involved with the book by then. I wonder if he also wasn't on board with many of the storypoints.

Peace

[Habis]

I haven't read it since it first came out. The Crossing was far worse for Tony than Civil War.

I am not even sure what is the canon explanation now... was that the real Tony? A Space Phantom? What happened to Teen Tony? Did he warp into Heroes Reborn's adult Tony, and stayed that way after coming back? So, the original Tony Stark died a villain, and the current one only exists since Onslaught? Have everybody forgotten that? Why do they act like this Tony Stark is the original founding Avenger...?

I know the real explanation is that Marvel is trying to pretend the Crossing never happened and don't want us to think about it... but man, they could at least have made up some decent retcon, because the current canon is a mess...

[Frontier]

I am not even sure what is the canon explanation now... was that the real Tony? A Space Phantom? What happened to Teen Tony? Did he warp into Heroes Reborn's adult Tony, and stayed that way after coming back? So, the original Tony Stark died a villain, and the current one only exists since Onslaught? Have everybody forgotten that? Why do they act like this Tony Stark is the original founding Avenger...?

I know the real explanation is that Marvel is trying to pretend the Crossing never happened and don't want us to think about it... but man, they could at least have made up some decent retcon, because the current canon is a mess...

I feel like Busiek tried his best to make it all make sense...

[Marvell2100]

Sorry, I misread that. I thought you were saying since he was on the team it was strange.

No problem at all.

[Marvell2100]

Now go back and read that sentence using the synonym “because” as a replacement for “since”. You shall see why people were confused.

It's not confusing at all.

[GenericUsername]

As a Tony fan, I hated The Crossing.

Yeah The Crossing was not good.