| Title | : | Avengers/Invaders |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 078512943X |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780785129431 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 352 |
| Publication | : | First published July 10, 2008 |
Avengers/Invaders Reviews
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I read the comic books Avengers Invaders #1-8, which sees the Invaders transported to 2008 New York and facing the Mighty Avengers and the New Avengers in a post-Cap world. Some great characterisations and dilemmas across the Cosmic Cube created story, worth a read for the depth on the Invaders characters alone. 7 out of 12, Three Stars read.
2014 read -
I’m re-visiting my single issues of AVENGERS/INVADERS, one of my favorite series of 2008. I’m still entertained by this, but not as enamored of it the second time around. This is an unusual crossover, a collaboration between Marvel and Dynamite that features only characters from the Marvel stable. I guess the difference is that the creative team was supplied by Dynamite.
The Invaders in 1943 (Captain America & Bucky, the original Human Torch and Toro, the Sub-Mariner) were on a mission to disable Nazi plans to develop Occult weaponry. They, along with American soldier Paul Anselm, are thrown forward in time to 2008 by a mysterious green mist.
Bad time to visit New York City, right in the middle of Marvel’s Civil War event and smack dab in a battle between Registered Hero Hunters The Thunderbolts and Anti-Registration Spider-Man. Tony Stark/Iron Man (director of S.H.I.E.L.D.) learns of this and the Mighty Avengers capture the Invaders, imprisoning them (except the escaped Namor) on the S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier. Namor heads to Atlantis, confronts King Namor and attempts to rally the Atlantean troops to attack the surface world.
Meanwhile the Anti-Registration New Avengers led by Luke Cage help Cap and Bucky escape the helicarrier. Act One of this limited series ends on a cliff-hanger with the new Captain America (Bucky/Winter Soldier) giving a grim warning to his 1943 Bucky version.
Steve Sadowski’s art is great, although sometimes inconsistent, and presents a slightly different and fresh look to these oft-used characters. The script is solid, adding layers of complexity as it moves along.
Here’s some of the highlights from these issues:
ISSUE #1: One of my favorite scenes occurs on the opening pages, as Bucky plants explosives along a Nazi bridge. There’s some commentary that applies to a recent corrupt politician and his puppet sycophants. There’s no dialogue and the captions share some entries from Bucky’s war journal: “Cap says that if we don’t do something now to stop that rotten piece of Kraut filth named Hitler, freedom’s gonna be a goner. . . Not sure I agree . . . Hitler’s a murderer. An’ the Krauts are letting him get away with it. They’re even helping him. . . . You ask, this ain’t about losing freedom. . . It’s about one man having too much.”
ISSUE #2: Tony ponders the implications of time travel and warns his Avengers, especially Ares, to not kill any of the Invaders while he works on a plan to return them to the past. The scenes involving the Paul Anselm WWII solider meeting himself (now a grandfather) are touching. The original Human Torch (an android) is having difficulty coping with the sacrificial treatment of Life Model Decoys in combat with the Invaders (trying to avoid human to human confrontation and messing with time).
ISSUE #3: The entitled Namor getting rebuffed by himself is a hoot. Jim Hammond/Human Torch apologizing to an L.M.D.: “I’m sorry for what I did to you. I thought you were a human. . . . . . They want us to be robots, don’t they?” It’s an awakening of sorts for the subservient L.M.D.s and they appeal to the Human Torch as their savior.
ISSUE #4: Dr. Strange looks into the past, and realizes that the reality of 1943 has been altered - - Churchill was killed. England fell. There’s a time wave rolling through history and altering the entire world” “It just hasn’t caught up to us yet.” He builds a mystical wall to keep the effects of those changes from altering the present. Strange suspects that someone is using the Cosmic Cube, which may be what brought the Invaders to 2008.
Okay, I’m sort of hooked on this series all over again.
Beginning with Issue #5, Steve Sadowski gets an assist from Patrick Berkenkotter and the art gets even better. The cast is huge: The Invaders (Captain America, Bucky, Namor, Human Torch, Toro) ; The Mighty Avengers (Iron Man, Ms. Marvel, Spider-Woman, Wasp, Wonder Man, Black Widow, Ares, Sentry); The New Avengers (Luke Cage, Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, Wolverine, Iron Fist, Ronin, Echo).
Here’s the succinct summary from the credits page of Issue #6: “Meanwhile, Dr. Strange discovers that before he can send the Invaders home, they must first find and rescue Paul Anselm, a young soldier who came forward in time with them.
But, the Human Torch is at wit’s end. Their escape from the Helicarrier came at the cost of many Life Model Decoy S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. His own android roots feel the suffering his colleagues cannot, and it brings back the emory of the death camps he helped liberate in World War II. Incense Torch returns to the Helicarrier - site of the destruction of these robots - to avenge their lives.”
This leads to an L.M.D. mutiny/revolution aboard the helicarrier as the robots outnumber the heroes. Meanwhile Toro learns that his future self is dead. Grieving, he visits his own gravesite.
After the L.M.D.s take over the helicarrier, they lead the Human Torch to Cap and Namor, who are trapped in a virtual reality of World War II. The Torch entered the reality to get them out, finds himself double-crossed and equally trapped.
This is where the plot makes several unexpected turns involving D’Spayre the demonic fear-lord now in possession of the Cosmic Cube (and actually a front for the shape-shifting original Vision, an alien from space). Enter Ultron, the real culprit behind the L.M.D. revolt and now fully in control. In a final twist, the younger version of Paul Anselm grabs the Cube and returns by himself to WWII to save his soldier friends and alter history- - already capturing several characters in a time wave as Issue #8 and Act Two ends.
Just in case those plot twists in the prior eight issues weren’t enough, what happens in Act Three of this limited series is a doozy!
Paul Anselm goes back to 1943 with the Cosmic Cube to reverse what happened to his deceased soldier companions, achieves that, then is shot and loses the Cube - - into the hands of The Red Skull!
The Avengers and Invaders then find themselves back in 1943 New York City, with some immediately noticeable changes. No more Statue of Liberty - it’s been replaced by a statue of a beaming Red Skull holding the Cosmic Cube.
The Avengers disguise themselves in costumes of heroes of 1943 in order not to give the Red Skull a glimpse into the future, and enlist the Original Black Panther of Wakanda plus Sgt. Fury & his Howling Commandos to stage a last attack on the Red Skull and his empire. The Skull brings in the superhero champions of the Axis for the final battle.
Some more highlights:
ISSUE #9: The Red Skull uses the Cube to erect The Aryan Wall surrounding most of Europe and all the lands that Hitler claimed belong to his master race. Reminds of a recent wannabe autocrat’s obsession with a Great Wall.
ISSUE #10: The 1940’s heroes that The Avengers impersonate are The Black Avenger (Luke Cage), The Challenger (Spider-Man), The Silver Scorpion (Spider-Woman),Captain Terror (Wolverine), Electro the robot (Iron Man),The Black Widow with the death touch (Ms. Marvel), and The Wasp as The Wasp since she so tiny as to be almost invisible.
There’s an ironic and touching conversation between Captain America the 1943 Invader and Iron Man the 2008 Avenger. Cap asks: “What was the Civil War, Iron Man? I heard mention of it in your time.” To which Tony replies: “It was a war. A terrible war when the rights of an individual super-being’s identity came into conflict with the nation’s needs.” Cap says: “I see . . . And you, you fought for your nation, didn’t you? Against men you considered your friends? “ Tony’s answer: “Yes. Good friends.” Cap responds: “I’m sure it was very difficult for you. To do what you knew was right.”
ISSUE #11: This entire series could be viewed as a long morality play for those wishing for deeper meaning. Captain America 1943 seems to get the best lines. When Paul Anselm apologizes and admits these dire circumstances were his fault, Cap counsels: “Sometimes doing what we think is right turns out to be the wrong thing entirely . . . . The question is, are you man enough to fix it once it’s broken?”
ISSUE #12: This next section is long, but I’m sharing as it’s another favorite moment from this series, and ironic as hell . . . .Along with Cap’s inspirational moments, the Bucky of 1943 goes through the most changes (as revealed in both his journal entries and his actions). Just suppose you were told of a fatal life-changing incident by your future self and warned not to take certain actions. Bucky asks advice of Electro/Iron Man: “I need to ask you a question about changing the past.” Tony replies: “Yes, Bucky. That’s what we’re her for. To change the past back to the one you were supposed to live through.” Bucky thinks about that, then says: “I’m not talking about undoing something I did, but not doing something I think I will do. Or would have done.” If you were Bucky, and knew you had this chance, would you make the changes knowing that you could be altering the course of history because of it?
Tony speaks again: “There are many mistakes I wish I could undo. . . But the things we want to change are usually the ones we think will save us. It’s never about someone else, and that’s the problem. Isn’t it? . . . . . Paul took the Cube and came back to save his friends. But was he really saving them, or appeasing his own guilt for surviving? . . . . . Heroism is doing the right thing even if we’re damned in the process . . . . . There are things I have done recently. Relatively speaking. . . . . If I had them to do over again, I would do the same thing no matter what.”
The capper comes in Bucky’s grateful response: “You know, ‘Electro’, it’s too bad my Cap wasn’t around in your era. I think you two would have been great friends.” (I realize this passage might not mean anything unless you are familiar with the events of Marvel’s Civil War. But it’s too good not to share with those in the know.)
ISSUE #12: The final battle royale and the last great measure. There’s a postscript scene between the Vision and Toro that puts a warm-hearted cap on the whole series as things go full circle. Yes, it’s a happy ending and when faced with a choice - - people do the right things. It was definitely worth my time to read this over again. -
This is very well written. Admittedly, my knowledge of the Invaders is rather limited. I know of Namor, Cap and Bucky of course. My knowledge of Jim Hammond and Toro is very limited but, from what I saw here, I'm intrigued. The creators clearly loved this team and it shows. Honestly, after reading this, I love this team, too. Sorry but, in a world where standards have started to shift, it's a joy to read about characters who know Nazis are the bad guys. It shouldn't have to be said but: Nazis are the bad guys.
The premise is interesting enough. There's a lot of heart and complex character work done here, not only with the Invaders but with the current Avengers, as well. We get a lot of Tony doing his best to not hurt Cap and dealing with grief over his Steve's death. There's some great stuff with Namor, Jim, Bucky and Toro, as well. It's one of the reasons I love time travel stories (when they're done well). I love seeing these characters learn about what their lives become.
The covers are beautiful. The writing for Namor and Jim is just really powerful stuff. Honestly, Namor talking to his future self was really moving. As was Jim speaking about his creation being solely intended to destroy the oppressors.
Honestly, this is one of the better books I've read this year. By far! -
A surprisingly mediocre comic, primarily thanks to the fact that it’s a couple of fights with very little development, then a big reboot button at the end. Pfah.
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This was really good. The Invaders get transported to modern times (2008) from 1945 and end up around the time of the Marvel Civil War. There's several storylines that go on here including Ultron, the Red Skull, the Cosmic Cube, and more. It's non stop action and things never slow down, but to me it never felt overwhelming.
Very well written with good art and great covers. This could have been a mess, but was anything but. A great way to do a tricky crossover. -
La historia, sin ser original, resulta interesante y entretenida. Hay varias subtramas metidas con calzador, pero aún así ayudan a mover, pero sobre todo, alargar las cosas. Hay algunos personajes que no me gustó como fueron interpretados, y sobre todo me molestó que Spiderman hiciera bromas mientras pelea, como es su costumbre, pero siempre haya un Avenger que tenga el tiempo de darle un sermón.
Sin embargo lo que más me mató fue el arte, los dibujos simplemente son horribles. Las portadas sensacionales de Alex Ross hacen que el comic se antoje mucho, pero en cuanto lo abres y ves la primera página la decepción pega como balde de agua. Lo terminé por curiosidad más que por gusto. -
Well this is a book with scope. For reasons best left unexplained, the WWII era superteam, The Invaders, find themselves in 2008 (then the contemporary time). There are consequences (including an interesting but ill thought out sidebar involving the original Human Torch and a recurring cliche of SHIELD-tech). Eventually they are returned to their time with some of their future counterparts to fix a problem in time.
The problem with it is, it's not very good. Almost all of the plotlines in this are interesting but feel a bit like fan-fiction. All the characters 'voices' don't feel very different and characterization is all surface. The decision to centre this in what was the contemporary Marvel universe means it now feels incredibly dated at only 5 years old. If they'd used a more stock Avengers team this could have been an interesting perennial.....
....except for the art. If some of the writing is fan-fiction level then the art is below this. Badly framed, anatomically incorrect in places, pedestrian composition. It is a chore to plow through and I can only imagine who would have bought it serial form 5 years ago. The Alex Ross sketchbook and variant covers at the back are the only artistic joy to be had.
Avoid unless you're a real fan of the Invaders. -
With all that's going on in this - and it's an enjoyable read for the most part - my main reaction was repeatedly, "Oh, Bucky." Which is probably more me than the book, but I find no matter what, I have that reaction to him.
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Graphic novel with excellent art. Too many characters in too many time lines. Best part of this book was it was a gift from my son.
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Okay, this earlier take on the whole "let's revive the Invaders" story idea was a lot more refined and definitely had the story of gravitas one expects from sweeping 12-issue Alex Ross projections. But the involvement of other writers also helped temper the story so it didn't get too loopy, as we've seen in other Ross projects.
We still had a bit of a framing device, which is a Ross favorite. In this case it was WWII0-era Bucky writing in his little war journal as a documentation of the events that led to them time-traveling to post-Civil War New York. So yes, Captain America is dead in the "future", but we have the classic Invaders team of Captain America, Bucky, Namor, The (original) Human Torch, and Toro still thinking they're in the way and fighting off Iron Man and his SHIELD-aligned avengers.
This is more than your typical run-of-the-mill time travel story as we had a lot of character explorations like the fact that some of the heroes died relatively early (Toro) or the way SHIELD deals with their LMDs and how that would appear to the Human Torch (who is more than just an android).
Some great ideas in this book including the main reason the Invaders traveled to the future to begin with and I loved how it all came together. And man, this story has some rather epic beats, which is to be expected when you plot a story across 12-issues of a limited series. Solid, solid stuff indeed. -
Peristiwa ini mengambil tempat setelah Civil War yang berakhir dengan matinya Steve Rogers alias Kapten Amerika. Thunderbolt, kawanan penjahat yang ditugaskan untuk menangkapi para superhero yang tidak setuju dengan undang-undang superhero, saat itu sedang mengejar-ngejar Spider-Man. Pada saat itulah keanehan terjadi, Kapten Amerika muncul lagi di New York bersama rekan-rekannya dari masa Perang Dunia II, ketika kelompok mereka masih dikenal dengan sebutan The Invaders. Iron Man yang kini menjadi Direktur S.H.I.E.L.D. memutuskan untuk menangkap Invaders untuk mengembalikan ke masa asal mereka. Dari situlah dimulainya konflik sepanjang 12 nomor ini.
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A side-story for Bendis’ New Avengers/Mighty Avengers run. It’s best to read this after NA #38.
A rift in time opens and The Invaders enter the modern age and think it’s a Nazi ploy. The Avengers intercept and try to explain but fail. Cap Bucky encounters his younger self and tries to convince Steve. The NA discover D’Spayre created the opening with the Cosmic Cube. The Avengers go back in time to repair the damage done and join the Invaders. The timeline gets restored. -
The retro part of this was a lot of fun, I remember reading some Invaders comics when I was a kid, but that was a LONG time ago. I felt like Spider-Man was a little "over written" in this one, his quips dominated the conversation most of the time. Alternate timeline Nazi stories are always cool, but I feel like the cosmic cube thing is getting a little over used at this point.
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This was a decent read, but something about it seems to be lacking... I am not sure if it is the story, the artwork, or the pacing, but this title never seemed to get out of third gear. I didn't throw this book at the wall in disgust when I finished it, nor did I scoop my jaw up from the floor when I was done.
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mediocre, yes, but entertaining. i love a good team-up and i may have a soft spot for the invaders. i'd call it 'cute' but it definitely was it - just like i'd say i'd call it entertaining but it definitely wasn't.
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Una buena historia
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gud
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These comic is totally magnificent.
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Fun enough lil crossover, not enough Whizzer
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A fake out on teasing the return of Steve Rogers, but instead a sort of retro reboot of the Invaders using the Earth X/Project Superpowers team.
A bit corny, but "iconic" and a better return than what Brubaker and Bendis rustled up. I wish this how they went about it instead of the "Return of Captain America" and all that. -
I should know better than to read books written by Alex Ross. Between this, Justice, and Earth X, he's a much better artist than writer.
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I appear to be having really good luck finding superhero comics I am enjoying. Avengers/Invaders is a 12-issue miniseries from 2009 that contains two of my absolute favorite themes: (a) time travel, and (b) Tony Stark's vast amounts of post-Civil War grief over the death of Steve Rogers. Bring it.
So, yeah, here in Avengers/Invaders, the Invaders (that would be Captain America, Bucky Barnes, Namor, the original Human Torch, and Toro) are snatched right off a WW2 battlefield and deposited on the streets of 2009 New York City, right in the middle of the Thunderbolts trying to round up Spider-Man, an unlicensed Avenger. As you can imagine, this goes remarkably well for all parties involved and certainly does not contain the very confused Invaders accusing everyone of being Nazis, Namor trying to get his future self to fight humanity, or Tony Stark locking himself in a room on the helicarrier and surrounding himself with footage of the newly-alive Steve Rogers. (Spoiler: It totally does.)
I imagine Tony is not having a very good day, because then he has to fight the newly-alive Steve Rogers. Again. And when he eventually brings him down and literally ties him to a chair and tries to explain to him that they're friends and they have to stop fighting so that they can all fix the timeline and send the Invaders home, Steve tells Tony he looks guilty and asks him who he killed to get here. Dear God. Make me feel all the Civil War angst again, why don't you?
Meanwhile, Bucky (that would be Captain America) tries to convince his past self not to do the things that resulted in him ending up in the present. Good luck with that, dude.
And then they've made friends, and something something Cosmic Cube, something something Ultron, and Strange tries to send everyone back, and... that's when the plot gets really weird. Really, really weird. Like, more time travel, Avengers in disguise, Red Skull, giant tunnels to Europe from Wakanda kind of weird. I think maybe the series should have stopped while it was ahead. It did not need an entire kitchen sink of villains.
Still, I had a great time reading this one. Recommended if you like the Invaders, angsty Civil War fallout, time-travel, or any of the above-mentioned characters, especially Steve, Tony, and Bucky. -
This book had a good premise too it but, wow, it was convoluted and difficult to follow. Alex Ross has a good mind for story telling and so there are some amazing themes running throughout the book. Ross brings humanity to his superhero stories. Such as: What if some normal guy was the one to change the fate of the world instead of some half-naked or costumed super humans? That was the point of this novel.
However the true potential for that was lost in the midst of meaningless drivel in between major plot points, introduction of too many characters as well as changing narrators. Not only that but the ideal of having a "normal" person so close to the events was that ultimately everything was pegged as his fault. He even admits as much which gives Captain America the opportunity to share this gem:
"Yes it is [your fault]. Sometimes doing what we think is right turns out to be wrong entirely. The question is are you man enough to fix it once it's broken?"
If only the story around this statement was clear it could have been a very impact full frame. Unfortunately it is lost in the midst of showing an alternate Nazi version of the Avengers and the current Avengers disguised as forgotten 1930's costumed renegades. This book just needed a good edit before going to press.
The real issue was how the time travel piece is dealt with. There is a good way to work with timeline stuff and a confusing way. This was the latter. I did however like this other Captain America quote only because it is so true to life and almost felt therapeutic to me in a time where my past is making the present difficult:
"The past doesn't change soldier. It can only change us so that we can deal with the future that's coming.
So the book wasn't a complete waste of time and would probably even deserve a second reading which is not something I would say about most graphic novels. -
More reviews (and no fluff) on the blog
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There really is a lot here to like: beautiful artwork, a decent story, and a lot of background into the characters (which was helpful to me since I'm not versed in the Marvel universe).
The writer did a good job of depicting 1940s personalities and how they would react in modern day. Conversely, the way the modern heroes react to the 1940s characters is also well done - it's easy to see why the old superheroes were underestimated and they could capitalize on that.
As well, there is a story in there of a common soldier who also came back with the superheroes and how he discovers his own future. It's well done without being melodramatic.
A really nice touch is that characters who aged and learned had a maturity that made sense and didn't make the younger less seasoned self look stupid. This was especially apparant with Namor meeting his future self and the terrible future of the Atlantean kingdom. It just made sense and all felt right.
In all, I can't comment on continuity or whether these characters lived up to previous works. What I can say is that I greatly enjoyed this graphic novel and appreciated the strong writing and artwork. As well, there is a lot of story in the book to digest - it isn't an overly quick read and then discard. -
Jim Krueger
Alex Ross
The collective longing of the American people has seemingly brought Captain America back from the dead. Unfortunately the method of his resurrection was to transport him, some allied soldiers in his vicinity and his World War 2 super-hero team The Invaders from their proper time in 1941 and hurl them into the midst of 2008 New York City. The story gets rather complex and muddled, but there are some really great moments with the original Human Torch, Toro (the human torches mutant sidekick), Captain America circa 1942 and Bucky Barnes (who, in this storyline, has taken the mantle of Captain America after his assassination and desperately wants to warn his past self of impending disasters in his near future).
Overall, a mixed bag. The art was lacking in some parts. The story seemed somewhat stretched out and really, in the end, there is no clear bad guy OR a really good reason for why the Invaders were transported in time. But, it was a neat story and I was left excited to see where the storyline with Toro was headed.
3/5 stars -
Alex Ross gets to do his take on classic Avengers/Invaders the way he was able to do JLA at DC. The art of his is very well done as usual, but the storyline here is pretty decent as well.
The Invaders (Cap, Torch, Namor, Toro, Bucky) end up in the future by accident and need to return to the past without upsetting too much...however, in the present, Cap has just been assassinated...cue the problems, and people with split motivations when Time-Travel is involved.
That being said, it's very cool when the Might and New Avengers have to team up in order to get the Invaders back home, and it's quite fun to see the Classic Era costumes they put some of them in to blend in when some of the Avengers are trapped in the past.
All in all, a blast of fun with a good human core at the story, which is why it keeps the interest of the reader. Good job, very fun worth a read if you're an Avengers or Ross fan, or just like a good time-travel comic. -
Alex Ross uses convoluted time travel and Invaders basically to dope slap the Avengers and point out how stupid Civil War was.
Big, sprawling with a lot of time spent on set up and hitting us over the head with the message, but still really entertaining.
The writing on the Invaders is rock solid and shows the writers have a lot of love for them, there's lots of action, it's an Alex Ross comic so there is a cast of 100s and the good is good enough to make me forgive them for the bad.
The bad would be the Avengers as written all through Civil War as jerks, mopey and idiots. Almost none of the Avengers come off as heroic or even competent until the 3/4 mark of the series.
Think if it had been trimmed down to 8 or 10 issues it would have been a great story, where it is only a good one.
