Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes Ultimate Collection (Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes (2004-2005))

I really enjoyed Joe Casey’s revamp of the early days of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. These stories have a lot of great character moments from the Avengers early and most important adventures. It does skip over a lot of the action in favor of filling in the gaps and that is what makes them even more worthwhile in my opinion is it is adding a lot more to what you already know rather than just regurgitating it with updated art and dialogue.

Some might scoff at a pair of mini-series that basically retell the early days of the Avengers. But Joe Casey makes it work by getting in deep to explore what the original tales didn't. The first mini-series (with fantastic art by Scott Kollins) shows this off as the Avengers deal with such things as government oversight, the Hulk leaving and Captain America revived. Cap wrestles with the change in times and the desire for revenge on Baron Zemo as Thor and Iron Man clash over the former's "delusions" of godhood. A great subplot is how Hawkeye got surprising inspiration to join the team and how they gel together. Some great moments include Cap at the Vietnam Memorial, refusing to leave until he "reads the name of every man who died in a war I wasn't there to fight." It's a great modern take on the origins of the team that feels as real as any tale of the past.The sequel may not have the same dynamic art but still does a spin on the events in issues 50-60. This includes the arrival of the Black Panther as he poses as an inner-city schoolteacher to help a troubled youth and the introduction of the Vision. The highlight is a brilliant retcon of Hank Pym becoming Yellowjacket that's so obvious, you're surprised it hasn't come up before. Again, Casey is great nailing each member in their own distinctive voice and make the story work. Hardly a retread of old material, these stories put a fresh spin on the early days of Earth's Mightest Heroes that helps them shine better than ever and a must-have for any Avengers fan.

I've been a fan of Joe Casey & Co's Avengers-origins work since the original issues were being released, and I'd go so far as to say that Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes is a must read for any Avengers fan.But, don't buy this collection.This trade is missing a page in issue two/part two. It's not a packaging issue, but a printing issue. Minor series spoilers (very minor) to follow:***********************************************Following the Avengers' meeting regarding Cap's mental health, the scene changes to Thor and Iron Man speaking, later. In the original printing, this scene was two pages long. In this reprint, one page is omitted. It's just...gone.***********************************************Series rating - **** 1/2This product's rating, due to unexcusibly poor printing and/or quality control on behalf of the printer - *

Everything he and the 4 Star review say about the quality of the storytelling is accurate. The 1 Star reviewer is sadly mistaken about the "printing error" in the collection. I work at a comic store part time and was able to compare the collection to another edition (the hardcover collection of the first series) and they are identical. I even looked up the specific page cited and the Thor/Iron Man scene is 2 pages in both books. The 1 Star review customer must have unfortunately received a damaged copy of the book.

I'm only about 1/2 way through and liking this book a lot. It is a refreshing way of doing a historical showcase of the Avengers instead of compiling a book of original comic issues that like the Platinum The Definitive-books.This retelling and redrawn origin and subsequent key events with era accurate costume evolution is the perfect introduction for someone new to The Avengers.Finally I saw someone give it a 1 star as said a page was missing I can't but think his book likely from same run as mine and as you can see in pics the final cutting in production was slightly off resulting in some pages stuck together at the very edge that I gently slid knife blade between to separate.

Stories are good and one time read.Packaging could have been better