Avengers Assemble: By Kurt Busiek & George Perez

“And there came a day unlike any other when earth's mightiest heroes were united against a common threat! On that day the Avengers were born! -- To fight the foes no single hero could withstand!” Hello There, Today I, Ethan Stranger, will be reviewing (in my opinion) the best/most colorful Avengers Run in all of Marvel Comics...Kurt Busiek’s & George Perez’s Run & What the Avengers (In General) Can Represent  for the Asperger Community (Consider this a Continuation from my “X-Men: By Chris Claremont” Post)

The Avengers were created way back in 1963 by Marvel Comics Legends, Stan Lee & Jack Kirby, in an attempt to create another “Justice League-Styled Team (Following the success of the Fantastic Four, which debuted 2 years Early). To save up time on the History of the Avengers Team membership, watch this:

Let’s kick things off with George Perez, who had a rememberable run with Earth’s Mightiest Heroes (for it was one his earliest works within Marvel Comics, from 1975-1980), working alongside writers “Steve Englehart, Jim Shooter &  David Michelinie” with Story Arcs that included the “Serpent Crown Saga, The Bride of Ultron, The Nefaria Trilogy, The Korvac Saga, Stone of Heart & The Infamous Avengers #200 Storyline” 

Throughout the Entire 1980s, George Perez was over at DC Comics, working on such titles as “Justice League, New Teen Titans, Crisis on Infinite Earths & Wonder Woman (he also designed the famous mech-suit that Lex Luthor occasionally dons when he battles Superman)”. Perez briefly returned to Marvel, working with 12 Year Hulk Writer, Peter David on the 2-Part Hulk Story, Future Imperfect & with Cosmic Writer Jim Starlin for the 6-Part Cosmic Event, The Infinity Gauntlet, but dropped out as Artist due to scheduling conflict with DC Comics on the Wonder Woman Mini-Series, War of the Gods, thus got replaced by Artist Ron Lim

And now on to Kurt Busiek, while I’m not too familiar with his earliest work, I am aware of his owned created series, “Astro City”, plus (through my Marvel Unlimited App) I was able to read some of his Marvel Works (Like Marvels with Artist Alex Ross & The Thunderbolts (Marvel’s Answer to DC’s Suicide Squad) with Artist Mark Bagley (This Anti-Hero Team would later come into conflict with the Avengers during Busiek/Perez’s Avengers Run)

In 1996, Marvel Comics launched “Heroes Reborn”, an event that saw the Avengers & the Fantastic Four sent to a pocket dimension following the Onslaught Storyline, various titles were handed over to former Marvel Employees like Jim Lee & Rob Liefeld, but it failed badly, thus 2 years later, Marvel offered George Perez to reboot the Avengers Title (as both Writer & Artist), but instead offered Writing Duties to Kurt Busiek (a Writer he wanted to work with for a while), thus The Avengers were Back in Business with polished and dynamic art, plus epic storytelling.

                                             

 To be honest, just looking at Perez’s Artwork, makes my eyes a bit giddy (due to all the incredible details he puts in his art)

I like to compare Perez’s Artwork to be like “Jack Kirby’s Artwork 4.0”, highly doubt I could draw anything like Perez Can.

Learn somewhat more about Busiek/Perez’s Run, Watch This:

So now it’s discussed what the Avengers can represent for the Aspergers Community (especially this run, in my opinion). To start off, this Avengers Run is known for attempting to make the Avengers Roster more “Divergent”

By adding fewer Mutants & More Black Superheroes (for the Avengers in this run were under heavy fire from the Public due to these sorts of issues), in fact, this can be retable within today’s society itself, for both Representation & Divergent are an important aspect of being human (especially when functioning a company or an organization)

There are also several moments within various issues where The Mighty Thor angrily swings the Mighty Mjolnir due to the public’s protests about divergence...and he doesn’t even apologize for his misbehave, demanding that the Common People of Midgard treat with more respect since he is a God, but the Avengers Liaison (Duane Freeman) tells Thor that is not how it works & that he must publicly apologize...in which he doesn’t and angrily leaves the team.  

As an Asperger's Person, I can relate to these panels (Picture, Center), for there are moments where I demand to be treated with more respect & as an Equal (for I’ve never been asked to be born like this), but sadly I must accept that that’s not how things work (unless somebody, who can stand up for the little guys like us, can help remodel the rule book). As I mentioned earlier about Busiek/Perez’s Run dealing with the team attempting to be more Representation & Divergent, an Asperger Person (such as myself) can relate, for I always wished various job organizations, schools & companies can be more open & show more Representation when hiring or dealing with Asperger (or any disability) workers, as I mention in my “Entrapta: The Cartoon Goddess of Asperger People”, while she represents for the Fictional side of Asperger-Related Representation, we need to see more of that in the real-world, The Avengers (throughout Busiek/Perez’s Run) have struggled in attempting to live up to the public’s protests against Representation & Divergence, but remember, the Avengers don’t recruit members because of Skin Color, they recruit members for their acts of bravery in the face of battle & danger, like how I wish job organizations, schools & companies can hire Asperger (and other Disability) workers without having to worry about their disability so much or treating them as equals, cause even in real-life, An Asperger Person is like (in a way) an Avenger, like me (Ethan Stranger), for I hope my Blogs inspire others (Aspergers or Not) to do the Impossible, to do whatever inspire them to be the hero in the real-world.

I like to Picture the Fantastic Four as a “Superpowered Family”, I Like to Picture the X-Men as a “Safe Group for Weirdos to gather Together”, but I’ve always pictured the Avengers to be somewhat of a “Job Community”, for there roster have changed rapidly over the years, featuring humans, superhumans, mutants, Inhumans, deities, androids, aliens, legendary beings, and even former villains. The Avengers Rotating Roster is like School or Work, cause it’s like that saying, “Out with the Old & In with the New”, cause fresh faces make the organization more interesting (to read about), but in the real world, it’s more about Representation & Divergence, as well as training the next generation.

So while Geroge Perez eventually left the Series after working on Kurt Busiek’s Avengers Run for 3 Years, he did leave behind an incredible trail of Artwork (that’s still making my eyes giddy, god, that detail).

Eventually, Kurt Busiek would leave the title after 4 years, but left behind a trail of remarkable storytelling (kinda wish I had his epic storytelling ability, as well as an Artist like George Perez to act as my “Co-Writer”), because judging by the artwork & the Writing, you can tell that these 2 had a great time working on Avengers Together. For Today, Ethan Stranger says Excelsior (but not before telling the Beast that he & the other 39 Avengers should battle the MCU’s Next Big Baddie, Kang the Conqueror, just don’t forget to include your Friendly-Neighborhood Spider-Man (Right, Spidey)? -To Kurt & George