1428 ( )

The Heroic Age is the short phase between the crossover events Siege and Fear Itself. This book has three main sections that cover the Avengers teams.

The first part of the book is Avengers Prime, which is a wrap-up story that follows directly after Siege. This one-shot tries to answer the question of whether Steve and Tony could ever work together again after Civil War. Thor, Tony and Steve stand upon the ruins of Asgard when they are suddenly teleported away and separated. What follows is the three trying to reunite, having to deal with hostile residents, and Thor discovering that Asgard being on Earth, and subsequently destroyed, has thrown the realms into literal chaos. A dark force has taken control. This story is light on substance, but heavy on action and banter, and there is just enough plot to make it work. Overall, I loved it. It hit all the right notes and provided a bit of closure after some horrifying events.

The second part of the book is the Avengers, Vol. 1. For me, this was the weakest part of the book. On the one hand, I love that Steve is back with the Avengers, with Thor and Hawkeye "resurrected", and trying to make peace with Tony. However, I was not happy to see their first challenge as a team is once again Ultron, with Kang thrown in to mix it up. I hate Ultron, and am not a fan of Kang either, because they are such one note villains. Here, Kang has broken the timestream and he needs the Avengers to fix it. This was obviously a set-up for the eventual Age of Ultron crossover. An event I intend to skip...

The third part of the book covers the New Avengers, Vol. 1. Steve chooses Luke Cage to lead this offshoot of the main team from Avengers Mansion while the other is in Avengers Tower. I really like the team dynamic here, and the humor was off the charts. The following exchange occurs after Luke invites Ben Grimm onto the team:

Ms. Marvel - "Luke, come on. He's in the Fantastic Four already."
Wolverine - "Hey, I'm an X-Man and on two Avengers teams."
Ms. Marvel - Yeah, how the hell do you do that?"
Wolverine - "Multitasking. It's my mutant power. Don't tell anybody."

The plot was also something new for me, as a power from another dimension wants the Eye of Agamotto, which means Dr. Strange has a major role. It was a good story with a lot of action and plenty of banter between the team members.

Overall, though I found the Avengers section disappointing, this is a great collection that sets the stage for Fear Itself. And, the price is a good value compared to buying the individual books that cover this same material. Highly recommended. ( )