Billed as one of those "secret origins of" stories that seem to be cropping up all of the time, Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes details the "behind the scenes" events that occurred during the Avengers' formative years (in this case, the first year).

These comics read more as a companion to the original Avengers issues (through Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch joining the team). If the reader doesn't have knowledge of those issues, then this is really only half a story. And even if the reader does have knowledge of those issues, there isn't much added here. Iron Man has to work with the government to get clearance. Captain America, once recovering his memories, is haunted by them. Quicksilver is overprotective of his sister. Thor comes off as a jerk sometimes, but that's because he's a deity. Hawkeye is a "bad guy" trying to do right. And really, that's all been explored before, and in better stories.

I'd probably only recommend this to die-hard Avengers fans. If you're not familiar with the Avengers at this point (especially the early issues), I'd recommend reading those first before even trying this one (Essential Avengers Vol. 1 has those reprinted at a good price). ( )