Brian Bendis’ colossal and influential run on the Avengers franchise is coming to an end, with his brief “Avengers Assemble” stint having already wrapped and both “Avengers” and “New Avengers” coming to a close. As we near the finale, Bendis himself took to tumblr to show off the final variants of his two major finales, and they’re both pretty great.
First up we have the “Avengers” finale (#34) variant by Paolo Rivera:
The image itself shows off quite a lot, essentially recapping the big moments of his run on the title, from the opening Kang arc through to the recent “AvX” tie-ins dealing with Thor and friends in space fighting the Phoenix (although the arc was mostly about Marvel Boy), with only the “Fear Itself” tie-ins and Osborn arc missing from the collage. It does, however, include the initial moment Bendis took over the Avengers with Wanda’s breakdown, which was in the “Avengers” title before it ended. The cover also shows off Ultron, who Bendis has largely teased as important for the future and an upcoming series with Bryan Hitch.
All of it is wrapped up cleverly in the familiar Avengers logo, and while Bendis’ adjectiveless “Avengers” run is remarkably shorter than his “New Avengers” run (which admittedly replaced “Avengers” for quite some time), it’s quite nice to see it all captured so succinctly by Rivera in this singular powerful image.
Bendis additionally teases that this is a double-sized all-star jam issue in which he does not “leave things the way (he) found them.” Considering he found them on the verge of collapse and in turn pushed them to their breaking point, I would imagine the series ends with everybody sitting at a table and having a lovely cup of tea.
Next up is the “New Avengers” finale (#34) variant by David Yardin, which will actually be the hundredth issue of the series according to Bendis:
This gives us a similar situation to the other cover, although a bit more all encompassing. The new New Avengers team gets the central spotlight, Cap and Iron Man get two spots (assumedly for being on the original team and as a reference to Civil War), and we get a look at the first arc of the relaunch, “Secret Invasion” and everyone’s favorite Sentry returning briefly. It’s not as stylized as Rivera’s (if only for the lack of the A, honestly), but it certainly highlights some great moments from “Breakout” through to “Siege” and a bit beyond.
Bendis also teases that this book will also be a double-sized art-jam, but instead of “all-star” it will primarily be indy artists, many of whom have never worked at Marvel before. While the full list of collaborators has not been released (on this or the “Avengers” finale), it’s an incredibly intriguing thought to see who is going to get to be in the book for such a monumental occasion.
Both books come out in November. Expect more from us on this then.
