Written and illustrated by Howard Chaykin
EXPLODING FROM THE PAGES OF NEW AVENGERS… It’s the tail end of the fabulous fifties. NICK FURY and his AVENGERS roar into their secret mission, hunting down NAZI SUPER VILLAINS…men and women relentlessly preparing to unleash hell on a troubled world barely holding onto peace…only to find the Avengers have what appears to be serious competition in their manhunt for these escaped ubermenschen…when their mission is suddenly compromised by interference from an unlikely source.
The more I read of his work, the more I find myself a fan of Howard Chaykin. On the other hand, I thought the arc that spawned this spin-off was fairly confusing, and I’m still not entirely sure what the point of it was.
Let’s figure some things out after the cut.
If there is one thing that I disliked about the New Avengers arc that introduced the Avengers of 1959, it’s that I can’t tell why it happened. Telling two stories, one in the past (with art by Chaykin) and one in the present (with art by Deodato), Bendis told a story about two raids on villainous hideouts, one resulting in near-death and the other resulting in fake-death. It all somewhat tied together in the end when Mockingbird took a serum to save her life that had it’s roots in the past, but outside of that there was no big connection, no great reveal or anything like that. There was just one story, and then another; sort of like having a back-up, except your back-up is in the middle of your book.
Now that that is done and over with, we have a spin-off book written and illustrated by the artist of the original arc, Howard Chaykin. While I’m not sure what the inherent goal here is, I will assume that it is not to tie into New Avengers, and I will hope that this is the case. After finishing the first issue and being given what is ostensibly a “hello, again!” issue that reintroduces the cast, it would appear that the books main purpose is just to tell a story about this ragtag group of heroes and anti-heroes as they and Nick Fury go on an adventure. All things considered, I am all for that.
I’m not entirely sure why Avengers 1959 exists. At least, not outside of someone somewhere saying “Let’s let Howard Chaykin tell a quick little action/pulp story with a few familiar faces, just because.” If that was the entire reasoning behind the title, then I’m actively willing to support it. If Avengers 1959 is just supposed to be about Avengers in 1959, and not in any way tied to the sprawling historical epic Bendis is writing in the back-ups of each Avengers and New Avengers issues, then I’m all for a side adventure with these characters. If this is all a trick, however, and this – like most Bendis-written Avengers books* – is all going to lead to how Ultron kills everyone some day, I’ll be pretty sore by the end of it.
If there is one thing that Marvel’s main books suffer from (i.e. the Avengers titles), it’s that they always have to be going somewhere (except maybe Secret Avengers, which is fine in its own corner). Marvel is always pretty good and honest about it’s handling of business in conjunction with their storytelling, and it usually balances itself out; we know and readily admit as fans that Marvel needs to put out an event at least once a year to try and appeal to different groups of fans to avoid just putting out titles to niche groups. While some people like to make claims about something called “event-fatigue,” the issue is reaally “prelude-fatigue.” So many stories all have to be geared towards something so that we can look back in a year or two and say, “Oh, wow, I never noticed that!” which, admittedly, can be quite fun, but gets a big exhausting and leads us away from the initial idea behind storytelling, which goes something like “let’s tell a good story, and then let’s tell another good one, too!”
Continued belowThat might sound like someone who is rather exhausted by comics, which isn’t true. I like a lead-up as much as the next guy, and I’m on board for whatever event you want to throw my way. (Generally, if it is a comic, I’ll just read it with little fuss.) What I’m getting at is: I sincerely hope this is just a story for storytelling’s sake, whether it be good or bad. That’s all I can ask.
Right off the bat with this initial issue, it would appear that that is at least some of the mentality being applied here. I don’t see any quiet references or foreshadowing (outside of some Doom-esque references), just extremely light character work from Chaykin. This issue is “the introduction issue”, reacquainting everyone with the Avengers of 1959 and introducing a new character to shake things up a bit and give Chaykin more to play with. The idea here is time-appropriate regression, so Nick Fury of 1959 obviously isn’t the same as Hickman’s Fury of Secret Warriors; this Fury is a bit more sassy, and I half expect him to throw out the word “broad!” in reference to those crazy women attacking him. Obviously in today’s much more politically correct and sensitive audience, Chaykin walks a dangerous line in of possibly insulting a portion of the audience (Dominic Fortune throwing some random woman he just met out of a plane with little regard to her well being), but given the big emblazoned 1959 on the cover, it stands as notable that the book feels fairly appropriate for the era it seeks to represent.
The biggest candle to hold Avengers 1959 to at the moment is the recently wrapped up Mystery Men mini. Mystery Men introduced brand new characters to exist at the tail end of World War II in the land of pulp fiction, and while I can’t speak for every reader I’d generally call the story a success at fitting itself into the history of the Marvel universe keenly and quietly. Avengers 1959 is definitely a bit more excited than Mystery Men; while Mystery Men was muted and excelled in the shadows, you get the impression from the first issue of Avengers 1959 that this will be more about high-flying sexy espionage and action, and that’s not inherently a bad thing. However, while it is too early to call heads or tails one way or the other, Mystery Men has one thing up on Avengers 1959 already: I was definitely more excited to read Mystery Men #2 than I am Avengers 1959 #2.
Now, this isn’t to lambast the book. Avengers 1959 isn’t bad, per se; it basically just is. If you’ve ever read a Howard Chaykin book from Marvel before, then you should be substantially prepared for what is contained within this title. It doesn’t push any boundaries, but rather sits comfortably where it works and smiles. Chaykin is a strong storyteller if not a bit formulaic in execution on occasion, and you can probably make assumptions already about where this story is going to go. However, those directions should still make for a good story when all is said and done. This won’t be a story that redefines your opinion of the Avengers, but for anyone that is a fan of Avengers stories or even pulp stories, I can’t imagine that this won’t find a nice plan in your collection eventually.
It’s with that thought that I’m led to my concluding thoughts: I am neither on the side for or against Avengers 1959. It basically just is. I enjoy it because I like Howard Chaykin, and I also like the Avengers. I enjoy it because I think the basic idea behind the series should result in some entertaining enough stories, but that is essentially the key word there: entertaining enough. The comic isn’t good or bad; I’m not jumping out of my seat with excitement about Nick Fury and friends battling zombies, or uncovering any kind of evil Hydra-related conspiracies. I will read it because these are things that interest me, and that is enough for me to want to read it.
Is that enough to recommend the book? Not entirely. If you like the Avengers and you like Howard Chaykin, yes, absolutely read Avengers 1959. It’s not ostensibly connected to anything outside of finding it’s roots in New Avengers, but if you have even the slightest of knowledge about the Marvel Universe then you don’t need to read that first story, just hop in now. It’s always nice to get a story that isn’t over encumbered with the milieu of history preceding it, but if you’re given some sort of dilemma in which you have to ask yourself whether to feed yourself or buy one more comic, just buy yourself dinner. Avengers 1959 will be there for you in trade some day.
Final Verdict: 7.5 – See above review
*As a note, I have zero problem with Bendis and his penchant to write really long preludes to big bombastic events. I enjoy Bendis’ work quite a lot. I just feel that a separation of church and state is in order here, so to say.
