My Issues with the Avengers

A few days ago I thought I'd blog about the Avengers vs. Justice League debate, but I had completely forgotten the meat of it, so I thought I'd share something else.
I thought about blogging why I have a particular distaste for the Skrulls and why I keep hammering that they're NOT GONNA BE IN THE MOVIE, but I think one Skrull-related rant for this week is enough.

So I thought I'd share something else a bit more positive. (And you thought I was gonna rant, didn't you?)
I was thinking a while back how certain issues of the comic certainly fell on very important dates in my life.

One in particular was released before I was a fan, before I even discovered the Avengers, before I even took any interest in comics and superheroes, in fact: Before I was even born!

Avengers Annual 10 (1981)

Yep, it's the annual of my birth year, released just a few months before I was born. I don't have a physical copy of this issue, but I have read it and it's a great issue to be sure! Guest stars abound, the storytelling is topnotch (Chris Claremont baby!), and Al Milgrom's art has a tinge of George Perez (my fave Avengers artist)!

More importantly: a) this was the very first appearance of Rogue who was my favorite X-men; b) this had a story centered around Ms. Marvel - one of my favorite Avengers; c) this featured a guest appearance by another favorite: Spider-woman!

I've said it once before, but if I only get to own one issue to keep forever, it would be this!


Another important issue, of course, is the one that made me a big fan.

Avengers Vol. 3 No. 34

I was turning 19, I had just finished taking a quarterly high school exam, and I had money. What's a geek boy to do? Go to the mall and check out comics (and - ugh - watch Battlefield Earth). I was getting pretty bored with the X-men at the time and wanted to check out something new and I remembered the Avengers/Thunderbolts were having a crossover at the time, so I thought I'd check that out.

It took the very first panel to convince me that I dare not leave Filbar's without this issue.

"It all started--" said the text box. How very true for me!

Sadly it was Perez's last issue and I debated with myself for a while if I wanted to follow the series considering it's the art that got me hooked in the first place. We all know how well that turned up, don't we?


One of my stipulations at the time was that writer Kurt Busiek was still with the series so it's bound to be good - AND IT WAS - but even he had to say goodbye.

Avengers Vol. 3 No. 56

But not without leaving something for me.

(Click to enlarge. Look for the letter by "Nicky Aniceto".)

Yes, I had used a different name. I don't remember what I was angry at my mom's side of the family about, but I was convinced I was going to use my dad's last name forever.


And, of course, the best thing the folks at Marvel ever did for me as a fan was printing another letter I sent on an issue that came out exactly on my birth month, exactly 10 years since I first picked up an issue!

Avengers Academy No. 5

As fate would have it, Academy is the only one of all the current titles with a letters page! This issue is cover dated Dec. 2010, but it came out two months earlier - just in time to celebrate my birthday!

Click to enlarge. Yes, I used my real name this time.)

Except for the last issue, everything else are just brilliant coincidences, but they do make me feel happy - nay, GIDDY - as a fan!

You know what else is a cool coincidence? They released the official trailer to the movie just a few days before my birthday last year!

So, if any of you guys reading this are fans, tell me: Which issues of your favorite book are really important to you?