Avengers Classic #6

Avengers Classic #6
For all that people talk them up, I had always thought that the original Avengers books were good. And then I began reading this series. And realized that they're not, not really. Sure, they've got some interesting ideas, most of which were revolutionary for the time, simply because there had never been anything like them before. And that's good. What I'd much rather, though, would be a series where Michael Avon Oeming retold the original Avengers stories - in the same issue format as they were done originally (done-in-one), but with the benefit of years of comics history and experience. No hackneyed narration, no monologueing, no out of character moments, some nods to continuity, no expository thought bubbles or dialogue. And definitely, no narrators. ("Run! It's the Melter!" Oh my god. The Melter. Ooooooh, scary.) There are some things that only ever existed because comics writers and comics readers hadn't yet figured out an alternative. And once they had, these ideas were retired. And deserve to remain so. I hate to call the original stories CRAP, but they're truly painful to read.

I love the Oeming shorts in the back, though, and this issue's is no exception. Those are GOOD.