Essential Reading For Marvel Fans: ‘The Mighty Avengers Vs. The 1970s’ By Paul Cornell Reviewed
by Olly MacNamee
Here in the UK, Bloomsbury Academic, in partnership with Marvel, is about to publish three new paperback books looking at the Marvel Age of Comics. I was sent all three titles to review with The Mighty Avengers Vs. The 1970s by Paul Cornell, reviewed below:
As the title suggests, Cornell takes a look back at The Avengers in the 1970s and the four big writers — and eras — that decade gave us. And, the amazing, cosmic-charting, dimension-smashing, action-packed adventures they got up to throughout this decade. It was a pretty wild ride, and this decade gave us a good deal of iconic characters and storylines. It’s also the decade that saw the likes of Neal Adams, John Buscema, George Perez, and John Byrne contribute to the title. However, while the artists do get a shout-out, the structure of this entertaining and informative novel focuses on the stewardship of writers Roy Thomas, Steve Englehart, Jim Shooter and David Micheline. Together, these creators and more gave us the Kree/Skrull War, the Korvac Saga and Scarlet Witch and The Vision’s courtship. A golden age of classic comic book stories that are still much loved to this day.
Of course, having an expert on comic book writing recount and review this decade’s worth of stories brings with it an insight that could be lacking otherwise. Cornell is more than aware of common narrative tropes certain writers like to use when plotting their stories, all of which help raise this book above simply a recount of a decade’s worth of stories. He writes as a comic book writer, author and fan himself, with this decade being his introduction into comics and The Avengers.
As such, this book is lovingly written but not tainted by nostalgia. It’s an honest appraisal of The Avengers at the start of the Bronze Age, with plenty of focus on the important storylines and behind-the-scenes happenings that shape the title and Marvel in this decade. I found it so enjoyable to read, I immediately ordered a couple of Avengers Epic Collection to re-read the classic storylines covered by Cornell. He reviews them so effectively, you’ll want to reread these epics, too.
The Mighty Avengers Vs. The 1970s by Paul Cornell, is out on November 13th from Bloomsbury Academic.
