Good times, good times. Giant-Size Avengers continued through that year, along with the home title, to chronicle the war against Kang and his Legion of the Unliving as well as his hunt for the Celestial Madonna. After that, the title turned to reprints before merging its numbering with Avengers Annual and becoming just a footnote in comics history, a footnote that invariably makes a joke of the Giant-Size version of the Man-Thing title.

Nevertheless, I was still thrilled to see the familiar font of the Giant-Size books on the logo of this new Giant-Size Avengers #1. Just seeing that brought on a wave of feel-good nostalgia. The nostalgia stopped there however with the Bryan Hitch cover featuring few that classic Avengers fans might recognize as Avengers. No worries though, times change as do team rosters. But is it just me, or does everyone on the cover seem to be having a bad hair day? Including Wolverine’s facial hair?

The framing sequence by writer C.B. Cebulski and Young Avengers and Illuminati artist Jimmy Cheung is functional at least, and awful pretty. I loved Cheung’s use of black as black and the revelation of where the zippers are on certain costumes. The ‘story,’ if one can call it that, of Ms. Marvel, the Black Widow and the Wasp taking on a female contingent of the Serpent Society called the B.A.D. Girls is somewhat lacking, especially in the classic Avengers sense. Like much of Brian Michael Bendis’ New Avengers tales, it lacked action on a classic superhero level.

It bears noting that, Civil War and World War Hulk aside, this would be one of the few times in the last three years plus, Bendis has not handled the writing chores on the Avengers. And no, unfortunately, the Ultimates, Joe Casey’s Earth’s Mightiest Heroes nor Jeff Parker’s Marvel Adventures team don’t really count. Although, it also should be noted that this trio of super-heroines bears a close resemblance to the Lady Liberators story (Avengers #83) that Bendis has talked of revamping from time to time, especially with Frank Cho on art chores.

There is much chatter between the Avengers ladies, thus the title “Gossip Girls,” more reminiscent of Bendis’ talking head style than traditional battle chatter. That’s not a bad thing, mind you but I would have liked the latter kind, and especially some chit-chat from the B.A.D. Girls’ side as well. There is opportunity for backstory and character development there that is not utilized. The B.A.D. Girls could have mentioned they were anti-reg, Diamondback has nothing to say to the Avengers about the late Captain America, even a mention of the characters’ names might have been welcome.

All that aside, the framing sequence is amusing. Nice to see that outside of Bendis’ influence and diabolical Mighty Avengers thought balloons, Carol and Janet actually get along and like each other. One major thing, a dark shadow that hovers over this entire issue, is the Skrull problem. It mars most of the current Marvel Universe. I find myself more and more mistrusting the actions and words of characters, suspecting them of Skrulliness. With that in mind, how is it even possible to applaud or criticize the characterizations of writers doing their jobs?

This is extremely troublesome. Is the character acting out of character, in character, is she a Skrull, is she just bugged? Is the writer off or on base? It is impossible to tell anymore. To my mind, Secret Invasion can’t get here soon enough.

The Jarvis story, “Good Housekeeping,” is a pleasant and entertaining one by writer Douglas Noble (of the utterly cool Strip For Me) and artist Nelson. It stands as a nice counterpoint to the reprinted Jarvis tale later in the book from the David Michelinie/George Perez days. It works well, and I can’t express how wonderful it is to see the classic Avengers in action again. Some might say that Jarvis is a bit anal retentive here (and possibly a Skrull!), but I say no, this is just a nice little tale with some cool parallel storytelling.

After that we return to Carol and Jan for one page. There is gets a little weird. We’re told that Ms. Marvel stinks, bad, due to “snake slime” presumably from one of Diamondback’s blades, although we are never told this. Despite the smell, which Natasha couldn’t stand, Carol sits back with Jan to read Jarvis’ article, which looks to be bound and pretty thick. And it can be assumed there is more to it than the text we read, because Carol infers that she saw the visuals we saw, like the broken dolphin statue.

Regardless, still stinky, Carol stands around to hear Jan tell the tale of “Panegyrich” as written by webcomic guy T Campbell and penciled by Italian artist Denis Medri. I had been really looking forward to this one as TC in his Newsarama interview came off as a classic Avengers fan, he does not disappoint with this offbeat story of Henry Peter Gyrich guest-starring the big three.

Campbell gets all the characters dead on and Medri’s art is bright and clear. Loved Iron Man’s assessment of Gyrich and Medri’s Galfrax design. I wouldn’t mind at some point a return to this place, and maybe a return (and origin) of Galfrax. Hell, I wouldn’t mind seeing more by these two creators on the Avengers. Hey TC, in the words of Jifjoc, “Your story’s great stuff!”

When next we see our ladies, courtesy of Cebulski and Cheung, they are sunbathing by the pool. Smell and laundry problems are in the past obviously and it’s time for another story for the gossip girls. Writer Daniel Merlin Goodbrey and artist Brian Denham offer up the intriguing “Emperor None & the Sky Full of Moons.” DMG is one of the more inventive minds in the world of online comics, and his ‘hypercomics’ are works of genius, and his work here is nothing short of Grant Morrison-level brilliance.

Like the story before this, I wish that it were longer. I wanted to see more of Emperor None and know more of his previous exploits against alternate teams of Avengers. Can you imagine a team-up between Emperor None and Kang or maybe some sort of crossover with the Gatherers or Squadron Supreme? The mind boggles. Count my vote for more Avengers stories by TC and DMG!

Back at the pool, it’s time for another story. I do have to mention that since the Chuck Austen days, I get chills every time I see Jan by the pool. Hopefully we will never return to the Austenverse, even in flashback. Luckily, “Memorial Day” by Matt Yocum and Paul Neary only goes back to the early New Avengers days.

This one didn’t do much for me. As a rule, I dislike current (or near current) stories that treat Spider-Man like a child. But then again I guess it’s something we all should get used to now that “One More Day” has seemingly erased twenty-odd years of Spider-Man continuity. I don’t want to even think about what this does to Spidey’s involvement in Civil War or the New Avengers – I just don’t need that headache right now.

The story is interesting if unnecessary in my opinion. Neary’s art is very uneven throughout and his Iron Man downright odd. Doctor Strange’s inclusion seemed a bit forced. He apparently is being threaded throughout Avengers history to make it feel as if he’s always been there. Trust me, I know better. I remember a time when the Avengers didn’t know who he was and even when they considered him an enemy.

In the final page of the Cebulski/Cheung framing sequence it’s nice to see that Jarvis is back to his trim self as opposed to the earlier story, and the reprint. Following in the tradition of the original Giant-Size Avengers, we are treated to two reprint stories of the past. I have to say I found the two selected a bit odd. As I mentioned above, the Jarvis solo tale from Avengers #201 makes a nice counterpoint to the new one included earlier but it feels a bit too recent for reprinting to me, but then again, I’m pretty old and have been reading these things for a while.

The only reprint is the classic “Even an Android Can Cry” from Avengers #58. This is one of the greatest Avengers stories ever, one which helped to introduce both the Vision and Ultron, but it has been reprinted numerous times already. Surely there could have been something else, perhaps more relevant to reprint? As it stands today, the Vision is a minor character in the currently defunct Young Avengers series. Why not reprint a story that could reflect on one of the new tales in this issue as the Jarvis story did? Perhaps one of the times Spider-Man aided the Avengers before his memberships? Maybe a Gyrich-related story? How about that original Lady Liberators tale?

Or maybe a story from the past that would explain why a Fin Fang Four tale takes up the last few pages of this comic? It was amusing if not misplaced here in an Avengers title. I know that Reed Richards was momentarily an Avenger, but even that connection is stretching it in my opinion.

All in all, minor complaints aside, I really did enjoy this Bendis-less Avengers special. I give Giant-Size Avengers #1, volume 2, four stars out of a possible five, and I really look forward to seeing folks like Daniel Merlin Goodbrey, T Campbell and Denis Medri work on the Avengers again. Until, the next Giant-Size book, Avengers Assemble!

	Glenn Walker
	Glenn has been a fan of Marvel Comics' Avengers since the early 1970s, when their current adventures were chronicled by Steve Englehart and their early exploits by Stan Lee in classic reprints featured in Marvel Triple Action. He has persevered through many incarnations of the team and he still loves the Avengers to this day.