Issue(s): Avengers #1
Cover Date: Nov 96
Title: "Awaken the thunder!"
Credits:
Jim Valentino - Script
Rob Liefeld - Plot
Chap Yaep & Rob Liefeld - Penciler
Jon Sibal & Marlo Alquiza - Inker
Rob Liefeld - Editor

Review/plot:
Avengers is Rob Liefeld's other Heroes Reborn book, but, other than the latter half of this issue, he doesn't pencil this series (he does do most of the covers until he's fired, and i swear to god he used his own grinning face as the reference for Thor on this issue). Jim Valentino is only credited for script on this issue, but he and/or Jeph Loeb will also get a co-plotting credit for Liefeld's remaining issues. Chap Yaep was an Image regular who had done Team Youngblood and a few other things prior to this.

One "surprise" about this book is the team membership. This is actually part of a larger point about the overall Heroes Reborn line. The line-up of Avengers who died fighting Onslaught was: Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, Hawkeye, Crystal, Vision, Scarlet Witch, Henry Pym, Wasp, & Falcon. Additionally there was Black Panther and Sub-Mariner (both technically Avengers but not acting on that capacity during Onslaught), the FF, the rest of the Inhumans (apparently), the Hulk (sort of), and Dr. Doom. In Heroes Reborn, Iron Man never really becomes an Avenger. Crystal (and the Inhumans), Namor, and Black Panther are all auxiliary characters in the HR Fantastic Four book; they are treated as no different than the other characters who we know to be constructs of this alternate universe. Similar situation with Falcon, who is a supporting character in Cap's book; you'd never know he was one of the core characters who came from the real Marvel universe. So there isn't a direct correlation between the characters who died and who is on the team here. In fact, Henry Pym and Vision are sidelined almost immediately in this book, and Wasp never really becomes a fully participating member. Additionally, Liefeld has added a Swordsman, who seems not based on the previous version(s)...

...plus a Hellcat who looks suspiciously like Feral from X-Force (and she's explicitly Patsy Walker; you'd think at least make her Greer Nelson / Tigra).

Also, there are hints that Hawkeye is not who we would expect him to be (and not just because of the weird costume).

He keeps his mask on all the time (a fact that other characters comment on) and a flashback shows that he was particularly close to the Grim Reaper, making some fans suspect that Liefeld intended to reveal that this Hawkeye was really Simon Williams. For some reason!

I should also point out that when Liefeld is fired and Walt Simonson takes over, one of the first things he does is reveal that the Thor that Liefeld introduces this issue is a fake. But that's not really relevant to the point here; Liefeld intended this Thor to be the one killed during Onslaught.

But clearly there was no attempt at a direct connection with the Onslaught team. Which is interesting because another aspect of this series is that right from the beginning, Loki is aware that everything about this universe is wrong.

Loki of course was not among the heroes slain by Onslaught. But around the same time (with Thor's book getting replaced by Journey Into Mystery), all the Asgardians disappeared. So it's not unreasonable to imagine that they - or at least Loki - also wound up here. Thor also vaguely remembers Onslaught.

And it was stuff like this from Loki (which gets more blatant as the series goes on) and others which kept me buying this garbage, looking for some deeper meaning. But it's a weird disconnect. If you wanted to do a story where Loki knew that most of the universe was a fake except for some key characters, you'd think you'd keep a spotlight on those key characters.

Even outside of any direct connection to the core Marvel universe continuity, the introduction of the team is badly mishandled. For one thing, despite controlling both books, Liefeld never does the scene where Captain America joins the Avengers. In the Cap book, Fury says that he'll introduce him to the team. Here, the team is newly formed and Cap is already just part of it. We can imagine that the introduction happened prior to this issue, but why would you have a cool scene like that happen off panel? Additionally, the presence of Loki here would seem to be a callback to how he inadvertently caused the formation of the team in the original comic, but, again, the team is already formed at this point. Loki just fails to kill or recruit Thor here. He instigates a brief fight between Thor and the Avengers after Thor is discovered and woken up, but that's it.

Yaep's art is definitely Image style but tolerable. Liefeld's half of the book is full of the usual hilarity...

...and that's before we get to the poor misshapen Enchantress.

To save you from doing too much scrolling, i truncated the above image, but you can click on it to see the original.

Quality Rating: D

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: By the start of this story, Captain America is already a member of the team, placing this after his reawakening. It takes place at least during/after Captain America #3, when Nick Fury says he'll introduce Cap to the Avengers, but it seems like Cap is a well-established member of the team at this point. When Thor is discovered, a worker says they should call "that new team of heroes", "you know, the one with Captain America?" (for what it's worth, another worker responds, "Yeah, what are they called... the Invaders? The Defenders?").

Captain America and Thor appear in Fantastic Four #3, which is a continuation of the story from FF #1-2. And the Fantastic Four appear in Avengers #3, which is a continuation from Avengers #2. So the sequence has to be Avengers #1, FF #1-3, then Avengers #2-3.

References: N/A

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A