Kurt Busiek // Jerry Ordway
December 2000
**
The Reagan-era Captain America holds the line against criminal ET immigrants & uncovers a conspiracy by the great Kirby AI, the Kree Supreme Intelligence. A creative slant on alien invasion, tho’ a bit right-wing by design. Ordway echoes this conservativism, a throwback to dull early ’80s art.
continued in Avengers #35
last issue: Maximum Security #1 of 3
next issue: Maximum Security #3 of 3
also indexed for Dec. ’00
Avengers #35
Kurt Busiek // George Pérez
April 2000
****
Just two years in, KB shuffles his roster. He’s deliberately made the Avs less A-list & more motley, indirectly addressing issues of race & gender w/o taking sides politically. He also implies that the Triune cult is conspiring to weaken the Avengers, having planted their own superhero on the team.
last issue: Avengers #26
next issue: Avengers #28
Kurt Busiek // Stuart Immonen
March 2000
****
Like a late-period ish from Claremont’s X-run, #26 lacks a single member of the mag’s cast yet it’s pivotal. A phony Cap recruits super-patsies for the Triune Cult’s smear campaign against the team. Lovely pencils from returning guest Immonen, whose dynamism balances shadow w/ 4-color buoyancy.
last issue: Avengers #25
next issue: Avengers #27
Kurt Busiek & Roger Stern // Carlos Pacheco
February 2000
***
While AF provided the epic conflict that Busiek’s Avengers needed, it never fulfilled its early promise. The Destiny War is revealed as a battle btw Avengers from noble & corrupt timelines. It ends w/ Rick Jones fused to Capt. Marvel Jr. & w/ lords of time Kang & Immortus as distinct beings.
last issue: Avengers Forever #11 of 12
also indexed for Feb ’00
Avengers #25
Kurt Busiek & Roger Stern // Carlos Pacheco
November 1999
***
As in “The Kree-Skrull War”, Rick Jones—now aged & weathered, linked once more to Capt. Marvel—manifests the author’s heroes from a field of cosmic Kirby dots. For R. Thomas, that was ’40s masked men; for Kurt B., it’s the Avengers themselves. Pacheco provides scope, but the solipsism is a letdown.
last issue: Avengers Forever #10 of 12
next issue: Avengers Forever #12 of 12
also indexed for Nov. ’99
Avengers #22
Kurt Busiek & Roger Stern // Carlos Pacheco
October 1999
***
The team stands trial before a tribunal of aliens from the end of time who guide history to guarantee their own birth. This year-long mini hits its third issue of expository conversation in a row. It hasn’t quite stalled but it’s dangerously close. Fortunately, Pacheco’s gridwork keeps it snazzy.
last issue: Avengers Forever #9 of 12
next issue: Avengers Forever #11 of 12
also indexed for Oct. ’99
Avengers #21
Kurt Busiek & Roger Stern // Carlos Pacheco
July 1999
***
The writers engineer a retcon that Rascally Roy would envy. It’s effected via exposition dump that “changes all you know” about the Avengers’ history. Plotting errors & paradoxes—from the Vision’s origin to Galactic Storm—get “explained” as a chronal conspiracy to prevent a human galactic empire.
last issue: Avengers Forever #7 of 12
next issue: Avengers Forever #9 of 12
also indexed for Jul. ’99
Avengers #18
Avengers Annual 1999
Avengers #0
Kurt Busiek & Roger Stern // Carlos Pacheco
June 1999
***
As the team storms an Escher-like citadel in Limbo, its various members work thru internal conflicts. Cap & Hawk gain confidence while Avs from the future share a kiss. But the strongest bit is the double-act of Ant-Men, as the schizoid version (Yellowjacket from Av #59) seems to betray the team!
last issue: Avengers Forever #6 of 12
next issue: Avengers Forever #8 of 12
also indexed for Jun. ’99
Avengers #17
Kurt Busiek & Roger Stern // Carlos Pacheco
May 1999
***
In one future, T’Challa sacrifices his vibranium to save a pregnant android & a golden insectoid swarm. The choice has been engineered by Immortus, whose power over spacetime is bent on keeping humanity on Earth. But that plot requires some deduction, since Kurt & Roger refuse to spell it out.
last issue: Avengers Forever #5 of 12
next issue: Avengers Forever #7 of 12
also indexed for May ’99
Avengers #16
Kurt Busiek & Roger Stern // Carlos Pacheco
April 1999
***
Immortus begins erasing various ‘verses to stop humanity from conquering the future. Busiek echoes the classic Crisis, of course, also in that both minis seem to stall at times. To provide a dialogue assist, he’s enlisted Stern, from The Avengers‘ last glory era (& one that Busiek passes by).
last issue: Avengers Forever #4 of 12
next issue: Avengers Forever #6 of 12
also indexed for Apr. ’99
Avengers #15
Kurt Busiek & Roger Stern // Carlos Pacheco
March 1999
****
Busiek pays homage to Thomas & Englehart, building his mini partly around their runs. His Avengers board a time machine to stop Immortus from erasing their sidekick, Rick Jones. They’re off to the Wild West (backstage in Av #142-3!), Killraven’s future, & ’50s America—where VP Nixon is a Skrull!
last issue: Avengers Forever #3 of 12
next issue: Avengers Forever #5 of 12
also indexed for Mar. ’99
Avengers #14
Kurt Busiek & Roger Stern // Carlos Pacheco
February 1999
****
Epic, Avengers-defining comics, w/ goofy super-SF to rival Morrison’s JLA. Immortus invades a “chronopolis” (a city that abutts all eras) so he can gain the power to prune the timestream! Pacheco shines: his “actors” have expressive body language & his panels cut & frame subjects in compelling ways.
last issue: Avengers Forever #2 of 12
next issue: Avengers Forever #4 of 12
also indexed for Feb. ’99
Avengers #13
Kurt Busiek // Carlos Pacheco
January 1999
*****
Rick Jones, acquiring time-manipulating superpowers, gathers Avengers to fight chrono-baddies. Ingeniously, the team’s drawn from several eras. It’s got Thomas’ delusional Yellowjacket & Englehart’s disillusioned Cap for drama, a few contempo members, & even future Avenger/current T-bolt Songbird!
last issue: Avengers Forever #1 of 12
next issue: Avengers Forever #3 of 12
also indexed for Jan. ’99
Avengers #12
Kurt Busiek // Carlos Pacheco
December 1998
****
Busiek spins a mini out of last summer’s Kree crossover assisted by Pacheco, whose style is a mod ’90s update of Pérez’ image density. A classic Kirby AI-monster conspires to hyper-evolve perennial sidekick Rick Jones, a gambit that gets noticed by a sinister time guardian & his younger self—Kang!
next issue: Avengers Forever #2 of 12
also indexed for Dec. ’98
Avengers #11
Index Indigo 