Writer: Paul Levitz
Cover Artist: Alan Davis
Penciller: Alan Davis
Colorist: Rachelle Rosenberg
Letterer: VC’s Cory Petit
Reviewer: Carl Bryan

“The rage of the storm is mine to command Captain America, a power beyond your mortal reckoning – Thor to Captain America

Synopsis:
It’s Classic Avengers! Thor, Iron Man, Captain America, Giant-Man, and Wasp! They face the Hulk on the streets of New York! It’s the beginning of a showdown with Kang the Conqueror that will span the centuries!
Writer Paul Levitz pays homage to the classics written by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, and Don Heck.

Positives:
Paul Levitz pays tribute to the Avengers of the past as he writes in a voice that my fourth-grade self remembers. Wasp is way overt in her sexual innuendos towards Thor and Cap. It almost seems out of place in this current climate. One lady in the crowd begs for a kiss from Cap! It just goes to show one how far the genre has come in terms of writing.
However, in his craft, Levitz transports us to this era as Kang is trying to destroy the Avengers, and he seeks to do it from the inside using their greatest asset – Hulk!

The Avengers seem very confused at the actions of Hulk given that this time era was fraught with the Hulk proclaiming “Hulk Smash!”, however, the issue is fraught with elementary dialogue and strong-arm pictures that echo that era. ‘Listen to the Lad…” utters Captain America. I don’t think I have heard the term “lad” in quite some time.
Is Iron Man have trusty roller skates that are used on ice…? Levitz is paying goofy homage here. We even get a guest appearance or two from the pages of …… No spoiler here. Buy the book!

Positives 2.0
The art team has embraced this issue as well. You would think this issue should have been in a cardboard box in a thrift store, but it is a first release. Kudos to the artists for using their skills to take us back in time!

Negatives
While traveling about time in all of these Avengers books, it is only natural that you would visit the same art styles and dialogue. I have to admit that I have outgrown the half Spiderman half Peter faces and the thought bubbles that tell the reader what is going on. It is tough to go back to that type of storytelling, and some crave it.
Comics have matured. I blame and hold in awe Frank Miller and Todd McFarlane for that! It is hard to read at a fourth-grade level now…sigh!

Final Thoughts:

Paul Levitz and company do a great job transporting us as readers to the early days of the Avengers. The dialogue is campy and returns to the days of old comics. I would suggest this for a new comic reader in lower grades, but Wasp is so amorous in her overtures to all of the male Avengers that a young reader may get more of an education than their parents want them to the ways of seducing a man. As always, Marvel is setting up its cinematic endeavors, so here comes Kang!

6/10