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Avengers: The Korvac Saga

Marvel TPB

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Could he be misguided or is he the only one who may be right?

Jul 9, 2012

by Madpenguin
posted in Speech Bubbles: Comics & Graphic Novels

Rating:

Thor enters a police situation where they are up against terrorist prepared to cause some serious damage. He dispatches them with ease until their secret weapon appears to go off. Thor finds himself aboard a ship, later on he learns that he's now in the 31st century, and he must join forces with the Guardians of the Galaxy to battle against a powerful threat. This is only the beginning of something far larger in the works. -summary

When comic fans advise new readers to journey into Marvel's distant past in hopes of introducing the stories they feel to be the best. It's epics like Avengers: The Korvac Saga that provides them with the reasons for this way of thinking. The 70's and 80's is clearly the time when writers were at their strongest in hindsight. They were forced to dig deep into their creative bag in hopes of delivering enriching stories that could grab readers by the throat. The most interesting thing though, in hindsight once again, they were normally able to accomplish this without the use of massive crossovers and even gimmicks. They were able to keep the stories self contained with minimum guest stars, and work with the characters they were dealt. Jim Shooter, who I've mentioned before as one of the best creative writers to ever pen the Avengers continued his stellar run, with David Michelinie stepping in to assist on the writing duties. The Korvac Saga is a fantastic story that pits the Avengers against their deadliest threat yet Michael Korvac, a man from the future with vast powers hoping to reshape their present. This TPB collects Thor Annual # 6, Avengers 167,168, 170 - 177.

The first story taking place with Thor and the Guardians of the Galaxy can feel like filler to some. Thankfully it's actually good filler that not only delivers with some good action, but also sets the stage for the story. This story begins the battle against Korvac, who later retreats and ends up on Earth far more powerful than he was in this encounter. It's believed by the Guardians he journeyed back to 1977 with intentions on killing one of their members, in order to prevent the group from forming in the future and opposing him. Shooter could have easily made this into a by the numbers plot. Instead, he abandons the main plot injecting many different story elements and juggles around with some of the Avengers powerful threats; you will see confrontations against the deep sea powerhouse Tyrak, the mad robot Ultron who returns to finish off the Avengers, and even a cosmic showdown with the Collector.

The writing is very strong delivering plenty of character development along with action and stand alone story development. While these side stories are going on, Korvac himself is being examined and the reader will have an idea how powerful he is. There are several displays of his power, and one will wonder how the Avengers will even survive this inevitable showdown.

Shooter handles the characters very well, and readers will get to know most, probably all of them very well. The Avengers are handled realistically dealing with real people problems; there's dissension in the ranks with Captain America being very vocal about Iron Man's poor leadership. Wonder Man finding it difficult to be an Avenger, since he had been killed before and he doesn't want to die again. His courage is given a boost watching female power houses take vicious beatings, only to return back into the very heart of the fight. The characters are handled well, and it must be mentioned that Shooter handles more than 20 characters; making characters like Hawkeye, Ms. Marvel, and Scarlet Witch feel very important. There's even time for some comedy here, with the Avengers having their government privileges revoked, resulting in them having to commandeer a public bus for transportation to the big fight.

The only issues I can think of is probably readers dying for some story elements to be cleared up. Shooter takes his sweet time with bringing some closure to plot threads, and things will feel like they're happening at random. Be patient though, because a majority of story elements are cleared up, and the small amount left open aren't important for this particular story arc.

George Perez's artwork is very good with him drawing plenty of characters in single panels with some type of detail. The action panels have moments of being truly marvelous, and they will probably satisfy all action fans. As good as it is though, it's not exactly perfect. On some occasions it will be difficult to follow the dialog bubbles, which makes it kind of hard to tell who's suppose to be talking next, and they will even be above the wrong character speaking at the moment. I didn't find this to be too much of a problem, but it did irritate me a little.

The ending is worked out well, and I like how there was this lingering doubt if the Avengers were really right. There's a strong possibility that they could've been wrong in what they did. I enjoy stories like this, because it's impossible that the good guys are fighting the good fight all the time. People fear what they don't understand, and on some occasions they can understand it, yet still fear it anyway and just don't like it. The Korvac Saga has that effect on me. Anyway, this is a story I recommend to comic fans. It has its wordy moments but I think it delivers where it counts, it's also the direct follow up to the TPB Avengers: Bride of Ultron. Another story that will fit great in your comic collection.

Pros:
-Excellent writing and action

Cons:
-Small issues with artwork

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FM_ALEX July 11, 2012

Another classic from back in the day, great write up again man.

Madpenguin July 12, 2012

Thanks.

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woopak_the_thrill July 09, 2012

This was a great compilation and they finally restored the original epilogue (the first collection was altered a bit). This was one of the more intelligently played stories during its time. This may have set the stage for the other stuff as Moondragon's corruption, the Thanos quest and the Infinity Gauntlet. This was a time when Marvel really proved how they were able to take risks unlike their competition. I did however, have to point out that the writing isn't perfect, it has some major plot missteps (I mean shellhead's armor can withstand Collector's weapon whereas Thor may get hurt by it?) and I wasn't too keen on the way it explained certain things about Thor appearances and disappearances. This was a collection which was saved by the last issues indeed. It truly was made to provoke thought and wonder just what Korvac's motivations were. Nice review. Glad you shared this one!

Madpenguin July 09, 2012

Thanks. Yeah, I was glad to see that, the original epilogue adds more to the ending. I believe this is considered the start of Moondragon's corruption when they had to battle her. I'm not sure if this could have anything to do with the Inifnity Gauntlet, outside of Marvel attempting to create a threat more dangerous than Korvac and even the Beyonder.

Iron Man taking Collector's shot before Thor, it does make sense, because this can be looked at two different ways; Iron Man still felt he had something to prove since Captain America had been taking shots at his leadership. Second, he's a strategist, so he probably felt more secure if he went down instead of Thor just in case. Thor is the Avengers trump card and even the villains know that.

And I liked how Thor's disappearance was explained, because it sheds some light on just how powerful he is. The Collector was obviously banking on him.

He's definitely not as durable as Thor by this time, because he didn't make those advancements to his suit yet, in which he would do later after he fries it knocking out the Hulk later on.

woopak_the_thrill July 09, 2012

You do make valid points. Perhaps Shellhead was still trying to prove his worth as leader, but I guess what I did not think about it that way. I guess I believe that a leader should know his allies powers and Thor's hammer (and the thunderer himself) is far more impervious to damage than his armor. Also, how can his armor withstand a blast that he believed that can hurt Thor? I guess only the wirter would know LOL

The reason why I brought up the issue with Thor's appearances and disappearances is because...A Thor (after collector was annihilated) was left behind from the timestream, so wouldn't this mean that the present timeline will have two Thors? Not sure, maybe it was explained later in future issues that I forgot.

Yeah. I liked Shellhead's Thorbuster (too bad Thor destroyed it) and Hulkbuster armors.

woopak_the_thrill July 09, 2012

I meant in influencing the mind-boggling themes that may have inspired Infinity Gauntlet.

I have a feeling you are also going to review the KREE-SKRULL war ;)

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About the reviewer

Madpenguin
Ranked #2

Serious gamer and hardcore comic reader. Currently in my Nintendo Wii U: Currently … more