Years ago one of the shopping malls in my area had a Virgin Megastore nestled smack in the middle of it. I didn't go to that mall often, but when I did I gravitated to that store and perused the shelves to see what was on offer. At that time I hadn't read comic books in years and the collections that were increasingly available offered a convenient way of getting caught up on what I had missed, so when one caught my eye I skimmed it and got a crash course on what had transpired in the worlds I hadn't visited in a long time. Three of these stand out in my memory today; Jeph Loeb's brilliant [b:Superman: Emperor Joker|71618|Superman Emperor Joker|Jeph Loeb|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1308011989s/71618.jpg|69353], and two Avengers titles from the late 1990s; [b:The Kang Dynasty|703725|Avengers The Kang Dynasty (Avengers)|Kurt Busiek|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1177439053s/703725.jpg|690016] and Avengers Forever.

The two Avengers collections had a few things in common. Both featured Kang the Conqueror, who is one of my all-time favorite Marvel villains even if he had never been employed as well as he could have been (Kang Dynasty is the one that did it best). The other is that they were both written or co-written by Kurt Busiek, who may not enjoy the reputation of legendary superhero comic book writers like Alan Moore or the modern-day fame of a Brian Michael Bendis of a Geoff Johns, but who wrote some of the best stuff Marvel had going in the 1990s.

The best way of describing Avengers Forever is that it's the ultimate fan service for longtime readers of the series. The plot itself is so complicated so as to defy easy explanation, but it involves two time-traveling villains engaged in a struggle over the fate of humanity, with a team of Avengers pulled from various eras to save it from being eradicated from existence. The beauty of the series is threefold: the pulling together of an eclectic collection of people (including two different versions of the same character), the interweaving of their storyline into classic adventures, and an effort to resolve longstanding continuity errors by setting them as episodes in a longer conflict. The last requires long stretches of exposition and flashback; from a narrative perspective these are the weakest parts of the story and they don't always work, but Busiek does an impressive job with what he has, and his effort is more successful than one might expect.

Some people have referred to as a useful introduction to the Avengers comics. Yet the opposite is true; this is a collection that readers ought to turn to only after they are familiar with the classic run of the Avengers, something that is easier to do than ever thanks to the proliferation of bound collections and digital comics. While people new to the Marvel universe might still enjoy Busiek's tale, only those with a good command of the history of the Avengers can appreciate the genius of his effort, one that treats fans and the superhero team they love with respect. That's an achievement that is far more rare in comic books series than it should be. ( )

I mean... It wasn't awful. But it did get a little tedious. There were a few cool twists at the end though :) ( )

I am new to the Marvel Universe and I will admit that this is a difficult introduction to the world of The Avengers. However, this comic has everything! Avengers from various time periods are brought together to fight the chronologically challenged Immortus throughout multiple timelines. I am not just talking about Avengers from different eras either, but characters at a defined low/high point brought together specifically for this Destiny War. There were moments where I was spinning in confusion, but the writer was able to clarify past events in only a few panels, helping even a Marvel neophyte like myself get back on the trolley. This was probably not the best starting point, but well worth the read. ( )

One of the best Avengers stories ever. It does turn into a strange time travel story but that's okay. You should read this book for the characters. You get a good sense of who the Avengers are but more importantly what they stand for. And what they will stand for Forever. Thats the point of this story and the main reason why it works. ( )

http://lampbane.livejournal.com/382693.html

"I've read some Avengers stories, but not that many, so I seized upon the chance to bone up a bit.

Avengers Forever was probably not the place to start. It leans heavily on past adventures, heavily referencing the entirety of their run. To Kurt Busiek's credit, he's entirely aware of that, so each issue does it best to recap both previous issues and the older tidbits, and every two issues there's a whole page of endnotes to explain where everything came from. (I don't think I've seen a serious endnotes page since Marvels... which was also Busiek, wasn't it? Also, has DC ever printed endnotes on anything?)

It's a decent-enough adventure, though maybe I wonder if they didn't go far enough with the prancing about in 40 years of Avengers history. You've already gone this far, why not just go all the way?

Feeling out-of-sorts because of my general unfamiliarity with Avengers history (which is what led to the recent spring of comic-cataloging) I ended up ordering two more Avengers titles, which I finished over the weekend."