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[covers by George Pérez and Pablo Marcos]

The back-to-back classic Avengers stories “The Bride of Ultron” and “Nefaria Supreme” are available together in both a smaller trade edition and a much bigger Epic Collection.

From Englehart to Shooter—All New, All Different?

Last time in our look back at glory days of the Bronze Age Avengers title, we took a deep dive into one of the high watermarks of not just early Avengers stories but of author Steve Englehart’s early career, as well. “The Serpent Crown Saga” distilled all of his distinctive qualities (beautifully realized by the fresh energy of a young George Pérez just starting out): The all-encompassing political paranoia borne of the Nixon era and an intense drive to adapt the Marvel Universe very directly to the tumultuous cultural moment—wherein  Englehart was equally interested in psychedelic experimentation and an earnest search for new symbols for making sense of the world and creating or recasting heroic figures to inspire a younger generation skeptical of traditional assumptions. Bear in mind he was 25 years younger than Stan Lee, and even the 7-year gap between Englehart and Roy Thomas, the title’s second writer, is significant considering the seismic shifts shaking up American culture as Englehart entered adulthood.

Of course, Englehart’s plotting skills were, well, a bit messy—but that wasn’t exactly unusual for Marvel during those early years. What stood out at the time was his signature psychedelic and paranoid kookiness, as well as the strength and boldness of his heroines, very unusual at the time, even for American culture more generally back then. In this formative era, what mattered most behind the scenes was keeping pace with deadlines and getting out entertaining stories each month even while narrative coherence was typically of tertiary importance, if at all. The scarcity of logical story structure was a real pet peeve of Jim Shooter when he started his first and most enduring Marvel run with Avengers #158.

[Read more…] about When the Avengers Ruled, Part 2: Ultron as Oedipus & Count Nefaria’s Lethal Legion