Commentary: Avengers fandom goes from starvation to gluttony?

Columns

Ok. Too much of a good thing? When is enough actually enough? Can this many Avengers books over 5 years or so endure.

1 – Avengers Prime [The Iconic Three]
2 – Avengers
3 – New Avengers
4 – Mighty Avengers [disbanded]
5 – Dark Avengers [disbanded]
6 – Secret Avengers
7 – Avengers Academy
8 – Young Avengers
9 – Probable: [Insert Adjective] Avengers (by Van Lente – an Avengers time with a “green” Hulk?)
10 – Rumoured: Galactic Avengers (by DnA)

Am I missing any?

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Is a West Coast Avengers renunion (Hawkeye and Mockingbord are back afterall) also likely?

The above list doesn’t include other “family” books like old “Initiative” book (since it didn’t have “Avengers” in the title”) and the current “Hawkeye and Mockingbird” book, etc. Just looking at what I would term the “core” Avengers books. It also does not include the various 3 or so issues minis like I imagine Secret Invasion: Avengers, etc.

7 and 8 above may not be “core” enough to some, but I imagine other fans might look at them as pretty important to the Avengers brand. Books like Ultimates or Ultimate Avengers were excluded as well since they’re “alternate universe” Avengers.

With those others, you’re over 15 Avengers or Avengers-tethered Marvel TEAM books. REALLY? In a sputtering economy, can this much similarly branded output thrive? Yes, there’s been some trade-offs and not all, but most of the above are being published today.

Who you would have thought 5 years ago we’d have this many Avengers-in-name-only (AINO) “Avengers” books.

THESE all are not Avengers books anymore. It is an Avengers brand.

That said, while I don’t buy them (figuratively and literally) as Avengers, some of them are pretty good. Avengers Academy being a stand-out for me and the only one I still read after “sampling” the rest.

So, do you read all of these books? How do you choose what to read among them? Do they all “feel” like Avengers books to you?

John is a long-time pop culture fan, comics historian, and blogger. He is currently the Editor-in-Chief at Comics Nexus. Prior to being EIC he has produced several column series including DEMYTHIFY, NEAR MINT MEMORIES and the ONE FAN'S TRIALS at the Nexus plus a stint at Bleeding Cool producing the COMICS REALISM column. As BabosScribe, John is active on his twitter account, his facebook page, his instagram feed and welcomes any and all feedback. Bring it on!