First printing

Selected and introduced by
Roy Thomas

Behold an assembly of iconic adventures in The Avengers. Curated by Marvel legend Roy Thomas, this bold new edition from Folio gathers the greatest tales of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, featuring Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Hulk and more.

‘The Avengers first assembled to get editor Stan Lee and Marvel Comics out of something as mundane as—a scheduling crisis!’

Roy Thomas, from his Introduction

Meet the Super Hero team who united a universe in The Avengers, celebrating the 60th anniversary of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. Folio teams up once again with legendary Avengers writer and Marvel editor Roy Thomas, who selects and introduces 12 exemplary tales of Captain America, Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, Black Widow, Scarlet Witch and so many more. This thrilling new collection includes a perfect replica of 1963’s The Avengers #1 by Stan Lee and Jack ‘The King’ Kirby, while modern Avengers artist Leinil Francis Yu provides original cover art featuring bold contemporary visions of team-members old and new. The Avengers unifies Folio’s previous Marvel collections – including Captain America, Thor and Hulk – exploring how these characters lived and battled within a single shared universe.

PRODUCTION DETAILS

Bound in blocked cloth and paper printed with a design by Leinil Francis Yu and colour art by Sunny Gho

Prelims set in Miller with Benton Sans display

328 pages printed in 4-colour throughout

Endpapers printed with a design by Leinil Francis Yu

Cloth slipcase blocked with a design by Leinil Francis Yu

10½˝ x 7˝

Scale replica comic

32 pages with 4-page cover

10˝ x 6¾˝

© 2023 MARVEL

DISCOVER THE AVENGERS’ FIRST ASSEMBLY

Future Game of Thrones author George R. R. Martin was among the legions of young fans writing letters to Marvel Comics in the early 60s, begging to see more interaction between the publisher’s growing roster of Super Heroes. The Avengers #1 landed in July 1963, written by the inexhaustible Stan Lee with art by Captain America co-creator Jack Kirby. The story gathered several marquee names, including Iron Man, Thor, Ant-Man and Wasp to rescue a hapless Hulk from the machinations of the vengeful Loki. This was the first issue in the series that fully established the shared playground of the Marvel Universe, a ground-breaking debut reproduced here as a 34-page scale replica. Scanned from an original copy, complete with vintage ads, this crucial piece of Marvel history is included with this edition. Original cover art and endpaper designs by fan-favourite Avengers artist Leinil Francis Yu features an assemblage of team-members both famous and infamous, from Hawkeye and Captain Marvel to Black Widow and Black Panther. Armed with a scratch-resistant laminated cover, this mighty collection comes housed in a slipcase clothbound in crimson and bearing the world-famous insignia of Avengers Tower.

A CRUCIAL CHAPTER IN THE MARVEL STORY

‘I’d been Stan’s editorial assistant for a year or so by the time he handed me Heck’s pencils for The Avengers #35 and told me I was now the Avengers scripter.’

Roy Thomas, from his Introduction

Having co-created several Avengers himself – Vision, Luke Cage and Carol Danvers (Captain Marvel) – Roy Thomas provides an expert introduction to his selected stories, each one scanned from their original comics with no digital remastering. This truly authentic collection spans six decades of Avengers history, from Captain America’s awakening from his War-time slumber in Captain America Joins . . . The Avengers!, to the debut of the troubled android hero known as Vision, and quirky time-travel tale Go West, Young Gods! Equally dazzling is the roster of superpowered creative talent gathered here, from the dynamic action sequences of Neal Adams and John Buscema, to the dark modern realism of David Finch and Jerome Opeña, and the hyper-detailed space-scapes of George Perez and Jim Starlin. From their street-level origins to their exploits in the furthest reaches of the cosmos facing Thanos and Adam Warlock, The Avengers brings you the historic alliances, pivotal break-ups and earth-shattering catastrophes that have informed the evolution not only of the Avengers, but the entire Marvel Universe.

CONTENTS

'Captain America Joins . . . The Avengers!' – The Avengers #4 (March 1964)

'The Old Order Changeth!' – The Avengers #16 (May 1965)

'Behold . . . The Vision!' – The Avengers #57 (October 1968)

'This Beachhead Earth' – The Avengers #93 (November 1971)

'Go West, Young Gods!' – The Avengers #142 (December 1975)

'The Final Threat' – The Avengers Annual #7 (January 1977)

'The Hope . . . and the Slaughter!' – The Avengers #177 (November 1978)

'The Price of Victory' – The Avengers #277 (March 1987)

'Ultron Unlimited, This Evil Triumphant!' – The Avengers #22 (November 1999)

'Breakout!' – The New Avengers #1 (January 2005)

'Avengers World' – Avengers #1 (February 2013)

BIOGRAPHIES

About Roy Thomas

Roy Thomas has been a writer and often editor in the comic book field since 1965, when he gravitated to Marvel to become Stan Lee’s assistant and protégé. He succeeded Stan Lee as Marvel’s editor-in-chief in 1972, and was only the second person to script a Spider-Man story. He has been at the forefront of the comics industry for much of his life and is credited with co-creating, amongst other characters, Wolverine, Vision, Carol Danvers, Ultron, Iron Fist, Red Sonja, Ghost Rider, Nighthawk, Banshee and Valkyrie. Thomas is currently editor of the fanzine Alter Ego, and in 2011 was elected to the Will Eisner Hall of Fame.

About Stan Lee

Stan Lee (1922–2018) – born Stanley Martin Lieber – was born and raised in Manhattan, the son of Romanian-Jewish immigrants. He became an assistant at Marvel’s precursor Timely Comics and was promoted to editor before he was 19. In 1961 he co-created The Fantastic Four #1 with artist Jack Kirby. The comic revitalised the Super Hero genre and helped establish the so-called Silver Age of comics. Lee went on to co-create numerous other characters including the Hulk, Spider-Man, Thor, Iron Man and many more. He served as editor-in-chief at Marvel Comics until 1972 and has since made dozens of cameo appearances in Marvel movies. He is widely regarded as one of the key architects of the Marvel Universe.

About Jack Kirby

Jack Kirby (1917–94) – born Jacob Kurtzberg – was born and raised in Manhattan’s Lower East Side, the son of Austrian-Jewish immigrants. Self-taught, he began working in animation and comic books and co-created Captain America (with regular collaborator Joe Simon) for Marvel Comics’ predecessor Timely in 1940. Following service in the Second World War, Kirby worked at various comic book publishers before returning to Marvel, where he co-created the Fantastic Four in 1961. Several more iconic co-creations followed, among them Thor, the Hulk and Iron Man. A pivotal figure of the so-called Silver Age of American Super Hero comics, Kirby developed an explosively kinetic art style that continues to influence comic book culture the world over. He was aptly nicknamed ‘The King’.