PsychoPanda

I remember wondering not too long ago "How come they never made a Classic Avengers title?!". I like the Avengers a lot more than the X-men, so I've been pretty excited that this series actually came out. The restorations are nice, the Kirby art is fun, and the new Art Adams covers amaze me each time an issue comes out. It's been a nice way for me to stock up on Avengers reprints (without having to pay the Marvel Masterworks price!).

My only regret is that the backup stories have been pretty lackluster. It would've been cool to see some backup stories done by John Byrne, George Perez, Kieron Dwyer, or any of a hundred other Avengers artists.

I hope this series keeps going for awhile!

Well this issue marks the debut of the ultra-material, Adamantium. Back then it was just one cylinder of a powerful unbreakable metal. Who knew it would become so popular and prolific as to be attached to bones and every other unbreakable object!?

The story is okay in this issue, being a solid Avengers tale of the time. What I really found intriguing though, is the art. This was "Barry Smith", back before he became the pencilling god "Barry Windsor-Smith" who did phenomenal work on the X-men (see Uncanny #205), Weapon X, Machine Man, and several Valiant titles. At this time his art was reminiscent of a Kirby hack, but this issue is magic to me as I see some other influences in there. It's not really Barry's style, but it seems like he's channeling some Jim Steranko. So yeah, this issue is a lot of fun if you like to see the evolution of an artist. It's also quite entertaining if you still have some of that kid in you, and just want to read a fun story about the Vision. One of my favorite characters. Oh, and Ultron-6 makes a splash entrance on the last page. In a form that I had always mistakenly believed to be drawn by Jack Kirby!

This was a really fun series for me at the time. I was familiar with Keith Giffen's work, but skipped his Lobo series. Had I read Lobo, I would've noticed the similarities between Lobo and Trencher and probably not enjoyed the Trencher character as much.

Still, Giffen's drastic change in art style really drew me in. Here was an art style I had never seen before. Such depth and volume in each and every panel. Some complained that it looked like someone had thrown up spaghetti on the page. But I wouldn't be detracted as those mass of squiggles told a story to me. I was also amazed that this style could be used to portray a superhero (Shadowhawk) and do it quite well. Some art styles are very interesting, but don't work well for superhero comics. I think this style meshed and I actually liked it better than the art going on in Shadowhawk's own series.

Okay, so how about the writing and the comic?! Well, like I said...if you've read Lobo or Trencher's own series there isn't a whole lot new here. Giffen has a unique sense of humor and you either get it or you don't. Same is true with this comic. The series is basically one big brawl between Shadowhawk and Trencher with lots of damage inflicted on both. Although the damage makes you laugh more than anything as it's all very cartoony. It's really more of a visual treat than anything else.

I'd recommend this to someone who likes some humor in their comics and isn't worried about trying something different for a change (it's only 3 issues!).

Speaking of which, this series was supposed to be longer, with each artist/writer giving their interpretation of the character. Similar to DC's Legends of the Dark Knight. It's too bad that never happened.