AZZARELLO, BRIAN 41
(the West Coast Avengers, who followed a four-issue miniseries with a 102-issue run),
and the Masters of Evil assaulted the Avengers’ home in the Avengers Under Siege
arc, which saw the Avengers’ butler, Edwin Jarvis, maimed, the demigod Hercules left
comatose, and Captain America’s few remaining remnants of his youth destroyed.
After a series of short stays, the next long-term writer was Bob Harras, beginning
in 1991. Harras brought a soap opera mentality to the team, developing a love triangle
between Sersi, Black Knight, and Crystal which would drive much of his fi ve-year
stay. Harras’s era came to an end shortly before Marvel farmed the Ave nge rs and three
other books out to creators from Image Comics , who restarted the book with a new
issue #1 following Ave nge rs issue #402. After only one year, however, the Ave nge rs
were returned to the forefront of the Marvel universe with a third issue #1, this time
written by Kurt Busiek and drawn by George Pérez. Several months prior, Busiek
had introduced the Th underbolts, a team of heroes consisting of traditional Avengers
villains initially masquerading as heroes but soon moved by acclaim to try to redeem
themselves. Now writing the Ave nge rs proper, Busiek returned to the classic Avengers
of Michelinie’s era, writing stories heavily based upon Marvel’s history.
In 2004, Marvel launched an alternate version of the Ave nge rs , the Ultimates , a much
more violent and conspiracy-oriented version of the team, deemed more appropriate to
the times. Th ough the existing Ave nge rs team was not directly impacted by the Ultimates ,
Ave nge rs writer Busiek left that book once Ultimates was approved. After several more
short-lived creative teams, Marvel turned the Ave nge rs over to Brian Bendis , who
took three issues to disassemble the team, killing several members and dismantling
many of the elements familiar to longtime readers. Returning to the original concept
of pulling together Marvel’s foremost heroes, Bendis saw the book relaunched as New
Ave nge rs , featuring Wolverine and Spider-Man and omitting most of the traditional
Avengers. Bendis’s approach proved successful, and the Avengers moved to the forefront
of the Marvel universe, eclipsing traditional high-selling titles like Spider-Man and the
X-Men. Th e team spawned a family of books, including Avengers: Th e Initiative , Mighty
Ave nge rs , Dark Avengers , and Marvel Adventures: Avengers , in addition to New Avengers
and Ultimates.
Mark O’English
AVENGERS/JLA. See JLA/Avengers
AZZARELLO, BRIAN (1968–). A native of Cleveland, Ohio, Azzarello is best known
as the writer of the sprawling crime saga, 100 Bullets , an intricately plotted exami-
nation of retribution and violence published by DC Comics’ Vertigo imprint from
1999–2009. 100 Bullets exemplifi es many of Azzarello’s stylistic tendencies: an interest
in genre, multi-layered fl ashbacks, and a love of punning and wordplay. In crafting noir,
We s t e r n , war, and superhero stories throughout his career, Azzarello has established a
distinctive voice in contemporary comics, one that is rooted in his command of dialogue
and dialect. Azzarello’s economical dialogue is reminiscent of Harold Pinter in that
