Joe Casey
Avengers Log: 3/11/2004
Interview By Brian Schott
(excerpt)
Q) I can still remember back to the first time I saw an Avengers comic on a (party store) comic rack, issue #148: "20,000 Leagues Under Justice". This issue was just packed with heroes – not only the Avengers but the Squadron Supreme as well! What was the first issue that turned you on to the Avengers and, if you remember, why?
A) The one that I remember most clearly, the one that I remember reading and re-reading a thousand times as a kid, was issue #161, “Beware the Ant-Man”, by Shooter & Perez. In fact, that particular issue still holds up for me. Both creators in top form. A great story that gave you a sense of the history of the team, but still modern in its execution. Fantastic characterization. And, of course, their greatest villain in one of his greatest appearances. That last image, the overhead shot where Jarvis finds the defeated Avengers sprawled out everywhere, in a room filled with the patented Perez rubble . . . just classic. One of those issues where you HAD to find out what happened next. Hey, if it’s possible to love a comic book, then I do. In fact, I’d say it was love at first sight. THE AVENGERS has been my favorite comic book series ever since.
