Looking for a place to jump on board with The Avengers? Marvel has a new comic series for you.
The comic book publisher will release the new Avengers Assemble Wednesday to welcome in fans eagerly anticipating the upcoming film.
Writer Brian Michael Bendis has been hearing a lot from people wondering where to start in reading Avengers comics before the film opens. “Here’s the place,” he says, meaning Assemble. “It is a clean-as-a-whistle, come-on-in-the-water’s-nice Avengers story.”
Giving new fans an easy entry point into “what can be a confusing world of comics” is a goal for Marvel, executive editor Tom Brevoort says. But that’s especially important considering the massive promotion en route for the film.
“People who haven’t thought about these characters or ever crossed their paths are going to see them like nobody’s business,” Brevoort says.
But Avengers Assemble, drawn by Mark Bagley, is also a key series for longtime Avengers faithful: It features a revamped version of the 1970s supervillain group Zodiac, with all-new characters and all-new powers, and will have a lasting effect in the Marvel Universe continuity.
As more movies have been released, Marvel Studios has worked with the publishing division to tweak as needed, although “they’re never going to be in perfect lockstep because they’re two separate things,” Brevoort says.
Although Brevoort says it’s “enormously important” to grab movie fans and turn them on to the comics, he and Bendis agree they want to expand the appeal beyond just them.
“Our problem is that people don’t read anything, and kids read less and less,” Bends says. “That’s my focus even more than the movie people. I want to get everyone on the planet into comics.”
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