Pet Avengers Classic

Pet Avengers (Collected Editions)

by Dan Slott, Scott Edelman, Bruce Jones

The Falcon, the Two-Gun Kid, and many others will tell you: A hero's best friend is his animal sidekick A teleporting dog, a winged horse, a bouncing cat...and lookit the cute puppies All part of the Marvel Universe animal kingdom showcased in this offbeat collection Lockheed gone solo The origin of Zabu The Super-Apes triumphant Magic, super-science, and squirrels, squirrels, squirrels Featuring rarely seen early work by Fabian Nicieza, Greg Pak, and other present-day Marvel headliners Collects material from Thing #4, Captain America #220, Ka-Zar the Savage #14-15, X-Men Unlimited #43, Marvel Comics Presents #72, Speedball #6, Marvel Tales #100, Marvel Super-Heroes #8, Amazing Fantasy #15, Fantastic Four #94, New Defenders #150, New Mutants Annual #4, Franklin Richards: Happy Franksgiving, New Warriors #2, and Journey into Mystery #57.

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Fiction, X Men, Graphic Novels

208 pages, Paperback

First published October 7, 2009

About the author

Dan Slott is an American comic book writer, the current writer on Marvel Comics' The Amazing Spider-Man, and is best known for his work on books such as Arkham Asylum: Living Hell, She-Hulk, Silver Surfer, The Superior Spider-Man, and Ren & Stimpy.

Reviews

[Rick · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a lot of fun. But there's some pretty wide variety of stuff. Nothing seemed really truly awful, but also nothing was really amazing great either. Good solid storytelling with the emphasis on animal sidekicks and pets of superheroes.

My personal favorite is Neils the Bouncing Cat (who has the same powers as Speedball). Although Ka-Zar's sabertoothed companion, Zabu, is pretty cool as well (I've always wondered if Ka-Zar was the sidekick, I'm sure Zabu thinks it's that way). But them I'm biased about cats.
I also have always loved the Sassafrass, the Dog filled with Fear story. This is what happens when a super hero team leaves an animal alone in the HQ. Yikes! ;)
And then there's the delightfully silly story about Franklin Richard (Son of a Genius), his robot nanny, Herbie, and a hamster named Havoc. And let's not forget the New Warriors and their encounter with the Super-Apes (I'm a huge fan of Planet of the Apes and Kamandi, so this one certainly tickeled a funny bone in me).

If you like animals and superheroes this is perfect for you.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a collection of stories about the animal companions of the Marvel Universe and it is ADORABLE. Highlights include Doctor Doom being covered in squirrels, Lockjaw and Ben Grimm becoming BFFs and the heart-breaking story of a sabre-tooth called Zabu. As with all anthologies there are hits and misses but the variety of the comics (publication date, art style, characters) made it a fun, interesting read. My only criticism is that Devil Dinosaur appears on the cover and I didn't spot him in any of the stories. RAGH.

[Corrie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall, a fairly entertaining anthology, though not for perhaps the intended reasons. I should have supposed the qualifier “classic” signals that some of the included comics will be older and hence a little problematic (ie racist), but even the more recent comics have their own problems (ie men poorly drawing women in spandex). Look past that, and you’ve got an interesting selection of various Marvel issues featuring animals - some more interesting than others, though all stand alone fairly well.

[Dawn-Lorraine · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a pretty cool collection featuring a lot of the pets and animal characters of the Marvel universe. You get the well-known ones like Lockjaw, Red Wing and Lockheed, but there are lesser known animals like Zabu. Plus, the stories include a lot of heroes, from Iron man to Falcon to Hawkeye and more. Of course, with just a single story for each animal, you don't get much of a feel for plot or development. But it's cool to get some background on these characters who tend not to feature heavily in the comics world.

[Adam Graham · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a hodgepodge of stories including a few full-length issues and a lot of back up stories that haven't been reprinted elsewhere as far as I know, all focusing on pets of Marvel Universe heroes. There's even a Jack Kirby drawn story from a pre-Silver Age Journey into Mystery. There's even an issue of Speedball and I've never heard of this character.

Unfortunately, rare doesn't add up to good and it's fair to say the quality is pretty uneven. My favorites are the Squirrel Girl orign story from Marvel Superheroes #8 from#2 from 1992, The Franling Richards Special from 2007, the New Warriors #2 from 2005 and the aforementioned Journey Into Mystery. The rest are kind of okay. However, due to rarity, this might be a nice one for a collection if you could get it at a good price.

[Debra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Poor Zabu.

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun collection of stories featuring animals. There is a real mix here, covering most of the Marvel universe. I particularly liked the Lockheed and the New Warriors stories. A really good read.