Well that's kinda stupid. It was a huge deal that none of the Avengers knew each other's identity but the new group is known by everyone. So the group doesn't have anyone they care to protect, and they don't have jobs. If it weren't for their mission as Avengers they wouldn't have a purpose or a place to live.

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'The soul knows no greater anguish than to take a breath that begins with love and ends with grief.'- Steven Erikson

To be honest, I rather welcomed the change when I was reading it. The original line-up was just a bunch of powerhouses, they had to contrive some ridiculous situations to make them even break a sweat. I tend to enjoy Avengers more when it is weaker characters overcoming the odds by working cleverly together. Ever read the '97 story Avengers Forever? Pulls a bunch of Avengers from different time periods to fight an important battle, and they're constantly questioning their suitability for the task.

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Fantastic series, Kez. I totally agree.

I haven't read that series.

I'm not knocking the Avengers as a team. I give them crap with my comments on the issues, but I enjoy the team. I like Hawkeye, he can't control his lip even when he realizes Cap isn't a bad guy. I think he adds more flavor to the comics than Pietro's complete fascination with acrobats. (There I go again with the jokes). I do like the team though, just not really sure where they get money to spend.

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'The soul knows no greater anguish than to take a breath that begins with love and ends with grief.'- Steven Erikson

It sounds like you're really close to a stretch where Hawkeye becomes tolerable. I think enough fans complained that Stan toned him down a bit.

In general I do prefer a less powerhouse-oriented team; it lends itself more to creative plots, and it's good to see the characters struggle to overcome obstacles. One of the reasons I prefer the Avengers in general to the JLA (I've said it before - of the core seven JLAers, the sixth most powerful character can run faster than the speed of light ... talk about a stacked team).

That being said, I'm at issue 40 of the Avengers, and they've been so freaking boring for so long, it's driving me crazy. Part of it I think is that I really don't like Don Heck's art, but Pym and Hawkeye also have really boring personalities. They're not necessarily one-dimensional, but they're just really uninteresting. I find Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch very difficult to relate to, Jan is a very poorly written female even for the time, and silver age Cap isn't as good as modern age Cap. Thank Zeus that Hercules just showed up to breathe some life into the team somewhat for a while at least.

Oh and Avengers Forever is amazing.

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