Avengers (comics) - Publication History

Publication History

The team debuted in The Avengers #1 (Sept. 1963), using characters created primarily by writer-editor Stan Lee with penciller and co-plotter Jack Kirby. This initial series, published bi-monthly through issue #6 (July 1964) and monthly thereafter ran through issue #402 (Sept. 1996), with spinoffs including several annuals, miniseries and a giant-size quarterly sister series that ran briefly in the mid-1970s.

Other spinoff series include West Coast Avengers, initially published as a four-issue miniseries in 1984, followed by a 102-issue series (Oct. 1985–Jan. 1994), retitled Avengers West Coast with #47; and the 40-issue Solo Avengers (Dec.1987–Jan. 1991), retitled Avengers Spotlight with #21.

Between 1996 and 2004, Marvel relaunched the primary Avengers title three times. In 1996, the Heroes Reborn line, in which Marvel contracted outside companies to produce four titles, included a new volume of The Avengers. It took place in an alternate universe, with a revamped history unrelated to mainstream Marvel continuity. The Avengers vol. 2 was written by Rob Liefeld and penciled by Jim Valentino, and ran for 13 issues (Nov. 1996–Nov. 1997). The final issue, which featured a crossover with the other Heroes Reborn titles, returned the characters to the main Marvel Universe.

The Avengers vol. 3 relaunched and ran for 84 issues in February 1998 to August 2004. To coincide with what would have been, the 500th issue of the original series Marvel changed the numbering, and The Avengers #500-503 (Sept.– Dec. 2004), the one-shot Avengers Finale (Jan. 2005) became the Avengers Disassembled storyline and final issues. In January 2005, a new version of the team appeared in the ongoing title The New Avengers, followed by The Mighty Avengers, Avengers: The Initiative, and Dark Avengers. Avengers Vol. 4 debuted in 2010.