I wont lie and tell you that Ive been an Avengers fan since I was knee-high to a flying ant, although I was fortunate to discover the book at the point I did, because I was there for the last hurrah of the Avengers greatness in comics, the one bright spot in what has otherwise been a very dark and extremely long tunnel. I was born in the early 80s and though this was a great era for comics, I didnt actually start reading comics until the 90s, which waslets be generous and call it a less-great era. And my drug of choice back then was the X-Men. It wasnt until the late 90s when Marvel resurrected the Avengers after theyd been in an alternate reality for a year (dont ask) that I decided to check out the book. George Perez, one of the all-time great artists on not only Earths Mightiest Heroes, but comics in general, had been tapped to draw the book once more and writing it was Kurt Busiek, a writer who is able to perfectly blend the classic stories with modern sensibilities. This relaunched Avengers book is what turned me into a fan of the characters. Busieks run would span over fifty issues and also included Avengers Forever, a limited series that preceded to explain some of the more confusing aspects of the Avengers history and undo some of the worst stories, like The Crossing (I hope Marvel still has his number in a few years when they realise that Disassembled and Civil War were terrible ideas). After Busiek left, Geoff Johns took over for about twenty issues before he was given the keys to the DC Universe, and his run also maintained that same kind of tone. Following that, the book descended into a long period of dismal stories. Busiek introduced me to the Avengers and after enjoying his take, I went back and read up on the back issues. Andwow. If youve never read those old Avengers comics, youve got a lot of the classic heavyweights of comic lore, like Roy Thomas, Roger Stern, Jim Shooter, and Steve Englehart, to name just a few. Then came The Avengers movie and director Joss Whedon proved himself a true Avengers fan. It hit all the beats of a classic Avengers story, and my hope was that the massive success this movie achieved would have caused Marvel to pay closer attention to what worked with the film and what hasnt been working with their comics for a long time. Click "next" to see four things Marvel should learn from The Avengers film and apply it to their comics...