Avengers Assemble #1
Avengers Assemble #1 (Panini UK, January 2012) marks a significant rebranding moment in the long-running Panini UK Avengers reprint line, replacing Avengers Unconquered — which itself had succeeded Avengers United — and adopting a title perfectly timed to ride the wave of anticipation for the summer 2012 Marvel Studios film. As the opening issue, it brought Brian Michael Bendis and John Romita Jr.'s Heroic Age Avengers — the post-Siege reformation of Earth's Mightiest Heroes under Steve Rogers — to a UK newsstand audience for the first time under this banner, packaging the first issues of that landmark Avengers (2010) series in an accessible, card-covered format. The issue thus represents the UK equivalent of a jumping-on point for a whole new generation of readers encountering Bendis's Kang-and-time-travel saga in the same cultural moment that the blockbuster Avengers film was being marketed globally.
"Next Avengers (Part One)" kicks off a bold new chapter in the Avengers legacy, with Brian Michael Bendis and John Romita Jr. leading a team split between defending New York and plunging into a future war. As the original Avengers face chaos at home, a mysterious extraction brings them to meet the Next Avengers—new heroes from a time not yet their own—setting the stage for a high-stakes journey across timelines. The cover by John Romita Jr. and Klaus Janson captures the moment with striking detail.
In "Next Avengers (Part One)," Steve Rogers leads a renewed Avengers under Maria Hill’s command, rallying a new generation of heroes—though not everyone is on board, as Wonder Man remains skeptical. When the time-traveling conqueror Kang suddenly appears, he warns the team they must journey into the future to prevent a catastrophic threat: their own children, who may one day destroy the world.
In "Next Avengers (Part Two)," the young Avengers, guided by Marvel Boy, construct a device to peer into the future—only to find unsettling confirmation that Kang’s warnings about a fractured time stream may be true. As the team grapples with the implications of what they’ve seen, the stability of their timeline hangs in the balance.
In "Next Avengers (Part Four)," the remaining Avengers hold the line in New York while welcoming the mysterious Killraven into their fold. Meanwhile, the rest of the team finds themselves pulled into a distant future where a war rages—and rescued by a new generation of heroes known as the Next Avengers.
ComicBooks.com Value
Find on ebay
Read it digitally
Sell my copy
Have this issue — or a whole collection? Get a fair offer from us, skip the marketplace fees and the hassle.
We Buy Collections ▸History
Panini UK had been reprinting American Marvel Comics for British readers since obtaining the Marvel license in 1995, building a Collectors' Edition line of card-covered, roughly 76-page issues published every 28 days via newsagents. The Avengers strand of that line had run continuously under two prior titles — Avengers United (ending December 2008) and Avengers Unconquered (39 issues, January 2009–December 2011) — before being rechristened Avengers Assemble, a title borrowed from the 2010 US series and amplified by its resonance with the forthcoming film. Scott Gray, the longtime editor of Panini UK's Collectors' Edition titles, assembled this debut issue, which opened with an editorial introduction recapping the prior Avengers Unconquered story arcs to ease the transition for existing readers.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Published by Panini Publishing (Panini UK) under the Marvel Collectors' Edition brand; on sale January 5, 2012, with a monthly (every 28 days) publication schedule.
- The title was the direct successor to Avengers Unconquered (39 issues, 2009–2011), which itself had replaced Avengers United, making this the third generation of Panini UK's Avengers reprint series.
- The cover and primary story content are reprinted from Avengers (Marvel, 2010 series) #1, written by Brian Michael Bendis with art by John Romita Jr. (pencils), Klaus Janson (inks), and Dean White (colors) — the same creative team and cover art as the US original.
- The US source material, Avengers (2010) #1, was the opening salvo of Marvel's 'Heroic Age' initiative following the Siege crossover, depicting Steve Rogers assembling a new Avengers roster — including Bucky Barnes as Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, Hawkeye, Wolverine, Spider-Man, and Spider-Woman — with Kang the Conqueror arriving from the future as the central threat.
- Issue #1 ran 100 pages (a special expanded count compared to the standard 76-page format of later issues in the run), containing multiple reprinted chapters from the Avengers (2010) opening arc, including story beats in which the Avengers encounter the Next Avengers (future children of the heroes) and face threats from Kang, Apocalypse, and his Horsemen.
- Scott Gray served as editor-in-chief of the Panini UK edition, with Rosanna Stewart and Angela Gray as designers; the issue also included an original editorial introduction and a reader letters section — standard features of the Panini Collectors' Edition format.
- The title's name, 'Avengers Assemble,' was strategically aligned with the release year of Marvel Studios' The Avengers (2012), giving the Panini UK reprint line direct brand synergy with one of the highest-profile film releases of that year.
- The series ran for 32 issues (January 2012–June 2014) before the Panini UK Avengers reprint line was subsequently retitled again, continuing the decades-long tradition of periodic renaming to reflect current Marvel publishing and media branding.
Full credits
Reprints
↩ Reprints Avengers #1 (2010), Avengers #2 (2010), Avengers #3 (2010), Avengers #4 (2010)
Reviews
Reader reviews
No reader reviews yet.