Eliopoulos, Chris

AVERAGE REVIEW SCORE:

4 out of 5

(1 book)

Pet Avengers: Lockjaw And The Pet Avengers/Avengers Vs. Pet Avengers

(Art by Ig Guara)

Book 97 of Marvel's Mightiest Heroes.  When Lockjaw, the giant teleporting bulldog, discovers an Infinity Gem on the moon he begins on a quest to find all of the Gems.  Recruiting fellow animal heroes Throg the Frog of Thunder, Hairball, Redwing, Lockheed, Zabu and Ms. Lion, the newly assembled Pet Avengers seek out the Gems, facing the wrath of Thanos himself.  Then, when Fin Fang Foom awakens a race of ancient dragons, the Pet Avengers are caught between them and the human Avengers.

This is not a graphic novel which takes itself seriously and if that's a problem for you, this is definitely better avoided.  For me, however, these silly animal characters are (mostly) ones for whom I've had a great deal of affection for since childhood, with Lockjaw being a long-term favourite of mine.  I also really enjoyed the premise of taking these characters variously introduced over the years as weird and wacky animal sidekicks and bringing them together.  Once you consider how many animal sidekicks there are in the Marvel Universe, it suddenly makes sense for them to team up.

On top of all that, I'm a sucker for an underdog (pun intended) story.  So seeing the Pet Avengers not only have to face Thanos but also having to battle the actual Avengers too makes for an enjoyable tale of prevailing against the odds.

Finally the cat-and-dog interactions between Hairball and Ms. Lion are just pitch-perfect.

4 out of 5

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Marvel Comics (here)