BOOK REVIEW: THE AVENGERS VAULT / AUTHOR: PETER A. DAVID / PUBLISHER: AURUM PRESS / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW 

Those of you familiar with Marvel’s Avengers and those familiar with the recent ‘vault’ genre of coffee table book will be pleased to learn that the two have now intersected, resulting in a book that will please many a fan of the long running franchise. (Although we wouldn’t suggest spending full retail price on a book about a franchise you couldn’t care less about; that’s just masochistic.) Sadly, those of us who were hoping for a vault book about the other famous team of Avengers (John Steed and Emma Peel; ask your mum) are out of luck. Alas, we must review this well-written and informative book. Woe is us.

Fortunately, the author of the book that will be used to induct newbies into the Avengers franchise is written by an author of pedigree, Peter David (ably assisted by Bob Greenberger, who by David’s admission wrote the first chapter completely uncredited). Having written a bunch of Star Trek novels and the Amazing Spider-Man Vault book a few years back, not to mention 12 years on the Incredible Hulk comic, he’s one of the best people that Marvel could’ve picked to write this book. David’s witty and humorous style, as well as his extensive memory of Marvel trivia, makes sure this isn’t just a bunch of hastily rewritten Wikipedia articles cobbled together.

Real care and attention has gone into making this the best guide you can have. As usual for a ‘vault’ style book, it comes with fun little bits and pieces you can pull out and look at, including a reproduction of an old Avengers membership card. Having said that, we would’ve appreciated some more of them. Having only ten pieces of memorabilia (two per hero, two for the gang as a whole) in the whole book seems a bit stingy; there must have been a lot to choose from, surely?

All the same, if you aren’t fans of the Avengers, you’ll probably still enjoy the book.

Long story short, we enjoyed it hugely. ‘Nuff said!