With Kang now in the MCU via Loki and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Marvel Comics has released a Marvel-Verse trade paperback to get movie fans in on the comics. Featuring three iconic Kang tales, this collection is smaller for easier reading and a great way to get a taste of Kang’s personality. The stories range from classics to more modern and silly appearances of the incredible time-traveling villain.
This collection features Avengers (1963) #267-269, Giant-Size Marvel Adventures the Avengers (2007) #1, and The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl (2015B) #42. Not a comprehensive collection by any means, but these three stories are a nice way of experiencing Kang for the first time. Much like previous Marvel-Verse collections (see Spider-Gwen, Amazing Spider-Man, Ms. Marvel, Jane Foster Thor, America, Moon Knight, Moon Girl, Morbius, Thor, Spider-Man, Hawkeye, Doctor Strange, Shang-Chi, Captain Marvel, Deadpool & Wolverine, Iron Man, Venom, Thanos, Guardians of the Galaxy, Rocket and Groot, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Black Panther) this is more like a Kang for beginners collection.
Like all Marvel-Verse collections, this trade paperback is 120 pages long. It opens with a classic Roger Stern and John Buscema story featured in Avengers #267-269 highlighting the rather zany life of Kang. This tale reveals multiple Kangs congregating due to their time-traveling hijinks. It’s Kang double-crossing Kang in a wild ride of time loops, Kang’s backstory revealed, and Avengers action.
This chunk of the story is also a fantastic read due to Stern understanding Marvel should be grounded in our reality. The story opens with President Reagan celebrating Colossus joining the team, for instance, and little things like the team eating sandwiches or feeling a bit tired help remind us these are living in our world. It’s also interesting to see how Namor is about as fast as the fastest fish, as Captain America points out, reminding us a lot of these characters weren’t as powerful back in the day.
I do not support Kang on Kang violence.
Credit: Marvel
As far as Kang, this three-parter helps to define Kang outside of Dr. Doom, who is another egomaniac super genius type. Here, Kang is more of a buffoon, tricking himself or falling prey to his future and past selves. Due to his super suit and ability to jump through time, however, he’s formidable, and Stern leans into the outright zany nature of explaining how time travel requires ridiculously detailed plans.
Next is a story by Jeff Parker and Leonard Kirk revealing just how powerful Kang can be when he changes the present. This story is a great adventure tale featuring the Agents of Atlas. The story proposes what if Kang returned and allowed the Agents of Atlas of the 1950s to find Captain America early. How would that change the future? As it turns out, it would ensure Kang can rule all, so in a last-ditch effort, our heroes must stop him or be changed forever!
Parker writes a great adventure here with good characterization across the Avengers and Agents of Atlas. Heroes like Wolverine and Storm are also in the mix making for an eclectic group. Kang’s personality is smug and self-righteous, but he’s also a bit bumbling in the end, nailing how Stern rendered him. Kirk’s art is clean and pleasing, adding up to a fantastic one-shot tale.
Wrapping up the collection is a fun one-shot style story featuring Kang against Unbeatable Squirrel Girl. Ryan North, Naomi Franquiz, Derek Charm, and Erica Henderson bring all the charm and silliness of the series to a usually overly serious Kang. He’s defeated in the future, so he goes into the past to defeat Squirrel Girl. There’s nothing quite like hyper-positivity and a gung-ho attitude up against egomaniacal supervillains. From the footnotes to the characterization, this tale is as hilarious as it is over-the-top fun.
Marvel-Verse: Kang is a great mini collection featuring an often underused character that suits the slimmed-down and spotty nature of the trade paperback series. While there are even more important adventures for Kang not collected here, this is a great starting point.
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