Steed and Mrs. Peel (Vol. 1 – 3)

What a fun way to revisit The Avengers.

The first volume took some getting used to as the banter between Mrs. Peel and Steed could not quite make up for the very un-Avengers apocalyptic storyline. That just did not work for me. It felt very much like The Avengers were forcefully dragged into a different comic book universe – and one that seemed to have a penchant for depicting Mrs. Peel in the same scantily-clad or tight-fitting fashions as, say, Catwoman or Wonder Woman… That has little to do with Mrs. Peel.

Volume 2 did away with this nonsense and reinstated Mrs Peel as the scientist and kick-ass character that she is. The storyline was also more in line with the original series, which I thought was far more enjoyable than Volume 1. And there was some interesting content and discussion.

Volume 3 was fun as well but the reliance on people surviving death and wanting revenge on Steed and Peel for bringing down the Hellfire Club is wearing very thin. Throw in some completely unrelated storylines from the original series (neither the doppelgänger idea nor the Cybernauts have any connection to the Hellfire Club) and I was bored and a little annoyed with this volume. However, the banter between Mrs Peel and Steed was quite natural and that was something to look forward to throughout.

Vol. 1 – 3*
Vol. 2 – 4*
Vol. 3 – 3*