There are two different books...I say books because the full graphic novel collections are easier to read than multiple comics, at least to me.

There is
Avengers: Road to Marvel's The Avengers

This came out before the film and was a collection of different stories about the characters, like Coulson training a new agent and Tony finding out his parents were dead. It was fun but the art quality differed greatly from story to story. Peggy looked fantastic but sometimes, Coulson could only be deemed Coulson from context. I also got confused because it had Natasha being all, No one calls me Nat EVER! I hate it.
Then in the film, Hawkeye totally calls her that. I also can't remember if it even had Hawkeye.

and

The Avengers Prelude

I highly recommend this. It was a cute read that tried to tie up the loose ends from the three films going on at once and had some clues about why Loki chose Barton specifically. I loved the Barton stuff in general although it kind of goes more Clint/Phil than Natasha/Clint...

Good to know that "Road to Marvel's The Avengers" isn't worth buying. I had thought about getting that as well. I'll follow your recommendation and buy "The Avengers Prelude". From what I've heard about it, it seems to be a nice addition to the movie and thus probably the right Avengers graphic novel to start with. Thanks a lot. :)

Now, there's another Prelude book that strictly revolves around Natasha. The story was interesting since it focused just on Natasha and her handler, Coulson. However, the artwork was a little...well, Coulson didn't look like Coulson and Natasha suddenly had D cups...

I have one called "Avengers Prelude: Fury's Big Week", that the one? I liked it okay, but I wouldn't consider it a must-read.

pros: We get to see more of Fury, his orchestrating connects the various episodes. And there's more of Natasha, too. Those are the reasons I overall ended up liking this comic. The episodes themselves are missing moments from the movies; they're fine to read.

cons: The likenesses are hit and miss. More miss than hit, depending on the artist. Unfortunately the artists who're drawing the chapters with Clint or Natasha don't have any kind of handle on the characters, imo.

I don't remember details about the storylines themselves... not terrible, but nothing special. Most fic I read is more compelling.

I didn't regret bying this one (unlike "Road to Marvel's The Avengers) but that's all. (Whereas Black Widow, The Name of the Rose knocked my socks off.)

Thanks for sharing this and for bringing up the Black Widow graphic novel. Seems like I'll be buying a few graphic novels. ;)

Welcome. I just bought two myself, after reading the other comments. (I waxed poetic about the Black Widow graphic novel here: http://astridv.livejournal.com/334633.html)

Yeah, I have Fury's Big Week, too - I mostly use it for snippets and to help string the movies together, and then bounce off that to think up my own spin of events.

The art is so very hit and miss.

I have rented this one from the library, I think. Please hold while I double check...

I didn't rent it, but I did just do some Google voodoo on it. I think it's just background information on the characters. I'm not sure if that's what you're looking for.

There's a comic called 'The Avengers Initiative,' which actually has some cute Clint/Natasha flirtation.

There's also an ongoing movie tie-in comic called 'Avengers Assemble,' where they make out in one issue.

Hm... sounds like I should consider those as well. ;)

I also recommend Black Widow: The Name of the Rose. It's BRILLIANT.

I just read this graphic novel - Hawkeye: Blindspot (http://www.amazon.com/Hawkeye-Blindspot-Jim-McCann/dp/0785156011/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1346562058&sr=8-1&keywords=blindspot+hawkeye). Hawkeye is going blind after being injured in a previous mission. The story features a lot of flashbacks to Hawkeye's past, including his life growing up and when he first became an Avenger. I loved it and the artwork was great.

Sounds interesting. Might get that one, too. Thanks for the tip.

Sounds very promising. Ordered it. :)

Oh... I never gave this much of a thought, but sounds interesting. :) I read somewhere that he goes blind after the events of Widowmaker. Is it necesarry to know this one as well?!

Edited 2012-09-02 09:02 pm (UTC)

I didn't read that one, and I followed this one fine. I'm not much of a comic book person (at all) and it scares me to get started, but the storyline grabbed me when I paged through it at work. The Widowmaker storyline was bound as a graphic novel too, so you might be able to track it down.

I haven't read that one specifically. I don't read the ongoing superhero comics because I don't know where to even begin and I get confused by all of the different "universes". I expressed interest in the Avengers comics to my friend and he said the best way to go is to read the Ultimates. He said those are what the movies are mostly based off of, they are more contemporary and accessible. I haven't actually gotten around to it yet because I was going to get them through my local library (comics are expensive!). That was just the advise he gave me (and he is hardcore into comics) so I thought I would pass it along.

That's my problem exactly. Where do I even begin? Thanks for the advise. It's much appreciated.

Take it from someone who's read Ultimates, don't read those comics unless you want to hate absolutely every character. Everyone's an asshole, there's an awful domestic violence plot line and Natasha's characterisation is stereotypical and sexist. I made the mistake of reading Ultimates first, and it wasn't pretty.

Just stumbled across this - http://forums.comicbookresources.com/showthread.php?291252-Hawkeye-Appreciation It's a Hawkeye Appreciation thread on a Comic Book site. Lots and lots of info.

And there's a Black Widow on as well - http://forums.comicbookresources.com/showthread.php?291259-Black-Widow-Appreciation

Since you are from Germany I can point you to this site where you can order all kinds of comics. :)

http://www.blackdog1.de/

Make also sure to visit the actual shop, if you should ever going to be in Berlin some time. I went there in my vacation two weeks ago and bought like all kinds of stuff.^^ But they ship the comics pretty quickly as well, so I highly recommend the site. :)

For the comics. I'd recommend the new Hawkeye series at first. I read the The Avengers Prelude - Black Widow Strikes, but it wasn't really impressive for me. Definitely need to get my hands on something else with her. The story's being rather flat. :/ (I also need to get my hands on Fury's Big Week, but that's another story.)

Hiya! Welcome to the fun bar :D And your tagging is a-okay :)

I've read 'Road to Marvel's Avengers' and was kind of disappointed with it - it's jumpy, the arts not great, and most of it is just a comic version of Iron Man 2. I read Black Widow: the name of the rose and Black Widow: itsy-bitsy spider based of fuckyeahblackwidow's recommended reading list for Black Widow which I'm hoping to work my way through and you might want to take a look at, both of those were great, especially Name of the Rose which I can't praise enough. Also the new Hawkeye comics look fun if the first one is anything for us to go by :)