Armed with a cover taken from the 2009 Pet Avengers miniseries, this book is potentially misleading right off the bat - this does _not_ reprint that Pet Avengers miniseries, but rather reprints a plethora of Marvel animal stories, from issue 4 of Dan Slott's 2005 Thing series (a wonderfully sweet Lockjaw story), to the Dog-in-the-Danger-Room (Sassafrass) Defenders back-up, to an obscure 1960 story featuring loyal dog Spot saving his owner from invading Martians. Since the various pets are frequently supporting characters, some of the stories seem a little less 'pet' and more 'hero' (notably those of Brightwind the winged horse, Ebony the cat, Tippy Toe the squirrel, and Niels the cat), but where else are you going to find great solo stories for characters like Zabu the sabertooth or Lockheed the dragon?

Probably a great book for kids, and also for Marvel aficionados looking for something covering a nice swath of history and a variety of writing and art styles. Needless to say, is is, *gasp*, fun, and likely not to the taste of grim 'n' gritty fans, though I'd recommend it to most general comic fans. I'd love to see it in the kids section of public libraries. ( )