I agree that they were trying to hard with that run. They were trying to be the last word in Avengers comics, if you ask me. But the run seemed old school even at the time. I think Busiek was trying to tap into the rich history of the Avengers and create what would be for many the ultimate run of the title. But the dialogue was usually 20 years behind the times and the plots were generally things we'd seen before. The run is definitely of high quality but it lacks a certain something; it's almost too good.