Marvel Masterworks: The Avengers Vol. 24 - by Roger Stern & Bob Harras (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

Avengers - east and west - assemble! That's right, in the epic buildup to AVENGERS #250, a whole new team of Avengers is born! But before that historic moment, the seeds for the series' anniversary extravaganza are sown in a team-up between the Avengers and the Eternals against the Inhuman-Deviant menace Maelstrom. Meanwhile in California, Hawkeye works to assemble a whole new branch of Earth's Mightiest Heroes! Avengers don't exactly grow on trees, but Hawkeye's West Coast Avengers soon build a scrappy roster that prevails over Goliath and Graviton - just in time to join their East Coast counterparts and save the world from a resurgent Maelstrom! Topping things off are the returns of Captain America, Hercules and the Black Knight, and the culmination of the Vision's plan for global...peace? Collecting AVENGERS (1963) #246-254, WEST COAST AVENGERS (1984) #1-4 and IRON MAN ANNUAL #7.

About the Author

Roger Stern enjoyed well-regarded runs on Amazing Spider-Man, in which he introduced Captain Marvel (Monica Rambeau) and the Hobgoblin; Avengers; and Captain America. He launched West Coast Avengers and wrote numerous tie-in miniseries starring Earth's Mightiest Heroes. At DC, he relaunched Atom and co-created Starman (Will Payton) before participating in one of comics' most shocking events: the 1992 "Death of Superman." He later returned to Marvel to write Amazing Spider-Man and related titles.

Bob Harras edited several titles as Ralph Macchio's assistant, mostly tie-ins such as Micronauts, Rom, Saga of Crystar and U.S. 1. He subsequently became chief editor of the X-Men titles and wrote for multiple series, including a three-year run on Avengers. Graduating to editor in chief, he oversaw well-received runs of Captain America, Daredevil, Deadpool and other titles, as well as the controversial second Clone Saga in the 1990s' Spider-Man titles. Harras has since worked as contributing editor at WildStorm and collected editions editor for DC Comics. He began a decade-long stint as DC's editor in chief in 2010.

Al Milgrom, A.K.A. "Editori-Al," is renowned as writer, editor, penciler and inker -- and held most of those positions on Spectacular Spider-Man. He also contributed to SSM's sibling Amazing Spider-Man. He penciled West Coast Avengers for four years and inked X-Factor for eight. His artwork has also appeared in Avengers, Captain America, Thor and most X-titles, including the classic Kitty Pryde and Wolverine. As editor, he oversaw Marvel's Epic imprint and the sixty-issue run of Marvel Fanfare, where his satirical self-portraits made his face as recognizable as any super hero's mask. At DC, he co-created Firestorm the Nuclear Man with Gerry Conway.

West Coast Avengers artist Bob Hall also penciled Avengers, Champions, Defenders, Marvel Team-Up, Super-Villain Team-Up and other Marvel titles. He was a major art contributor to Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Deluxe Edition. At Valiant Comics, he worked on Shadowman and Timewalker.

Luke McDonnell penciled a long stint on Iron Man, encompassing the controversial storyline in which Tony Stark ceded the Iron Man armor to his friend James Rhodes. McDonnell's work also appeared in Daredevil, Spectacular Spider-Man, What If? and elsewhere. At DC, he penciled most of John Ostrander's Suicide Squad and its spinoff miniseries Deadshot, as well as a Justice League of America stint during its "Detroit JLA" phase. Eclipso, Green Lantern: Mosaic and Secret Origins are only a few of the other titles benefiting from his work.