Collecting Avengers #255-261 and Avengers Annual #14, and Fantastic Four Annual #19 written by Roger Stern and illustrated by John Buscema.

In Avengers #255, the Wasp arrives back from vacation to find out that the Vision tried to take over the world. Meanwhile, Captain Marvel arrives on Sanctuary II to find it has been taken over by a group of mercenaries.

During the events collected in the Absolute Vision trades, the Vision was influenced by the Titan computer ISAAC to take over the world. The rest of the Avengers were left to stop the Vision while Captain Marvel was sent on a seemingly pointless mission to investigate Thanos's abandoned spaceship. Except that it turned out not to be so pointless after all.

In Avengers #256, the Wasp becomes chairperson of the Avengers once more and the Black Knight officially re-joins as well. The Avengers are later summoned to a shipwreck in the South Atlantic and learn of a monstrous menace named Terminus that is on its way to the Savage Land.

I had forgotten how much I liked John Buscema's art. His version of the Wasp is very pretty. Al Milgrom's art on the previous issues of Roger Stern's run on the Avengers was fine, but Buscema's artwork just blows it out of the water in comparison. I believe this was the Avengers' first trip to the Savage Land. Savage Land adventures are more of an X-Men thing, but it was nice to see the Avengers get a go. You can't beat a good adventure with dinosaurs in it.

In Avengers #257, the Avengers catch up to Terminus in the Savage Land, but arrive too late to stop Terminus from wrecking the machinery maintains the tropical climate. Meanwhile, Captain Marvel meets the leader of the space pirates, a woman named Nebula.

Maybe my excitement about and Avengers adventure with dinosaurs was a bit premature. The Savage Land is destroyed in this issue. Of course, now we know that it will be rebuilt in Uncanny X-Men Annual #12 but that doesn't make it any less shocking. Fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe might be shocked to see Nebula with hair. Thanos turned her into a zombie thing during Infinity Gauntlet, then she got remade into a cyborg in the Silver Surfer's own book. I don't think we ever got a clear answer whether she was Thanos's granddaughter or not.

In Avengers #258, the Avengers have barely arrived back from the Savage Land when they are called in to stop a rampaging Firelord. Meanwhile, Nebula plans to use Captain Marvel in her quest to conquer the remains of the Skrull Empire.

Oh, God. Another story in which Firelord mistakenly gets into a fight with superheroes. Luckily, most of that fight takes place in Amazing Spider-Man #270. We're spared the fight this time. It must be particularly humiliating for a former Herald of Galactus to be defeated by somebody like Spider-Man though. Not that I particularly care. Firelord is an idiot for always getting manipulated into fighting heroes.

In Avengers #259, upon receiving Captain Marvel's distress call, the Avengers and Firelord head out into space to stop Nebula. They are introduced to the leader of the Skrulls, General Zedrao, who explains that after the Skrull throne world was consumed by Galactus, Nebula and her pirates have taken over the remains of the empire. The Avengers must now join forces to stop the threat of Nebula.

The Skrulls are my favourite Marvel aliens and I always thought that they got an unfair amount of abuse. Galactus destroyed their throne world. Twice. Now Nebula is trying to take over the remains of their empire. Back on Earth, Firelord is put to work to pay back the damage he caused during his fight with Spider-Man. It was nice to see somebody that powerful actually face up to the consequences of their actions instead of being let off without a word.

In Avengers #260, Firelord discovers that his homeworld of Xandar was devastated by Nebula's forces. Meanwhile, the Avengers and the Skrull forces try to devise a plan to stop Nebula now that she has control of Thanos's old ship. If that wasn't enough, the Beyonder is sticking his nose in and is determined to lend a hand.

I can't explain how much I dislike the Beyonder. The first Secret Wars was just fine because the Beyonder took a backseat and the story was mostly about heroes fighting villains, but then we get to Secret Wars II. An omnipotent alien being wandering around the Marvel Universe interrupting your favourite comics and sticking his nose where it wasn't wanted. Maybe I'm just salty because he killed the New Mutants in a hissy fit. Okay, they got better, but that doesn't make it any better.

In Avengers #261, the Avengers return back to Earth and decide that their first mission back should be finding the Beyonder. What hope can the Avengers have against a being with the powers of a god?

Great, another Beyonder story. Now the Wasp gets the great idea of making the Beyonder and Avenger-in-training! And I thought she was supposed to be a good leader! Thankfully, we never actually get to see what the Beyonder is like as an Avenger. Unless that's shown in an issue of Secret Wars II. Obviously, I'm not going to be reviewing Secret Wars II so we might as well forget about the Beyonder ever being offered membership.

John Byrne is on art for Avengers Annual #14. In search of Nebula, the Avengers encounter a planet of Skrulls that have taken the form of old-timey gangsters. A pair of Skrull rebels plan to unleash a terrible weapon, so the Avengers must join forces with the Fantastic Four to save the day.

As I said before, more bad luck for the Skrulls. Now they get robbed of their shapeshifting abilities. What happened to the Skrulls that were out on spying missions taking different forms? Imagine being stuck in the shape of a chair for who knows how long. Just like the destruction of the Savage Land, the Skrulls losing their shapeshifting abilities is something that will be undone later down the line. I think the Skrulls regained their shapeshifting powers in the Silver Surfer's own book.

Fantastic Four Annual #19 is written and illustrated by John Byrne. An alien lands on Earth seeking the help of the Fantastic Four. The Skrulls have been in a constant state of civil war ever since Galactus had devoured their throne world and they have laid waste to the alien's homeworld. The Fantastic Four head into space to help and end up encountering the Avengers on their own space mission.

This Annual takes place at the same time as the Avengers Annual and tells the story from the Fantastic Four's point of view. The alien that lands on Earth seeking help looks like the realty-warping alien known as the Infant Terrible, but it turns out that it is just a trap to lure the Fantastic Four into space and kill them. The Fantastic Four soon sort out the whole mess before they bump into the Avengers. The two groups are wary of each other thinking that they are opposing Skrulls, but thankfully wiser minds win out and they skip the usual misunderstanding fight.

Okay, I'm probably exaggerating my dislike of the Beyonder for the sake of a laugh, but this collection was a lot of fun. You have a Savage Land adventure, which is always and enjoyable romp, and then some shenanigans in space with my favourite Marvel aliens. I have mentioned many times before about how Roger Stern is one of my favourite Avengers writers. His writing combined with John Buscema's art makes this collection a delight to read. The two Annuals with art by John Byrne is just as welcome.

My rating: 4 stars.

Next time: Batman- No Man's Land Vol. 2