Collecting Avengers #264-277, Alpha Flight #39, Avengers Annual #15, West Coast Avengers Annual #1, written by Roger Stern and illustrated by John Buscema.

In Avengers #264, the Black Knight and the Wasp study the change in her powers. Captain Marvel helps her father fight a fire back in New Orleans. Namor tries to adjust to his new life as an Avengers. Meanwhile, a mysterious young woman steals Hank Pym's old Yellowjacket costume. Naturally, the Wasp isn't best pleased when she finds out.

This issue was mostly a downtime story with the various Avengers going about their own business. That is until Rita DeMara steals Hank Pym's old Yellowjacket costume for herself and the Wasp heads off to stop her. The new Yellowjacket will go on to join Baron Zemo's Masters of Evil in a couple of issues time. She would make a few odd appearances after that, most notable becoming an honorary Avenger during the Evolutionary War crossover and later joining the Guardians of the Galaxy before getting killed off by a mind-controlled Iron Man during The Crossing.

In Avengers #265, the Beyonder has gone mad and has taken Captain America captive. The rest of the Avengers were tossed away in a tornado and must find their way back to rescue Captain America.

Oh, bugger. I had forgotten that Secret Wars II was still taking place at the same time as these issues, so now we have the Beyonder sticking his nose in again. Ooh, he's so powerful that the Avengers couldn't possibly stop him. Most of this issue is about the Avengers trying to get back to Captain America, so at least the appearances of the Beyonder are kept to a minimum. At least there is only one more issue and then we can forget about the Beyonder for good.

Additional dialogue for Avengers #266 is written by Jim Shooter. The Beyonder has been defeated, but there is still the matter of undoing the damage that he has wrought. A chasm torn through the Rocky Mountains threatens to tear the Earth apart, so they seek out the Molecule Man to help.

Presumably, Jim Shooter's additional dialogue credit comes from the use of dialogue repeated from some Secret Wars II issue or other. Of course, nobody can possibly fix the damage done by Shooter's pet character. Nobody that is except Shooter's other pet character, the Molecule Man. I thought the Molecule Man was a likeable dork when first I saw him in the original Secret Wars, but the more I see him the more I start to think that he is little more than a pet character that can do no wrong. I don't believe that he appeared much after this, which isn't surprising seeing that Shooter left Marvel soon after this.

In Avengers #267, Kang the Conqueror has almost eliminated all of his divergent duplicates, but some still remain. Kang transports several of the Avengers to Limbo where he hopes they will aid him in destroying the last duplicate.

You can't have a story with Kang the Conqueror without some mind-bending time travel business. This time it's about the Council of Kangs, a group of different versions of Kang. Whenever Kang travels through time he creates divergent duplicates of himself, or something. Time travel makes my head spin and this story is no different. When the Wasp, Hercules and the Black Knight end up in Limbo, they see several members of the original Avengers pop in and out. This is because these were the Avengers that were displaced by the Space Phantom when he took on their forms way back in Avengers #2. Of course, the Wasp knows about this as she was there back in the day.

The story continues in Avengers #268. The remaining Avengers investigate the disappearance of their teammates. Meanwhile, Kang sends a horde of Dire Wraiths against the Avengers trapped in Limbo.

The presence of Dire Wraiths marks this Limbo as the same one that Rom the Spaceknight banished the creatures to in his own series. To make this even more confusing, I don't think this is the same Limbo ruled by the New Mutant Magik. Kang's plan is to get the Avengers riled up enough that they will attack him on sight, hopefully taking care of the last remaining duplicate. It sounds like a rather convoluted plan to me, but this is Kang the Conqueror we're talking about.

The story concludes in Avengers #269. The Avengers are captured by the one true Kang, but they manage to get free and fight back. Immortus is also there and he has some disturbing revelations for Kang.

Now we get a reason for Kang wanting to be rid of his divergent duplicates. After a battle with Thor, Kang ended up in Limbo and found a dead Immortus. Kang used Immortus's technology to revive his beloved Ravonna, but discovered that his actions had created a divergent timeline where he had died instead. That is where he learned of all the different divergent timelines and all the different Kangs. Seeing his duplicates as little more than fools, Kang set about destroying them before they tarnished his name. I think I need a lie down after all that.

In Avengers #270, protests about Namor's inclusion in the Avengers reach a fever pitch and it becomes apparent that Moonstone is the one spurring on the crowd.

With all the crap with the Beyonder and the little diversion to Limbo out of the way, we can continue on with the lead-up to the Masters of Evil story. Moonstone is taken in my the authorities, but it turns out that the Absorbing Man and Titania were disguised as police officers and they have a proposition for her. To join the Masters of Evil, obviously. Namor quits the Avengers, but he will be back. He will join again some time later. As a matter of fact, Namor will rejoin and quit again a couple more times down the line.

In Avengers #271, Namor has left the Avengers and Hercules is getting tired of being ordered about by a mere woman. The Wasp checks in on the recently incarcerated Yellowjacket, only for the Grey Gargoyle and Screaming Mimi to try and break her out of prison.

In the previous issue Hercules let Namor leave for Atlantis without telling anyone and the Wasp isn't pleased about it. Hercules is resentful of the Wasp ordering him around, even though she is the leader. You have to admire the Wasp's bravery for standing up to Hercules. He isn't the sort of man to take any sass from anybody. Leading the Avengers is stressful enough for Janet what with Namor facing legal action for his past crimes, so she doesn't need Hercules being a sexist pig. At least some villains come along so Jan get work off her stress on them.

Alpha Flight #39 is written by Bill Mantlo and illustrated by David Ross. The warlord Attuma has taken over Atlantis, so Namor has no choice but to retake his kingdom with the help of Alpha Flight.

I have only read the first few Alpha Flight issues by John Byrne and haven't read any of Bill Mantlo's issues. I have read some of Mantlo's Incredible Hulk issues and while corny, I have quite enjoyed them. I don't think I have read enough of his Alpha Flight run to really say whether this issue is any good or not so I will reserve judgement for now. Besides, it is only a single issue that is part of a crossover and I can't form an opinion from just the one issue.

The story concludes in Avengers #272. The Avengers join the fight against Attuma, who has also captured Namor's lover Marinna.

This issue tells the events from the Avengers' point if view. In the previous issue, an Atlantean warship shot down Alpha Flight's aircraft and here we find out what happened to the submarine (Namor and Hercules). It seemed unusual that Alpha Flight didn't get much to do in this issue. Then again, that might be because this is an issue of the Avengers, Alpha Flight aren't the focus here. They had plenty more to do in their issue of the crossover.

Avengers Annual #15 is written by Danny Fingeroth and illustrated by Steve Ditko. A baseball game between the East and West Coast Avengers is interrupted when Freedom Force arrive to arrest them all. They are all imprisoned in the Vault where it becomes apparent that a former teammate has betrayed them.

I had completely forgotten that Steve Ditko did the art for this issue. Maybe it's because Ditko only did breakdowns while Klaus Janson did the finished art. It certainly looks nothing like Ditko's usual style, so you can forgive me for forgetting who the artist was. The Avengers have previous history with Mystique and the Brotherhood of Mutants. It was in Avengers Annual #10 that a Brotherhood attack cost Ms. Marvel her powers. Now the Brotherhood claim to be working for the US government. Of course, the Avengers don't believe it for a minute.

West Coast Avengers Annual #1 is plotted by Steve Englehart and Mark Bright, script by Englehart. Bright is also on art. The two teams of Avengers go through the list of inactive members to try and decipher who has betrayed them. Several of the former Avengers join the search for the traitor. However, it turns out that the traitor has the might of Zodiac behind them and the gathered heroes must split up to stop the threat.

It turns out that the traitor was Quicksilver. Spoilers for a story from 1986, I guess. I don't know why Quicksilver felt it necessary to turn on the Avengers. In-story it is stated that Quicksilver betrayed them after they left him behind after an encounter with the Sentinels. Any way, Quicksilver's villainous turn will later be put down to Maximus the Mad's brainwashing or some-such. I'm not sure which version of Zodiac this team is supposed to be. I think it might have been the robotic version after a bunch of Life Model Decoys did away with the human members of Zodiac. It really is confusing and that's even before we get to whether the version of Scorpio here is supposed to be Jake Fury (Nick Fury's brother), Nick Fury in disguise, or another LMD.

In Avengers #273, Baron Zemo gathers together a new Masters of Evil. The idea is for the villains to outnumber the Avengers and take over their mansion with ease.

So we return to the Masters of Evil story proper. This issue is mostly about the villains and how Baron Zemo keeps control of them. Well, almost keeps control of them. Moonstone is already undermining Zemo's leadership and the more physical of the villains are getting tired of sitting around. While most of this issue is dedicated to the villains, there is a fun scene at the beginning with Hercules entertaining the patrons of a bar he is frequenting. Herc is trying to hold up a table with all the other patrons on top. Naturally, the table gives out before he does. This scene was actually relevant to the plot. The guy that kept plying Hercules with drink was the Wrecker of the Wrecking Crew in his civvies. I presume the idea was to keep giving Hercules beer so his tongue loosened in case he might let slip some important information.

The story continues in Avengers #274. The Masters of Evil are able to take over Avengers Mansion as Jarvis the butler is the only one there. Hercules is fed up of taking orders for the Wasp, so he charges in without thinking. A decision that will prove costly for him.

Hercules gets drunk and heads off to fight the Masters of Evil by himself. It doesn't go well and Herc gets savagely beaten for his troubles. This will go on to become important in the next story line when Zeus finds out what has happened to his son and demands vengeance. That is another story for another time though. The beating will also cause Hercules to have a crisis of conscience that won't go away until Thor #418. An enhanced Wrecking Crew attacks Thor and Hercules and Thor sees that Hercules has lost his confidence so he takes a dive that inspires Hercules to fight back.

It is looking bad for the Avengers in Avengers #275. Hercules has been beaten into a coma. Captain America and the Black Knight have been captured. Captain Marvel has been trapped in the Darkforce Dimension. The Wasp and Ant-Man must defend the comatose Hercules when the Absorbing Man and Titania come to finish him off.

If we didn't think Baron Zemo was evil enough, he has poor old Jarvis beaten up right in front of a captured Captain America. Zemo will soon regret discounting the Wasp as well. Like Cap says, she is free to gather another team of heroes to retake the mansion. A call has already gone out to any inactive Avengers to come and lend a hand. We'll see who turns up to help in the nest issue.

In Avengers #276, The Wasp strikes back with the help of some inactive Avengers to retake Avengers Mansion from Baron Zemo and the Masters of Evil.

This issue has a pretty neat cover, several stern looking Avengers striding purposefully towards the viewer. Thor is there and you just know that the Avengers are going to live up to the name. Also, Dr. Druid is there for some reason. He isn't an Avengers, but he ends up getting involved any way. Then again, Scott Lang isn't an Avenger but he still lent a hand as Ant-Man. Any way, it was satisfying to see the Avengers fight back against the Masters of Evil. Especially when Mr. Hyde got his comeuppance for thrashing Jarvis.

The story concludes in Avengers #277. The Avengers have their final battle with the Masters of Evil and Captain America goes one-on-one with Baron Zemo.

Another issue of fighting super-villains. Not that I'm complaining, they were cool fights. Thor taking on Goliath and pretty much destroying the rest of the mansion in the process. Thor used Mjolnir to strip the Wrecking Crew of their powers. Unfortunately, the energy returned to the Wrecker making him four times as powerful and it was up to Captain America to stop him. The final battle was against Captain America and Baron Zemo. Zemo has an unfortunate habit of seemingly falling to his death. In his first appearance, back when he was calling himself Phoenix, Zemo fell into a vat of Adhesive X. In this issue he falls off the roof of Avengers Mansion. Later, during the Bloodstone Hunt story line in Captain America's own book, Zemo ends up falling into a bottomless pit. It is just an amusing pattern that I noticed.

I could have done without two more issues of the Beyonder sticking his nose where it wasn't wanted, but at least he's gone now. I won't have to put up with him until I get around to reviewing the various volumes of New Mutants Classic. That's still some way off though. Everything else in this Epic Collection was just fine. The Kang story did make my brain fizz, but that's all part and parcel of a Kang the Conqueror story. Obviously, the best part of this Epic Collection for me was the Masters of Evil's attack on Avengers Mansion. It's rightfully considered to be one of the best Avengers story lines. It shouldn't be surprising that I liked these issues because Roger Stern is the writing and I have enjoyed all of the comics of his that I have read. I have already read the Under Siege story line, so I knew that I would have a positive opinion of the whole thing. I haven't read the rest of Roger Stern's run on the Avengers, so let's hope that it lives up to expectations.

My rating: 4 stars.

Next time: Batman- No Man's Land Vol. 3