Avengers Heavy Metal

What begins as a simple prison break suddenly turns into a technological nightmare for the Avengers, as robotic foes from all eras of the team's history join forces under the leadership of the Super-Adaptoid! What is the Adaptoid's ultimate goal, and how does the Cosmic Cube factor into it? And when the Adaptoid gets a major power-up, will any of the team be left standing to stop him? Plus, the Avengers move their headquarters to the floating Hydrobase, but is Dr. Druid hiding a secret agenda? Who is the beautiful woman he keeps dreaming about, and what does it all have to do with Kang the Conqueror?
COLLECTING: Avengers (1963) 286-293

"Stern's Avengers are my all-time favorite Avengers tales. He gets every character just right and spins some fun yarns. A shame he was forced off the Avengers while still at the top of his game." -- Matt Celis

"Roger Stern is perhaps the most underrated writer for Marvel Comics inthe 80s. However, the collaborative energy between Roger Stern and artists John Buscema and Tom Palmer produced the best Avengers stories in decades. Unfortunately, the Olympian story line that ran through Avengers#282-285 was Stern's last. He was fired ... after a disagreement over the upcoming story line. John Buscema and Tom Palmer chose to remain as the title's art team, but despite the best efforts of Ralph Macchio and Walter Simonson, it never returned to same level it had enjoyed under Stern. The Buscema/Palmer art neatly complemented Stern's writing and allowed the title to reach one of its high points." -- Jason Shayer

"Avengers #285 was what I consider Roger Stern's actual last issue. His name appears in the credits in the next few issues as plotter, with Ralph Macchio doing the scripting. After the classic "Under Siege" storyline (#273-277) ... and then a wonderful "Assault on Olympus" (#281-285) ... he was fired from the book, and left Marvel for DC. Stern was -- and is -- one of my all time favorite writers. I continued to follow the book for about a year afterward, but the loss of Stern made me sour. The issues I did buy after #285 are no longer part of my collection." -- John Dunbar