Avengers #343-344, 355-357, 360-363, 372-375 – ‘The Gatherers’
Writer:
Bob Harras, Pencillers: Steve Epting and Gordon Purcell
Line-up: Black Knight, Crystal, Sersi, Black Widow, Hercules, Vision, Captain America, Giant-Man, Thor II/Thunderstrike, Quicksilver, Black Panther
Main villains: Proctor, the Gatherers
Other main characters: Swordsman (from alternate reality), Magdalene, Deathcry, Edwin Jarvis
Following Roger Stern’s departure as writer ‘Avengers’ had several short-term scribes until X-Men editor
Bob Harras came on board.
Harras debuted on the title with
‘The Collection Obsession’ in #334-339, which turned out to be an OK story, but his run really got going with the introduction of the Gatherers in issue #343.
Led by the mysterious
Proctor, the Gatherers were survivors of alternate Earths that menaced the Avengers on and off for three years. Even when not present their threat often seemed to lurk in the background, particularly since it intersected with another main subplot at the time, which was the Avenger
Sersi seemingly becoming violently unhinged.
The Gatherers storyline also contained some early work by top artist Steve Epting, who at this stage was noticeably improving with each issue. Together
Harras and Epting mixed the soap opera of Englehart’s run with the dark grandeur of the Thomas/Buscema issues. It may have owed a large debt to those past Avengers stories, but it was an oasis amongst a decade of mediocrity.
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