The shock of Stan Lee's decision to pare down the Avengers from a mighty assemblage of Marvel's most popular characters to a "Kooky Quartet" of reformed villains led by a recently revived Captain America was a risky decision, but it proved a masterstroke. Freed from worrying about the editorial entanglements of what was going on in other titles, Lee and his art partner Don Heck could focus on giving the Avengers unbridled adventures in their own space--and that's just what they did! Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, and Cap took on all comers, often in multi-part epics that pitted the Avengers against foes old and new.

The Enchantress was on hand, bringing to the fore two new partners in evil in the Swordsman and Power Man. Kang lured the Avengers into a cosmic clash for the ages--in a story featuring some of Stan's best writing of the era. Tussles with Doctor Doom, Attuma, and the Sub-Mariner saw bad guys from other corners of the Marvel Universe getting a fresh look in The Avengers. And the Sons of the Serpent embroiled Earth's Mightiest into a dire threat born out of the social consciousness of the era.

The Avengers of 1965-1967 also featured change within the ranks of the team and its creative stable! The team would eventually grow to include returning members Hank Pym and the Wasp - with Pym no longer taking the guise of Giant-Man but adopting the new costume and moniker of Goliath. Meanwhile, the Black Widow and Hercules would begin their tenures with the Avengers as guest stars, proving that the only constant to the team's lineup was change. Stan Lee would depart as writer in the summer of 1966, handing the keys to the Avengers over to newcomer Roy Thomas, whose earliest stories set the stage for his future glories guiding the title to an era of milestones.

The seminal issues of Avengers Nos. 21-40 are collected here in a volume that closely simulates the size and proportions of the original comic artboards; all individual issues have been sourced from the collection of Bob Bretall, holder of the Guinness World Record for largest comics collection. Bretall's pedigreed collection has been photographed using meticulous reproduction methods, resembling the way these comics first looked when initially published in 1965 and 1966, while also being digitally remastered using modern retouching techniques to correct problems with the era's inexpensive, imperfect printing. A custom paper stock was developed exclusively for this series to simulate the newsprint feel and color holding of the original comics. The Marvel Comics Library has earned well-deserved raves from comic collecting diehards for combining an old school comic book reading experience with a luxurious oversized book format, winning the industry's coveted Eisner Award for Best Publication Design.

Complementing the comics is an essay by famed editor and Black Panther writer Christopher Priest, whose riotous and lively style merges with a deep and abiding love for the comic book artform and its history. Accompanying his essay is a gallery of original art, photographs, rarities, and other ephemera of the era.
Also available in a Collector's Edition of 1,000 numbered copies