Kitty Pryde & Wolverine

Reprints Kitty Pryde & Wolverine #1-6
Written by Chris Claremont.
Penciled & inked by Al Milgrom.

Variant cover.

 

Kitty Pryde has gone home to visit her father Carmen in Deerfield, IL. She stops by his bank to visit and observes him being slapped and threatened by a group of businessmen. Carmen tells Kitty that these men work for a Japanese businessman named Shigematsu who has purchased the bank. One of the men threatening her father is named Ogun and he creeps out Kitty more than the rest. Kitty quickly realizes that these men have ties to the Yakuza.  

Kitty enjoys a day of ice skating in her hometown of Deerfield, Illinois.

Kitty is angered by this, believing Carmen has been forced to sell under duress. Her father says he must leave for Japan to meet Shigematsu. Kitty wants to accompany him to Japan, but Carmen orders her to fly back to the X-Mansion.  

But upon arriving at the airport, Kitty decides to stow away on a plane headed for Tokyo.   

She realizes she's in over her head. Kitty is far from home and has no money. She phases into an ATM and steals some money. The local police are notified immediately and Kitty becomes a fugitive. She calls the X-Men, but hangs up when Wolverine answers. Logan knows Kitty must be in trouble and heads to Tokyo to find her.

Kitty locates the offices of Shigematsu's company. She overhears her father agreeing to use his bank to launder illegal funds. This devastates Kitty, as she hears this and believes Carmen is "a crook". Shigematsu orders his sumo bodyguard Shumai to attack Kitty, but she throws a chair at them and escapes.

Ogun reappears at this point and asks Shigematsu to allow him to take control of Kitty. When Carmen protests, Ogun tells him his daughter is "as one dead". He captures Kitty, mentally possesses her, trains her to be a ninja and brainwashes her to be his assassin. Ogun directs Kitty to kill Wolverine, and she says her teammate is "as good as dead."

Ogun ritualistically humiliates Kitty.

Wolverine arrives in Tokyo and searches for Kitty. He runs into his old friend Yukio, who agrees to help locate Kitty.

Shortly thereafter, Logan is attacked by a ninja in a red mask. Wolverine fights back and they battle all over the city. Their duel takes them to a railyard, and the mask falls off the ninja.  Wolverine is shocked to see that it was Kitty all along. Kitty runs him through with her sword!

Yukio knocks out Kitty and Wolverine is saved. When Kitty wakes up, her and Logan talk about what happened and what Ogun did to her. Wolverine tells her that Ogun was his martial arts teacher. Ogun is rumored to be thousands of years old and perhaps a demon.    

Kitty is convinced that the only way to purge Ogun from her mind & body is to get Professor X to perform a mind-wipe. Wolverine says that won't work and says that only mental and physical strength can help her defeat Ogun. He puts Kitty through her own personal boot camp. Wolverine gives her a sword and tells her she must hold the sword up as long as she can. Kitty's training goes on for several days and she feels stronger all the time. Finally, she stays up all night holding the sword and feels she is now strong enough to face Ogun. Kitty sneaks out alone and goes back to Tokyo to face Ogun one on one.

At the same time, Ogun is also heading to Tokyo where he plans to kill Mariko Yashida, the love of Wolverine's life. Will Kitty stop this from happening? Can Kitty and Wolverine defeat Ogun?


Review:

I'll just cut to the chase and say that I found this miniseries disappointing back in 1984 and it hasn't gotten much better with age. Kitty and Wolverine were two of my favorite characters when I was growing up and they deserve better than this. But it doesn't completely suck, either.

Story:
The first half of this story is okay. I sympathized with Kitty. First, she learns her father is not the man she thought he was. Then she winds up a wanted criminal in Tokyo, corrupted by Ogun. It's nice to see her overcome her victimization and take on Ogun by herself. Kitty's transformation into "Shadowcat" is believable.   

Yukio helps Carmen escape the clutches of Shumai.

And I'll give Chris Claremont credit for tying this story into other events that were happening in the Marvel Universe. The readers deserved to see Wolverine's reaction to the death of his good friend and mentor, Guardian. It was also a nice touch to include the freak snow storm that was happening in Thor at this time.

Wolverine is crushed when Prof. X tells him that Guardian has been killed.

But it sort of drags on about 40 pages longer than it should. Claremont's Wolverine miniseries told its story in 4 issues, which should have been enough time to tell this tale. I felt like there was too much exposition going on here (overcrowding panels with word balloons). Claremont decides to "tell" rather than "show", which is a cardinal sin in a visual medium.

Ogun trains Kitty to be his assassin.

I don't really like Wolverine in this story. He knows Yukio loves him, but he loves Mariko. But it's strongly implied here that he sleeping with Yukio anyways. He's sort of a jerk to both Yukio and Mariko in this scenario.

Carmen Pryde's "criminal" turn also feels a bit contrived. He agrees to launder Yakuza money because he's scared of Shigematsu and Ogun. I'm guessing most of us could be compelled to cut a few corners if ninjas, gangsters and sumo wrestlers were threatening us to do so.

This story led to major, lasting changes in Kitty Pryde that still reverberate today, which makes it an "important" story. Kitty is more interesting after this. That's the main reason I can think of to read Kitty Pryde & Wolverine. 

Art:
Not very good. I was a big fan of Al Milgrom's work in the 70s & 80s. I liked his cartoonish, humorous "Editor-Al" strips in Marvel Fanfare, and his more "normal" pencils in comics like Spectacular Spider-Man, but this is not one of Milgrom's better penciling jobs. In an introduction, Milgrom says he "chose to experiment with a bolder, more graphic style". I wish he hadn't. Without knowing any backstory, it looks like Milgrom was brought in at the last minute and performed a rush job.

Kitty phases out of Shigematsu's desk, frightening the dickens out of him!

Perhaps the worst part of Kitty Pryde & Wolverine is Kitty's attempt to "pass for Japanese". At least that seems to be what's going on in this page:

Kitty tries to look like "just another local teenager".

How Does It Look?:

It looks fine, as you can tell by the page below and all other scanned pages shown in this review.

Wolverine tangles with Ogun, while Yukio tells Mariko what's going on.

Extras:
We get a new "Editori-Al" comic strip written and drawn by Milgrom. It's a nice throwback to the series of strips he drew in Marvel Fanfare, and his art in the strip is actually better than his art in the story.  There's also one page showing the cover in progress for issue #6, plus a 1984 cover from Marvel Age Magazine promoting the miniseries.

Kitty Pryde & Wolverine features a story that starts out good but ultimately disappoints and has art that just isn't anything to write home about. The first couple chapters and the fact that Kitty is never the same after this tale make it good enough to read once, but there are plenty of other Bronze Age reprint books that are better than this one.

My rating:

2 Sals.

Wolverine

Reprints Wolverine Vol.1 #1-4 and Uncanny X-Men #172-173.
Written by Chris Claremont.
Penciled by Frank Miller and Paul Smith.
Inked by Josef Rubenstein and Bob Wiacek.

 Wolverine takes a leave of absence from the X-Men to visit Tokyo, home of his girlfriend Mariko Yashida. He has not heard from Mariko in months. All his letters to her have been returned unopened and she will not take his phone calls.

Upon arrival in Japan, Logan learns that Mariko has been forced to marry a man she does not love. Her father, Lord Shingen Harada, has returned and arranged this marriage to a man named Noboru-Hideki  to settle a family debt.

Wolverine finds out that Mariko is being beaten by her husband.

Wolverine visits Mariko and finds that Noboru is abusing her. He's determined to exact revenge, but is attacked by ninjas who drug him with poisoned shurikens.

Shingen easily defeats Wolverine in a duel, disgracing him in front of Mariko.

When he wakes up, Wolverine is brought before Shingen. He says Wolverine is unworthy of his daughter's love and challenges him to a duel, with wooden bokan swords. Wolverine is still suffering from the effects of the poison, and Shingen is a master swordsman. The battle is brief and Shingen wins easily. He has succeeded in humiliating Wolverine in front of Mariko, who turns her back on Logan.  

Yukio falls for Wolverine, but his heart is set on Mariko.

Wolverine is dumped in an alley.  A street gang finds the drugged, beaten-down Logan and attacks him.  But he's saved by a woman named Yukio, who takes down the gang with knives and martial arts. She claims to be a ronin, a samurai who serves no master.  Wolverine is grateful to Yukio for saving his life and he feels they are very similar. Yukio is falling in love with Logan, but his heart is set on Mariko.  He will need Yukio's help if he wants to take down Shingen and win back Mariko's love. But can Yukio be trusted?

Wolverine battles The Hand.

Shingen subsequently sends a team of ninja assassins from The Hand to kill Wolverine and Yukio. The assassins are defeted, but Yukio is stabbed in the shoulder, badly injured.

Wolverine shows The Hand assassins that he is, indeed "The Best" at what he does.

After this, Shingen continues to send assassins to take out Logan, but they fail at every attempt. Their conflict will be decided by another duel between Shingen and Wolverine. But this time it will be to the death.  

(Major SPOILERS below)

Storm, Kitty Pryde, Nightcrawler & Colossus arrive in Tokyo.

Wolverine triumphs over Shingen and Mariko is freed from her loveless marriage. Logan and Mariko are now free to marry. They invite Wolverine's teammates from the X-Men to attend their wedding in Tokyo. The X-Men have brought their newest teammate Rogue. Wolverine objects to this, since Rogue was a villain  and ruined the career of his friend Ms. Marvel. Mariko welcomes Rogue and lightens the mood.

Storm meets Yukio, while Wolverine reminds Kitty that they come from different worlds.

But all is not well. The villains Silver Samarai and his partner in crime, Viper, have also arrived in Tokyo and intend to prevent the wedding. Silver Samurai (his real name is Kenuichio Harada) is a son of Shingen and half-brother of Mariko. He claims to be rightful heir of the Yashida Clan and believes Wolverine is unworthy of joining the family.

Wolverine pits his claws against Silver Samurai's energy blade.

Viper sneaks into the X-Men's quarters and poisons their tea, sending most of the team to the hospital.  The only X-Men available are Wolverine, Storm...and Rogue. Wolverine isn't crazy about working with a former villain, but has no choice. Can the three remaining X-Men (plus Yukio) defeat Viper and Silver Samurai? Or will they succeed in taking over the Yashida Clan?  

Viper goes gunning for Wolverine & Mariko, but Rogue gets in the way

Review:

It's hard to believe, but when the Wolverine miniseries was published, it was the first X-Men spinoff series. I was shocked when I saw this on the racks at my local comic store back in 1982. The comic hype machine as we know it didn't exist. The idea of one of the X-Men getting a solo series seemed unlikely. But it was a refreshing change of pace back then and it's still a great read today.

And it's also nice to see Wolverine in his brown and tan costume that he wore most of the 1980s. I always preferred this one to his blue & yellow duds. The year this story was published also happens to be the year I dressed up as Wolverine for Halloween.

Your trusted Bronze Age Reprints blogger on Halloween, 1982.

Story:

Chris Claremont is at the top of his game. Wolverine narrates this story in the first person, a device that would eventually become a cliche, but is used brilliantly here. Claremont allows us to get closer than ever to Wolverine and he's given more depth than before. This is also the first time (that I can think of ) where Wolverine actually kills someone. It's done here in self-defense and (unlike later stories) doesn't feel like it's done for cheap shock value.

We also get to know more about Mariko. She was little more than "Wolverine's girlfriend" prior to this story. We learn a lot about her family and their power in Japanese society. Yukio is an interesting character as well, she reminds Wolverine perhaps too much of himself.

One thing I will concede: I'm NOT an expert on Japanese culture, so I can't testify to the accuracy of its portrayal here. I'm guessing there are some things about Japan that Claremont got wrong.  

The second part (originally published in Uncanny X-Men 172-173) wraps up the Tokyo story but also gives us our first look at Rogue as a hero. I read that story when it was first published and was skeptical about Rogue's transformation from villain to X-Man. But Rogue is very heroic here, taking a shot meant for Wolverine. Rogue went on to build up a solid fanbase after this. I also enjoyed Storm's interaction with Yukio. Ororo admires Yukio's free spirit and wishes she could approach life with the same carefree attitude. This story led to some major changes in Storm's personality (and costume).    

Wolverine & Shingen engage in a duel to the death!

Art:
Frank Miller and Josef Rubenstein are excellent art team. When most of us think of Miller's art, we think of the "film-noirish" way it looked when Klaus Janson inked it. Rubenstein's work here looks nothing like that, but it looks great in its own right.

The follow-up story featured Paul Smith's pencils inked by Bob Wiacek. Their work is completely different from Miller & Rubenstein, but it also looks great. Paul Smith is one of my favorite X-Men artists and this is a great example of his work on the series.   

How does it look?:
Fantastic, no weird recoloring or odd printing choices here, as this gorgeous 2-page chase scene shows:

Wolverine chases Yukio over the rooftops of Tokyo.

 Extras:
We get a nice introductory essay written by Chris Claremont in 1987 that deals with the creation of this story and how he came to collaborate with Miller.   

Wolverine contains a great story with art that's even better, highly recommended to all fans of Bronze Age Marvel stories.
My rating:

 
4 Sals!

Spider-Man Visionaries: Roger Stern

Reprints Amazing Spider-Man #206, Spectacular Spider-Man #43-52, #54
Written by Roger Stern, Marv Wolfman, Steve Leialoha.
Penciled by John Byrne, Marie Severin, Mike Zeck, Jim Mooney, Steve Leialoha, Denys Cowan, John Romita Jr.
Inked by Gene Day, Steve Mitchell, Alan Gordon, Bruce Patterson, Jim Mooney, Dave Humphrys, Josef Rubenstein.  


J. Jonah Jameson, publisher of the Daily Bugle and Spider-Man's harshest critic has gone insane. He's been forced to step down from the Bugle and been committed to a mental hospital. The source of Jameson's mania turns out to be mad scientist Jonas Harrow' s Response Variator Ray. 

Jameson escapes from the hospital, but his freedom is short-lived as he is captured and imprisoned by Harrow. At the same time, Harrow has aimed the Variator Ray at the Daily Bugle offices, causing Bugle employees to attack one another. Only Spider-Man can save Jameson and stop Harrow.

Spider-Man avoids Jonas Harrow's Response Variator Ray.

Later, Spidey finds himself in the middle of a gang war that starts in the fashion world. A crime boss who calls herself Madame Belladona and her gang target designer Roderick Kingsley for stealing her fashion ideas. Spider-Man saves Kingsley, but Belladonna gets away, after stunning the webhead with her neo-atropine gas.

Belladonna gasses Spider-Man & escapes.

Next, Spidey's old foe the Vulture is back in New York. This time he's working with his nephew Malachai Toomes and attempting to take over organized crime in the city. Another crime boss named "Black Alfred" Tooks challenges the Vulture and Spidey is caught in the middle. Vulture comes closer than ever to finishing Spider-Man.

Spidey battles Cobra on a rooftop.

Following that battle, the Cobra escapes from Rykers Island. He leaves his partner Mr. Hyde behind in prison and heads for New York. Spider-Man catches Cobra in the act of robbing a jewelry store and a battle ensues. 

Shortly thereafter, a murder occurs and Spider-Man investigates. The killer is the Prowler, a former criminal who has since renounced crime. Spidey is shocked by the Prowler's return to villainy, but it turns out to be a new Prowler. We soon learn that the Prowler was hired to make the hit by Belladonna.  Things change fast when she turns on the Prowler. Spider-Man must bring them both to justice and try not to get killed in the process.

The Prowler takes a shot a Spidey in the Garment District.

Subsequently, Spider-Man recognizes a member of a criminal gang and chases him. This leads Spidey to a smuggling operation headed by a costumed criminal who calls himself the Smuggler. Spider-Man quickly dispatches of Smuggler and his gang, then turns them over to the police.

Spider-Man slugs it out with the Smuggler.

The next day, Peter and his girlfriend Debra Whitman meet up with Aunt May for dinner. Peter's a bit nervous, since May is bringing along her fiance, Nathan Lubensky. He's not sure how he feels about someone marrying his Aunt, who has been like a mother and who is all the family he has left.

Peter & Aunt May's lunch is interrupted by alien waiters!

But before Peter and May have a chance to talk, they're attacked by aliens. These aliens have fought Spider-Man before, when they worked as minions of the Terrible Tinkerer. But this time they've teamed up with Mysterio! Peter lets Mysterio and the aliens take him prisoner (so they won't harm Aunt May). But they're in for a shock when they learn they've unknowingly brought Spider-Man into the picture!

Add caption

At the same time, the White Tiger (who is also Peter's friend Hector Ayala) is investigating the murder of his family. This brings White Tiger face to face with a paramilitary organization led by the super-villain known as Gideon Mace. This results in Mace shooting White Tiger. Ayala survives the shooting, but his career as a crimefighter is over. Spider-Man sets out to capture Mace and pursues justice for the White Tiger.  

White Tiger investigates his parents' murder.

Last but not least, Spider-Man must rescue the Smuggler. The NYPD tells Spidey that the Smuggler had been working for the Maggia crime organization. When Maggia learns that the Smuggler is planning to turn state's evidence, they capture him from police custody. We also learn that the Smuggler is Erik Josten, who suffered many defeats to the Avengers under the name Power Man.  

Spidey & Smuggler team up against the Maggia samurais.

Spider-Man learns that Josten is being held captive on a boat called the Chrysanthemum And The Sword, which is a floating Japanese restaurant. The Maggia owns the boat and has it protected by samurai warriors. Spidey and the Smuggler will have to team up if they want to make it off the boat alive.

Review:

I have to confess to being a bit biased here. Back in 1980, I received a copy of Spectacular Spider-Man (SSM) #43 as an Easter present, and I remember buying Amazing Spider-Man #206 off the spinner racks like it was yesterday. But after re-reading these stories, I can say objectively that they're still very good.  

Story:

The first story reprinted here presented Roger Stern with a difficult task: J. Jonah Jameson went insane and disappeared from Amazing Spider-Man (ASM) for the better part of a year. Stern had to bring him back in a fill-in issue. It's a good story and Stern does a nice job returning JJJ to the Spidey-verse and restoring the status quo.

The bulk of this tpb contains stories from SSM. At the time, it was considered the "lesser" Spider-Man title, but Stern treated it like an A-list series and I can say these stories are better than what was offered in ASM at the time. 

These tales are reminiscent of early Stan Lee-Steve Ditko Spidey stories. The wall-crawler mostly deals with gang wars and street-level baddies rather than super-powered would-be conquerors. It's nice to see Spider-Man placed in some grittier-than-usual scenarios.    

But we also get appearances by classic villains Mysterio and the Vulture. Plus, Stern gives us a good retcon involving Mysterio and his "alien" flunkies. And Stern brings back an obscure villain as well, but I won't "spoil" that part of the story.  

Some of my favorite Spider-Man stories are the ones that take advantage of the New York setting.  Stern gives us a great fight scene that takes place in Grand Central Station:

Spider-Man & Vulture battle inside Grand Central Station.

One thing that separated SSM from ASM was its supporting cast. It tended to focus more on Peter Parker's life as a student at Empire State Univsersity, rather than on his Daily Bugle co-workers. We get some nice scenes of Peter working in the ESU lab, interacting with fellow students Phillip Chang and Steve Hopkins.  

But the most important character to come out of SSM was Debra Whitman. She was Peter's first girlfriend after Mary Jane rejected his marriage proposal. Their relationship never went very far because Parker would often run off during their dates to be Spider-Man, leading Debra to believe he didn't care about her at all. Spidey scribes didn't know what to do with her, and she later went (temporarily) insane and was written out of the series. But Stern writes her as a brave, intelligent woman here. Debra stands up to Mysterio and even engages him in hand to hand combat, helping Spider-Man defeat the villain (go Deb!).  

Debra Whitman whacks Mysterio & breaks his "fishbowl" helmet!

I'm a big fan of Stern's work (this is my second review this week of a Stern-written tpb), but I have to call him out about one thing here. These stories include the first appearance of fashion designer Roderick Kingsley. I won't post spoilers about Kingsley, but let's just say he became a very important character in the Spider-Man titles later in the 1980s. But he's written (and drawn) here as an ugly stereotype. Madame Belladonna even calls him a "flaming simp" in the scan below. I won't hold Stern to the standards of today for a 1980 story, but it needs to be pointed out. Stern later changed Kingsley a bit via retcon, so I'm guessing he regretted his initial depiction.  

Belladonna raids Kingsley office while Spidey prepares to intervene.

There's one fill-in issue co-plotted by Marv Wolfman and  Steve Leialoha. It looks like they coordinated the plot with Stern's storyline, because the next issue written by Stern picks up right where the previous issue left off.   

Art:

This book contains reprints of twelve issues and it's drawn by eight pencilers and seven inkers. So it lacks a consistent look, but the art is generally very good, if not great. John Byrne and Gene Day are a nice art team on the first story. Day was a penciler in his own right, but their styles mesh together very nicely. Mike Zeck and Steve Mitchell are the best art team here in my view. Marie Severin and Steve Leialoha give us some very Ditko-esque art in their issues. The reprint of #50 features art by John Romita, Jr. and Jim Mooney. That art team would later collaborate with Stern during his tenure at ASM.

Denys Cowan also does a nice job illustrating the White Tiger stories that were originally published as back-ups in SSM.

How does it look?:

Great. Just look at all the scanned pages above, and here's one more:

Steve Hopkins & Peter Parker work in ESU's lab while a gunman busts in.

Extras:

There's a nice 5-page interview with Stern in the back of the book. He discusses his opinions of Spider-Man, how he got the job writing SSM, his collaborations with the artists on the book, etc. Good stuff.

Spider-Man Visionaries: Roger Stern Vol. 1 is a fun book worth picking up. Roger Stern knew how to write Spider-Man better than anyone since Stan Lee. Marvel has reprinted some of Stern's later ASM stories (my review is forthcoming). But it would be nice if they would give us another book of Stern's work on SSM, since he wrote the book through issue #60. Recommended.

My rating:

3 Sals.

Avengers: West Coast Avengers Assemble

Reprints West Coast Avengers Vol.1 #1-4, Iron Man Annual #7 and Avengers #250, plus material from Avengers #239, 243-244, 236 and Avengers West Coast #100
Written by Roger Stern, Bob Harras and Roy Thomas.
Penciled by Bob Hall, Al Milgrom, Luke McDonnell.
Inked by Brett Breeding, Peter Berardi, Joe Sinnott, Ian Akin, Brian Garvey, Roy Richardson.


After an extended absence, Hawkeye returns to the Avengers' Mansion and introduces the team to his wife, Mockingbird.

A short time later, at a team meeting, the Vision is selected as the new chair of the Avengers. He has an important announcement to make: a new team of Avengers will be formed and are to be stationed in Los Angeles. Vision announces that Hawkeye will lead the West Coast branch and the West Coast Avengers are born!

Vision & Government Liasion Raymond Sikorski
announce the forming of a new team of Avengers.

Hawkeye and Mockingbird set up headquarters at an old Hollywood mansion and decide to call it the Avengers Compound. Wonder Man, Tigra and Iron Man are all contacted by the Vision and called to the compound. Unbeknownst to the others, the man in the Iron Man suit is James "Rhodey" Rhodes. He has taken over as Iron Man because Tony Stark has had a relapse of his alcoholism.

When Tigra is contacted by Vision, she has been working in San Francisco as a Private Investigator. She departs for Los Angeles in a hurry, prompting her business partner, Jessica Drew, to worry about her. Jessica calls someone in L.A. to shadow Tigra.

Hawkeye tells the heroes they've been invited to join a new team of Avengers. In the middle of their meeting, they realize someone has broken into the compound. It's the Shroud! After a brief battle, Tigra explains that he's a friend of hers and stops the battle. It turns out to be just a big misunderstanding.

Iron Man catches the Shroud snooping around the  compound.

The team has barely had a chance to settle into the compound when an old villain shows up in the City of Angels.

Erik Josten, formerly the Avengers foe known as Power Man, has been called into town by the mad scientist Dr. Karl Malus. In addition to restoring Josten's super strength, Malus injects him with growth serum. With only one dose, Josten becomes a giant and takes the name Goliath. 

Goliath is born!

Goliath wreacks havoc in downtown Los Angeles. Police try to shoot him but their bullets are ineffective. Iron Man arrives, but Goliath is furious to see him and the Golden Avenger is easily defeated. Goliath says he "deserves" a victory over an Avenger, after years of frustration. 

Goliath throws Iron Man out of L.A.

Iron Man's new teammates Hawkeye and Wonder Man are around to help against Goliath, but they're defeated just as easily. The three heroes regroup and realize that they can't match Goliath in power, but that their combined skills could be enough to defeat him.  

Following that battle, Wonder Man stumbles onto a bank robbery in progress. The thief has a "blank" appearance. It turns out that he's wearing a belt that generates a force field and obscures all of his recognizable features. Wonder Man calls the robber "The Blank", and the name sticks. The force field allows the Blank to escape with stolen money. 

Shortly after the robbery, the Blank sees a man made of energy and helps him. It turns out to be the Avengers' old adversary Graviton, who joins forces with the Blank and attacks the Avengers. Hawkeye and Wonder Man remind their teammates that Graviton almost beat the East Coast Team a few years earlier. The West Coast Avengers come up with a plan to stop Graviton that utilizes Tigra's private investigator skills plus Iron Man's technological genius.  

A tense moment between former Iron Man Tony Stark & new Iron Man James Rhodes.

Last but not least, the East Coast and West Coast Avengers team up to fight the Deviant-Inhuman madman known as Maelstrom, who has gained the ability to siphon off kinetic energy from the Earth itself. This alters the planet's rotation and could have catastrophic consequences if the combined Avengers from both coasts can't defeat Maelstrom. And if that's not enough trouble, Maelstrom's Minnions are also on hand to battle the good guys!  

Review:
Not a classic, but certainly a lot of fun. I always liked the West Coast Avengers and I bought these issues off the racks when they were brand new. Arriving late in the Bronze Age (1984), the main story (from West Coast Avengers 1-4) today almost feels like the last gasp of an era. It's a just a fun story with little of the grim, angst-ridden stuff that came along in the mid-80s. Plus, I've always gravitated towards "B-Grade" super- teams. I was an avid fan of the Champions and Defenders, so the West Coast Avengers were right up my alley.  

Story:
Roger Stern does a great job here transforming Hawkeye. Throughout his career as an Avenger, he was always cast as something of a malcontent, clashing with his teammates and Avengers chairpersons. To make him a leader of a superhero team overnight probably seemed like a stretch when it was pitched, but it's nice to see Hawkeye mature as a character.

There's a great scene where Hawkeye calls Iron Man an "amateur" when he learns it's Rhodey and not Tony Stark in the armor. When Rhodey reminds him of all he's done since taking over the title of Iron Man, Hawkeye flashes back to his early days as an Avenger, when Captain America called him an amateur. Hawkeye apologizes and fully accepts the new Iron Man as a teammate.       

Tigra and Wonder Man are also well-written by Stern. Tigra felt like a weak link in her earlier stint as an Avenger, and she deals with that here as well. Wonder Man is believable as a reluctant superhero who would rather be a movie actor. Stern really gets these characters.

Bob Harras also does a nice job scripting the portion of the book taken from Iron Man Annual #7. The new Iron Man wrestles with self-doubt while trying to establish an identity beyond Tony Stark.

The high point of the story is the battle with Goliath. It's an epic battle that has an almost cinematic quality. Despite his villainy, Erik Josten has always been a sympathetic character to me. Sure, he's a villain, but I think he was also victimized by people like Zemo and the Enchantress early in his career,  and even Iron Man has sympathy for him at the end of their battle. This story is Josten's first appearance as Goliath and he would go on to be a major foe of the Avengers throughout the 1980s (and beyond).

Erik Josten recalls his origins as a supervillain.

The bulk of the book comes from the West Coast Avengers mini-series. It's a simple story, featuring the formation of a new team, a bank robber (the Blank) and an old foe seeking revenge (Graviton). It's an exciting saga, but you never get the feeling that Graviton has plans to destroy the world. And that's a good thing.

The story that features Maelstrom (from Avengers #250) is more of your standard "uber-villain threatens life as we know it!" tale. It's included because it features the first-ever team-up of the East and West Coast Avengers. It doesn't detract from the "lighter" fare.

Art:
We get good-but-not-great art here from various art teams.

Bob Hall was never very flashy, but his pencils are very good here. Brett Breeding's inks are a nice compliment to Hall's work. The portion from Iron Man Annual #7 features nice art by Luke McDonnell, inked by Ian Akin and Brian Garvey.

The weakest art is found in the story reprinted from Avengers #250. Al Milgrom handles penciling duties, inked by Joe Sinnott, plus the aforementioned Akin and Garvey. Three different inkers in one issue is distracting and it gives me the impression that this art job was a bit rushed.  

How Does It Look?:
This two-page spread shows how great it looks:

Extras:
We get a post-Bronze Age story that flashes back to the day Hawkeye and Mockingbird bought the compound. It's okay, but hardly essential.

There are also entries from The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe for Hawkeye and Mockingbird. These are fine, but they've already been reprinted in the Avengers: Hawkeye tpb, reviewed here last year.

Avengers: West Coast Avengers Assemble is a highly recommended tpb. It contains stories originally published in the Summer of 1984 and it will provide nice Summer reading today in 2013.

.5


3 and a half Sals.