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!
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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).
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.
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 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.
Again, J.A., this is another trade I've wondered about. I was out of comics during the formation of the WCA. I bought the first dozen or so issues of the ongoing, but never had the Hawkeye or WCA mini-series. After reading your review, I'll probably take a pass. But I did enjoy your thoughts, and especially the art samples. As you say, it's steady if not spectacular. And Joe Sinnott and Al Milgrom were a terrible combination, for whatever reason. Even Joe couldn't save those pencils.
ReplyDeleteThanks, as always!
Doug