Avengers West Coast: Along Came a Spider-Woman

West Coast Avengers (1985-1994) #58-59, 63-75

by Fabian Nicieza, Danny Fingeroth, Roy Thomas

Collects Avengers West Coast #58-59 and #63-75.

The West Coast branch of Earth's Mightiest Heroes faces one villainous threat after another without letup! From walking natural disasters Vibro and Hydro-Man to longstanding Avengers villains the Grim Reaper and Ultron, the outlook is bleak for our favorite Wackos! A silver lining appears when Julia Carpenter, the second Spider-Woman, joins the team - but will her presence be enough to re-energize the West Coast Avengers?

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Graphic Novels

367 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 20, 2012

About the author

Fabian Nicieza is a writer and editor who is best known as the co-creator of DEADPOOL and for his work on Marvel titles such as X-Men, X-Force, New Warriors, and Robin.

His first novel, the Edgar Award-nominated SUBURBAN DICKS, a sarcastic murder mystery, is on sale now from Putnam Books.

The Dicks will return in THE SELF-MADE WIDOW, coming June 21st.

Reviews

[Tomás Sendarrubias García · Rating 2 out of 5]

Último tramo de la colección de los Vengadores Costa Oeste, unos dieciséis números, sin contar con los crossovers con Tormenta Galáctica y con Lazos de Sangre, que seguirían contando con el guion de Roy y Dann Thomas, y con el dibujo de un infame David Ross, que puede hacer en estos números la peor etapa de un cómic que se haya visto nunca. Y mira que hay autores con dibujos particulares, que pueden gustarte o no, pero que al final son personales y tal... pero Ross es simplemente malo, y hace que la última etapa de la colección sea un dolor. A estas alturas de la colección estábamos ya entre 1993 y 1994 más o menos, Image ya había irrumpido en el mundo del cómic, y los héroes tenían todos una nueva actitud, heredera del Castigador y de Cable. Y los Costa Oeste iban a pasar ese proceso en estos números, en los que el equipo formado por Ojo de Halcón (que pasaría a ser Goliath), Pájaro Burlón, el Rayo Viviente, el Hombre Maravilla, la Bruja Escarlata, Spiderwoman y USAgente formarán más o menos el núcleo de un grupo por el que se pasarán también Iron Man, Máquina de Guerra o Darkhawk.

En estos números, Roy y Dann Thomas nos hablarían del pasado de Spiderwoman y el grupo Telaraña Letal, el grupo colaboraría con Lobezno para luchar contra una especie de 4F soviéticos que quieren congelar el mundo desde Canadá, se las verán con Ultrón y su nueva novia, Alkhema, tendrán una nueva saga para hacer frente a los Señores del Pacífico y devolver Demónica al fondo del mar, y un enfrentamiento con la Legión Letal convocada por Satanish (y vaya tela con la Legión Letal...), acabaría con la muerte de un Vengador... y en el número 102, acabaría la colección, que volvería poco después convertida en Fuerza de Choque, de lo que ya hablaremos. ¿Qué sensación me ha quedado de estos cómics? Pues la de que Roy y Dann Thomas intentaban hacer cosas más o menos interesantes con lo que tenían a mano, pero que la situación y el dibujante se los comieron vivos. Así que si la etapa de Englehart tiene el encanto de la nostalgia y la etapa de Byrne el personalísimo estilo del autor, pues más o menos aquí... no tenemos nada reseñable.

Así que nada, seguimos.

[Batusi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Uneven volume that has some enjoyable team dynamics but is offset by pacing issues and fill-in work.

The Avengers West Coast team deals with internal tensions as Spider-Woman joins the group amidst an ongoing super-villain conflict.

While it has interesting character moments, the uneven storytelling, pacing, and artwork bring this volume down.

[Brian Poole · Rating 3 out of 5]

Clashes with villains Vibro and Hydro-Man filled the gap between the abrupt departure of John Byrne and the start of Roy & Dann Thomas and Paul Ryan as the regular creative team. The Human Torch revived again, but soon disappeared from the book and the team met future member Living lightning. The next significant arc was “The Reaper and the Robot,” which saw the return from the dead of the Grim Reaper and included a plot by Ultron to transform the population into “living robots.” Quicksilver stuck around and Tigra, freed of her issues in an Avengers Spotlight story, finally was back on the active list. Ryan’s swan song was a grudge match between Hawkeye and the U.S. Agent after the latter was voted out of the team. The Julia Carpenter version of Spider-Woman turned up and the team fought the Pacific Overlords, a new group of villains led by the mad Doctor Demonicus. After the battle, Tigra left the team, as did Hank Pym and the Wasp. U.S. Agent had redeemed himself and returned to the team, along with new members Spider-Woman and Living Lightning. Finally, a guest-starring Fantastic Four was on hand as the team stumbled into the conflict between Arkon and Thundra.

The two main arcs in this collection were quite strong. “The Reaper and the Robot” was a nice use of old foes, and “The Pacific Overlords” crafted some intriguing new enemies, while making strong use of the book’s Pacific setting. The Thomases had a nice handle on the team and did some smooth character work, including some attitude backsliding from Wonder Man after the Witch made it clear she wasn’t looking for romance. And while the “villain creates his own country” gambit has become more common in recent years, it was fairly fresh back then. But poor Tigra was destined to be ill-used no matter who was writing the book. After being stranded in a retread sub-plot for the better part of two years, her resolution occurred in another series and then she got to be an active member for less than a year before being written out in a bizarrely cavalier way. There was a lot of instability on the artistic front. Ryan did nice work, but his tenure lasted less than a year (with one fill-in issue). David Ross would eventually settle in as regular penciler, but likewise with lots of fill-in work around him. Still, there was no bad artwork and the series would benefit from Ross’s stint, developing a visual style of its own. Fans without any background for the series might be lost in this collection, but for those already onboard, it’s a strong run of stories that’s worth reading.

A version of this review originally appeared on www.thunderalleybcp.com

[Joshua Buhs · Rating 1 out of 5]

Just not good.

I was a big West Coast Avengers fan in my early adolescence. I read the run from the beginning, and still have fond memories of it.

I learned from those books that the Avengers are about family (even as the X-titles, which have DNA and inheritance at their heart, are about friendship). It kicked off with the whole VIsion-Wonder Man-Ultron-Hank Pym thing, and the first couple of years of the run seemed like nothing so much as a chance for Steve Englehart to re-visit those stories and themes in a very light-hearted manner.

The books that make up this compilation come from more than five years in; after Englehart left; after John Byrne was booted out, presumably for never getting his work in on time. And after there were any fresh ideas.

So we get--again, the whole confusing mass of brothers and fathers and brothers as fathers and fathers as brothers--with the added bonus of throwing in the original Human Torch--grand-dad as brother!--and Marvel was working through significant Captain America issues that spills over here.

So, there's the re-retread problem.

But the real problem is that there is no cohesion. The first couple of issues here are one-offs they used as filler while Byrne was trying to finish his run. Others are mini-arcs, that do not advance the comics.

The art is only serviceable. Th dialog--most of it by Roy and Danny Thomas--is embarrassing in the over-expansive, over-cheeky Marvel 1970s' mode--yeah, more than a decade out of date.

By this point in its run, there doesn't seem to have been any idea of what the West Coast Avengers was about. It was still the Avengers B-team, but the urgency to tell stories seems to have drained away. Rather, it became a minor league for characters waiting to be called up into main storylines in the more important books.

As such, there are way, way too many characters in here, with no arcs for almost any of them. Hawkeye was just a placeholder by this point, Iron Man not doing much in this book as all of his action took place off stage. Tigra was here for . . . I don't know why. Nor am I sure why Spider-Woman gets a title place, since she's only in the last few issues.

Indeed, the main focus are on the three least interesting, biggest jerks--Wonderman (eff him and babyish arrogance); Henry Pym--here in the guise as "Dr. Pym." (At least they get him out of that horrible red jumpsuit about halfway through the book). And U.S. Agent, the conservative Captain America.

Hats off to Marvel, I guess, for making even these issues widely available. But, only for the most dedicated completist.

[Kris Shaw · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book starts out with the two stray fill in issues which were left out of the John Byrne-centric collections a few years ago. While I applaud Marvel for making the deadlines and not shipping late on those issues, it really would have been better for everyone if they just delayed the next issue by two months. Issues 58 and 59 are complete pieces of crap on every level and I am dumber for having read them.

Fortunately things turn completely around with issue 63. Roy and Dann Thomas handle the scripts and Paul Ryan handles the artwork. Ryan was a solid artist but not overly flashy. He has clearly laid out panels and his artwork serves the story. It's not like he was trying to make every panel a contender for T-shirt artwork or anything. Roy Thomas' dialogue is occasionally clunky or dated but his writing is still light years beyond that of Brian Michael Bendis. There are no breakfast table conversations, no double page spreads of the team breaking bread, and no snarky dialogue where everyone keeps interrupting each other. Just plenty of superheroes fighting bad guys with organic character development.

Thomas (both of them) do a great job with the team's dynamics. Hawkeye is now the seasoned vet and voice of reason trying to get the US Agent to tow the line, while Iron Man is trying to keep his once-again secret identity of Tony Stark a secret from even his teammates. There is a changing of the guard over the course of the issues collected in this book.

I love the new development with the Grim Reaper, as it makes total sense. I'm not sure what happened to the character after this as I sat out comic books in the '90s. Ultron-13 is great. I have always been a sucker for Ultron, and now we will get to see him on the silver screen in a few years. The '90s start rearing their ugly head with cheesy “extreme!!!” villains like Jawbreaker and the rest of the Pacific Overlords. Irezumi and Cybertooth are beyond cheesy. I was thrilled to see Doctor Demonicus as a villain. He was a villain from beloved quarter box comics of my youth such as Godzilla and Shogun Warriors, both of which need to be Omnibused.

Herb Trimpe handles the artwork in issue 75, and it was nice to see his work before the horrid Image influenced direction that he would take shortly after this. This book is very enjoyable, hovering between good and very good. Not every comic book has to reinvent the wheel to rock my world. Sometimes a good old fashioned superhero battle royal does the trick, and this book delivers a heaping helping of that.

[Devero · Rating 2 out of 5]

In realtà queste storie meritano 2 stelle e mezza, ma alla lunga sono ripetitive. I disegni sono altalenanti e spesso inadeguati.

[Dancomfort · Rating 4 out of 5]

More adventures of the California group.