Doug: Welcome, friends, to another guest review from our pal Mike W. After
his thoughts on the Rocket Raccoon mini, Mike thought he'd walk us through the West Coast Avengers limited series. It's another one of those mid-80s curiosities of which I've not partaken. Maybe Mike's going to talk me into pulling the trigger. To be honest, his review of Rocket's story made me feel somewhat justified in not having purchased that one. But today -- today's fare is all about some of my favorite characters. So sales pitch or no? We shall see.
M. S. Wilson: In my Rocket Raccoon review I
mentioned that I didn’t read a lot of the Marvel miniseries back in the 80s;
there were plenty to choose from, but most of them featured characters I didn’t
care about all that much. But one miniseries I did buy (and loved) was West
Coast Avengers, written by Roger Stern. Stern was writing the original Avengers
title at the time (though I wasn’t a regular reader) and the West Coast spinoff
seemed to grow organically from the Avengers storyline. It’s been a while since
I’ve read this miniseries, so I hope it holds up (Aw, who am I kidding? Of
course it’ll hold up ... it’s Roger Stern!).
West Coast Avengers #1 (September
1984)
“Avengers Assemble”
Roger Stern-Bob Hall/Brett
Breeding
As I mentioned, I wasn’t a regular reader of Avengers at this point
in my life, so why did I buy this miniseries? I think the cover of issue #1 had
a lot to do with it. A great shot of Hawkeye surrounded by potential Avengers:
Red Wolf, Iron Man, Puck, Shanna (who I always mistook for Clea for some
reason), Rom, Doc Samson, Mockingbird, Cyclops, Wonder Man, Black Widow, Tigra,
Quicksilver, Hercules, Shroud, Namor, and Ant-Man. An interesting talent pool;
of course, four of these characters actually do end up joining, but some
of the others might have made interesting Avengers too. Some of them (Puck,
Rom) seem like strange choices too. Maybe the editor just told Bob Hall to toss
a bunch of random characters on the cover.
Anyway, the story starts with Hawkeye giving the “Avengers Assemble”
call (which is also the issue’s title) to an empty Avengers Compound. So far,
he and his wife Mockingbird are the only ones there. We get some playful banter
between the two, who are still basically newlyweds at this point. This is
certainly different from the vitriol they’ll eventually be spewing at each
other. They get a video call from Vision, who is chairman of the East Coast
Avengers at this point. This was during the storyline when Vision was trying to
take over the world’s computers (or ISAAC was, using Vision as its pawn), and
the creation of the West Coast branch was part of that whole scheme. Hawkeye
reminds Vision that he and Mockingbird are the only ones on the new team, but
Vision says he’s already got some other potential members in mind.
We cut to San Francisco, where
private investigator Jessica Drew is chatting with Tigra about a recent case
she helped on. I like this acknowledgement of their friendship, which was established
in the final few issues of Spider Woman. It seems like Jessica is about to
offer Tigra a steady job, when Lindsay McCabe comes in and tells Tigra there’s
a phone call for her. Tigra takes the call, then decides to take a sudden trip
to Los Angeles. Jessica is suspicious, but figures she can’t follow Tigra
herself, so she makes a phone call of her own, to someone in the L.A. area.
Obviously Tigra's phone call was from Vision, asking her to join the new
Avengers team. It’s interesting that Vision knew exactly where to find her ...
he’s apparently keeping tabs on potential recruits. Also, why didn’t he offer
Jessica a spot on the team? I know she’d turned down membership before, but
that was for the East Coast team; you’d think Vizh would’ve at least considered
it ... or was Jessica de-powered at this time? I know the Avengers “brought her
back from the dead” not long before this, but I can’t remember if she lost most
of her powers. I know she had them back by the time she was in Madripoor, but
maybe she doesn’t have them at this point.
Out in the Mojave Desert, we see
Wonder Man doing stunt work for what seems to be a James Bond pastiche (the
star is referred to as Sean, but he doesn’t look that much like Connery to me).
Wonder Man gets a call from Vision and decides to head to L.A. as soon as
possible. Up in Silicon Valley, Iron Man (James Rhodes) gets a call from Vision
as well, telling him to get to L.A. as fast as he can. I like the continuity
references Stern keeps putting in ... first, the stuff with Jessica and Tigra,
and now we get some acknowledgement of the current situation in the Iron Man
comics, with Rhodey wearing the armor and moving to California with Tony and
the Erwins to start their own company. Iron Man gets to L.A. fast, just in time
to meet Tigra getting out of an airport limo. (Did Vision arrange that?
Earlier, it seemed like Tigra was straped for cash.) Tigra knows Iron Man (or
thinks she does), but Rhodey’s never met her before. He’s soon impressed,
though! This is one of the differences in Tigra’s portrayal by Roger Stern ...
she’s shown as being sexy (almost inadvertently sometimes), but she’s not sexualized;
she isn’t flirting like crazy or throwing herself at everyone in sight. She
seems more like the 70s Tigra here than the later Englehart-written character.
Hawkeye greets Iron Man and Tigra and invites them in for the tour. They’re
watched by a mysterious dark-clad figure (no, it’s not Batman).
Hawkeye and Mockingbird brief
the new recruits (and we find out how Vizh got Tigra to head south so quickly
... he offered her a $1000 bribe, uh, I mean “stipend”). Tigra is unsure
whether she wants to rejoin, which is another nice bit of continuity. She was
an Avenger before (for about five issues) and quit because she didn’t think she
belonged in the big leagues. It makes sense she’d still have doubts. The
intruder alarm goes off, and as everyone splits up to search for the culprit,
we learn Tigra isn’t the only one with doubts. Iron Man doesn’t like the way
Hawkeye barks orders, and Hawkeye himself is unsure about his leadership role
and can’t help comparing himself to Captain America. Mockingbird finds the
intruder (who turns out to be Shroud) and they mix it up a bit. Shroud is
surprised by Mockingbird’s skill and he also doesn’t seem to recognize Iron
Man, which seems ridiculous to me; even if they hadn’t met before (and I think
they might have, in Super-Villain Team Up), he should know Iron Man by sight
(yeah, I know Shroud is blind, but you know what I mean). Tigra has met
Shroud before and quickly realizes it’s him, but he finally figures out he’s
broken into Avengers headquarters and decides to get out while he can.
Unfortunately, Wonder Man shows up at that exact moment (plot convenience, you
say? No, Stern actually made a point of mentioning travel times from various
destinations, so Wondy showing up as this precise moment is perfectly logical!)
and bounces Shroud around, cracking some of his ribs. If you’re unfamiliar with
Shroud’s shtick, he’s a crimefighter who pretends to be a criminal so he can
keep tabs on the real bad guys ... kind of like the Green Hornet, I guess.
Tigra tells them Shroud is one of the good guys and Hawkeye impulsively offers
him membership in the new Avengers branch (and mentions that he introduced himself
to the original Avengers the same way, by breaking into their HQ). Shroud says
no, since it would blow his cover as a notorious gang kingpin. Wonder Man is understandably confused, so
Hawkeye gets ready to explain things again, and that’s it for this issue. I was
kind of disappointed that we didn’t see more of the characters from the front
cover. Some of them would’ve been unconventional choices (to say the least),
but they actually end up going with people who have already been Avengers at
this point. The only really new member is Mockingbird (and Rhodey, but at this
point everyone still thinks he’s the original Iron Man).
West Coast Avengers #2 (October
1984)
“Blanking Out”
Roger Stern-Bob Hall/Brett Breeding
We open with Hawkeye, Mockingbird,
and Tigra training against Iron Man. You’d think it would be kind of a one-sided
fight, but the underdogs show that teamwork can trump raw power and they
actually bring Iron Man down. Tigra seems confident during the fight, but
afterwards still wonders to herself if she’s cut out to be an Avenger. She’s
not the only one worrying; Rhodey isn’t sure whether he should tell his new
teammates that he’s not the original Iron Man, as they all assume him to be. We
jump to a suburb where Wonder Man is packing to move to Avengers Compound. We
get a needless show of his strength when he lifts up the back wall of his house
to remove his belongings; I really don’t see how that’d be any faster or more
convenient than using the door. I think Wondy’s been in Hollywood too long.
Anyway, he runs out of nails, so he and his director friend head down to the
hardware store and stumble across a bank robbery. The crook is a new character
... so new he doesn’t even have a name; he takes the name The Blank from a
random comment by one of the bank patrons (and no, it wasn’t Betty Ross). Blank
(fittingly, we never do learn his real name) is obviously new to the
bank robbing game, and to the superhero game as well. He sems surprised at
Wonder Man’s abilities (doesn’t anyone watch the news in L.A.?), but Wondy is
surprised at Blank’s powers too. Apparently, Blank’s force field protects him
from harm, but also makes him hard to hold onto. I’m not sure how that would
work; he’s not intangible, since Wondy can grab him, and he’s not invisible.
Plus, Blank can grab stuff (like the bank’s money), but nothing can hurt him.
Anyway, Blank jumps out the window, turns off his force field, and blends in
with the crowd. You’d think that would’ve occurred to Wonder Man, although I
guess he couldn’t really start grabbing people at random. Blank takes his loot
back to his apartment, and we see his origin. Some old guy that worked for
Stark international invented the force field device, then stole it when Obadiah
Stane took over and fired him. The old guy got hit by a car, so Blank took the
device for himself. After Blank recharges the device, we see a ghostly figure
appear above the charger, begging for more power (Maybe it's Tim "the
Tool Man" Taylor!).
Wonder Man is mad at himself for
letting a goof like Blank get away (he’s been having some of the same doubts as
Tigra about being able to cut it in the big leagues again). The team splits
up and scours the city, and we get a
quick tour of L.A.: Tigra’s in
Chinatown, Iron Man in Santa Monica, Hawkeye’s in Marina Del Rey, Mockingbird
cruises the freeways, and Wondy’s Downtown. It’s nice to see a different
setting than New York; I always appreciated some of the comics set in
California (Spider Woman, Champions, Werewolf By Night). Unfortunately, L.A. is
a bit big for five people to cover. Blank ends up in Inglewood, robbing an
armored car. Things go wrong and he grabs what he can, jumping out of the
moving vehicle. His force field protects him again, but Mockingbird shows up in
her fancy car. Blank seems surprised again (“I’m being chased by a blonde in a
sports car!” Welcome to L.A., Blank!) Hawkeye and Iron Man show up too, but
Blank manages to distract them by blowing up a gas station (!); Iron Man
smothers the fire with a dump truck full of sand from a nearby construction site,
but Blank escapes again. Back at his place, he decides to leave town (which is
a decsion I think more villains should make ... it makes sense to go where the
superheroes aren’t). As Blank recharges his force field device, the
ghostly form we saw before coalesces ... and it turns out to be Graviton!
West Coast Avengers #3 (November
1984)
“Taking Care of Business”
Roger Stern-Bob Hall/Brett Breeding
As this issue opens,
it’s obvious there’s been a time jump; the West Coasters are shown cleaning up
snow from “some unusual weather” that’s affected the whole world for the past
week (This is a reference to the “Casket of Ancient Winters” storyline in
Thor). None of the Avengers seem to know the cause of the freak weather, but
they’re engaged in cleaning it up. Iron Man mentions that people in L.A. are
taking the weird weather in stride and we see a woman in sunglasses, a scarf,
and a bikini skiing down the street. Across town, some people are taking
advantage of the slow police response time to rob a store (a Radio Shack by the
looks of it ... yeah, this was set in the 80s all right). Hawkeye, Mockingbird,
and Tigra stop the robbers (and in another 80s reference, Tigra appears to be
wearing leg warmers ... or maybe they’re just woolen tights? I’ve seen girls
wear those up here in Canada, but you’d think they’d be hard to find in L.A.).
The snow disappears as quickly as it came, and Hawkeye proposes they all get
together for a barbeque. Everyone is enthusiastic, but Tigra is worried about
Wonder Man; he’s still moping about letting Blank get away (and we find out
it’s been two weeks since the last issue), so Tigra asks Iron Man to
talk to Wondy. He suggests she might have better luck, and lets her know (by
removing one of his gloves) that he’s not Tony Stark.
At a fancy mansion in the Santa
Monica mountains, we catch up with Graviton. He used the strange weather to
take over the mansion from another mobster, and we get a recap of what’s been
happening with Graviton since Thor put him in suspended animation in Thor #324.
Apparently, Grav’s consciousness was awoken by a strange energy (which we’re
told was the Beyonder) and he used Blank’s recharging machine to make his way
back to Earth. Graviton demonstrates his powers (freaking Blank out a bit) and
says he’s not worried about the Avengers. Back at the Compound, we see the
conversation between Wonder Man and Tigra. He recaps his origin and tells how
he ended up working as a stuntman; apparently the Avengers’ appearance on David
Letterman (in Avengers #239) brought Wondy to the notice of the Hollywood
bigwigs. Working as a stuntman gave him his confidence back, so he jumped at
the chance to rejoin the Avengers, but after letting Blank escape he’s started
wondering if he made a mistake.Tigra then recounts some of her story: she tells
him about the Cat People and how she’s bounced from one thing to another in her
life, never quite feeling in control, which is why she’s also having doubts
about being an Avenger. Again, I really like this version of Tigra; wanting to
be on the team, but afraid to let everyone down. Much better than her later
“overconfident/slutty” persona.
Tigra and Wondy decide to prove
themselves by finding Blank. They go to Shroud's club for information,
reasoning that since he's posing as a gangster, he'll have info on the
"competition". They find Shroud's place trashed and are told that it
was done by the Galeno gang ... except Galeno isn't the one in charge anymore.
Shroud has to retaliate, to keep up appearances, and Wondy offers to go along
as his "muscle". Tigra reluctantly agrees. Shroud and Wonder Man show
up at Galeno's mansion (with Wondy wearing a really stupid-looking wig as a
disguise; seriously, he looks like Harpo Marx in that thing), and find out the
new gang leader is The Blank. Blank demonstrates some powers he really shouldn't
have, like making Wonder Man float in mid-air, and making Shroud's feet so
heavy that he can't move. Tigra jumps Blank and he yells for help. The real
boss, Graviton, appears and Wonder Man warns the others to stay back as he attacks
Graviton himself. Graviton uses a "localized gravity field" to send
Wondy crashing through the floorboards. It's nice that they acknowledge what a
tough opponent Graviton was when he first fought the Avengers; it's been a
while since I read those issues, but I remember Graviton basically held off ten
or so Avengers and almost killed them. He's no lightweight (so to speak).
Graviton sets everything in the room spinning. Shroud tries to use his
"living darkness" to blind Graviton, but the villain just pins his
foes to the wall, disrupting Shroud's control. Wonder Man climbs back up
through the floor (still under the effects of localized gravity), but Graviton
renders him helpless by making him float in the air. Grav then sends Tigra,
Shroud, and Blank (whose incessant whining he's finally gotten tired of ... I'm
not sure what took him so long) crashing through the window and out into the
Pacific Ocean. At the Compound, the others are preparing for the barbeque (and
Rhodey's wondering how he'll eat with his helmet on), but Mockingbird is
worried about Tigra and Wonder Man. Hawkeye figures there isn't much Wondy
can't handle, but we see how wrong he is; back at Graviton's mansion, he shows
off his newest "decoration" to a couple of girls (one of whom looks
terrified, while the other seems strangely ... turned on?). He's used his
gravity powers to pin Wonder Man at the bottom of the swimming pool until his
lungs filled with water.
West Coast Avengers #4 (December
1984)
"Finale"
Roger Stern-Bob Hall/Brett Breeding/Peter Berardi
This issue starts with Tigra
surfacing in the Pacific, clutching an unconscious Shroud in her arms. It's
night-time now, where it seemed to be daylight last issue, so I'm not sure how
long they were meant to be down there. Tigra uses her emergency beacon to call
for help; I can't help wondering where she keeps that ... her costume
doesn't leave a lot of room for hiding places. Iron Man picks them up, and back
at the Compound we learn that Shroud will be fine (although he's never
mentioned again after this) and that Iron Man couldn't find any trace of Blank.
Shellhead is champing at the bit to go after Graviton, but Hawkeye reminds him
how tough Graviton is, mentioning that Iron Man should know that since he
fought Grav the first time around. Rhodey realizes he has to come clean and
takes off his helmet. The others are surprised, and Hawkeye is annoyed to find
out he's been working with an "amateur". Rhodey informs him that he
was the Iron Man who saved everyone during the Secret Wars after Molecule Man
dropped a mountain on them. Rhodey is stiil fired up to confront Graviton, and
Hawkeye realizes that he's seen this all before, from the other side, and
wonders how Captain America ever put up with him all those years.
Hawkeye decides they will go after Graviton, but they need a plan.
Later at Graviton's mansion,
there's a party in full swing and we see a couple of women (who I think are
supposed to be high-class hookers) talking about how gross Graviton is. The
bartender commiserates with them as she pours some more drinks. The bartender
is Mockingbird in disguise, which makes sense; with her SHIELD background,
infiltrating a party would be a cakewalk. There's a knock at the door and
Madame Masque shows up, with a gun-toting goon. The goon is Hawkeye (in another
weird-looking disguise) and Masque is Tigra, using her amulet (which she
demonstrated last issue .. Chekhov's amulet, I guess) to hide her furriness.
Mockingbird pours Graviton some more champagne as one of his henchmen fills him
in on Madame Masque. Grav seems impressed (and Tigra does look good in that
dress!), so he shows her around. When she mentions the Avengers, Graviton shows
her Wonder Man at the bottom of the pool, which freaks Hawkeye out. They cover
for it before Graviton gets suspicious, and then Iron Man shows up, blasting at
Grav with his repulsors. Hawkeye uses the confusion to grab some cover, as
Graviton uses his powers to bounce Iron Man around. At the bottom of the pool,
Wonder Man starts to move (come on, you didn't really think he was dead, did
you?). Bobbi changes into her Mockingbird costume, and joins the fight.
Graviton pounds Iron Man, but begins to feel light-headed. We learn that Bobbi
spiked the booze, so most of Graviton's henchmen (and other guests) are conked
out, but Grav himself must have "the constitution of a moose",
because he's still on his feet. A skycycle shows up with "Hawkeye" on
it (actually a Hawkeye dummy ... I guess they just had one lying around at the
Compound?) and when Graviton blasts it, the real Hawkeye retrieves his gear. As
Graviton and Iron Man fight, Wonder Man climbs out of the pool, pulling half of
it down in the process; he surprises Graviton enough to get a punch in. Iron
Man grabs Madame Masque and flies off with her. Graviton quickly follows, but
before Wonder Man can chase them, Hawkeye tells him everything is going
according to plan.
Graviton catches up to Iron Man
and his "captive" a few miles north, near a power substation. Iron Man
has hooked himself into the power grid so he can blast away at Graviton with
everything the station can put out. Unfortunately, the cables connecting him to
the station aren't as sturdy as his armor, so just as he blasts Graviton with a
huge burst of power, the cables melt, causing feedback that knocks the armor
offline temporarily. Tigra chooses this moment to drop her disguise and decks
Graviton; Wonder Man shows up and he and Iron Man attack again. Graviton
realizes he's been drugged, but is still confident that he can beat a mere five
Avengers. Hawkeye hits him with some gas arrows, and Graviton makes the gas so
heavy that it sinks to the ground. Graviton is still bragging about how tough
he is when he keels over. Later, we see Graviton being hauled away (I'm not
sure how they'll keep him incarcerated ... drug him constantly?), and Hawkeye
tells a reporter that they have another important mission to take care of.
That mission turns out to be the
long-delayed barbeque back at the Compound. Everyone has their masks off and is
chowing down. Hawkeye plays a congratulatory message from Vision and Wonder Man
reminds everyone that he no longer needs to breathe, which is why he survived
being trapped at the bottom of the pool. Both Wondy and Tigra seem to have
gotten past their self-doubts about being Avengers (and it seems like Stern may
have been setting up a romance between the two of them). One of the things I
liked about this miniseries is how Wondy and Tigra had their doubts (logical,
considering their backstories), but Rhodey always seemed 100% down with being
an Avenger. He wasn't arrogant about it, but he seemed confident enough to know
he could cut it as an Avenger, unlike in the IronMan comics of the time, where
he always seemed to have an inferiority complex. Anyway, Hawkeye ends the issue
(and the miniseries) with "Once an Avenger, always an Avenger!" and
we're told that the West Coasters will be appearing in Avengers #250 next
(where I think they team up with the East Coast branch to fight Maelstrom).
I really liked this miniseries,
maybe more now than I did back then, since I can appreciate more of the
background and surrounding events now. Bob Hall's art is great (he would've
been good on the ongoing series), and I love how Stern uses all kinds of
character history and brings a bunch of
other storylines into the series (Tony's booze problems, Secret Wars, the
Casket of Ancient Winters, Spider Woman, etc.) I also like the way Stern writes
these characters: Wondy and Tigra's doubts, Hawkeye having to be the calm
leader instead of the hothead. Like I said before, I wish we'd gotten to see
more of the characters from the cover of issue #1 (some of whom would've made
great Avengers). I'm not sure about Shroud as an Avenger, but he might have
made an interesting recurring character. And there were others (like Jessica
Drew or Bill Foster) who could've been used too. I know Stern did have
Foster lined up as the WCA's resident scientist, but once Hank Pym was brought
in, Foster seemed to disappear pretty quick. I can't help wondering (one of
those real life "What If?" scenarios) what it would've been like if
Stern had written the regular West Coast Avengers series instead of Steve
Englehart? Nothing against Englehart (I generally like his writing ... his
Captain America run is classic), but some of his characterizations are a bit
off, Tigra especially. He seemed to take all the nuance out of her. I liked
some of his ideas (the way he wrote Firebird was interesting), but some of his
choices left me a bit cold. I think if Stern had written both series at the
same time, he could have coordinated the titles so they felt like two parts of
a whole, instead of "Avengers" and "Avengers Junior", like
we basically ended up with. Lots of people joke now about the West Coasters
being lame knock-offs of the "real" Avengers, but Stern obviously
meant them to be taken seriously ... hence their defeating Graviton with half
as many Avengers as it took the first time. And maybe if Stern was writing both
titles, he eventually would've worked some other characters into the book. Ah
well, we'll never know what might have been!
COMICS: This time around I am not choosing a specific issue or title but rather a character... Wonder Man. Simon Williams has been a favorite of mine since he stumbled back to life in the Avengers. And he has been a lovable hot mess ever since. His backstory is a convoluted and meandering web of costumes, characteristics, and motivations. I am not sure any writer really got a handle on who Simon is but somehow along the way I kept rooting for him and looking forward to his appearances (up to a point). He is a failed industrialist, an actor with limited ability, a one-time villain, a zuvembie, a best friend to the Beast, and a resurrected ionic super-hero with panic attacks. The last part is what really intrigued me. He was one of the most powerful Marvel characters in the late 70's (as he himself constantly reminded us), but he was fearful of dying because he died before. That made him interesting; despite his strength he was incredibly vulnerable. Yet he did what he had to do. He repeatedly overcame his fear and fought enemies greater than himself even if it meant getting brutally pummeled. In later years, he was reduced (in my mind) to a totally ionic entity, but along the way he had fun adventures, an unrenowned but enjoyable solo title, and a series of bad outfits. 
MOVIE: After Hours is a bit of a cult classic. When Martin Scorsese movies are discussed this one typically does not make it into the rarefied air of Raging Bull, Goodfellas, or Taxi Driver. But for me this 1985 film is not only my favorite Scorsese flick but one of my all-time favorite movies. Griffin Dunne stars as Paul Hackett a mid-level office worker who sets out to meet a girl named Marcy (Rosanna Arquette) for a date in Soho. A simple night out turns into a paranoid comic adventure as Paul does everything he can to just return home while everybody in the city seems to be conspiring against him. A paper mache statue, an ice cream truck, a seedy bar, a set of keys, a beehive hairdo, an angry mob, and the words "Surrender Dorothy," all play a part in this dark and twisted comedy about a night in New York City. The film will make you laugh with its blend of strange wit and suspense. 
MUSIC: In 1996, (yeesh... it was 20 years ago), there was a single eponymous album from a band called Mind Science of the Mind. It was a supergroup of sorts with Nathan Larson from Shudder to Think, Mary Timony from Helium, drummer Kevin March from the Dambuilders, along with their violinist Joan Wasser. The first time I heard the music I wasn't sure what to think, but repeated listening opened the door to wonderful spiraling musicianship loaded with weird but memorable lyrics, a haunting voice, and forays into musical bombast tempered with calm reticence. I've said it before that if I imagined the soundtrack to the Dr. Strange movie... this would be it. It is not for everybody I am sure, but I thoroughly enjoy this album and wish that they had produced more.
