Welcome as always, True Believers, to another Wednesday installment of The Beat’s Marvel Rundown! It’s time to give thanks for another batch of terrific comics criticism. This week, the Avengers embrace the endless summer of the California coast in Gerry Duggan and Danny Kim’s West Coast Avengers #1! But that’s not all, stick around after the (spoiler free!) main review for the Rapid Rundown, including check-ins with Incredible Hulk #19, Iron Man #2, and Uncanny X-Men #6!
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Excelsior!
West Coast Avengers #1
Writer: Gerry Duggan
Artist: Danny Kim
Colorist: Arthur Hesli
Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramagna
Cover Artist: Ben Harvey
The pitch on West Coast Avengers is perfect. Take one high profile Avenger, stick them on a team with a bunch of second and third-stringers who can’t hack it as supporting players on the flagship Avengers, and just go nuts. Plenty of memorable, bizarre stories come from West Coast Avengers over the years, including just about everything people remember about Scarlet Witch from her imaginary twins to her mental instability, and few writers today are better suited for the offbeat weirdos of the WCA than Gerry Duggan, who has proven himself adept at balancing humor, pathos, and action.
This new take is anchored by Iron Man (only loosely and unconvincingly tied into the status quo of Spencer Ackerman and Julius Ohta’s new series) alongside Spider-Woman, Iron Man’s trusty friend War Machine, mutant outcast Firestar. The team is filled out by former villains Blue Bolt and Ultron (obviously not a mistake that will cost them dearly in the first 6 issues). The goal is to provide the villains an opportunity for redemption and mentoring while keeping the West Coast safe. There is a proactive streak to Iron Man’s mission in this, which makes sense for Tony Stark the futurist and problem solver.
The story here is a direct extension of Duggan’s work on Iron Man and X-Men and Tony’s new openminded thoughts on reforming bad guys is credited to his experiences and actions there. Firestar arrives wallowing in her status as a double agent and perceived traitor to her own kind. Her introduction is presented with some humor but is clearly one of the darkest places she’s ever been in emotionally. And that’s the joy of a Duggan comic. He does not undercut the drama or story with humor but instead finds moments of levity in human frailty and brokenness.
It’s a clunky first issue though, with heavy narration upfront to explain the book’s concept. Duggan’s tries to get past all that exposition by simultaneously throwing us right into superhero action scenes with the whole team but it is at the cost of really showing us why it exists. There’s no explanation given for who Blue Bolt is or why Ultron is good now. It would have been nice to get more insight into Iron Man’s decision to build a team around Ultron’s reform, particularly given his current cashflow and technology problems.
Fortunately, artist Danny Kim’s style is expressive, dynamic, and exciting and picks up a lot of slack so that you can forget those questions about the who and why and enjoy Iron Man knocking some punks around and driving off on an electric scooter. He does a great job with the page construction and layouts, centering the characters over the big spectacle. One page consists of only 4 panels: a midshot followed by a close up image of a cancer patient sharing her experience dominates the page, then a small insert of Tony Stark reacting, overlapping a panel of Spider-Woman leaving the room in the bottom right that sinks right off of the page. There’s an intimacy to the focus on her face, and the stark emptiness of the white space surrounding the woman’s heartfelt feelings forces us to sit with her emotion, before we are uncomfortably shuffled out alongside the aloof Spider-Woman. This kind of layout–the formally rigid rectangular box arranged in unorthodox ways gives the book a familiar but loose sensibility that suits the middle ground between big superhero drama and oddball characters. It really sells the dysfunction of this slapdash team and Kim’s art has superb comic timing. Arthur Hesli’s color casts the issue in a warm orange light that evokes the endless summer of Los Angeles. With that washed out sunlit orange there’s no mistaking the setting for New York City. Marvel stalwart Joe Caramagna’s letters are clear and readable with bold, fun SFX that are positively retro and give the issue a pop of fun.
The most interesting parts of West Coast Avengers are its last handful of pages as the final team member and its main villain enter the scene. It bodes well for the bigger story even if it makes this first issue feel a bit shallow. But there’s promise here, especially for Iron Man fans who might be looking for something that scratches the itch for Robert Downey rapid-fire quippage.
VERDICT: It’s a decent start but light in calories without the whole story. Give it a BROWSE.
The Rapid Rundown!
- Incredible Hulk #19
- This current run on Incredible Hulk by Philip Kennedy Johnson, Nic Klein, and Danny Earls continues to be one of the best books Marvel releases each month. The story concocted by Kennedy Johnson with the Hulk fighting more and more grotesque monsters as Banner and Hulk struggle for control remains compelling. He never allows either Banner or Hulk to be truly sympathetic and keeps readers uncertain which one should be out and about. Meanwhile, Klein and Earls swap art duties (though on this issue they team up), with an always excellent Matthew Wilson providing coloring magic. The two artists were born to provide more and more horrific visuals, especially the transformations, as the series progresses. Issue #19 hits a turning point in this run as it closes the chapter on Hulk’s horrifying trip to Las Vegas. Charlie Tidwell, the Hulk’s new companion, just got her body back (after being turned into a porcelain doll) only to be chased by werewolves. Banner sold out the Hulk to The Eldest, this run’s villain, to save Charlie. There are some truly horrifying images and Charlie certainly doesn’t come out of this unchanged. Letterer Cory Petit gets to show off with the sound effects in this issue, especially in the action sequences. There’s a sequence where the Hulk and Banner have to get back into action where Petit does some fun things with typography. Since it’s an anniversary issue, there’s a couple of back up stories featuring various different Hulk characters but really the main attraction is the draw here. This continued shift of the character towards horror started in Immortal Hulk keeps providing new and interesting places for creates to explore.- DM
- Iron Man #2
- If you have ever wondered what concussion protocols or injured reserve for superheroes look like, writer Spencer Ackerman and artist Julius Ohta give us a front-row seat as a busted-up Tony Stark has to go to war without his arsenal of advanced armor. After having his entire armory infected with a mystical computer virus, in addition, he’s on the brink of losing his company again as Tony has to fight against the joint forces of A.I.M. and Roxxon in a corporate takeover that doesn’t stay contained to the boardroom. We’ve seen Tony lose his company and have to start from scratch a bunch of times, heck his last series was about him rebuilding his life and armor after Orchis took control of his tech, so this Stark-Roxxon War is slightly familiar territory with a twist. Retro versions or era-specific Iron Man armor isn’t new, a new armor is part of the legacy, so when you think of Iron Man art, odds are you think of something slick and futuristic, but for this run, Ohta’s look for Tony isn’t a favorite, but the overall art is a funky take on the Iron Man tech with its steampunk vibe and its big uncharacteristic main weapon. I like Ackerman’s use of history, acknowledging recent events like Tony’s marriage to Emma Frost or an amazing easter egg nod to the iconic Demon in a Bottle storyline. So far the story is engaging and there’s enough to keep my interest in coming back. – GC3
- Uncanny X-Men #6
- Given the climatic brawl in the last issue and the upcoming Raid on Graymalkin Crossover, I was curious about where writer Gail Simone was going to take the series in this week’s Uncanny X-Men #6. In this issue, Simone begins to lay the foundation for the upcoming Raid, beyond taking back the X-mansion, with the team being under attack by Dr. Ellis’ forces at the local high school and grocery store. I think the issue works best by having the Outliers go to school plot being the focus of the issue. There are few things crueler than school children and in a world with so much mainstream anti-mutant sentiment, the school setting is a quick, relatable way to sell that to the audience. The character moments between the Outliers are okay and I found myself cheering them on as they stood up to the worst bigot of the school. The issue I found with the writing was the pacing of the story. There are a couple overarching subplots being explored in this issue and I don’t think they all were effectively explored. The Wolverine PTSD plot is something worthwhile to explore with Wolverine, but it comes off a bit stilted in the reveal with Rogue just declaring “Wolverine you have PTSD!” with the tact of Young Jean Grey outing Iceman as gay. The reveal that Dr. Ellis has conscripted more mutants into her strike team comes out of nowhere beyond the tease that Siren was being forced into some role for the fascist. Side note: the lineup of The Blob and Wildchild (!?) was a weird one. Javier Garron does a solid job on art throughout the issue. The action sequences are well-paced and dynamic. The characters are expressive throughout the issue as Gambit steals the show early on and the art captures the vulnerability in characters like Rogue or Wolverine. The character models are where things deviate as we are given a Wolverine that is built about as wide as he is tall. I like that design, but it is surprising to see such a short king. Uncanny X-Men #6 is another solid entry into the series, but it does feel like things were rushed to get all the pieces into play for the upcoming Raid on Graymalkin. This is the nature of corporate comics, at times. Oh well. I liked the issue nonetheless. -JJ
That’s all for this week, Marvel faithful! Next week, keep your eyes on the infinite as we take a look at the new Infinity Watch. Happy Thanksgiving!
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