West Coast Avengers Review

The West Coast Avengers:

The heroes in this recent run are much different and more quirky than the 80’s run of West Coast Avengers (WCA) but together they are a very lovable and fun team.

Members: Gwenpool, America Chavez (Miss America), Hawkeye (Kate Bishop), Hawkeye (Clint Barton), Quentin Quire (Kid Omega) and Johnny Watts (Fuse)

The team includes relatively well known characters since most of them have had their own comic series or have multiple appearances in various series. The only one that is not well known is Johnny Watts, he is similar to the Absorbing Man, in which he can alter the material in which his skin is made of. Famously he can take on a vibranium form.

Later additions to the team:

Noh-Varr (Marvel Boy): Kate’s ex. Interesting fact: has cockroach DNA.

Ramone Watts (Alloy): Johnny’s sister and America Chavez’s girlfriend. Originally she did not have any powers but then she fused with a vibranium ring during tough times for the WCA team to become who she was meant to.

And how could I not mention:

Jeff the Land Shark: Gwenpool’s pet

Story Arc Commentary:

As stated, the members are quirky and so are the villains they fight. Instead of the normal MODOK, there is BRODOK, A Bio-Robotic Organism Designed Overwhelmingly for Kissing. Who is the main villain for the first couple issues.

The inclusion of Tigra was a nice homage to the original WCA.

I personally enjoyed the frenemies to lovers relationship between Quentin Quire and Gwenpool. However, Quentin seemed a little out of character compared to his other appearances.

For example, in the New X-Men series where he forms the Omega Gang. Quentin often appears rebellious and admittedly not a team player but he goes along with the WCA team doing as they tell him.

The Vampires and weird cult are well, weird but nothing out of the ordinary for this run of WCA. Anything wacky and strange seems pretty normal and makes it a fun comic series. It’s not serious, it’s not typical but it’s unique. This run only had 10 issues but boy did a lot of crazy stuff go down.

Overall, the story began with them being recorded like a reality tv show and the ending completed that story with a good continuation throughout. The ending includes statements from each character. Noh-Varr (Kate Bishop’s ex) and Johnny Watts (Kate Bishop’s current boyfriend) express how they both understand why Kate likes/liked the other one since they are hot. This added the love triangle aspect but this issue was the last of the series. I would love to see more of the team fighting together as they complement each other very well.

The last issue includes a letter from the writer of the series, Kelly Thompson. I highly recommend you give it a read. It really captures the spirit of the WCA and explains a little on why the series got cancelled.

Art Style:

Personally, there were ups and downs to the art style. I am no artist but after reading lots of comics I can tell when the art is good or bad but then again it is just up to your preference. Quentin was drawn beautifully. It’s one of his best representations I’ve seen of him. Gwenpool was poorly drawn for the most part . Her skin was light pink and looked off compared to in her own series The Unbelievable Gwenpool. For the other characters, they were not much different as other appearances and in other comic series. Thus, being very consistent.