Go West! Avengers West Coast Appreciation

[NinjaSmurf]

I agree re the Space/Time Arc. It never gets mentioned in best story polls or threads, but everyone who has read it looooves it. Still my favourite time travel story in comics. Theres a lot to like about the early WCA issues including the feral Tigra arc, Master Pandemonium arc, Phantom Rider story, Hank Pym/Ultron Arc, Vision Quest, Zodiac arc, GLA intro, not to mention the great done-in-one where Hank Pym takes out all the brainwashed Avengers. Some real gems in there...except Wonder Man's green and red costume. Worst design choice EVER!

[XPac]

I can just see him in the meeting with the Marvel brass saying "there is no need for a West Coast Avengers. It's like having a New Avengers team, um I meant a Secret Avengers team, er I meant an Uncanny Avengers team, oh I meant a Young Avengers team doh!" I say why not, you have every other Avengers team assembled.

I kind of see Breevorts point. You need a concept beyond simply having a team stationed on the West Coast.

Avengers Academy for example was a variation of the West Coast Avengers, in that they were on the West Coast. It wasn't just an Avengers team on a different location. That's what they'd need to do to justify another Avengers book.

[XPac]

I've long said that Lost in Space-Time is the forgotten Avengers epic. Under Siege, Korvac Saga, and Kree-Skrull War get referenced all the time, but the Whackos get no respect.

Still, that was such a brilliant time to be reading The Avengers-- Stern and Buscema/Palmer killing it on the main title, and Englehart killing it on WCA. (Yes, I like the Milgrom/Sinnott combo.) And then that crossover in the annuals featuring the Grandmaster. This was the Golden Age for the Avengers!

The thing I probably miss the most really are the cross over annuals. The annual soft ball game was always cool. And yes the Grandmaster annuals in particular were amazing.

[Babylon23]

I kind of see Breevorts point. You need a concept beyond simply having a team stationed on the West Coast.

Avengers Academy for example was a variation of the West Coast Avengers, in that they were on the West Coast. It wasn't just an Avengers team on a different location. That's what they'd need to do to justify another Avengers book.

Agreed. There are far too many teams in comics these days that have no real point outside of a writer's desire to stick a bunch of characters together. As much as I love WCA, there's so many Avengers teams out there already that it would be hard to justify yet another one.

[Where is Jessica Hyde?]

One of my first comic runs was 'lost in space time', so the west coast avengers have a special place in my heart.

I have to agree with NinjaSmurf though that wonderman costume was hideous!

[xthumper32x]

I have about 3/4 of the entire run. Still filling in back issues. I love the West Coast Avengers. I haven't had the chance to read all of them yet though. Can't wait to finish my series off.

[Nomads1]

I've long said that Lost in Space-Time is the forgotten Avengers epic. Under Siege, Korvac Saga, and Kree-Skrull War get referenced all the time, but the Whackos get no respect.

Still, that was such a brilliant time to be reading The Avengers-- Stern and Buscema/Palmer killing it on the main title, and Englehart killing it on WCA. (Yes, I like the Milgrom/Sinnott combo.) And then that crossover in the annuals featuring the Grandmaster. This was the Golden Age for the Avengers!

Lost in Space-Time is, without a doubt, the greatest saga of the WCA. I think two things really keep it from being included among other epics (though it is always among MY top ten, and I have seen it often refered to in lists of the greatest Avengers stories ever). First is Wonder Man's hideous costume. That thing is an eye-sore throughout the whole adventure. Second is Al Milgrom's art. Don't get me wrong. I have nothing against Milgrom, but, recently, upon reading both volumes of the Absolute Vison tpbs by Stern, and comparing it with his WCA run, you can see a decline of his already merely competent and servicable art. Sinnot keeps it together, for most of it, but, and her is the MAJOR problem, he leaves halfway through LST and the other inkers (finishers) really can't give the same quality to Milgrom's pencils. And, IMHO, this reflects badly on the saga, taking away it's Epic quality.

Something that I really liked about WCA was that they tried to give the team their own rogues gallery, with foes that had the potential to be as great as the East Cost team's. Especially Roy Thomas seemed to work really hard towards that. Alkhema, the Pacific Overlords, Master Pandemonium, the Night Shift, the Hangman and his Lethal Legion (maybe my favorites, alongside Alkhema), etc... Too bad many of them were so rarely seen since then.

Peace

[FanboyStranger]

Some real gems in there...except Wonder Man's green and red costume. Worst design choice EVER!

Oh, God, was that costume awful or what? I do think it was symptomatic of the transformation that Simon was undergoing at the time-- his ego and desire for fame had taken such a hold of him that he couldn't accept that the choice to wear that costume was a mistake. He chose that costume to standout, and he certainly did-- but for all the wrong reasons. It was all flash and no substance, something Simon himself was struggling with at the time.

[Mockingbird]

Lost in Space-Time is, without a doubt, the greatest saga of the WCA. I think two things really keep it from being included among other epics (though it is always among MY top ten, and I have seen it often refered to in lists of the greatest Avengers stories ever). First is Wonder Man's hideous costume. That thing is an eye-sore throughout the whole adventure. Second is Al Milgrom's art. Don't get me wrong. I have nothing against Milgrom, but, recently, upon reading both volumes of the Absolute Vison tpbs by Stern, and comparing it with his WCA run, you can see a decline of his already merely competent and servicable art. Sinnot keeps it together, for most of it, but, and her is the MAJOR problem, he leaves halfway through LST and the other inkers (finishers) really can't give the same quality to Milgrom's pencils. And, IMHO, this reflects badly on the saga, taking away it's Epic quality.

Something that I really liked about WCA was that they tried to give the team their own rogues gallery, with foes that had the potential to be as great as the East Cost team's. Especially Roy Thomas seemed to work really hard towards that. Alkhema, the Pacific Overlords, Master Pandemonium, the Night Shift, the Hangman and his Lethal Legion (maybe my favorites, alongside Alkhema), etc... Too bad many of them were so rarely seen since then.

Peace

It's a shame that Alkhema didn't come back somehow. She was actually scarier than Ultron in terms of her motivations -- she didn't just want everyone dead, she wanted them to die slowly and suffer. It's pretty funny that the time that Ultron managed to create an evil wife, she turned out to not only be worse than him, but still screwed him over.

[XPac]

Lost in Space-Time is, without a doubt, the greatest saga of the WCA. I think two things really keep it from being included among other epics (though it is always among MY top ten, and I have seen it often refered to in lists of the greatest Avengers stories ever). First is Wonder Man's hideous costume. That thing is an eye-sore throughout the whole adventure. Second is Al Milgrom's art. Don't get me wrong. I have nothing against Milgrom, but, recently, upon reading both volumes of the Absolute Vison tpbs by Stern, and comparing it with his WCA run, you can see a decline of his already merely competent and servicable art. Sinnot keeps it together, for most of it, but, and her is the MAJOR problem, he leaves halfway through LST and the other inkers (finishers) really can't give the same quality to Milgrom's pencils. And, IMHO, this reflects badly on the saga, taking away it's Epic quality.

Something that I really liked about WCA was that they tried to give the team their own rogues gallery, with foes that had the potential to be as great as the East Cost team's. Especially Roy Thomas seemed to work really hard towards that. Alkhema, the Pacific Overlords, Master Pandemonium, the Night Shift, the Hangman and his Lethal Legion (maybe my favorites, alongside Alkhema), etc... Too bad many of them were so rarely seen since then.

Peace

I'm a bit surprised they haven't done more with Master Pandemonium, given Billy and Thomas showing up again in Young Avengers. You'd think the guy would want his arms back.

[hawkeyefan]

I'm a bit surprised they haven't done more with Master Pandemonium, given Billy and Thomas showing up again in Young Avengers. You'd think the guy would want his arms back.

Hysterical.

I have the entire run, and loved it when it came out. There are still some solid runs in there, although some of it is a bit dated.

I always loved Master Pandemonium, though. Not sure why no one's really ever used him again. With a little bit of a redesign, he has some real potential.

Oh, and The Blank! Haha how could you forget their first enemy.

[Nomads1]

I'm a bit surprised they haven't done more with Master Pandemonium, given Billy and Thomas showing up again in Young Avengers. You'd think the guy would want his arms back.

If I'm not mistaken, the twins did meet with Master Pandabear in a YA mini a few years back. Apearently, he held no grudge against them. But, yeah, there ius a lot of unexplored story potential there.

Peace

[XPac]

Hysterical.

I have the entire run, and loved it when it came out. There are still some solid runs in there, although some of it is a bit dated.

I always loved Master Pandemonium, though. Not sure why no one's really ever used him again. With a little bit of a redesign, he has some real potential.

Oh, and The Blank! Haha how could you forget their first enemy.

Yeah, I kind of feel the same way.

I was a HUGE WCA fan back in the day. It was a rare instance where I went into "collectors" mode and got every single issue.

But looking back on it, a lot of it while fun still feels a bit dated. But that's not the fault of the book. It was a product of it's time.

[SJNeal]

One thing that I remember about the end of the run that was quite unusual was that they had a double sized 100th issue and then a double sized 102nd, and final, issue. If I'm not mistaken, wasn't that the one where ****SPOILER*****

they killed off Bobby?

#100 was Bobbie's death, and #102 was actually regular sized, but still great. Pretty sure it was the first comic to elicit and emotional response from me; you could just feel the teams sense of helplessness as Vision and the East coasters dismantled them...

[SJNeal]

And I can't look at this thread title without the Pet Shop Boys song popping into my head! Thanks, Nomads1!!