Finished reading the Death of Mockingbird TPB last night. What a great read. Honestly, I can't see this book as dated, only as in so far as there is nothing close to being as good in the stands nowadays. The book contains two of my favorite stories of the whole run of the book. The Demonica saga and the Hangman and the Lethal Legion one (and yes, I also hated Bobbi being killed, even if I saw it comming the instant she told US Agent that she was quiting the team to start a family with Haweye). As I said in another post, the team was already being dismantled for sometime before the book ended, however, it didn't seem natural that the survivors would give it up so easily. And though a relatively weak team, Wanda, Spi, the Agent, Bobbi, Hawk?Goliath and WM really grow on you, and it is hard not to want to see them overcome all the odds against them. A great book and still deserving of its special place in my heart. Couldn't recommend it more (even if the Spider-Woman and Scarlet Witch stories are not in the same level of awsomeness).
Peace
I was just reading my copy this past weekend. AWC #102 still pulls at my heartstrings!
And yeah, the Spider-Woman mini is worse than I remembered (but I'd still take Julia over Jessica any day!).
I'm surprised they even reprinted the Scarlet Witch material from Marvel Comics Presents. Do you know if this was double dipped from the Avengers: Scarlet Witch trade that came out last year? I know that book also contained some MCP stuff, but it's in a box somewhere and I can't double check...
I remember enjoying the Roy Thomas WCA run back in the day but there was something about the art that was quite bland - I think it was the colouring that was very monochrome and didn't feel very dramatic.
In case you've missed the recent News, Artist Paul Ryan (whose artworks includes THE WEST COAST AVENGERS/AVENGERS WEST COAST) has passed away (yesterday) at the age of 66.
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With one or two other additions, these will Always be the Avengers for me.
Peace
Indeed they are.
Thanks for Avengers West Coast # 75. I liked Arkon and Thundra becoming a couple.
Debating on whether or not to pull the trigger on the Force Works tpb...I only made it to issue #3 back in the day.
I intend to order it next week. I have read the series. Artwise, it's quite inconsistent. One of the books biggest problem was in finding a permenant artist, but most that went through the rotation (Paul Ryan, Dave Ross, Jim Califore, Jimmy Cheung...) were quite solid. Storywise, it's quite different from WCA, but I found it interesting. It has a very Marvel UK feel to it. Different kinds of foes and different kinds of threats. The character development was solid, though. All in all, I was a fan.
Peace
Finished reading the massive Force Works TPB, yesterday. Very enjoyable. Not quite as good as WCA was for me, especially during Thomas and Ross's final run on the book, but still quite exciting. It is packed with story. IMHO, this book sure had potential. As I've said previously, the lack of artistic consistency hurts the book a bit. Rey Garcia, the inker, was the most steady member of the art team. I wish Paul Ryan or Dave Ross (both former WCA artists) could have taken over the art chores on the book in a more permenent way. As I've also mentioned earlier, I think killing off the arguably second most popular character in the book (and MY favorite Marvel character) almost right off the bat was a HUGE mistake. But it was the story they wanted to tell. Century, the character brought in the replace him, was quite interesting, but I really think they failed to show him as a powerhouse replacement for Wonder Man. Despite it constantly being said that Century had the combined skill and atributes of a hundred beings (which SHOULD have made him impressively strong), he always came across as a teleporter skilled in hand to hand combat, rather than as a powerhouse. Also, he was always too easily taken out of the board, something harder to happen with Wondy. Charactarization wise, it was refreshing to see a tough as nails, hard-ass Iron Man again, and not the usual RDJ Tony Snark of nowadays. Spi was another character that got to shine on the book. US Agent proved to be a much less disruptive presence in this book than he was in WCA, which was kind of fun, but the change feels logical, as he had finally found a place where he belonged, out from under the shadow of Captain America. The Century special at the end of the book, introduced a lot of plot threads that were sure to be followed in the main Force Works book, had it not been derailed and eventually canceled by the Crossing. Wanda's migraine's if I'm not mistaken, are explained in the Crossing issues. Storywise, I always thought that Marvel could have shipped Wand and Iron Man back to the Avengers at the end of the Crossing, and give it a go with the team continuing with War Machine, US Agent, Spider Woman, Century and maybe a couple of new members, but I guess the book wasn't selling well enough to do so. A shame, for, as I said, the book had a lot of potential, and there were plot threads left hanging that never were touched upon again.
Peace
Killing off Wonderman if the first issue sort of killed the book for me right out of the gate. I'd probably take the death better now as an older comic book reader, but back in the day that was sort of impossible for me to forgive despite being a relatively hardcore West Coast Avengers fan.