West Coast Avengers Annual 3 - The Evolutionary War

The West Coast Avengers have split in two as the High Evolutionary's plans step up a gear.

West Coast Avengers Annual #3

This annual is unusual in that instead of one big story focused on The Evolutionary War followed by some shorter back-ups it has two separate stories from the war. This is because it came out at a point where the West Coast Avengers had split with Mockingbird, Tigra and Moon Knight leaving the others amidst the break-up of Mockingbird and Hawkeye's marriage. It's notable that all three of Steve Englehart's annuals are set very specifically between issues of the relevant ongoing titles which helps continuity and those constructing chronologies but it can also present a slightly confusing status quo. Here the details of the split are not gone into and instead we have two tales of the separate factions that both end with the same scene of Hawkeye's team discovering a hole in the Savage Land.

1st story: Head you lose --!
Story: Steve Englehart
Layouts: Al Milgrom
Finishes: Gerry Talaoc
Letters: Bill Oakley
Colors: Marc Siry
Editor: Mark Gruenwald
Chief: Tom DeFalco

The first story focuses on the High Evolutionary's attempts to steal a supply of vibranium from the Black Panther's kingdom of Wakanda. One of his technicians turns out to be Bill Foster, the former second Giant Man, who hides a note on one of the Gatherers who are easily defeated by the Wakanda forces. The note informs the Panther there is a much bigger scheme afoot and to call in Hank Pym. Pym himself is unavailable but the rump of the West Coast Avengers arrive and face down another squad of the Evolutionary's called the "Sensors" - Sight, Touch, Sound, Smell, Taste and Intuition - who battle the team whilst the vibranium is stolen.

This story is particularly notable for making use of previous chapters and we see there was a purpose to the High Evolutionary's restoration of the Savage Land back in X-Men Annual #12 as he is now operating out of a base there so it's good to see later chapters of the saga building on earlier events. It's also notable for the odd way Mantis is written with very little dialogue even in panels when she is the main focus and clearly drawn to be speaking. This was reportedly another effect of the breakdown in relations between Englehart and his editors with Mantis at the centre of the storm.

Unfortunately the short length of this story combined the initial scenes set in the Evolutionary's base and the battle between the Gatherers and the Wakandan forces means the official West Coast Avengers are only seen for eleven pages of their own annual. The split nature of the team and the story may have created such a constraint but the outcome is a rather slight contribution by one side.


2nd story: Tales you win!
Story: Steve Englehart
Layouts: Al Milgrom
Finishes: Chris Ivy
Letters: Bill Oakley
Colors: Marc Siry
Editor: Mark Gruenwald
Chief: Tom DeFalco

The breakaway team have travelled to the Savage Land for reasons not given here and spend the first part of the story meeting with Kazar and learning how the Savage Land was restored before deciding to investigate the Evolutionary and his base. They just knock on the door and are surprised to be let in and taken to the Evolutionary himself who calmly announces his plan as, "I'm building a bomb which, when detonated, will mutate everyone on Earth!" He subdues them with gas and puts them into a hi-tech maze to test their suitability for genetic experiments. All three quickly overcome the respective robot sent to deal with them but Tigra and Moon Knight seem to spend too much time interested in each other's company to advance far through the maze and so only Mockingbird reaches the Evolutionary who expands in size. But so do does Bill Foster who resumes his role of Giant Man (although not the costume despite what the cover shows). With the vibranium captured in the other story the Evolutionary opts to relocate to build his bomb and so abandons the base, blowing it up.

The return of Giant Man is clearly meant to be a big thing in the annual with both stories quickly summarising his origin (and his original risky name of "Black Goliath) and also how he contracted cancer but was cured by a transfusion from the original Spider-Woman; however his body could no longer stand the strain of size changing. However he infiltrated the Evolutionary's operations to use the equipment to develop a serum to restore growth and use the gained mass to cleanse his body. There's a bit too much technobabble about how it works but the result is that a real life terminal disease is cured through fantastical elements which is a bit insensitive (although up to the transfusion the detail was first shown in earlier comics rather than here).

This chapter is more focused on the series's actual characters and provides some good action scenes. Unfortunately it fails to explain just why they happen to be in the Savage Land in the first place and the way Tigra and Moon Knight seemingly hook up in the middle of the maze does neither character any favours. But it does take a strong step forward to advance the Evolutionary's plans rather than being yet another side element in the overall scheme. The split narrative allows for different elements of the story to be given equal weight but it comes at the effect of atomising the individual strands so that neither feels too satisfactory. This is an innovation in story telling that doesn't work.

3rd story: The High Evolutionary: The Final Frontier
Story: Mark Gruenwald
Pencils: Ron Lim
Inks: Tony DeZuniga
Letters: Ken Lopez
Colors: Gregory Wright
Editor: Ralph Macchio
Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco

The saga has now reached the original stories featuring the High Evolutionary. Curiously very little of his first appearance in the pages of Thor is retold here and instead the chapter opens with the Citadel of Science launching for the stars at the end of his encounter. Then we see how out in pace the Evolutionary found a new planet and settled there with the New Men, mutating more animals to provide them with wives and leaving them to build the world whilst he continued with his experiments. But instead the New Men devolved into savagery and he had to find a being to bring order to the planet - who turned out to be the Hulk. But the Evolutionary was mortally wounded in battle and could only survive by submitting himself to the genetic accelerator becoming a being of pure thought.

There's less to say about this chapter as it's recounting mid Silver Age stories that had the same writer and a greater element of consistency compared to the massive accumulation of back story the first eight chapters had to wade through. It's a pity the Evolutionary's first appearance is not recounted in more detail as it would be interesting to see how readers first encountered him. Also omitted is an explanation as to how he managed to stay looking so young when he would have been in his 60s or even older at the time of these tales. Instead we get the first big sign that the Evolutionary has made mistakes with his New Men not proving the successful new race he hoped for and the first sign of how he would repeatedly have to turn to outside help to get the products of his experiments under control.

Also included is a pin-up gallery which takes a more whimsical approach than most. There's also the unused cover for issue #14 (which was replaced by the line-wide 25th anniversary format of a headshot of a single character in a uniform frame).

Overall this annual is aiming high but rather misses the target. It's trying a different formula for telling the story but it results in two separate chapters that each feel in substantial when a combined single tale could have felt much stronger. This also pushes out any back-up stories that could have enhanced the overall feel of the special and the result is a bit of a disappointment.

Avengers West Coast 62 - Acts of Vengeance Aftermath

And so we come to the conclusion of the long-running Scarlet Witch storyline as Immortus seeks complete mastery over time through the Scarlet Witch's enhanced powers.

Avengers West Coast #62

Writers: Roy Thomas and Dann Thomas
Penciller: Paul Ryan
Inker: Danny Bulanadi
Letterer: Bill Oakley
Colourist: Bob Sharen
Editor: Howard Mackie
Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco

It seeks to wrap up the threads and resolve Immortus's aims. As a goal, becoming the "master all of time" sounds grand, but it's never terribly clear what this actually means. As a result this degenerates into a powerful being seeking an abstract role that other, more powerful beings come to restrain him. "...did we hero types really accomplish anything in Limbo?" "Yeah -- or were we just along for the ride?" ask the Wasp and Wonder Man at the end, as though the script itself recognises the problem, with Agatha Harkness arguing that by battling Tempus they provided the distraction to allow her to reach through to the Scarlet Witch and get her to expel the excess power. But it's still a little unconvincing.

There's an actual fight here with the aforementioned Tempus which comes on both a physical and temporal level as the Avengers struggle with the giant creature, who chillingly ages Wonder Man and brings the other Avengers to their knees. But it serves a higher purpose as it allows Harkness to send her spirit to communicate with the Scarlet Witch and appeal to her feelings for her friends to make her break from her catatonic state. It's good to see that Wanda ultimately frees herself and regains independence after the way so many have manipulated her, but it then brings on a threat to the whole universe as numerous timelines are spawned. This attracts the attention of the Time Keepers, a trio of mysterious beings who are ultimately Immortus's bosses and show up to put him in his place. The ultimate irony is that he achieves what he wants but not in the form he wants it.

It's ultimately hard to find much to say about this issue given the abstract nature of the goals and final conflict. As ever it's hard to lay blame on the current creative team who are working to conclude a storyline they didn't begin or lay the basics for. And though it's gone on for probably a few months too many, that again is a consequence of the abrupt changeover and emergency fill-ins. The Avengers themselves are generally well handled and these are promising signs for the future, but for now we've a storyline that has gone all over the place and it's a relief it's now all over.

Avengers West Coast #62 has been reprinted in:

• Avengers West Coast: Darker Than Scarlet (2008)
• Avengers by John Byrne Omnibus (2016)

Avengers West Coast 61 - Acts of Vengeance Aftermath

This issue sees the west coast Avengers confronting Immortus and transported to Limbo whilst back on Earth Agatha Harkness uses her magic to maintain a shade of the lord of Limbo on Earth and subject him to a magical interrogation.

Avengers West Coast #61

Writers: Roy Thomas and Dann Thomas
Penciller: Paul Ryan
Inker: Danny Bulanadi
Letterer: Bill Oakley
Colourist: Bob Sharen
Editor: Howard Mackie
Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco

For a character who's made very few appearances over the years - by my reckoning only about five substantial storylines before this one - Immortus comes with far too much baggage. It seems that many times when either he and/or his younger self Kang has been used over the years there's been a lengthy scene setting out the character's history, including some retcons to tidy things up. The result is a character whose origin and motivations keep changing with the writer, making it rather hard to keep track of it all. Continuity is not necessarily a bad thing, but if a character can't be used without a heavy infodump and a set of retcons then that character probably shouldn't be used until a writer is able to extract them from the weight of their own history. Unfortunately here we have one writer clearing up after another, as Immortus is a hangover from the Byrne run, including the revelation that the Vision wasn't the recreation of the original Human Torch and that Immortus had shown a lie.

But what also feels messy is the way the whole storyline continues to liberally copy "Inferno". Now we have the ruler of the realm of Limbo (although this appears to be a different one) seeking to utilise a woman for his goal of seeking power, as well as massive revelations about how lives have long been manipulated in order to bring about the situation whereby the woman can be used as a tool for long term conquest. Coming little over a year after such a major storyline it's hard to dismiss it as casual coincidence. Instead it feels like an attempt to set down some grand scale continuity for the Avengers on a similar scale to the X-Men.

While all this information is being dumped, the Avengers face another incarnation of the Legion of the Unliving, made up of foes from the past or future. In general the foes have been chosen for their connections to the current Avengers so we get the second Black Knight, an old foe of Hank Pym and the Wasp, the Swordsman, once mentor to Hawkeye, the Grim Reaper, brother to Wonder Man, Iron Man 2020, the future counterpart of the current one, Left-Winger and Right-Winger, US Agent's former sidekicks whom he fell out with badly, Oort the Living Comet, a foe from Quicksilver's future, and Toro, the original Human Torch's partner. The last is also retconned into having taken part in the original Legion of the Unliving rather than the Torch himself, so it's a particular pity that the Torch isn't present for what could have been an interesting meeting. Similarly this is the first time that Iron Man has encountered his 2020 counterpart, and it's thus a little annoying that the script can't decide if Tony is Arno's "ancestor", "great uncle" or "uncle" (and other stories have in fact made him a first cousin once removed or, more recently, an adoptive brother). The line-up is also distorted by the lack of any specific dead foes for Quicksilver, resulting in the creation of Oort. The conflict is rather formulaic with most Avengers facing down their counterparts on an individual page before cutting to a page of Immortus's interrogation and back.

This issue is clearly aiming at taking some of the Avengers' mythology and using it to develop some great continuity for the long-term, but it just comes across as a mixture of a retread of a classic Avengers battle combined with too much of a continuity infodump. As ever, it's difficult to blame a new writing team thrust in the middle of a complicated storyline in which retcons have already been introduced but not yet explained, but the result is still rather turgid.

Avengers West Coast #61 has been reprinted in:

• Avengers West Coast: Darker Than Scarlet (2008)
• Avengers by John Byrne Omnibus (2016)

Avengers West Coast 60 - Acts of Vengeance Aftermath

We return now to Avengers West Coast, skipping over issues #58 & #59. John Byrne's sudden departure clearly left the title scrambling, hence two fill-in issues by separate creative teams, neither continuing the Scarlet Witch storyline in any essential way. Issue #59 even reveals itself to have been set in an alternate timeline that Immortus soon eliminates. It's notable that collections of the "Darker than Scarlet" storyline have skipped over the two, albeit creating problems for fitting into sequential runs of the series. Hence, they can be left out here with precedent.

Avengers West Coast #60

Writers: Roy Thomas and Dann Thomas
Penciller: Paul Ryan
Inker: Danny Bulanadi
Letterer: Bill Oakley
Colourist: Bob Sharen
Editor: Howard Mackie
Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco

Issue #60 opens with Immortus pruning yet another timeline. This one sees the events of the Kennedy assassination turn out differently from reality as officers stop Lee Harvey Oswald in time. However all this does is to confirm a second gunman on the grass knoll and the difference is that there is no question about a conspiracy. It's also notable that Ryan draws the car layout correctly given how misrepresentation of this has fuelled so much speculation.

The rest of the issue sees the writer first getting a grip on the characters through a protracted sequence as they deal with the aftershocks of an earthquake, then a showdown with Magneto. Although Quicksilver's real role has already been blatantly hinted at, there's a real sense of rush to these scenes as though the new writer is hurrying to remove Magneto from the storyline. In what may be another sign of the wider struggle within Marvel over the direction of the character, we get a strong suggestion that he's actually being manipulated by someone else, presumably Immortus. It may be a quick fix solution to what is already a potentially convoluted storyline, but it just serves to emphasise the mess that's been made of the character in a short space of time as different visions then multiple retcons have all piled on top of one another.

This issue also sees the return of Hawkeye to the team in a rather sudden move, having left Mockingbird with the task of refining the Great Lakes Avengers into an official team. Like a lot of things in the issue it feels slightly rushed just to get characters into place and undo some of what the previous run set up. The rest of the team are handled well, with Hank increasingly emerging as the unofficial leader of the team, in spite of US Agent's habit of barking out orders, whilst Iron Man continues to do a very poor job of hiding the fact he's really the original. The team's solution to taking down Magneto is both imaginative and well thought through.

Overall though this is an issue that shows a new pair of writings rushing to get a grip on a series, to quickly undo some recent changes and developments and to try to move an ongoing storyline towards its conclusion. It's an understandable approach but it feels over hasty in its handling of both Magneto and Hawkeye, with the result that this is a rather unsatisfactory continuation. In fairness, the Thomases may not have had access to Byrne's notes to know how things were meant to go, but it stands as a classic example of the problems when a creative team suddenly leaves a title midflow.

Avengers West Coast #60 has been reprinted in:

• Avengers West Coast: Darker Than Scarlet (2008)
• Avengers by John Byrne Omnibus (2016)

Avengers West Coast 57 - Acts of Vengeance Aftermath

This issue continues the saga of the Scarlet Witch's descent story, though it would turn out to be the last one written and drawn by John Byrne. Entitled "Family Reunion", it appropriately adds her brother Quicksilver to the mix.

Avengers West Coast #57

Writer and penciller: John Byrne
Inker: Paul Ryan
Letterer: Bill Oakley
Colourist: Bob Sharen
Editor: Howard Mackie
Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco

But it's an interesting inversion of the family dynamics. Traditionally the Scarlet Witch was the most dovish of the three but here she's a hawk whereas by contrast Magneto only attacks when necessary and will not harm restrained foes. Even Quicksilver is advocating more caution than usual, though there are some hints that all is not as it seems with him. The issue continues the move towards restoring Magneto as a noble but ultimately villainous fighter for mutant rights, even recreating his Asteroid M base. Otherwise it serves to show just how powerful both he and his daughter are, able to shrug off rescue attempts by first the original Human Torch then Iron Man and later an assault on Asteroid M. Such is his power he simply returns the Avengers to Earth secure in the belief they will not attack again and also offers Iron Man the chance to leave them alone. Tony Stark has clearly learned from past encounters with Magneto to equip his armour with anti-magnetic devices and benefits from the current claims that the original Iron Man has been replaced, meaning Magneto doesn't expect a foe with experience of him.

For all the talk of Magneto having been reverted to his Silver Age portrayal by "Acts of Vengeance", here Byrne is writing a more complex character, acting as much as a father seeking to protect and nurture his daughter as anything else. He speaks of protecting mutantkind but explicitly draws a distinction from "the destruction of humanity" and only acts when attacked. This is much closer to the complex Magneto who tried to reform but found failure pushing him back and then declared he was as much seeking to become a target to take fire away from other mutants than this has often been written up as.

If anything, the problem is taking too much from the recent X-Men titles. Barely a year after "Inferno" and we have another story of a mother twisted by abandonment, loss of her children and manipulated by dark powers into going bad and unleashing dark magic, right down to attacking her erstwhile friends and playing on her brother-in-law's feelings. The story also seems to be running rather slowly and this issue could surely have been combined with the previous one and still get from the revelation of Wanda's transformation to the asteroid without repeated conflicts that ultimately do little to advance the plot.

It's a pity that John Byrne's last issue on the series is both slow and somewhat derivative as his handling of Magneto has especially shown there was a lot more to the debate about the character than merely the Claremont vs the Silver Age debate it's somewhat caricatured as. This is a storyline with good ideas but taking too long to get through them.

Avengers West Coast #57 has been reprinted in:

• Avengers West Coast: Darker Than Scarlet (2008)
• Avengers West Coast: Darker then Scarlet (Panini pocketbook, 2015)
• Avengers by John Byrne Omnibus (2016)

Avengers West Coast 56 - Acts of Vengeance Aftermath

Continuing the story of the Scarlet Witch's descent into darkness accompanied by Magneto there are actually three strips in this book. One back-up is a four-pager set during "Atlantis Attacks" and depicts the first modern meeting of the original Human Torch and Captain America, shown by reader demand. It's a straightforward piece showing the two war time comrades briefly reflecting on the old days, how things have changed and how both their partners have died. There's also a one-page strip (not always reprinted) in which John Byrne goes on panel to explain that Tigra's appearance in that year's annual was an error down to him getting muddled when he informed the writer which team members were available.

Avengers West Coast #56

Writer and penciller: John Byrne
Inker: Paul Ryan
Letterer: Bill Oakley
Colourist: Bob Sharen
Editor: Howard Mackie
Ed.-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco

The main story focuses upon the Scarlet Witch who is changing in more ways than one. Capturing several of the other west coast Avengers she reveals how she has embraced her power and is preparing to take revenge on them. The scenes as she taunts and torments them are chilling, though it's probably for best that the editors modified half a page to avoid the implication that at one point she performs oral sex on Wonder Man. The big revelation is that her powers have changed. Rather than making the improbable happen, they now seem to be altering reality, such as recreating the house that was previously destroyed, bringing Wonder Man back to life and even, in the lab, altering the historic record of a sample piece of metal. Magneto also returns and it becomes clear the family reunion is a step towards a mutant-human war in which the Scarlet Witch will be on the mutants' side.

This quite a talkie issue, bringing various subplots up to date and re-establishing the Scarlet Witch's recent misfortunes. It's also pretty critical both for this storyline and the long-term history of the Marvel universe. Wanda's powers have long been poorly defined and so it helps to take time here to make clear just how they now work. At the same time after the crossover it's handy to catch up on the characters and subplots such as Tigra having gone feral and been shrunk down, as well as new ones such as the team's potential issue. But this doesn't detract from the chilling effects of the scenes of the Avengers suspended in air, prisoners of their own teammate and then a strong cliffhanger suggesting further darkness ahead. This continues to be a strong dark series.

Avengers West Coast #56 has been reprinted in:

• Avengers West Coast: Darker Than Scarlet (2008)
• Atlantis Attacks Omnibus (2011 - back-up story only)
• Avengers West Coast: Darker then Scarlet (Panini pocketbook, 2015)
• Avengers by John Byrne Omnibus (2016)

Avengers West Coast 55 - Acts of Vengeance

"Acts of Vengeance" is concluded, officially at least, in this issue. It's been quite a journey, and there are a number of aftermaths to come, but for now we reach the showdown with the mastermind of the piece.

Avengers West Coast #55

Written and pencilled: John Byrne
Inked by: Paul Ryan
Coloured by: Bob Sharen
Lettered: Bill Oakley
Edited by: Howard Mackie
Ed.-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco

But one thing that immediately leaps out is just how little of the issue is devoted to ending the crossover. Of the 22 pages, ten are given over to advancing other plots in the series involving either the Scarlet Witch's continued troubles or Immortus's mission to eliminate alternate timelines. As a result the issue ends on a cliffhanger involving the former. Collected editions were only just getting going back in the late 1980s so it's probable that the idea of "writing for the trade" simply didn't exist then, but it has been a notable feature of a lot of Byrne's later work for Marvel that it hasn't been the best for collecting, either not having neat cut-off points at the end of issues or using difficult story structures such as leaping from a cliffhanger against one foe to starting against another and filling in the gap in a flashback or even telling a story in reverse chronological order. Of course here one could make the point that crossover and subplots are handled on separate pages, and so the contemporary practice of excising repetitive or extraneous material could have allowed for a coherent trade, but in modern form it feels awkward. However the subplots do mean we get to see Abraham Lincoln star in the story, a rather unexpected guest appearance. And the Scarlet Witch storyline involves Magneto, thus building on his role in the crossover, so there is a natural flow in the narrative. Still it does suggest the main event has somewhat run out of steam.

Meanwhile the Avengers finally learn the truth of who's behind the attacks whilst their prisoner, the Wizard, escapes with a teleportation device hidden under his fingernail. It's an amazing piece of miniaturisation that seems fantastic but it's a technology that goes back to the early Silver Age including the very first Hulk adventure. But his return to the committee room infuriates the mysterious stranger as it's allowed the Avengers to trace them. And the stranger now reveals himself as Loki, shocking most of the villains and prompting the Kingpin to slip away.

The Avengers come for a showdown as we discover the committee room was based on the Isle of Silence, though the dialogue here suggests the name is metaphorical. It makes sense that the villain who inadvertently caused the Avengers to be formed in the first place would try to destroy them and that he's doing so from a realm where his powers are enhanced, making him a match for the ad hoc combined team of nine who arrive. The line-up has most of the biggest names on the team such as Thor, Captain America, Iron Man, the Wasp, Hank Pym, Hawkeye and the Vision plus Mockingbird who co-founded the west coast team and the Falcon. It feels quite an appropriate line-up for a sequel to the very first adventure. And it's also appropriate that it's Thor rather than Captain America who gets to make the grand speech at the end of the battle.

However we don't get a grand all-out attack on the Avengers by the combined forces of the super-villains and their henchmen. This annoys Loki as well as his plans have descended into a quagmire of egos, but reflects some of the general problems with the crossover best saved for an overview conclusion.

As a final chapter issue, this frankly feels lacking. It's really only half an issue devoted to the conclusion and doesn't feel sufficiently grand. The remaining super-villains all retreat with the Red Skull's suggestion they take the opportunity to strike quickly dismissed. This issue really should have been completely devoted to the conclusion and it suffers as a result.

Avengers West Coast #55 has been reprinted in:

• Avengers West Coast: Darker Than Scarlet (2008)
• Acts of Vengeance Omnibus (2011)
• Avengers West Coast: Darker then Scarlet (Panini pocketbook, 2015)
• Avengers by John Byrne Omnibus (2016)

Avengers West Coast 54 - Acts of Vengeance

It had to happen. With John Byrne both writing and drawing the series and with the original Human Torch having returned, it was inevitable that there would be a cover homage to Fantastic Four #1. And this in turn drives the villains with the Mole Man appearing, accompanied by monsters such as Giganto (seen of the cover), Tricephalous and other beasts underground.

Avengers West Coast #54

Written and pencilled: John Byrne
Inked by: Paul Ryan
Coloured by: Bob Sharen
Lettered: Bill Oakley
Edited by: Howard Mackie
Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco

Of course this brings up the slight problem that the Mole Man has actually fought the Avengers at least twice in the past, with first Iron Man and then the Scarlet Witch on the team. One could rationalise it that the alliance of super-villains regard the west coast Avengers as a separate team from the Avengers (for some members that would be a more hurtful blow than anything else), or that as the Scarlet Witch is comatose and Iron Man is publicly a replacement for the original then it's still an original encounter. It's notable that neither of these heroes actually get to meet the Mole Man himself. And the cover scene doesn't appear in the issue, but then again neither did that of Fantastic Four #1.

The story is based around an attack on Los Angeles by the Mole Man's creatures, with the west coast Avengers quickly scattered into several groups. Thus Iron Man sets out to remove Giganto to a safe distance, determined not to harm the creature despite the urgings of US Agent. Wonder Man and the original Human Torch investigate underground to meet with the Mole Man. And the Wasp and Hank Pym seek to protect the comatose Scarlet Witch whilst their qunijet is attacked by Tricephalous. Meanwhile Magneto observes events, unaware that he in turn is being monitored by the mysterious stranger. There's a slight twist on the regular approach of the crossover in that rather than approaching the Mole Man and offering him a trade of enemies, the leading super villains (or perhaps one amongst them) have instead provoked an attack by staging an assault on the Mole Man's Monster Island pretending to be the west coast Avengers, thus pushing him into reprisals.

This is a relatively straightforward chapter of the crossover that manages a good bit of variety to the structure of foes whilst staying true to the core concept. However this the fourth of the six issues of the two main Avengers titles and only the final page seems to advance the main storyline as the two Avengers teams compare notes and deduce that everything else is a distraction but they're under direct attack. This doesn't feel like the major step forward that the crossover needs at this stage.

Avengers West Coast #54 has been reprinted in:

• Avengers West Coast: Darker Than Scarlet (2008)
• Acts of Vengeance Omnibus (2011)
• Avengers West Coast: Darker then Scarlet (Panini pocketbook, 2015)
• Avengers by John Byrne Omnibus (2016)

Avengers West Coast 53 - Acts of Vengeance

Avengers West Coast was the series that brought John Byrne back to the mainstream Marvel universe after a two-and-a-half-year absence over at DC, latterly also working on a bit of the New Universe. At this stage he'd been writing and drawing the title for nearly a year making bold changes such as literally deconstructing the Vision, to be rebuilt as an all-white, emotionless being, or bringing back the Original Human Torch. In the process a lot of this change has wreaked havoc on the Scarlet Witch.

Avengers West Coast #53

Writer/Penciler: John Byrne
Inker: Keith Williams
Letterer: Bill Oakley
Colourist: Bob Sharen
Editor: Howard Mackie
Ed.-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco

But also Byrne was now writing both of the Avengers team titles, in a period when Marvel was trying to build a clear franchise mentality, much as it later did in the mid-2000s. One factor to watch out for is just how this crossover handles the perceived second tier status of the West Coast based team. Were they subordinate to the New York team, with the latter being THE Avengers, or were they the co-equals of the "East Coast Avengers"? Over at DC the recent expansion of the Justice League International had seen the existing title renamed "Justice League America" but that was at least close to the team's historic title, so it was less of a problem to give parity of esteem to "Justice League Europe" (and even to "Justice League Antarctica"). But over at Marvel the Avengers retained their historic title and there were often periods when readers of that book might as well not have been aware of the existence of the West Coast title. Hopefully a major crossover based on the Avengers with both teams written by the same writer would not fall into this trap.

However this particular issue is focused more on getting its characters caught up in the crossover rather than advancing the wider plots, whatever Magneto and/or the mysterious lackey may think in the opening pages. One thing that does seem clear is that the lackey isn't Immortus (not that he was a strong suspect anyway), who is shown operating his own schemes to eliminate alternate timelines as part of some unspecified plan involving the Scarlet Witch. Otherwise we have an issue in which various characters are still coming to terms with recent events, with the Scarlet Witch having suffered a breakdown due to recent events, the Vision determining to switch to the east coast team and the Human Torch still coming to terms with learning about the death of his partner, Toro. Into this mix comes an attack by the U-Foes, a group who recently clashed with the east coast team but are predominantly obscure Hulk foes. Their mixed abilities mean they're a good match for this current crop of Avengers (Scarlet Witch, Vision, Original Human Torch, Wasp, Hank Pym and Iron Man) but ultimately the fight is set-up as a holding tactic to occupy the team until the U-Foes discover they've been set up whilst Hank discovers much bigger things are going on.

This isn't a bad issue for bringing the West Coast Avengers into the bigger event, but we've already had a lot of issues in the crossover (even if we stick to just publication dates a good dozen came out before this one) and a chapter written by the head writer in one of the main books really should be advancing the overall plot at this stage rather than still going through the preliminaries.

Avengers West Coast #53 has been reprinted in:

• Avengers West Coast: Darker Than Scarlet (2008)
• Acts of Vengeance Omnibus (2011)
• Avengers West Coast: Darker then Scarlet (Panini pocketbook, 2015)
• Avengers by John Byrne Omnibus (2016)