by Kelly Thompson, Stefano Caselli, Triona Farrell
collects WCA #1-4 (plus Unbelievable Gwenpool #1 and Young Avengers Presents #6)
volume one | two [complete]
West Coast Avengers’ first volume is a whole lot of fun. After moving out west to Los Angeles, Kate Bishop realizes that an entire coast is pretty much defenseless, so she less assembles, more cobbles together a superhero team that, like her, is a mess that somehow makes it through.
Kelly Thompson and her team accomplish several things at once in this debut team book. The Hawkeyes stay together, always a good thing for the Marvel Universe (and she has their witty banter down). And even though it’s a team book, Thompson continues major threads left hanging from Kate’s solo series, which she also authored. (You might want to at least catch up on Kate Bishop Hawkeye’s series, though everyone’s got great solo titles.)
WCA is a reboot of the original 80’s team, also founded by Hawkeye (Clint, not Kate). In a nice callback, Tigra, an original member, also makes an appearance in this volume. But it still feels like a fresh concept because of the characters themselves and the bittersweet timing that brought them all together. Bittersweet, because not only was Kate’s series cancelled, but Thompson also brings in Gwenpool and America Chavez, whose respective titles were also recently canned, and they fit in the group dynamic seamlessly. If these great (female, queer, hmmmm) heroes lost their solo runs, at least they can have a second chance together.
The result is a team that has a “stars aligned” feeling even as Kate holds hilarious auditions for team members. Once the six are formed, they have to learn to work together even when their personalities clash and there’s great character development to be had here. Clint and Kate are forced to grow up a little bit; Clint in a mentor/big brother role is really fantastic, along with Kate learning to be a team leader. America, also Kate’s bestie, is the only person on the team with their shit together; Gwenpool is a reckless wildcard. That leaves Kid Omega, the tank with lots of obnoxious snark, and Fuse, who still has very little personality, and at some point I would like to know how he’s good enough for MY KATE.
You might be wondering how a team headquartered in LA pays rent without any income or a billionaire member. In a unique, silly yet realistic twist, the team gets their funding by filming a reality show documentary (without the permission of Captain America), and the “talking heads” style to invisible crewmen, like The Office or Parks & Rec, seamlessly adds to the humor and narrative.
The plot, similar to the tone of Thompson’s Hawkeye, was ridiculous and ultimately forgettable, but still a fun ride. This arc’s villain is MODOK, who built himself a blond six-pack bod and accurately named himself BRODOK. I was expecting bit more snark from Gwenpool with MODOK as the villain from [book:her first volume|29467805], which seemed like a pretty obvious oversight.
Casselli and Farrell’s art also feels West Coast inspired, with a warm color tone and clear “on location” scenes. There’s also a roughness evoking Hawkeye artists David Aja (Clint) and Leonardo Romero (Kate), but still with their own spin, are some nice visual callbacks too. I hope we’ll see the Avengers visit other big cities, like Portland, San Francisco and Seattle. (update: we won’t, huge missed opportunity. Sob!)
West Coast Avengers’ biggest challenge moving forward is to grow each team member’s relationship with each other, while also evolving the overall team dynamic. It’s not easy to accomplish, but in a team comic like Runaways, characters have distinct relationships with every other team member. Here we have a few dynamics, the strongest of which carry over from previous series, especially Kate with Clint and America. But I’d love to see what kind of relationships, say, Kate and Gwen have together, or America and Fuse (though I think we’ll be getting more America with someone *else*).
And finally, we still need MORE Lucky, who makes an all too brief appearance at WCA’s under-construction headquarters (who’s walking my good boy?) – I think the time is right for another Lucky focused issue like the all around perfect Hawkeye #11 – Thompson and Casselli could have some real fun with it especially with the larger cast. And also, Lucky.
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