Miscellaneous Comments:    25 October, 1999

This is the third issue of the mini-series that kick-started The West Coast Avengers into their own series. The team is: Hawkeye, Wonder Man, Iron Man, Tigra and Mockingbird. The villains are: Graviton and The Blank.

    Type of Series: Super-Hero Team; Fantasy; Science Fiction;

    Similar Comics: The Avengers;

    Typical Issue: A costumed super-villain will set out to accomplish something dastardly and the team will set out to stop him, at all costs. At it's best the team consisted of Hawkeye, Tigra, Iron Man, Mockingbird and Wonder Man with Moon Knight and Doctor Pym joining during the series second year. Steve Englehart wrote these issues, and I love them. Although Englehart is not responsible for this issue, and the Iron Man in it isn't Tony Stark, this is still an excellent issue.

    Strengths: Script and Art.

    Weaknesses: See "Plotting".

    Plotting: Oooh, this issues relies a bit heavily on the old co-incidence factor thing. Wonder Man is trying to get his mind off a villain that got away from him, so he decides to help out fellow-hero The Shroud on a mission. But, (Gasp! Shock! Horror!) the trail leads straight to the very villain that escaped earlier.

    I hate that kind of thing.

    Logic: Co-incidences aren't logical.

    Originality: Different threads coming together like this is as old as the hills. And it has always bugged me. I remember how I hated it when whatever mystery Frank and Joe Hardy got caught up in always brought them straight back to the case their father was investigating. Every single time! Sheesh!

    Ending: Wonder Man trapped underwater.

    Re-Readability: This issue is very re-readable. Aside from the fact that I love this team, there's the fact that the characterisation is good. Tigra comes over as almost a mother-hen type, fretting over Simon and trying to get "Tony" to talk to him. It's cool to see this side to the characters.

    Impressive Characters: Tigra, Wonder Man and Iron Man are very well written in this issue, and each one comes across as impressively heroic. Stern makes us privy to their inner doubts and it makes us admire them all the more.

    Impressive Writers: Although it is the Steve Englehart era that best represents the team (in my eyes) Roger Stern does a fantastic job on this issue. No surprise really. I'm currently reading his issues of The Avengers and they, too, are terrific.

    Impressive Artists: Bob Hall and Brett Breeding do an impressive job here. Iron Man's armour looks great, Wonder Man looks cooler than I've ever seen him, and Tigra is damn sexy.

    Impressive Dialogue: "But as you can plainly see, I am most definitely not Tony Stark!" Jim Rhodes takes off the Iron Man glove and shows Tigra the colour of his skin.

    Impressive Scenes: I love the scene where Tigra and Simon talk on the beach.

    Continuity: Reasonably strong. This issue continues from events in issue two, and the opening crisis faced by the team is as a direct result of events over in Thor.

    Guide:

    Reviews:

    Other Info:

GRADE: B

Review by Michael Leddy

Comments are welcome: rikerdonegal@hotmail.com

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