Tigra's Tale, part one.

[geoffsebesta]

It didn't start out bad.

The West Coast Avengers first miniseries, issues #1 through #4*, only the panels with Tigra.

Roger Stern wrote this, Bob Hall pencilled it, Brett Breeding inked it, Mark Gruenwald was the editor and Jim Shooter was the Editor in Chief.











































































































*(24 pages each, 96 total)

Comments

[thanekos]

always figured Tony for a long low " Oh, my. "

[geoffsebesta]

Actually James Rhodes right now, it'll be Tony when we get to the main series (with Englehart and Milgrom). If you're referring to this panel:



Then I agree. This is a great panel, but sort of a sad one too. I think this may be literally the only time in the entire series that Tigra is shown enjoying her sexuality in any sort of healthy way.

[ulf_boehnke]

Was Tigra's amulet destroyed somehow? Or just forgotten?

[geoffsebesta]

Forgotten might be the right word. What happens to this character is astoundingly awful.

[stolisomancer]

I was just going to say "John Byrne," but that works too.

[geoffsebesta]

But the weird thing is that if you go back to the 70s John Byrne was one of the people who made Tigra great! It's really confusing and horrible.

[halloweenjack]

I don't so much care about the amulet, since, like Kurt Wagner's holographic disguise, it's the sort of thing that can morph from an occasionally-used plot device to a second super-power, as shown here. Besides, she can really work that trenchcoat and fedora.

[geoffsebesta]

Fortunately she was never portrayed as capable or resourceful ever again.

Seriously, the disconnect between this and all later portrayals is as astounding as it is depressing. That's why I posted this first -- to prove that between this and the 70s stuff it is possible to make Tigra an extremely strong and interesting character. If you have writers who are into that sort of thing.

Englehart, Byrne, and (much later) Bendis are not.

[stolisomancer]

Christos Gage is doing a pretty decent job of it, though.

[geoffsebesta]

Is he the one that shows her going back to being a cop? I read some of that, thought it was alright but tepid. Or is he doing something else?

I think despite/because of what happened to her, Tigra's one of the most interesting characters Marvel ever had. Unlike most of their Mary Sue alliance, Tigra has problems, very serious and very interesting issues, and she never gives up.

[perletwo]

Jessica looks really hot in those first couple page. And Tigra wears a towel surprisingly well.

...what? Me, shallow? Perish the thought!

[filkertom]

Are you kiddin'? I'm just thanking FSM for those long-forgotten pages with Tigra, Greer, and Mockingbird (who I rate as having one of the drop-dead sexiest costumes ever).

[geoffsebesta]

Total agreement on Mockingbird. One of the best Marvel characters ever.

The West Coast Avengers had something that you never really saw anywhere else in mainstream comics, before or after. They had a sex life.

Of course, later the women in the series were punished horribly for it.

Even though I don't think WCA was drawn in a particularly sexy style -- especially not by modern standards -- I like the women. They seem real and (mostly) realistic. Most important, they seem like they're having fun.

By the time you get to the Englehart years, there is complete in-canon information on who's sleeping with who at any time. It's sort of like Real World: Avengers.

....I guess it's sorta revolutionary like that....dunno......

[tsunamiwombat]

As much as I love bikini wearing catgirls, something about her in that trenchcoat and fedora is more alluring. Wish she'd bring that getup back.

[tsunamiwombat]

Also this art is really good for the period.

[geoffsebesta]

Yeah, it's very solid Marvel house style. One of the reasons I liked Shooter -- he's one of the very few who ever managed to bring consistent art to Marvel.

[geoffsebesta]

Yeah, I like that "Tigra Mistress of Disguise" thing they had going for a while here.

[keeva]

... Tigra / Rhodey would be a cute couple.

[cleome45]

<3

[sings]"Iiiiiit's never just yoooooouuuu..."[/sings]

[geoffsebesta]

I thought Tigra-Pym could have worked until Englehart switched medications or whatever the hell happened to him.

[psychopathicus_rex]

Oh, for what might have been. Just look at that first cover - the Shroud? Rom, Space Knight? Red Wolf? Now THAT would have made for some interesting combinations.
Also, why is Madame Masque brandishing a cigarette holder when her mask has no mouth aperture? I mean, yeah, it's not really her, but if the real Madame Masque is a smoker, you'd think she'd have designed her mask differently.

[geoffsebesta]

Rom would have been great. Red Wolf would have been a bit silly with Tigra. I don't like the Shroud much, he seems like a weak Shadow, but I do like Cloak.

Madame Masque...has a tiny little hole in the mask's lips? Unstable molecules? E-cigarette?

[psychopathicus_rex]

I just think it'd be a good thing to have a Native American on one of these Avengers teams - they've had several South Americans, they've currently got a Canadian, but they've never had a Native American, as far as I know. There's something oddly hypocritical about that.
I kinda like the Shroud because he's really something like a combination of the Shadow and Batman, with a touch of Green Hornet thrown in. That's a potent combination.
It's also possible that the mask is less solid than it looks, or that Tigra just added the holder to give an authentic femme fatale feel to her masquerade, but it sure LOOKED like the mask was just a solid sheet of metal. Perhaps the lips are actually molded latex or something with an aperture behind them, and just painted to look like metal?

[geoffsebesta]

Good point about native Americans, you'd have better luck with that now than you would have in the 80s.

[tzipwich]

Echo was on the New Avengers, but only for a very short period of time.