West Coast Avengers #1

[lordultimus]

Comments

[janegray]

So far I'm unconvinced.

And I'm worried for Gwen. The thing that made her series so great was its heart, the genuinely moving scenes in-between the jokes. Gwen started out as somebody who only cared for herself because "nobody else is real" and ended up choosing the path that she believed would kill her for the sake of protecting everybody else. They had damn better not forget that for this new series.

[mizerous]

Agreed.

[thehood]

So far it doesn't seem like they are forgetting that. Gwen and Kate seem very friendly so far too, though that just might be a reference to their previous team up.

[informationgeek]

The second to last page... that's a really bad looking BRODOK. His head, torso, waist, arms... it all looks bad.

[long_silence]

He wouldn't be an ODOK without an oversized head

[lieut_kettch]

Oh, it was mentioned in the teaser for the next issue. His head really is disproportionately large for his body.

[thehood]

His head is supposed to be like that, he's a MODOK.

[crinos]

Six to one that BRODOK had the baby MODOK from NEXTWAVE in his chest.

[every_spiegel]

Mu first impression is "uninventively silly" but I guess I'd give it a shot, it could get better.

[shadowpsykie]

who's the guy with the nose ring and is he gay?

(I assume they are a guy because that's what the inside art tells me... though the cover art makes them seems like a woman..>)(

[lordultimus]

He's Fuse, new guy with Absorbing Man powers. He's also dating Kate, presumably because some editor wanted to stop Kate/America in its tracks.

[thehood]

I gotta ask, what made you think he was gay? Anyway, he's dating Kate, so he's either straight, bi or pan.

[dewinged]

Please stop putting Quentin Quire in things.

[thehood]

Please never stopped putting Quentin Quire in things.

[bizarrohulk]

I honestly don't know what surprises me more - that someone thought it was a good idea to put Quentin Quire in a team, or that he isn't the douchiest-looking character on it.

[lieut_kettch]

Well, in fairness, they had to INVENT a whole new character in order for there to be someone douchier than Kid Omega.

[thehood]

If you're talking about the characters in universe, they added him on the team because they needed the money.

[beyondthefringe]

This is moderately entertaining, but the single central premise--that these are literally the only heroes available--stops me dead in my tracks.

This isn't a team made up of family, or united by a single quality, or even brought together in the spur of the moment by a crisis that only they can handle.

This is a team constructed to handle Los Angeles, with a core of several Avengers, that puts out ads for potential new members... and you honestly expect me to believe that they can't find -anyone- willing and interested besides Quentin Quire? That everyone who showed up were wannabes and worse?

I could name a hundred heroes who aren't doing anything better, who aren't currently in a team, who might be interested and useful. Former Avengers, stray mutants, leftovers from Avengers Academy, semi-retired New Warriors, even unaffiliated heroes who have nothing better to do.

Sure, it's fun to work with the dregs, but an open call for a new team fronted by people with resumes like Kate and America should -easily- draw in a lot of interest from actual heroes.

But no, please, let's go with Quire and Gwenpoole and Fuse. (And I agree, Fuse seems to exist only to avoid the natural chemistry between Kate and America...)

[lieut_kettch]

Oh, and hey, ex-Avengers Nico and Victor are out there in LA too. And Nico's whereabouts are still on the Avengers database, at least according to Julie Power.

[locuatico]

so next issue opens with America punching this dude, right?

[thehood]

I'd rather Kate herself do it.

[malitia]

Yes, It's silly but I liked this first issue a lot. (And I've no love for Quentin so seeing him being trolled is a bonus.)

[icon_uk]

And once again, as I see him being promoted in yet another team line-up, I find myself wishing I cared for Quentin Quire more than I do, or at least had even a fraction of the affection that writers clearly feel I should have for him.

[silverhammerman]

I really enjoyed Thompson's Hawkeye in trades, and so while I'm not able to read this in singles I like the look of it and will definitely be looking to get the digital collection when it comes out. Honestly I'm a little surprised at how much negativity I'm seeing here.

I don't dislike Fuse. Yes he's got some terrible tattoos and I think his characterization in Hawkeye was a little thin, but I like his powers and he was fun as a total newbie to the whole superhero thing at the end of Hawkeye. Also, this won't be a popular opinion here, but I'm not particularly invested in the Kate/America ship. I didn't like the offhand and frankly jokey way Gillen introduced the idea at the literal very end of Young Avengers, and while I wouldn't mind seeing it followed up on seriously, I don't think either character should have their romantic/narrative options limited by the sanctity of a relationship which has never actually been depicted.

I don't dislike Quentin Quire either, though I understand why others do, he's also as close as the X-Men have had to a breakout junior character like Kitty Pryde or Jubilee in years. That said, I'm pretty sure he's supposed to be like 18 now and that's way too old for a supposedly self consciously hip character to be wearing a pair of unfashionable schoolboy shorts. And whoever decided that his powers ought to be primarily used to manifest psychic versions of conventional guns should be ashamed of their lack of creativity, the character's a power telepath and really should be more creative.

[thehood]

Right and it's fine if a ship isn't canon. I much preferred America with Lisa anyway, but then i also preferred how Al Ewing wrote America.

[commodus]

I kind of love how even in the shadow of a gigantic rampaging Tigra, the team are just standing there calmly conversing about how weird it all is.
I kind of get the impression that this sort of nonsense is so commonplace in the Marvel universe that even ordinary people will likely just go about their business, shaking their heads at it all.

[bruinsfan]

I just hope whoever did this to Tigra didn't get their hands on her kid.

[shakalooloo]

Well, the kid is hers by a skrull impersonating Hank Pym, so I'm thinking the cause of this is some Pym-particle thing.

[kore]

Oh dear. I'm the outlier I guess, because I really didn't like the lineup and the cover looked goofy as hell, but after reading the #1 I was sold and put it on my pull list. I love the way Thompson writes Kate, and Kate and Clint, and even America and Quire were a lot better. (Quire was unbearable in the Mighty Thor storyline.) And the art is fantastic. I was really pleasantly surprised. This had some of Ewing's playfulness and willingness to Go There, and I've been missing that a lot in recent solo and team books.

Re Gwen....it's a team book, and it's the first issue, so she's going to be a little downplayed? Thompson's a really good writer and she'll probably use Gwen's fourth-wall abilities at some point.

[malitia]

I really don't expect Gwen's abilities to appear on panel (as opposed to being alluded to, like picking up 200 wet towels after Quentin just to dump it in his room still wet somehow) until she has to go all out against threat or we get a Gwen focused issue.