West Coast Avengers #1 Review
Written by Kelly Thompson
Art by Stefano Caselli
Colors by Triona Farrell
Review by KrisK
Finally, the Avengers are back in Cali! 24 years ago, the Avengers closed shop on the West Coast, leaving it unprotected from Valley girls, wine tastings, and super villains. Various Avengers operated on the West Coast, ranging from Moon Knight to Kate Bishop aka HAWKEYE! The latter, Kate, loves the West Coast, but the West Coast doesn’t always love her, and she has had to fight some crazy things. Things that may be getting too big for Kate to handle. Luckily, her friends help out.
Bestie, America Chavez, teleports through star-shaped portals, punches really hard, and flies through the air with the greatest of ease. Clint Barton, aka Hawkeye (Yes, it gets confusing), does whatever a Hawkeye can. Jonny Watts, aka Fuse, mimics any substance he contacts. Gwendolyn Poole, stage name Gwenpool, shoots and stabs like Deadpool without the convenient healing powers. Quentin Quire, nom de plume Kid Omega, reads minds, makes objects move with his mind, and his strongest power: arrogance.
These six join together after a land shark incident, which Kate needed a lot of help to handle. As a result, she gets together a team, a humiliating way to fund her team, and they assemble to kick some very furry butt. The team is far from ideal, in terms of power and prestige, but that is often the charm of the West Coast Avengers since their conception. The team consists of outcasts who cannot currently carry a book of their own, with four out of six of them having recently cancelled books. The avengers are also the quirkiest ones available, so the book entertains.
Kelly Thompson is the best person to write this book, period. She knows these characters so well, and while the individual series will be missed, knowing they are in the hands of the great Kelly Thompson helps the fans breathe easy. The book jokes around in everything from the dialogue to the villains to the side characters, but the book never disrespects the source material or characters.
The art is beautiful! The lines by Caselli and the colors by Farrell are pitch perfect to the writing. Down to the details, the book flows. Your eyes go where the action is, while the background never jars you out of the book. You just seep into it like a bubble bath and soak it all in. Furthermore, Landsharks!
Verdict: BUY! I have been looking forward to this book since it was announced, and it did not disappoint. I laughed my butt off, and I can’t wait for the next issue. If Marvel is smart, they will keep the West Coast Avengers around for years.
