West Coast Wednesdays: Avengers Vol. 1, #312

West Coast Avengers Vol. 2, #51

West Coast Avengers Vol. 2, #52

West Coast Avengers Vol. 2, #53

West Coast Wednesdays: West Coast Avengers Vol. 2, #53

Posted by Christian A. Dumais on November 16, 2011 at 3:32 pm

West Coast Avengers, Vol. 2, Issue 53 (December 1989)

WEST COAST CREDITS!

Writer: John Byrne

Penciler: John Byrne

Inker: Keith Williams

WEST COAST SUMMARY!

As the team tries to deal with a comatose Scarlet Witch, they’re attacked by the U-Foes. But is this small attack a preview of something bigger? Something big enough to become a huge crossover event?

WEST COAST THOUGHTS!

After a long successful run on the title, you knew that John Byrne had to stumble sooner or later. The bad news is that it’s finally happened, the good news is that it’s really not his fault as the book is suddenly recovering from the Atlantis Attacks crossover (which ran in all of the annuals in 1989, including West Coast Avengers Annual #4) while at the same time being pushed into the Acts of Vengeance crossover (which ran throughout many Marvel titles between December 1989 to February 1990). Byrne does his best here to make it all work, but it’s an unfortunate mess.

The issue kicks off with Magneto declaring “The plan proceeds!” as villains do. It turns out that many of the villains across the Marvel universe have banded together to attack our favorite heroes. What sets this plan apart from the countless times this has happened before is that they’re purposely sending villains to fight heroes unfamiliar with their powers and abilities. And this is the core of Marvel’s Acts of Vengeance storyline. It’s a rocky start for the issue, as Magneto is speaking with an unnamed accomplice who is the one who instigated the idea. Unbeknownst to Magneto, this unnamed benefactor is actually Loki, and while Magneto feels like he’s the one in charge, it’s clearly not the case.

Magneto’s introduction sets the stage for Acts of Vengeance to enter the book. By the time we check back in with our heroes, they’re in the living room at the compound dealing with a comatose Scarlet Witch who is recovering from the events in the Atlantis Attacks crossover. It’s a weird thing to put into the book because they could have simply said that she was still recovering from what Harkness did to her at the end of last issue instead of making readers feel like they’ve walked into a movie halfway through. This is page four and we’re knee deep in two separate crossover events, neither of which had been mentioned in the book before – with the exception of West Coast Avengers Annual #4, but that was published four months before.

Wonder Man agrees to finally give Vision his brain patterns so he can finally return to normal. Vision, however, declines and informs the team that he’ll be returning to the east coast.

Immortus makes an appearance in the book (as he has done in previous issues) as he continues to watch Scarlet Witch from afar. It seems that she’s to play an important part in events to come. This is interesting for me because despite the fact that the book is wading in the waters of two crossovers, Byrne is still planting the seeds for future storylines in the monthly title. And while I applaud this, it only makes this issue feel more convoluted than it needs to be. This is beginning to feel more like Englehart’s work again.

Then suddenly, the U-Foes attack. The team is caught off guard and there’s enough mention that they’ve never fought the U-Foes before to justify the whole point of Acts of Vengeance. But when you’re reminding the reader of how unpredictable this all is, it feels even sillier. The team is fighting new villains with unfamiliar power sets all of the time. And they just fight. They don’t stand around telling one another “there’s no telling what might happen.”

The issue ends with Wasp, Pym, Vision and Scarlet Witch (now alert) heading east to see what the deal is with the lack of communication with the other team. Pym says he’s got “a bad feeling” about what’s about to happen, thus reminding readers that what we’re reading is a Big Deal.

You know, a Bigger Deal than all the Big Deals the book has been dealing with since the beginning.

WEST BOAST OR ROAST?

Roast. Looks like Byrne has fallen victim to editorially mandated storylines and its sadly tarnished a nearly perfect run with the book. Somewhere in the shadows, Englehart is laughing maniacally.

WEST COAST SCENE (OF THE WEEK)!

“Got to blow her out of my armor” is scientific gibber gabber for something you wouldn’t understand.

Previously on West Coast Wednesdays…

West Coast Avengers Vol. 2, #51

West Coast Avengers Vol. 2, #52

West Coast Wednesdays: West Coast Avengers Vol. 2, #52

Posted by Christian A. Dumais on November 9, 2011 at 3:32 pm

West Coast Avengers, Vol. 2, Issue 52 (December 1989)

WEST COAST CREDITS!

Writer: John Byrne

Penciler: John Byrne

Inker: Mike Machlan

WEST COAST SUMMARY!

The team confronts Master Pandemonium in his lair to save the lives of Wanda’s kidnapped children, but things are, as usual, not what they seem.

WEST COAST THOUGHTS!

Byrne appeared to have a master plan with the Scarlet Witch, Vision and their twins the moment he came on board this title, and this issue looks to be where he was headed all along. With her marriage to Vision seemingly undone, Wanda is now more like her human-hating father than the sweet-natured woman we’ve come to know over the years. Now it’s just a matter of figuring out what to do with her children. And this issue puts an end to them once and for all…well, for a decade at least.

Master Pandemonium is more powerful than ever now that he’s absorbed Wanda’s children. It turns out, the twins were parts of his missing soul (you know, the one Mephisto broke into a bunch of small pieces and were physically represented by the creepy star-shaped hole on Pandemonium’s stomach?), and now his powers have increased a thousandfold. He manages to take out the team fairly quickly, and Byrne is clearly having a lot of fun with the more surreal, demonic aspects of this fight inside Master Pandemonium’s dark lair.

The issue’s first twist is that Master Pandemonium’s missing soul isn’t really his. Mephisto didn’t tell the truth all those years ago, which is pretty shocking coming from the self-professed Prince of Lies (why would anyone call themselves that?). The soul Master Pandemonium has been collecting all of this time is actually Mephisto’s soul, which had been shattered during his fight with Franklin Richards (the son of Reed and Susan of the Fantastic Four).

Agatha Harkness transport the Human Torch to the fight with the final two pieces of ~~Master Pandemonium~~Mephisto’s soul (though it’s not clear where exactly these fragments came from). He offers the pieces in exchange for the team’s safety; which doesn’t make a lot of sense considering how powerful Master Pandemonium has become and he clearly has the advantage. Master Pandemonium reclaims the pieces; however, there is still a hole in his stomach which sucks him inside out like a collapsed star. Once he’s out of the way, Mephisto makes an appearance to acknowledge that Master Pandemonium’s soul (which is really Mephisto’s, see) has been restored to Mephisto.

Harkness’s cat, Ebony, who has been wandering around in the background throughout the issue, then transforms into a giant beast and attacks Mephisto. The battle is so horrifying, we only get pieces of what’s going on through the team’s disgusted faces and horrified observations.

Eventually the team is returned home. Harkness tells everyone that the twins have been erased from reality and when Wanda wakes up, she will not have any memory of their existence. The team isn’t pleased with his development, but they seem to understand it’s for the best.

OR IS IT?!

The issue ends with the above panel which comes out of nowhere. The book has finally caught up with the Atlantis Attacks crossover that was published three months before, and then it’s jumping into another crossover, Acts of Vengeance. Marvel doesn’t have a good track record with monthly books being shoe-horned into a major crossover event. So the odds are stacked against Byrne if he’s going to be juggling two in one book.

Tune in next week to see if he pulls it off…

WEST BOAST OR ROAST?

Boast. A lot of exposition going on here, but Byrne’s art makes it fun and easy to swallow.

WEST COAST SCENE (OF THE WEEK)!

Wonder Man plays a sick game of Hide-and-Seek with his nephew.

Previously on West Coast Wednesdays…

West Coast Avengers Vol. 2, #51

West Coast Wednesdays: West Coast Avengers Vol. 2, #51

Posted by Christian A. Dumais on November 2, 2011 at 3:32 pm

West Coast Avengers, Vol. 2, Issue 51 (November 1989)

WEST COAST CREDITS!

Writer: John Byrne

Penciler: John Byrne

Inker: Mike Machlan

WEST COAST SUMMARY!

Iron Man has returned to the team, but the team’s not thrilled about it one bit. Before they can give him the cold shoulder, Master Pandemonium attacks the compound and kidnaps Wanda’s children!

WEST COAST THOUGHTS!

As mentioned above, things kick off with Iron Man’s return to the West Coast Avengers, continuing last issue’s dramatic cliffhanger. There’s a lot of resentment towards him based on what’s been happening to the character in his own solo book. Apparently, Iron Man has killed someone, and there’s an uncertainty about who’s inside the suit. Readers know that it’s Tony Stark, but because of circumstances not made clear in this issue, he’s now dependent on the suit and he’s unable to let anyone know his identity. Byrne does a good job here filling in the details about Iron Man since his departure from the team without giving away specific details for those who want to pick up Iron Man to see what’s really going on.

This is a day of reunions at the compound, as Scarlet Witch (who is sounding more and more like her father) and Vision are greeted in their bungalow by Agatha Harkness, who you might remember having burned at the stake the last time we saw her. She admits later that everyone knows that “none of the traditional means of executing those accused of witchcraft would work on a real witch.” When Wonder Man hears this, he replies (and I’m not joking here): “She’s right! There was even an episode . . . of Bewitched . . . that made the same point.” Thanks, Simon, for that insight.

Harkness confronts Wanda to tell her that the reason her children have been disappearing lately is due to the simple fact that during moments of distress when Wanda isn’t thinking about the children, they cease to exist. Wanda takes the news with a lot of denial and disbelief, and before she can come to terms with Harkness’ news, our old friend Master Pandemonium makes his big entrance.

It’s been a while since we’ve last seen Master Pandemonium in the series. The goofy villain with a surprisingly insidious origin is probably one of the best original bad guys this series has had to offer, and Byrne really sells the visual demonic aspects of the character in ways Milgrom couldn’t. His appearance gives us our obligatory fight scene with Iron Man stepping up with the team to take out an endless supply of demons that are overrunning the compound. But all of this is merely a distraction for Master Pandemonium to confront Wanda and kidnap her twins.

Wanda doesn’t take this turn of events lightly. When the team regroups to consider their next course of action, she doesn’t take kindly to their inability to react quickly. When Janet suggests that maybe the twins weren’t kidnapped, but rather they simply disappeared like before, she slaps her down (see below).

Harkness opens up a portal that takes the team to Master Pandemonium’s realm. Once there, the seemingly peaceful landscape turns out to be alive and attacks. The issue ends with the reveal of the twins having morphed into Master Pandemonium’s demonic arms, making him “unbeatable.”

WEST BOAST OR ROAST?

Boast. It’s great to see an old villainous face back in the book. With Byrne working his magic, this feels like old fashion issue of the series, but seriously upgraded in terms of quality.

WEST COAST SCENE (OF THE WEEK)!

Hey now, Wanda! That’s Hank’s thing!

Previously on West Coast Wednesdays…

Baking with Puff Chrissy…

Posted by Christian A. Dumais on October 28, 2011 at 1:46 pm

Because some of you have asked on Twitter, here are some pictures of things I’ve baked in the last month or so. First up, the Beet Cake…

This might be my new favorite cake (sorry, Coca-Cola Cake!). It’s earthy and delicious, and the redness of the batter before you bake it is a thing of beauty. I used a basic butter-cream cheese frosting for this one and added a little red dye for good measure. The recipe I used for this one is here. I recommend watching the video there too.

Next up, some good old fashion cupcakes with a little Marvel super-hero goodness thrown in…

I used a simple butter recipe for the cupcakes with four different kinds of frosting and toppings to accentuate each Marvel hero. Fun stuff. These cupcakes were a hit at our Halloween party last weekend. Now that I’m more comfortable making cupcakes, I suspect I’ll be experimenting in the future.

West Coast Wednesdays: West Coast Avengers Annual #4

Posted by Christian A. Dumais on October 26, 2011 at 3:53 pm

West Coast Avengers Annual #4 (1989)

WEST COAST CREDITS!

Writers: John Byrne, Mark Gruenwald, Fabian Nicieza and Peter Sanderson

Pencilers: John Byrne, Amanda Connor, Mike Manley, Gavin Curtis and Mark Bagley

Inkers: Terry Austin, Christopher Ivy and Keith Williams

WEST COAST SUMMARY!

The West Coast Avengers annual is a part of the “Atlantis Attacks” crossover that ran through all the Marvel annuals in 1989. This is Chapter 12 where the Deviant High Priest of Atlantis is setting things up to bring back the Serpent God named Set. And as the cover says, he’ll need seven brides to do that…

WEST COAST THOUGHTS!

I’m putting this annual here because it’s mentioned a couple of times that this takes place right after issue #50.

The first chapter is written and drawn by Byrne, with inking done by Terry Austin (who was always Byrne’s Jerry to his Ben). It’s a smart move because it relates directly to things happening in the regular book and has the same writer/artist steering the story. In fact, that’s kind of rare, isn’t it? It should also be noted that the regular book was working on a bi-weekly schedule at the time too.

While this is a completely different story, it is interesting to see the parallels between this crossover and the Fear Itself event which recently wrapped up. Set the Serpent God is an Elder God, older than the Asgardians, who is set to return and subjugate Earth. Even Thor expresses a lot of concern about Set’s return. Anyway, Set needs seven brides to come back. While in Fear Itself, the Serpent is freed from his underwater prison, releases seven (that magic number again!) magical objects across the globe, and sets Asgard running out of fear. While in no way is this suggesting that FI writer Matt Fraction lifted anything from AA (and who would?), it is worth pointing out that these kinds of stories, no matter the talent working behind the scenes, tends to follow a specific structure.

Anyway, the seven women from the Marvel Universe who are kidnapped to be the seven brides are: Marvel Girl, the Invisible Woman, Andromeda, She-Hulk, Storm, Scarlet Witch and Dagger. They’ve already been kidnapped in their respective annuals by the time this chapter begins.

While both Avengers teams scramble to rescue their teammates, some of the women have to fulfill specific tasks for Ghaur, the Deviant High Priest who’s set on bringing back…Set. While the women are conscious about their actions, they are helpless in doing anything to stop it. She-Hulk and Andromeda find themselves deep in the Atlantic at the Altar of Neptune’s Wrath where a piece of Set’s immortal soul is trapped, and it’s up to She-Hulk to free it. However, the giant Leviathan might have something to say about this!

Marvel Girl and Invisible Woman are in Chicago where they must break into a museum to steal the Lens of Power.

The Avengers show up to rescue a whaling vessel which sent out an SOS due to a giant sea creature attacking the ship. In actuality, the vessel just happens to be caught in the middle of a slugfest between She-Hulk and the Leviathan. The Avengers jump in to help, but once Iron Man is close to She-Hulk, she attacks him as well. Despite the team throwing their best at the creature, it’s Vision who saves the day by passing through the monster until he enters its heart, forcing it to pass out. Iron Man is forced to stun She-Hulk and brings her back to the team.

Andromeda used She-Hulk’s fight as a distraction for her own getaway and returns to Ghaur with the fragment of Set’s lifeforce.

When She-Hulk wakes up, the team is unable to subdue her as she feels compelled to return to Ghaur. Finally, it’s decided to just let her go and they’ll track her telepathically. She-Hulk leads them right to Ghaur’s underwater lair where things turn into a big old fight, leading to matches such as Captain America against Storm! Wonder Man breaks the Lens of Power which Ghaur needed Dagger to use to bring Set back, and all looks like is won until Ghaur gets Scarlet Witch to use her reality altering powers to bring Set back.

The chapter ends with a giant splash page of Set rising up out of the water, with Ghaur screaming, “The age of human-kind is forever at an end!”

Bummer.

Mark Gruenwald’s chapter in the annual is essentially She-Hulk and Wasp sitting in a theater and rating the male Marvel heroes from 1 (which “barely qualifies the guy for manhood!”) to 10 (who is “godly in his hunkiness!”). This is filler at its best, but it’s also an uncomfortably tragic misfire filled with enough cheese to drown a pizza.

Gruenwald returns for another chapter called “The Last Good Soldier”, a short story focusing on U.S. Agent. It’s basically him parachuting on an island and fighting a bad guy for 8 pages, but it works thanks to his internal monologue which does a good job in letting readers know who is behind the mask, and more importantly, what separates him from Captain America. Nothing here to write home about, but it’s serviceable and certainly light years ahead of rating hunks.

Then Fabian Nicieza steps in and gives us “So What Are You Going to Do After You Conquer the World?” which is a short story about Firebird. I swear this was put in to remind readers, in case they’ve forgotten within the two previous chapters, that this is in fact a West Coast Avengers annual. Firebird stumbles across a few soldiers from Atlantis who have found themselves trapped in the desert for days without water. They talk. They fight. They come to an understanding. And she sends them on their way. To Tahiti, as a matter of fact.

That last one was punishment.

The issue ends with the 12th chapter of a tale told by the Watcher about the Serpent Society from another Earth that is so convoluted and confusing, even a Marvel kid like me can’t make heads or tails out of it.

WEST BOAST OR ROAST?

Boast, but barely. And that’s only for Byrne’s contribution to the book. The rest, with the exception of the U.S. Agent story, is awful. This annual is a throwback to the good old days when the West Coast Avengers was awful, which feels a lot more jarring after months of Byrne steering the ship.

WEST COAST SCENE (OF THE WEEK)!

Warning: Cousins and ex-husbands are not eligible to have their hunkiness rated!

Previously on West Coast Wednesdays…

West Coast Wednesdays: West Coast Avengers Vol. 2, #50

Posted by Christian A. Dumais on October 19, 2011 at 3:39 pm

West Coast Avengers, Vol. 2, Issue 50 (November 1989)

WEST COAST CREDITS!

Writer: John Byrne

Penciler: John Byrne

Inker: Mike Machlan

WEST COAST SUMMARY!

The mystery of the Vision is finally revealed when the original Human Torch returns.

WEST COAST THOUGHTS!

Ann Raymond, who first appeared a couple of issues back in the homeless shelter, is now in the West Coast Avengers compound. She is the wife of Thomas Raymond, who was known as Toro, the partner to the original Human Torch. Through some flashbacks, we learn that Thomas had died after the Mad Thinker had drugged and brainwashed him into thinking he was the original Human Torch. While under control of the Mad Thinker, he gets into a battle with Namor, who frees Tom from the villain’s control, and Tom sacrifices himself in order stop the Mad Thinker from escaping. Now that she knows that the Vision wasn’t originally then Human Torch, she was hoping that the details surrounding her husband’s death were also wrong.

While Ann is telling her story, Wanda has a complete meltdown and threatens to leave “forever” with her husband. Also, it’s worth noting that Janet refers to Hank as “love” and “lover” throughout the issue. Looks like Pym’s first wife has been completely ignored, unless it was addressed in another book somewhere.

Pym contacts Namor to get his side of the story and he confirms everything Ann told them. While the team is trying to figure out what to do next, they discover that Pym, after shrinking Tigra, had locked her up in a tiny cage in his lab while he finds a solution to help her. U.S. Agent mentions that he had seen Tigra acting weird before, but never reported it. This sets Simon off on U.S. Agent as he explains that since he’s now an Avenger, it’s his duty to communicate with his teammates.

Pym talks to Wanda and Vision to further discuss the discrepancies in the connection between Vision and the original Torch. This conversation is basically a way of using conjecture to retcon the moments where concrete links between the two were previously established, and honestly, it works.

We get a one page interlude with a Mr. Preston who wants to be left alone in his Hollywood office. And it turns out he’s none other than Master Pandemonium!

The team arrives at the grave of the Human Torch and before you know, he’s up and alive, as most people do in the Marvel Universe. After a brief chase between Wonder Man and the Human Torch, the flaming hero returns to the ground and shakes hands with Vision, thus letting us know once and for all that they are not the same.

Back at the compound, the team gives the Torch his old costume (and it appears that he strips down and puts it on in front of the group) and invite him to join the team. He’s so overwhelmed with emotion, he starts to cry. He says he’s just got something in his eye, but he’s reminded by the Wasp that it’s the Eighties and men can totally cry now!

Interestingly enough, 21 years after the Eighties have ended, I never stopped crying.

The issue ends with the return of Iron Man.

WEST BOAST OR ROAST?

Boast. A little too talky for a milestone issue, but there’s enough important events happening to keep it interesting.

WEST COAST SCENE (OF THE WEEK)!

Janet is easily impressed.

Previously on West Coast Wednesdays…

Beck’s Drunk Hulk Cartoons (Updated for October 2011)

Posted by Christian A. Dumais on October 14, 2011 at 2:19 pm

It’s been a while since I talked about the artist known as Beck and his wonderful New Toons on the Blog. For those who’ve been paying attention, he’s the one who’s helped to bring Drunk Hulk to life visually on Twitter and beyond.

I thought this would be a great opportunity to collect some of the Drunk Hulk cartoons he’s done over the last year or so. This isn’t a complete list by any means (I think there are a couple that haven’t made it online yet):

I’m a huge fan of Beck’s work. What always surprises me with his work is the environment he puts the characters into. You don’t get a lot of space to work with in a single panel comic, but Beck has a way of really creating an entire world inside a small box. I mean, look at “Virgin in Space” and take the time to explore where Drunk Hulk is. It’s his attention to detail that really makes it all worthwhile. And the way he throws in little jokes in the background for those who’re paying attention, like the human-dog/horse or whatever that is walking in the background of “In Slow Motion” – a detail that feels right at home in a joke about David Lynch.

If you enjoy what you’re seeing here, Drunk Hulk fan or not, I encourage you to go through his site and have fun with Beck’s work. It’s a lovely treat.

West Coast Wednesdays: West Coast Avengers Vol. 2, #49

Posted by Christian A. Dumais on October 12, 2011 at 3:39 pm

West Coast Avengers, Vol. 2, Issue 49 (October 1989)

WEST COAST CREDITS!

Writer: John Byrne

Penciler: John Byrne

Inker: John Byrne

WEST COAST SUMMARY!

The Great Lake Avengers show up to save the day in Texas. Are they ready? Because even the bad guys aren’t what they seem.

WEST COAST THOUGHTS!

Byrne breaks the pattern of having a close-up on an individual member of the team in the opening splash page with this issue, as we open the book to see a picture of an unconscious Captain America and She-Hulk under some rubble. Also of interest, the art here is all Byrne, as inker Mike Machlan is no where to be seen here.

Hawkeye and the Great Lake Avengers are flying to Texas on Big Bertha’s private jet. Hawkeye is annoyed that the plane isn’t moving as fast as a quinjet. It’s worth noting that Mockingbird is back to calling Clint “lover” at the ends of her sentences.

Wonder Man, Wasp and Pym return to the West Coast compound from their trip to see Professor Horton. There are a lot of questions that need answers because of the discrepancies in the Vision’s origin story. Pym wanders off to do Science Stuff, leaving Wonder Man and Wasp to have another discussion about Simon’s love for Wanda.

Pym questions his butler to determine if he ever noticed Wanda acting strangely. We discover that the West Coast Avengers’ answer to Jarvis is Carlos, who looks like a young Elvis in a Mariachi suit. I never noticed Carlos’ presence in the book before or after this, so I can only hope that someone like Brian Michael Bendis can bring him back in the modern Marvel universe as soon as possible. Anyway, Carlos is giving up the goods when Tigra comes racing past.

Pym chases Tigra into the woods where she attacks him. Because she can’t be reasoned with, Pym shrinks her down to Smurf-size and catches her. But what to do with her?

Back to Texas, we see Captain America and She-Hulk waking up in a cell. It turns out, Cap used his shield to absorb the impact of the rubble, and both of them have been pretending to be unconscious in order to get more information. Unfortunately for Cap, She-Hulk has been assimilated as well, and immediately attacks him.

Vision realizes that he’s been unattended to for over seven hours, which is “inconsistent with the alleged purpose for being here.” So he starts exploring and comes across the Great Lake Avengers as they’re about to land in the area. Vision notes that “Midwest Avengers” makes a whole lot more sense than “Great Lake Avengers” and Hawkeye is quick to point out that he didn’t name them.

It turns out that the reason Captain America can’t be assimilated is because of the Super Solider serum running through his body. We also learn here that the origin of the single-celled creature from millions of years ago is the real big bad, described as a “passenger” (now we know where Dexter got it from!). This consciousness resides in all of humanity, while dormant, it is making certain decisions that alters the destiny of civilizations. And because this passenger abandoned dinosaurs back in the day, they became extinct. And now, it wants to jump ship from humans to mutants in order to survive, meaning that humans will be dead before long. All things told, it’s not too shabby a villain, but not the kind of big bad you bring back every three issues or so.

The Great Lake Avengers arrive and it’s a big old throw down between assimilated college kids and Mockingbird and She-Hulk and Big Bertha. Mister Immortal gets past all the chaos to find the assimilator, the place where the passenger’s consciousness resides. He’s warned not to enter due to the intense radiation field that protects it, but he assures them that “dyin’ is what I do best!” A few minutes later, everyone “wakes up” and is no longer controlled by the passenger. It’s learned that Mister Immortal broke the containment wall of the assimilator before he died, which is what pretty much saved the day.

It’s decided since all of this happened through mind control, no one will be arrested. Wanda expresses some concern about having the memories of the passenger still inside of her, and what happens if the thing leaves humans for mutants like it planned? Vision explains that he’s not programmed for all this philosophical hocus-pocus, but luckily Captain America steps up to give everyone a pep talk.

WEST BOAST OR ROAST?

Boast. Still on board with Byrne’s interpretation of the book. Even the Great Lake Avengers are a cool addition.

WEST COAST SCENE (OF THE WEEK)!

Don’t permanently damage the college kid, says the woman kicking him in the face.

Previously on West Coast Wednesdays…