Tony Stark knows all too well how challenging it is to rebuild your life from square one. This is part of why he agreed to sponsor his best friend Rhodey’s concept for a work-release program for supervillains seeking to reform. This is the idea behind the new West Coast Avengers, which finds Iron Man overseeing a largely unstable team of misfits and rejects.
Tony Stark is our narrator for most of this first issue. It is through his eyes that we learn about the new team’s origins and line-up. This includes a reformed Ultron and the electric villain Blue Bolt, as well as War Machine and the Jessica Drew Spider-Woman. By issue’s end, Tony has also recruited Firestar, who needs to improve her image after working as the X-Men‘s double agent in Orchis.
Ironically, this focus on Tony Stark in West Coast Avengers #1 is simultaneously a strength and a weakness. Gerry Duggan came to this title from Invincible Iron Man and he has a good handle on the character. However, despite referencing Tony’s new solo series, the action here seems divorced from that book.
Another issue is the other heroes get limited page time in comparison. This is particularly true of War Machine and Spider-Woman, who talks with Tony about his problems without mentioning her own troubles. This feels unbalanced, given recent events in her solo series, like her mentoring a new Champions.
West Coast Avengers covers too familiar territory
Beyond the focus on Iron Man, West Coast Avengers #1 suffers from a feeling of redundancy. The story is not badly told, but there is nothing new either. The idea of a superhero team mentoring reformed villains has been done before. Many Thunderbolts series, including the current one, are built around screw-up heroes and not-so-bad bad guys trying to do right. Another issue is Duggan’s use of humor, which seems played out despite some honestly funny gags. Yet this clashes with the issue’s darker scenes, including the twist ending.
This repetitiveness is also highlighted in Tony Stark’s interactions with Firestar. It is made clear that Angelica Jones has turned to alcohol to cope with her feelings of alienation from the Mutant community. It is implied in the solicitation for West Coast Avengers #2 that Tony Stark will take a hand in helping her get clean. Beyond addiction being an overplayed trope in general, Tony did the same thing with Captain Marvel years ago.
The artwork by Danny Kim is conflicted. Many pages seemed rushed, with odd proportions and uneven inks. This is most apparent in the distance shots, though there are also some close-ups where the only outlines are around the characters, with no definition of the interior lines.
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All in all, West Coast Avengers #1 is a rough start. While the concept is solid enough, it is largely outshined by the inclusion of Iron Man. Beyond that, there are conflicts within the story tone and the artwork. Hopefully future issues will shift focus to the ensemble, and the team will do more than support Tony Stark.
Grade: 5/10
West Coast Avengers #1 is now available at comic shops everywhere.
