West Coast Avengers #101

West Coast Avengers #101
Writing: Roy Thomas
Art: Dave Ross

What Went Down: Part 3 of Bloodties: The first page of this issue is the Avengers (both standard and West Coast) not in Genosha bursting angrily into the UN. Yes, prepare for a lecture on political responsibility…because you asked for it, nuff said. Hawkeye criticizes the UN for standing by while people in Genosha are dying, and the rest of the heroes debate Clint’s brash and blunt methods. The UN politicians notice that the Avengers’ chairman, Black Widow is oddly silent.

Over at Genosha, Exodus confronts the Avengers. After knocking Crystal back, War Machine attacks Exodus as the rest of the Avengers stand around Crystal and do nothing. Even as the fight goes on, another group of humans and mutants are about to riot… again. The Avengers’ methods of resolving this are somewhat questionable; the Scarlet Witch makes a gas main explode, which can’t be safe, and the Black Knight complains about trying to fight civilians with a lethal weapon, even though the last issue of this crossover demonstrated that his energy sword is non-lethal. Crystal ends the confrontation by summoning a wall of water to separate the two sides. Then Crystal and Wanda run off to look for Luna.

Elsewhere in Genosha, U.S. Agent, Beast, and Xavier are in a sewer; this contradicts last issue, where Xavier and Beast were trying to ditch Agent, and Agent was tracking them. Now they appear to just be on the same side. There is an odd, completely out of character scene where Beast complains about not needing the help of a non-mutant. Together, the group uncovers a hidden concentration camp for mutant prisoners. Before they can be freed, a group of soldiers called the Magistrate Elite ambush the heroes.

Jumping over to the X-Men, they are still fighting generic mutants, and Quicksilver’s costume has gotten darker. Jean Grey shows some out of character behavior when she freaks out and loses concentration because Cyclops gets winged. Anyways, the X-Men beat the soldiers, and the Fabian Cortez from last issue is revealed to be a shapeshifting mutant.

The fight between War Machine and Exodus continues as Exodus uses racist remarks to trick the Avenger into getting close to him. Once trapped, War Machine is turned into “a flesh-and-blood vegetable,” but next issue he is fine. The issue ends on a very unflattering drawing of Sersi challenging Exodus for the next fight.

How It Was: An odd example of a crossover issue. While normally this story would be used to try to boost sales of the flagging West Coast Avengers title, the fact was that the series was being canceled next issue, so there was no need to impress readers with any big events. Instead we get the majority of the West Coast team standing around and accusing the UN of not doing their jobs for this issue and next issue. It’s as exciting as it sounds, and that is not very exciting at all. I guess this is significant because it does set up the disbanding of the team in the next issue, but as a middle chapter in a major crossover between two powerhouse teams, it is just really bad.

The only West Coast Avenger to do anything this issue is War Machine, as he has a long pointless fight with Exodus. Don’t get me wrong, it’s an exciting, well-drawn fight, but it’s really just a stalling exercise to keep Exodus from just going off to find Cortez and further the plot. The rest of the Avengers spend the issue doing the same thing they did last issue: breaking up a riot—do you get why people call this crossover boring and unoriginal yet? And the scene with the Beast and U.S. Agent is just ruined for two reasons. First, there is no way that the Beast would need to be reminded by Professor X why it is wrong to criticize people for not being mutants. Second of all, while the revelation of a concentration camp does raise the stakes in the story a little, the fact is that it comes off as a little inappropriate. More importantly, it shifts the conflict so that both sides aren’t equally at fault anymore; now the humans are once again the clear villains in the conflict, even though the point of the story was that both sides are fighting because of the non-existent threat of Magneto and were equally at fault. This story could have easily served as an allegory for the senseless wars fought in the name of various figures and deities, but in the hands of so many creators, the story just turns into a mess. And how come U.S. Agent is helping Xavier, when Xavier was trying to ditch him last issue?

As for the X-Men, Revanche has disappeared and Archangel has shown up out of nowhere for the first time this story. The fact that the creators can’t keep track of which X-Men are in this story is not a good sign. The rest is just a generic fight with generic enemy soldiers. As for the art, I don’t know a lot about Dave Ross, but the last page of the issue really says it all for me. Sersi looks like a victim of third world hunger and her right knee is bent at an impossible angle. Even the cover of this issue isn’t trying hard to impress. Once again, nothing of interest or significance happens at all, except for the events at the UN that have some ramifications. The best way I can put this is that it took me over fifteen years to add this issue to my collection, and the plot of the story was perfectly understandable for the years before I ever owned it. For completists only.

D

X-Men #26

X-Men #26
Writing: Fabian Nicieza
Art: Andy Kubert

What Went Down: Part 2 of Bloodties: We enter on a very angry Quicksilver, raging about the fact that Fabian Cortez has abducted his daughter. The X-Men are on the Blackbird watching a newscast from Trish Tilby live in Genosha. Cortez is explaining his plan for mutant dominance in the war torn country, and he is using Luna Maximoff as a symbol, since she is the granddaughter of Magneto.

Up on Asteroid M, Colossus is caring for a comatose Magneto and pondering whether revealing Magneto’s condition might help ease tensions. Exodus, who has taken charge of the Acolytes, says he needs to be alone with Magneto to seek his counsel. Since Magneto can only drool on himself, Exodus comes off as pretty insane.

Back in the U.S., the Avengers are in a huge battle with SHIELD agents trying to prevent them from interfering in the Genoshan conflict, as per UN decree. Five Avengers escape, including Captain America, leaving the rest of the teams to mop up. After the fight, the remaining Avengers prepare to deal with the UN.

On the ground in Genosha, Xavier and his allies are ambushed. Fortunately, Xavier somehow guessed this would happen, so he pulls out masks for himself and the Beast. The attackers are led by obscure X-Men ally Renee Majcomb, who is leading a coalition of humans and mutants fighting for a united, integrated Genosha without any fighting. Hank brings up Trish Tilby, but the group is needed elsewhere. As the group drives off, U.S. Agent is seen stowing away under the car.

Meanwhile, the X-Men land and are attacked by some generic looking mutate soldiers. As the X-Men battle the group, Cortez is revealed to be nearby. The Avenger squad also lands on Genosha and breaks up a riot of mutants and humans trying to kill each other. Exodus shows up and kills all the humans in the crowd.

How It Was: Well both teams finally make it to Genosha, after half an issue of battling SHIELD and recapping the events of the previous issue. We also learn why more stories don’t take place in Genosha; the Ge- in Genosha must stand for generic because that’s the best description for every character there. Even supporting characters like Renee Majcomb are nothing but militant badasses ready for war, and everybody seems to be wearing brown. As for the war itself, there are no panels that depict this great conflict that is going on everywhere; for an epic battle, all the encounters the super hero teams have with civilians tend to resemble the standard boring mobs that the X-Men generally break up. The setting just lacks impact; there is nothing to make it stand out when it should be the central focus of the story.

As for the characters themselves, they’re not allowed to do anything really significant. If you look at the previous crossover, Fatal Attractions, there were character changing events happening left and right, from Cable’s return to Wolverine’s injuries. Like it or not, at least that story was trying new things with the characters. In Bloodties, everything is predictable and shallow. Quicksilver, Crystal, and Cortez are the only ones who seem affected by this story. All the other characters seem curiously unmoved; they just keep commenting on the horror of the war. The creators can’t even keep track of the characters in it, as Revanche appears in this issue, but not in the previous or next issues. Plus Exodus’ turn as power mad lunatic doesn’t do a lot for me, and the Xavier/Beast subplot is simply crawling along.

Still, the fight with SHIELD is pretty cool, and Colossus has a nice follow up scene from Fatal Attractions where the reality of his situation hits him. Kubert’s art looks good, and he finally has a reason to draw giant clouds of smoke during the scene with Xavier’s team being gassed. Also, the final page with Exodus makes for a pretty cool moment for the villain. This is a perfectly middling issue, where not a lot happens. The following issues feature a series of fights that maintain this plot stall until the final issue.

C

Avengers #368

Avengers #368
Writing: Bob Harras
Art: Steve Epting

What Went Down: Part 1 of Bloodties: Fabian Cortez starts off the crossover looking over the burning city of Hammer Bay in Genosha. He is holding Luna, the daughter of Quicksilver and the Inhuman/Avenger Crystal and talking to himself about events to come. In Washington, Val Cooper, Nick Fury, and Henry Peter Gyrich set up the plot for the crossover. Basically Magneto’s attack on the planet has inspired the humans of Genosha to break the peace they have with the mutates. Fearing the mutates might conquer them, the Genoshan army begins attacking any mutants in the country, and the mutates—former mutant slaves of the government—retaliate. Up in the SHIELD helicarrier, planes are being dispatched on an unknown mission.

In New York, Nick Fury assembles both the east and west coast teams of Avengers. Fury tells the Avengers that they are not to interfere in Genosha, since at this point they are answering directly to the United Nations. U.S. Agent gets assigned a special mission. While certain Avengers argue the fact, Fury explains that he received intelligence that the Genoshans might attack the Avengers. Crystal suddenly realizes that her daughter must be the target, and runs off to check on her. She finds her daughter with her nanny Marilla, but it turns out to be a shapeshifting mutate from Genosha instead. The mutate blames the Avengers for their inaction, and then proceeds to blow up the building.

At the X-Mansion, U.S. Agent and Gyrich are meeting with an unshaven Professor X, Philip Moreau, and Jen Ransome. Xavier is being asked to help broker peace between the two sides in the Genoshan conflict. He agrees to come, as long as he can bring the Beast with him. Beast teases his old Avengers liaison Gyrich, until Gyrich informs him that Trish Tilby is covering the conflict in Genosha.

The X-Men are in the middle of a Danger Room session; Quicksilver is still hanging out with the X-Men after Fatal Attractions, and he is debating visiting his estranged wife Crystal. Xavier telepathically informs the X-Men what is going on and tells them to meet him in Genosha.

Jumping back to the Avengers, Crystal used her powers to push the explosion up at the last minute, saving everyone. The Avengers decide that they are going to Genosha to save Luna, but Fury warns them that SHIELD is under orders to prevent them from leaving the country. SHIELD agents swarm in to tease the fight that takes place next issue. On the plane to Genosha, Xavier and the rest of the group watch a transmission on TV from Cortez. Cortez is using Luna, the granddaughter of Magneto as a symbol to rally the mutants behind. Xavier and Beast are shocked to discover that Luna is in the hands of Cortez.

How It Was: Bloodties is a five issue crossover between the X-Men and the Avengers. If you’re wondering why the Marvel offices found this necessary, since the X-Men just got done with a big crossover, let me explain. You see the X-Men and the Avengers both debuted in 1963, so in 1993 it was both titles’ thirtieth anniversaries. To commemorate this occasion, a crossover was commissioned by the powers that be. Also, it is important to remember that at this time the X-Men were Marvel’s best selling comics, while the Avengers weren’t doing great, so Marvel was banking on boosting sales for a couple of months and maybe getting some new readers. So Luna gets kidnapped in order to bring both teams into the picture, although it is really more of a premise for an Avengers/X-Factor crossover, given that Quicksilver isn’t actually an X-Man. Anyways, over the course of these five issues, we will find that there is too little plot and too many characters to distribute over the course of this story.

This issue is really nothing but set up. There are a couple of quick action scenes, including a Danger Room sequence—the go-to plot device for action sequences before a story has gotten to the conflict. The first thing you’ll note is that we are dealing with over two dozen characters, and the story hasn’t even gotten properly started yet. The poor West Coast Avengers really have no reason to be in this story, and this isn’t exactly the greatest Avengers roster ever; there’s no Iron Man or Thor, but we do get Sersi, Black Knight, Hercules, and Crystal? On the other hand, I do like the idea of the Avengers’ commitment to the UN conflicting with their desire to just go out and help people. It’s interesting to see the Avengers treated like criminals, especially when you look at the rest of the issues that have Trish Tilby describing the X-Men as heroes on the news.

Actually, this issue has some fun moments, like Beast’s interaction with Gyrich, and Iceman’s prank on Rogue. Looking past these moments however, the rest of this issue is just assigning which characters are going where, and what they are doing. It succeeds in that, but the reader doesn’t really get a feel for the threat of the story. The central conflict should be the war in Genosha, but we don’t see any of it, other than some burning buildings in the beginning and some generic pictures of soldiers on viewscreens in the background. A scene or two showing the humans and mutants at war with each other and the animosity between the two sides might have upped the tension a little bit. Instead, the only tension created is for the fate of Luna, but it’s hard to believe that four super hero squads wouldn’t be able to save her (although I guess if Illyana Rasputin could die, why not a different little girl?).

The art is pretty good, and it must have been a daunting task with so many characters to draw. Epting does a nice standard Marvel House Style; it complements Andy Kubert’s style very nicely. My one nitpick would be that he portrays a lot of characters with five o’clock shadows, but I can live with that. The real problem is that all characters are just standing around talking, and then there is one explosion. This issue serves as an okay set up, but it fails to really light a fire under the reader—the conflict of the story isn’t thrilling enough to really enliven, it just kind of rolls along at its own pace.

B-