Avengers West Coast Visionaries - John Byrne, Vol. 2: Darker than Scarlet (Prelude to House of M) [Paperback]

John Byrne (Author), Roy Thomas (Author), Dann Thomas (Illustrator), Paul Ryan (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 16, 2008

The Witch is back! The shocking truth about her children revealed, the Scarlet Witch suffers a nervous breakdown and descends into madness. Manipulated by her father, the mutant terrorist Magneto, Wanda faces her teammates - and her brother, Quicksilver. Can they rescue her from the clutches of Immortus - and save her very sanity? Plus: the return of Iron Man, and reunion of wartime allies Captain America and the Human Torch. Also featuring the villainy of the Mole Man, Loki, the U-Foes, Master Pandemonium and Hydro-Man! Collecting Avengers West Coast #51-57 and #60-62.

Product Details

• Paperback: 232 pages
• Publisher: Marvel (January 16, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0785130276
• ISBN-13: 978-0785130277
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 0.5 x 10.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #355,122 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Book, Wish There Was More, March 6, 2008

By 

Conner Kent (Burbank, CA USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Avengers West Coast Visionaries - John Byrne, Vol. 2: Darker than Scarlet (Prelude to House of M) (Paperback)

The John Byrne (no relation) run on Avengers West Coast was one of my favorites when I was younger. I LOVE that these books are being collected, but unfortunately there are some things missing from this collection. Included:

- There is a mention of something that happens in the Atlantis Attacks AWC Annual #4. Would it have been that hard to include it in this collection?

- The two fill-ins between #57 and #60 are missing; since it's been years since I read the original books I have no recollection of Wonder Man and Iron Man escaping; in issue #60, they are okay. Would a one-page recap or something been that hard?

- I remember that John Byrne had at least created some unpublished covers for that era. Did anyone try and get those from him? I'd have loved to have seen those.

- For some reason I remember a different cover solicited for issue #55, too... and always found it odd that the cover was made up of parts of interior art from the book. What was on this other cover?

Either way, there are some great stories within this and the VisionQuest volume, don't get me wrong. I would have really liked it if the additional material had been within, however.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good albeit disjointed collection, March 19, 2008

By 

DPK (United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Avengers West Coast Visionaries - John Byrne, Vol. 2: Darker than Scarlet (Prelude to House of M) (Paperback)

I largely agree with the previous reviewer. This is a solid run of stories with the only problem being that there are gaps in the story that make it feel disjointed at times. Many events relevant to these stories occurred in other comics, including the flagship Avengers title, that are neither collected here or even given recaps. This is particularly true of things that refer to "Atlantis Attacks" storyline and not as bad with the "Acts of Vengeance" thread.

To be fair most longtime Marvel readers probably know enough to fill in many of the blanks, and they are certainly a large part of the target audience for this collection, so this is a relatively minor complaint because what's here is really good. In fact, I'd say it's up there with the relatively recent Kurt Busiek run on the title and is in some ways better because it did more to shake up the status quo. Much as I enjoyed Busiek's run he frequently seemed intent on keeping a certain "classic Avengers" mood to the book that meant that (a few wise retcons aside) it was as if almost everything from 1987-1997 never happened.

Byrne (and then Roy/Dann Thomas) were not working in that comfort zone. At the time, what they did really felt like a significant change, and at the time it kind of put me off. In hindsight I appreciate it much more.

In any case, the bottom line is that this is a good example of Marvel as the 1980s gave way to the 1990s, before things like Heroes Reborn, variant covers and a lot of the other nonsense from which the comics world is still recovering. In the best marvel tradition, the heroes are heroic, albeit conflicted at times, and they feel like they inhabit a larger world where small events can have great consequences. If more of today's Marvel stories were remotely this good, I'd probably read a lot more of what they publish. Excelsior!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Byrne's Avengers West Coast, vol. 2, June 10, 2008

By 

"extreme_dig_cm" (Chicago, Il USA, Amazon.com Fan!) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Avengers West Coast Visionaries - John Byrne, Vol. 2: Darker than Scarlet (Prelude to House of M) (Paperback)

It's the return of Iron Man! And right when Scarlet Witch is about to break. Byrne's storyline here sets up future Marvel events, showing the quality of everything he does.

Highlights here for me...
*Issues 51 & 52- Iron Man returns. And Master Pandemonium strikes! Features U.S. Agent, Wonder Man, Hank Pym, Wasp, Vision, Scarlet Witch, the original Human Torch & more. Throw in Immortus & Mephisto for an especially crazy time.
*Issue 53- Enter the U-Foes. And Magneto makes an appearance.
*Issue 54- Mole Man attacks Los Angeles! My favorite issue here, it features that big creature from FF #1. This is yet another issue where Byrne imitates the cover to that 1st Fantastic issue.
*Issue 55- Bi-Coastal Avengers vs. Loki. After this issue, the focus is mainly on Scarlet Witch, Magneto & Immortus.

I love Byrne's artistic vision, the Avengers in general, and especially the Avengers west coast team in the '80s. Here we get all three! This isn't usually considered his best work, but it *is* among my favorites. The clarity & consistency in his artistic vision never ceases to amaze me. In this paperback he touches on story points he previously visited in titles like Avengers & Fantastic Four. He especially, continually references the Invaders all throughout his career, and I actually appreciate these brief flashbacks.

Included in this volume:
*Issues #51 & #52- John Byrne writes & pencils; Mike Machlan inks
*Issue #53- John Byrne writes & pencils; Keith Williams inks
*Issues #54 to #57- John Byrne writes & pencils; Paul Ryan inks
*Issues #60 to #62- Roy & Dann Thomas write; Paul Ryan pencils; Danny Bulanadi inks

P.S. And check out this definitive career interview with Byrne: Modern Masters, Vol. 7: John Byrne. With great art & information, it's highly recommended!