Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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- I remember that John Byrne had at least created some unpublished covers for that era.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.

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!

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!

I will never get tired of a good, old-fashioned John Byrne story. He is always able to take and insignificant book/character and give it cosmic importance. Where many writers and/or artists have failed to craft an interesting story--John Byrne consistently SUCCEEDS! When you read a John Byrne story, you never want it to end. Thank you, Mr. Byrne for all the years you put into the industry elevating your craft.

This final set of John Byrne's stint on AWC collects issues #51-57 by Byrne himself and issues #60-62 by Roy & Dann Thomas. His sudden departure from the series left Roy and Dann to loosely finish up what he started, and according to Byrne, wasn't at all how he intended to finish the story.
Storywise, we get the return of Iron Man to the team and a battle against the U-Foes (who surprisingly STILL have not gone against their inspiration, the Fantastic Four, in their illustrious 29 year career!) and the reunion of Magneto, Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch.
Not a bad read, but a letdown knowing that Byrne's absence affected the ending.

The very first time the Scarlet Witch turns evil and is manipulated by his father. It comes in handy to understand what happens in House of M.

If you can suffer thru the 80's and 90's dialogue and artwork you end up getting a good history of Wanda Maximoff that can explain the events of Avengers: Disassembled and The House of M. I felt like it took forever to get thru it but history class can be tidious sometimes.