READING THE CLASSICS: AVENGERS WEST COAST #51

 

Published on November 1st, 1989

    You can probably tell how much I'm enjoying this book since I reviewed the last issue on April 2nd and it's already April 21st. When I started reviewing this "Vision Quest" arc, the WandaVision TV show was on and not only is it over but Disney+ is already set to air the finale of their 2nd Marvel show, Falcon & The Winter Soldier, this week. I guess my interest in this book just waned, though it's still fairly interesting and the artwork by John Byrne is fantastic. This is actually the first issue that features some elements that they used in the WandaVision show. Angela Harkness, the old, evil witch, shows up in this issue. She was the big bad on the show. And we learn that when Wanda isn't thinking about her twins, they disappear, meaning they're just a fake figment of her imagination. That was also the case in the TV show, as the show was based on Wanda creating a whole fake world. There's a lot more in this issue, too, as is the case for every issue in this run. That's a good thing, as Byrne enjoys random characters popping up for unknown reasons yet to be revealed, and it makes you kind of want to grab the next issue just to find out what the fuck is going on. Mephisto shows up in this issue and steals the twins and takes them to Hell so The West Coast Avengers travel to Hell to get them back. Iron Man also shows up in this issue but it hasn't been explained yet why. They mention something about Tony Stark being dead but not really being dead. I guess I had to have read Iron Man in the late 80's to understand any of that. The final page has Mephisto fusing the twins to his arms so that the twins are his hands. I have no idea what that's all about. We also find out Mephisto's origin. He was in a car crash and lost his arm and the devil just happened to show up and give him an arm and take his soul. How nice of him. **

READING THE CLASSICS: AVENGERS WEST COAST #50

 

Published on November 1st, 1989

    This is the last issue in the "Vision Quest" trade paperback, although it's certainly not the last issue in this continuing storyline. One of the mysteries yet to be solved is Vision and The Scarlet Witch's kids that keep disappearing. Well in this issue a strange new, ominous nanny shows up to solve the case. She's in shadow, so we don't know who she is. Maybe she's Angela Harkness, the witch that was the villain in WandaVision. I suppose I could keep reading this book to find out, but who the fuck knows how long all of these threads continue? We do learn who that woman in the Denver homeless shelter was. She was Toro's wife. Who's Toro? He was the Human Torch's partner. She doesn't think her husband is dead. This leads to the West Coast Avengers digging up the Human Torch's body and, thanks to Wanda, bringing him back to life and he joins the team. Also, Tygra is more cat than woman now so Pym shrunk her and she's in a glass box. And Iron Man shows up on the last page. I just looked up "Vision Quest" online and it seems like it continues for two more issues and then a last aftermath issue. Why aren't those issues in the trade paperback? Who the hell knows? I guess I'll have to track them down somehow. I did look up the sales figures for comics back in 1989 and this book was actually in the top 15...so I guess it was pretty popular. That's surprising, actually, as this issue proves that this comic is too convoluted for kids to read. But I suppose kids that read comics are smarter than kids that don't. I mean...you never see cool kids or bullies reading...right? And they're typically dumb as a box of rocks. *