Lot of 64 comics: West Coast Avengers #42-101 near complete Byrne Ryan Vision

Lot of 64 comics: West Coast Avengers #42-101 near complete Byrne Ryan Vision

Description

The West Coast Avengers/Avengers West Coast
complete set of the Byrne Run & more!
  West Coast Avengers #42-46 
Avengers West Coast #47-79,83-91,96,97,100,101 (51 of 61 issues!)
Annual #4-7
volume 1
by John Byrne, Paul Ryan, Roy & Dann Thomas, Dave Ross, Tom Morgan

The Avengers #311,314-317
volume 1
(scripted by Byrne)
by John Byrne, Paul Ryan

PLUS 4 related comics!!

X-Men V2 #26 (Bloodties x-over)
Thor Annual #15 (Terminus Factor x-over)
The Incredible Hulk Annual #17, Iron Man Annual #12 (Subterranean Wars x-over)
Line-up: Hawkeye, Doctor Pym, Iron Man, Mockingbird, Scarlet Witch, Tigra, Vision, Wasp, Wonder Man, new members U.S. Agent, (the original) Human Torch, Spider-Woman, Living Lightning, War Machine (Rhodey was actually a founder in the WCA mini-series though)

Guest-stars/Villains include: U-Foes, Master Pandemonium, Magneto, Loki, Hydro-Man, Immortus, the Legion of the Unliving, Captain America, Ultron, Fantastic Four, the Night Shift, Doctor Strange, Spider-Man, Wolverine, Darkhawk, X-Men

Crossovers include Acts of Vengeance, Infinity Crusade, Bloodties

Highlights: I didn't take the time to reread these as I did with my Engelhart collection.  When they came out, there was a lot of excitement about Byrne writing both Avengers books.  Previously, a strong effort was made to let the West Coast team identify and prove itself.  Now, the time had come for the Avengers to be a more cohesive unit that simply had two headquarters.  This was reflected not only by the change in creative teams, but also in the matching logos.  Only Tom Palmer remained in the Avengers creative team, and the Avengers East line-up changed completely.  The West Coast team, however, remained pretty much intact and respectfully in character to the classic Englehart portrayals.

I enjoyed the Byrne run thoroughly.  It was bittersweet to see Englehart and Milgrom go -- the level of realness of the characters would never be the same, and Milgrom's art, while lacking the neat lines and spectacular layouts of Byrne, always told the story and conveyed the emotions.  Also, they were consistent, with only two fill-ins over three and a half years.

Byrne began by dismantling the Vision (blowing up Englehart's storyline where he and the Scarlet Witch had twin children).  I think Byrne was annoyed that the character had finally, seemingly, developed a human persona.  Byrne returned the character to a seemingly cold and mysterious figure.  Personally, I never thought this was a great move for the character, but the storyline was effective and set up his reintroduction of the Golden Age Human Torch in #50.  But all this for a character who fans were actually content leaving in the grave?  I never got it.

So, entertaining stories whose events didn't resonate with me.  I always felt detached from what Byrne was doing, but I read all his comics despite myself.  His art was certainly appealing, and there were always little plot threads going on left and right that kept me guessing.

I have to say that the Great Lakes Avengers, introduced in #46, were brilliant.  Led by the deranged Mister Impossible (who could resurrect from any horrible death), these misfits eventually fell under the leadership of the disgruntled Hawkeye, who left the Avengers when the U.S. Agent (Cap's unstable replacement garbed in the interim "Captain" costume of the Gruenwald era) was forced on the Whackos.

Claremont and Byrne have this thing where they want to do a story with a strong female character, so they have her become "too powerful" and "turn evil".  It doesn't seem to happen with the men.  The men could get as powerful as they wanted, and they handle it fine.  It's quite annoying.  Sometimes I think that they have some kind of problem with strong women, even though they often write such great strong characters.  Dark Phoeniz, Dark Storm (no lie, do your reading), what the heck?!  I think of the FF story by Byrne where Sue Richards defends being called the "Invisible Girl" on national television.  I see hear lips moving, but I only hear Byrne's words coming out.  Seriously?!  Why would she NOT want to be called a woman?!  In all fairness, Byrne acknowledged his error and changed her name to the Invisible Woman...err, after she became too powerful and turned into the evil Malice.  Ouch.
And don't even get me started on She-Hulk naked jumprope.  
Anyway, back to the plotline.  So, the Scarlet Witch, shattered by the loss of her children and the Vision....becomes too powerful and turns into the *evil* Dark Scarlet Witch.

But, as I say, I enjoyed this story despite myself.  Seeing Magneto reunite with Quicksilver & the Scarlet Witch, now throughly evil, no longer the whimpering teens of yesteryear...very cool.

The Acts of Vengeance crossover was mostly Byrne's doing.  All of the chief super-villains gather their wits and switch partners.  The Avengers books gave the main storyline, while all of the solo books (and many other titles) featured tie-ins.  Spider-Man famously gained the power cosmic in his books, battling Graviton, Magneto and the like.  The storyline culminated with a battle against the Avengers' seminal foe, Loki.

I was relieved to see Byrne go before a Dark Tigra or Dark Mockingbird story could form (I do remember Tigra shrinking into a tiny kitty cat, but I don't remember how this resolved).  Paul Ryan had begun illustrating AWC (after Byrne's Avengers) and did a fantastic job.  He continued as the penciler during the excellent Roy & Dann Thomas run until Dave Ross stepped in.  I don't remember these stories so well, but I looked forward to ACW every month almost until the end.  Roy Thomas, like Englehart, had delivered the definitive Avengers run in the 60's (following Stan Lee!), and introduced old and new elements to the West Coast team, adding Spider-Woman and Living Lightning, pitting them against his creation Ultron, and more.

I have included whatever else I had that crosses over with stories in this run.  Hopefully you're looking for a good deal on reading these original issues and will find that this set gives you ALMOST everything you need!

Condition:  These comics are mostly in excellent condition.  #42-52 are subscription copies, and some have a faint trace of the crease left, although all have a nice appearance.  After that I was purchasing new by mail order, so the rest are mostly in excellent shape.  Good/VG to NM, Majority VF or better.   Bagged, not boarded.  I have added some scans of random issues...they are nice!!!  Price tags on the bags, not the books.
  I am liquidating my internet store and some of my collection over the next year.  Check back for more great sets of comic books, cd's, and more!  
Star Wars  novels, Robin, Aquaman, JLA, X-Force, Detective Comics, Batman, Gotham Knights, LOTDK, Birds of Prey, Hawkman, Green Lantern, Flash, Firestorm, and Nightwing are up now or will be listed soon!

I am considering any reasonable offers, so please submit yours!
Everything must go!  Until my student loans are paid off!!

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