After a conflict with the previous issue of competition, the West Coast Avengers take a beat in HQ and resist trying to embrace interpersonal issues that threaten to tear the team – the fronton’s humane, self-sacrificing iteration.
West Coast Avengers #4 becomes the read that people who have enjoyed the series so far, as he elaborates in detail the first encounter between Iron Man and the War Machine with this benevolent version of Ultron through flashbacks that cause a decent chunk of problems.
The encounter occurs when Ultron rushes to save the day during an alien attack. It’s saved from the feeling of being thrown away by the writing of Jerry Duggan’s great character, although somewhat common and insignificant in the series’ larger story.
Apart from nailing Tony’s personality and humor, Duggan realizes that hitting the threat of a global ending in a flashback scene without Preamble doesn’t encourage real tension. Instead, he uses this time to emphasize the extent to which Ultron sacrifices himself.
Unfortunately, Iron Man feels like he’s coming to embrace Ultron a little too fast, given the thin threat that the villain has proven to be in the past. Logically, I understand why the West Coast Avengers should trust the robots, but the emotional beat from Tony on this issue might have been good.
The breaker shradrum is here to destroy the world…and will never be heard again, I bet. Credit: Marvel
Nevertheless, there is the truly creative work done in the artwork here, as the threat of a “black hole bomb” squeezes and distorts the shape of the panel. This is closely related to the pace of the action, and it’s a fun effect of having fun reading, even if this flashback nature takes away some stakes scenes.
Danny Kim’s artwork is generally pretty good. Both the action scenes and character designs look good (particularly Ultron’s painful new visual upgrades), but it’s hard to keep him from realizing the occasional unstable perspective in his work. Then there’s the problem of a completely unvibrant blank background that destroys the immersion in the story, especially at the Avengers headquarters on the West Coast.
This is a very Firestar story, despite much of the problem being Ultron-centric flashbacks. She is the character who encourages flashbacks to begin with, and she is now the child of the team’s problems. She is belligerent, drinking at work and falls into the general mood. I admire Duggan’s willingness to avoid recognizing the character. Hopefully, we will set a moment to satisfy the change later in the series.
In a way, the series serves as a pseudo-order for Gerry Duggan’s recent execution on X-Men. Duggan is clearly a fan of the character – she’s gaining more spotlight through Duggan than she’s had in decades – and uses the West Coast Avengers to explore the fallout that his X-Menlan events had on her.
However, you don’t need the previous reading of the aforementioned X-Men run to understand this story. The nasty blue bolt is more perceptive than he appears, and through him we get a little better understanding of Angelica (the Firestar). In fact, Blue Bolt may be the character that readers are most excited to see more in the future after reading this issue, as Duggan effectively strips off his childish layer of personality and reveals something unexpected underneath.
West Coast Avengers #4 offers some proper action and highly acclaimed character moments that will help highlight the tension that exists in this patchwork team. Uneven artwork, lack of overall plot progression, and strong tensions and lack of interests undermine the quality of the story, but Duggan’s affinity for Firestar also helps him, just as much as his confidence in dealing with characters like Iron Man and Blue Bolt. Fans enjoy this problem, but most people are more interested to see what comes next.
“West Cors Vengers” #4 reveals a crack in Iron Man’s new team
West Coast Avengers #4
West Coast Avengers #4 offers some proper action and highly acclaimed character moments that will help highlight the tension that exists in this patchwork team. Uneven artwork, lack of overall plot progression, and strong tensions and lack of interests undermine the quality of the story, but Duggan’s affinity for Firestar also helps him, just as much as his confidence in dealing with characters like Iron Man and Blue Bolt. Fans enjoy this problem, but most people are more interested to see what comes next.
Considering the weight that is worthy of Firestar’s trauma
Blue bolts aren’t as easy as he appears
Nifty New Design by Ultron: The Avenger
I feel that Tony’s decision to embrace Ultron is in a hurry
Sometimes unclear artwork
