Avengers West Coast #51

By Mark Rodriguez

By now almost every Marvel Super Hero that isn't one of the X-Men or one of the Fantastic Four is a member of the Avengers... and even then we still have Beast and The Thing as Avengers.... I dare say the only remaining hero that isn't one of them is The Punisher since he isn't one to play well with others. Among them possibly the one that causes the most problems (with the possible exception of Hank Pym, creating Ultron and all that) is the Scarlet Witch that turns heel every whenever.

In the 90's there was a split faction of the Avengers called the West Coast Avengers with certain members like Hawkeye, Power Man and the Scarlet Witch. Back when I was just starting to get into the actual hobby of buying and reading comics, I got into Spider-Man and the Avengers and found this series entertaining. The last issue I bought at the time was the one where Wanda betrayed the Avengers, and I never got to see the rest of it. Now thanks to being able to find the story collected in a trade paperback... I got my chance. Let's check it out.

Issue 51 opens with Iron Man making his return to action, but it seems Hank Pym, Wonder Man, the Wasp and the US Agent aren't too happy to see him. US Agent believes that this current Iron Man has killed Stark and is wearing the armor now, and heads off to call Washington to confirm this. Once he leaves, Hank says they know Stark is still alive and ask Iron Man if that's their old friend under the armor. Iron Man apologizes but says he can't say.

Here's a blast from the past, we got Wasp, Wonder Man, Hank Pym and the US Agent

Wanda and Vision head back home and the Scarlet Witch complains that she doesn't him to sound so 'human'. Vision points out that she works with the Avengers which are mostly humans and she calls it a passing weakness. They arrive to discover someone in their house, an old woman named Agatha Harkness who they have witnessed being burned at stake at an earlier story.

Agatha points out that the matter at hand isn't her miraculous return, but Wanda's children. She tells them they seem to vanish whenever she isn't thinking about them. Every time she's in a fight or something to place her thoughts elsewhere, her children cease to exist. Wanda is shocked to hear this and Agatha tells Vision that she will need him now more than ever,

The original Human Torch, apparently there was an android that looks exactly like Johnny Storm does when he's Flaming On, is flying around enjoying his newfound freedom after the Scarlet Witch has turned him back on. He sees a woman that confuses his normal form for her dead husband Tom. Torch seems to have known Tom and is shocked to find out he was dead. Just then, monsters attack and they dump snow all over Torch before he has time to flame on.

The Avengers hear Torch's screams and run out to fight. The heroes are confused by the monsters but know that they must be the work of Master Pandemonium (eye roll?). Iron Man asks about their last encounter with him and Hank wonders how he knew that. US Agent steps back into the room and is surprised to see the demons, but jumps in to help. Torch is able to vaporize the dampness around him and flame back on. Wasp and Pym notice that the demons don't seem to want to kill them and only want to distract them.

Vision is trying to calm Wanda down, but she explains all the things she had endure recently. The demons crash into their house and Agatha prepares to use her witchcraft on them. Pandemonium breathes fire upon her to stop her. Vision phases his hand through his chest, but the villain has no heart for him to stop (that was a drastic attack move anyway). Wanda uses her hex powers to drive the villain back, and he gets away saying his work is done. Vision wondered what he meant by that and Wanda is shocked to discover that her children have vanished.

Master Pandemonium rests in hell (or some hellish place) with the children, and he explains how he was a normal guy caught in a car accident, but Mephisto replaced his lost arms with demon arms. He also tore out his soul which left him with a gaping hole in the shape of a pentagram.

Wanda is pissed that everyone is standing around talking while he children are missing. Wasp mentioned maybe they just disappeared again, and he Scarlet Witch bitchslaps her demanding the others help her find her child. Agatha opens a portal leading them to Pandemonium. Elsewhere a guy named Immortus is able to see this happening and flies off to take care of it, saying they are getting in the way of his plans for Wanda.

Once the Avengers arrives they are surprised to see a nice and peaceful landscape. Agatha, in spirit, tells them to be careful. Just then the landscape itself starts attacking them and the heroes fight back. They see a building in the distance and head towards it since the villain must be inside. As the heroes arrive, Master Pandemonium is already waiting for them..... and he somehow has Wanda's children fused to his arms, acting like this hands....

My Opinions-

Wow, does this ever take me back. Avengers West Coast was probably the first super hero team book I ever read and there are so many changes with the characters from then to now and all these questions. If this Iron Man isn't Tony Stark... then who is he? What's the deal with the US Agent? I remember him in those old days but I never got the idea if he was supposed to be some kind of back-up for the real Captain America or what? And with all these characters running around in modern comics, he's one character I haven't seen coming back or redesigned or whatever. And somehow he thinks Tony is dead, and the others seem to know better but choose to keep it from him. So weird. I do remember him appearing as a 'secret character' in Marvel VS Capcom 2, which is of course, basically a palate swapped Captain America.

Another classic character is 'the original Human Torch', an android that was around since the 50's. Um... wut? Again it's such a bizzare coincidence that Johnny Storm was exposed to radiation in space and was somehow able to 'flame on' and look exactly like a hero from the 50's. I guess you can say Johnny was a fan and named himself after him... but c'mon. His powers would work the exact same way and everything? C'mon.... just..... c'mon now.

hmm at least they got to meet up face to face at one time and even acknowledged their similarities, but still.... It's a big pill to swallow. It's like Ben Grim just happened to change into an orange rock monster that looked exactly like another orange rock monster from the 50's

The comic brings into question Wanda's children and how she was even able to have children with the Vision, who is an android. The comic had an interesting idea with the possibility that maybe the children weren't real at all, and they were just some sort of delusion of hers turned real whenever she thought about it. Babysitters being fired when they tried to tell her her kids up and vanishing, and Wasp being witness to it at least once before, it all adds up. It reminds me of that Jodie Foster movie where she lost her kid on a plane and everyone was trying to convince her she was crazy and she never had a son to begin with.

Also this brings out the ugly in Wanda, already having started the issue with her showing hatred for humans. Wanda also questions what she means by that after suddenly getting bitchslapped. With the loss of her children, Wanda's descent into darkness begins.

As for the villain, Master Pandemonium.... ridiculous name but he does have an interesting design. That last page though.... yikes. That's one prime example of something not looking so bad cause it's drawn as opposed to how disturbingly horrible it would look in real life. Pandemonium's hands.... replaced by Wanda's babies..... what the fuck dude. What. The. Fuck. It's like a nightmarish version of Midori Days.

Midori Days, an anime series about a guy that suddenly has a girl attached to his right hand. Yeah, Pandemonium kinda went that route except in his case it's not as cute and funny as it is here.... even though the general idea of it is still super messed up.

What awaits the Avengers West Coast and how will seeing such a horrid sight further bring upon her impending meltdown? Stay tuned to find out.