WEST COAST AVENGERS

The Avengers,Marvel Comics' answer toDC'sJustice League of America, is probably the biggest, most unwieldysuperhero team in comic book history. The only other credible candidate for the …

The group had just come out of a period in which the U.S. government held it to an active membership limit (and mandated affirmative action, which is howThe Falcon had come to be in it for a few months). As a reaction to that (in the stories at least — in the real world, the reason was to expand a popular franchise),The Vision, current chairman, ordained that there be two entirely separate Avengers teams, the other to be located on the opposite side of the continent. The writer who maneuvered the split was Roger Stern, who a few years later created one of the characters namedStarman for DC. The new division first appeared inWest Coast Avengers #1, dated September, 1984, which kicked off the 4-issue mini-series that served as their test run. The artists on the mini-series were Bob Hall (The Champions) and Brett Breeding (Thor).

Hawkeye, a member since the early days, headed up the West Coast Avengers. He tookWonder Man (another old-timer) andTigra (a recent addition) with him. He recruited Mockingbird (with whom he was romantically involved) and Iron Man (nottheIron Man, but a newer character using the same technology) as new members. The "Wackos", as he called them (it was his way of pronouncing the initials, WCA) were installed in the Avengers' new West Coast headquarters, The Avengers Compound.

The Compound, purchased from the estate of silent movie star Sylvia Powell, was located along the Pacific Coast, south of Los Angeles. It had everything the parent group's Manhattan mansion had — office space, secure storage, residences for the various members, etc. — and then some. With 15 acres, there was plenty of room to store jet planes, chemical laboratories, space ships, and whatever else a bunch of superheroes would find handy. It also had a four-hole golf course.

The group moved into an ongoing, monthly series with a cover date of October, 1985. There, they started out with scripts by Steve Englehart (Batman) and art by Al Milgrom (Firestorm). Others wrote or drew the series after them, including John Byrne (Alpha Flight), Roy Thomas (The Invaders) and Mark Gruenwald (Squadron Supreme). And, as in the East Coast branch, a lot of members came and went. Mainstream Avengers who were part of the West Coast division at one time or another includeThe Scarlet Witch, The Vision andThe Wasp. Superheroes who drifted in and out from other parts of the MarvelUniverse includeThe Thing (during an absence fromThe Fantastic Four),Machine Man,Moon Knight and the originalHuman Torch.

West Coast Avengers was well received by fans — for a time, in fact, it out-sold the original. But it faded some in their estimation after a few years. A minor ploy to boost circulation was to change the name toAvengers West Coast as of the 48th issue (September, 1989), so the two titles would be displayed together in stores that racked their comics alphabetically. But it gradually declined.

Eventually, the title ran completely out of steam. In the final issue (#102, January, 1994), there was an acriminious break up, with the group disbanding and most members quitting The Avengers altogether. Several of them formed a new group, unaffiliated with any other, called Force Works. This team got its own title six months later, but it lasted only 22 issues.

— DDM

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