Comic Browser:

#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
#10
Selector

West Coast Avengers #3: Review

Oct 2018
Kelly Thompson, Stefano Caselli

Story Name:

(no title given)

Review & Comments

Rating:
4 stars

West Coast Avengers #3 Review by (November 2, 2018)
The story continues on. We don't expect the change to Kate-Hawk to last very long, not if the covers of the next issues are anything to go by. But the change in Gwenpool isn't so visible so maybe it'll stick. And anyway she lasted a long time before learning how to escape the comic panels so she's just been reverted to her previous state.




 

Synopsis / Summary / Plot

West Coast Avengers #3 Synopsis by Rob Johnson
We open with Kate Bishop and Johnny Watts woken up by extremely-giant Tigra tearing the roof off their bedroom. Kate/Hawkeye immediately deduces (correctly) that BRODOK has worked out that they knew he was really the villainous MODOK with a makeover, and now he's sent his oversize pawn to harass them. Tigra drags Kate out into the open. Kate tries to talk to her but the werewoman is stuck in growl mode. As America Chavez enters the room to see what's going on Fuse converts his body to vibranium. He explains to her that his piercing rings are made of the stuff so he always has it handy to replicate. At his request America hurls him into the sky (without even calling it a fast-ball special).

The rest of the team show up. Kid Omega/Quentin Quire admits that he fell asleep while he was supposed to be keeping an eye on their 'guest' BRODOK. (He actually says "I refuse to answer that on the grounds that the answer is 'Yes'".) (Quentin's t-shirt this time says 'Future Phoenix'.) America alerts them that there are more big female monsters out there trashing Venice LA, and BRODOK amidst them hovering on his (bare)foot jets. Clint Barton/Hawkeye hopes this is a dream. (When  asked if he usually dreams of giant monster women he steals Quentin's reply.)

Gwenpool asks if they have a plan. Clint-Hawkeye sends America to deal with a dragon lady. He gives Kid Omega permission to use his mental powers to 'shut Tigra down', which Kate-Hawkeye vetoed in #1 because Greer Nelson is 1 of the goodies. That leaves him and Gwen with 4 other monsters. Quentin flies into the air and merely mentally puts Tigra to sleep - but her fall causes more property damage. Kate and Johnny return to their shattered room and Kate changes into her costume and grabs her weapons. (We see 1 of the later reality-show interview recordings where Fuse refuses to tell where he got his rare vibranium rings from.)

Kate-Hawkeye is about to shoot a plain arrow at 1 of the monsters when she notices tattoos that she recognises from 1 of BRODOK's files. She realises that this monster is 1 of BRODOK's Advance Image Mechanics psychiatry patients, and deduces that they all are. She mentally contacts telepathic Quire and gets him to relay the message to the others not to hurt their foes (not that they're actually doing much damage anyway). And also to tell America to join her. Chavez polishes off her dragon and complies. Kate asks her to provide a portal to the AIM lab.

Gwenpool has flying BRODOK's neck in a scissor lock and his trying to twist his head off with her hands. She hopes to remove it to reveal MODOK's head underneath to shock him with the realisation of who he is. BRODOK picks holes in that plan. A) It would make him realise he's a supervillain. B) He knows who he is anyway. C) This body doesn't have MODOK's bigger body inside it. Then they both notice BRODOK's 'love' Kate escaping through the portal. He dumps the annoying Gwenpool and goes after her.

As Gwen falls through the air she finds she can't use her ability to exit the comics panel into Gutter Space in order to escape. She deduces she's been 'rebooted' (ie the comic's creators have drastically changed her). But Kid Omega saves her from splatting on the ground. He asks why she didn't use her powers to save herself, and won't believe her when she says she doesn't have any (except the comicbook-related abilities she seems to have lost and doesn't mention). (A reality-show recording has him trying to reconcile no powers with some of the things he can't actually remember seeing her do - and what that might mean for their relationship.) Gwenpool runs off and uses her gun to fire a line which she wraps round the jaws of the dragon who's waking up. America carries Fuse into the air and throws his vibranium body at 1 of the monsters, knocking it down.

Kate is in the AIM building looking for a way to cure Tigra and the others, but BRODOK finds her. He rants about how he changed himself (from MODOK) to this handsome human shape and came to the West Coast looking for love. In #2 we saw how he had been coming on to his female patients but they all rejected him. And now they will destroy the heartless city that is Los Angeles. Kate points out that the women didn't like him because he was still the same MODOK inside. BRODOK takes her point but still shoots her with a ray gun.

Back at the battle Quire tells everyone that he's lost mental contact with Kate. Clint-Hawkeye fires a glue arrow into the jaws of a flying insect monster and then he and America take 1 of her portals to go help their friend. And in BRODOK's lab he has Kate strapped to the operating table we saw last issue and he fires the big ray at her that we also saw last issue.

Back at the fight Tigra is awake. But Kid Omega has relieved her of BRODOK's mind control, so now she's articulate but still angry ... at BRODOK. But for now she'll take it out on the other monster women. Gwenpool is doing a running commentary for the readers of the comic, which is confusing to bystanders. Quire gives Clint an update as he and America find Kate ... transformed into a giant bird, the Kate-Hawk.



Stefano Caselli
Stefano Caselli
Triona Farrell
Stefano Caselli (Cover Penciler)
Stefano Caselli (Cover Inker)
Nolan Woodard (Cover Colorist)
Letterer: Joe Caramagna.
Editor: Alanna Smith. Editor-in-chief: C. B. Cebulski.

Characters

Listed in Alphabetical Order.

Hawkeye
Hawkeye

(Clint Barton)
Hawkeye
Hawkeye

(Kate Bishop)
Ms. America
Ms. America

(America Chavez)
Tigra
Tigra

(Greer Nelson)

Plus: BRODOK, Fuse (Johnny Watts), Gwenpool (Gwen Poole), Kid Omega (Quentin Quire).

> West Coast Avengers: Book info and issue index

Share This Page


Elektra