Avengers The Death of Mockingbird

West Coast Avengers (1985-1994) #92-100,102

by Roy Thomas, Dann Thomas, Dave Ross

Say a tearful farewell to Mockingbird - and the whole West Coast Avengers team - as Hawkeye loses everything! But first, he'll need to ditch the bow and arrows to fight a giant brace yourself for Goliath vs. Goliath! With foes like Dr. Demonicus, Klaw and the Lethal Legion on the horizon, the Whackos will need new recruits. War Machine and Darkhawk? Infinity Crusade pits Avenger against Avenger, but the team is really put through hell courtesy of Mephisto.
AVENGERS WEST COAST 92-100, 102; SPIDER-WOMAN (1993) 1-4; MATERIAL FROM MARVEL COMICS PRESENTS (1988) 143-144

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Fiction, Graphic Novels

379 pages, Paperback

First published February 9, 2016

About the author

Roy Thomas was the FIRST Editor-in-Chief at Marvel--After Stan Lee stepped down from the position. Roy is a longtime comic book writer and editor. Thomas has written comics for Archie, Charlton, DC, Heroic Publishing, Marvel, and Topps over the years. Thomas currently edits the fanzine Alter Ego for Twomorrow's Publishing. He was Editor for Marvel comics from 1972-1974. He wrote for several titles at Marvel, such as Avengers, Thor, Invaders, Fantastic Four, X-Men, and notably Conan the Barbarian. Thomas is also known for his championing of Golden Age comic-book heroes — particularly the 1940s superhero team the Justice Society of America — and for lengthy writing stints on Marvel's X-Men and Avengers, and DC Comics' All-Star Squadron, among other titles.

Also a legendary creator. Creations include Wolverine, Carol Danvers, Ghost Rider, Vision, Iron Fist, Luke Cage, Valkyrie, Morbius, Doc Samson, and Ultron. Roy has also worked for Archie, Charlton, and DC among others over the years.

Reviews

[Brian Poole · Rating 4 out of 5]

Avengers: The Death of Mockingbird collects the mid-90s stories that brought the long-running Avengers West Coast series to a close.

By the time this final run came about, Avengers West Coast had solidified around a core cast of Hawkeye (sometimes using the Goliath identity), Mockingbird, Scarlet Witch, US Agent, Spider-Woman (Julia Carpenter) and new addition War Machine (with a couple other heroes flitting about the edges). The run included the return of Doctor Demonicus and his villainous Pacific Overlords, as part of a complex demonic invasion. The team then experienced some infighting as part of the Infinity Crusade crossover. The supernatural character Hangman returned with a new Lethal Legion, notorious murderers resurrected with bizarre new powers as part of a plot to steal the team’s souls. A showdown in a Hell dimension brought about the title tragedy. In the aftermath of the Blood Ties crossover, the main Avengers team precipitated a crisis that led to the dissolution of the West Coast Avengers. Mainstays Iron Man and Wonder Man turned up at the end, to help push the team towards its new identity as Force Works.

Also included in The Death of Mockingbird are the Spider-Woman limited series that explored Julia’s origin in greater detail and featured a showdown with arachnid-themed villains Death Web and a two-part Scarlet Witch appearance from Marvel Comics Presents most notable for introducing a sexy new costume.

Marvel has been releasing various Avengers West Coast collections in recent years, giving a deserved spotlight to an overlooked gem of a series. Giving Mockingbird the title reference makes sense. She’s featured prominently in these stories. Now she’s become one of the breakout characters of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. on television and is set to headline a spin-off. And she’s getting her own solo book. With a forthcoming reprint of Force Works, Marvel clearly has some plans for these old concepts. They’re worth revisiting.

Veteran writer Roy Thomas (mostly working with wife Dann Thomas as co-writer and penciler Dave Ross as co-plotter) did some really interesting work during his Avengers West Coast run. He introduced lots of new, modern villains that took good advantage of the team’s Pacific orientation. But he also reworked existing characters in creative ways. He worked up effective character drama among the main cast, showcasing a contemporary approach that melded superhero action and soap opera quite smoothly. The more proactive West Coast Avengers were a spin on the “extreme” ethos that overtook comic books in the mid-90s. But in the hands of Roy Thomas, it was far more involving and substantive than what one might have seen in a typical Image series of the day. Thomas was ultimately replaced by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning, who wrote the final issue of the series. But it was Thomas’s vision and facility for writing characters with real emotional depth that made the book so compelling.

Penciler Dave Ross, inker Tim Dzon and colorist Bob Sharen were the primary art team on Avengers West Coast at the time. They had a rather vibrant approach that gave the book a distinctive look. While they feinted toward some of the Image style tics of the time, they tended to avoid hyper-musculature on the male characters and their women didn’t look as though they’d fall over from comically large breasts. Instead, the characters had an athleticism that made sense. Their atmospheric approach to storytelling and no-nonsense approach to page composition and layouts added energy to the plots and their approach was equally effective in the sun-kissed Pacific or in a murky Hell dimension. It’s an unheralded team that has faded into obscurity a couple of decades down the road, so it’s good to see their work showcased here.

Avengers: The Death of Mockingbird is a strong collection giving the spotlight to a neglected corner of Avengers history. It’s an enjoyable run of stories that’s absolutely worth reading.

A version of this review originally appeared on www.thunderalleybcp.com

[Sarospice · Rating 2 out of 5]

So tough to slog thru to the end of the Wackos when you loved this series at start. It might have been poignant to end with Mockingbird's death but this trade limps on, adding worthless asides for Spider-Woman and Scarlet Witch, before someone thought FORCE WORKS was a good idea. (It was not).

[Brandon Skanes · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a pretty big collection, and loved being able to read comics from the 1980s and 1990s. You can see how it's a reflection of a lot of political world views from those times, and how comic books have changed in the decades since. Not "great", but a decent read!

[Brian · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some of the storylines are fun, but it’s tough to read some of these older books now. There’s so much exposition, and the dialogue is so so corny.

[Devero · Rating 3 out of 5]

Canto del cigno per la collana Avengers West Coast, già West Coast Avengers.
Questo ultimo ciclo di storie non è male, anche perché viene dopo un'annata onestamente scarsa. La scelta di chiudere la testata è stata determinata da molti fattori. Personalmente ho sempre apprezzato l'idea di una squadra sulla costa ovest, ma avrei voluto una maggiore interazione come nei primi anni, visto che le due squadre di Vendicatori in fondo fanno parte della stessa organizzazione.

Comunque andò così e la testata chiuse per far posto a lavori di livello scadente come Force Works e il periodo delle "famiglie" di eroi.

[Mitchell Friedman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wow that was a slog. Overly long and slow and complicated and uneven. It just had no real flow to it. And the death of Mockingbird was just basically a waste of time. And since Marvel hardly ever kills anyone, it's not like she stayed dead. But the Spider-Woman story actually worked pretty well. And the short Scarlet Witch story wasn't bad. Strangely enough the disband the West Coast Avengers story was the best of the bunch. Throughout it had possibilities and hints. 3.5 of 5.

[themelaniewaite · Rating 2 out of 5]

This took me forever to get through, on the basis that it was kind of a dull read. As fun as it is to read some earlier issues, this felt like a mess of a collection. The first half was pretty good, leading up to Mockingbird’s death, but then it just felt like a random drop of stories for the second half. Its only saving grace was the last issue involved, dismantling the west coast avengers - understandably so.
This didn’t feel well thought out at all.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one had a little bit of everything.Early on it was a real showcase for Hawkeye and Mockingbird.The latter actually died in this volume and the way it played out was written very well.The U.S Agent and Spiderwoman dominated the rest of the book each with interesting side stories of their own.Including Spiderwomans origin.

[Gary Lee · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Great Marvel Readthrough, pt 224