Captured By Vampires And Moms: West Coast Avengers #9 Reviewed
by Josh Davison
[*Mild Spoilers Ahead!]
Fuse and Noh-Varr are trapped in a pit and are struggling to find a way out of this predicament. Hawkeyes Kate Bishop and Clint Barton are strung up by the vampiric members of the Temple of the Shifting Sun and see the vampires performing beginning some sort of ritual with America Chavez. Gwenpool and Quentin Quire are preparing their rescue mission for the other members of the West Coast Avengers, but Ramone wants to come along and has a major revelation for Gwen.
West Coast Avengers #9 finds the team once again beaten down and split apart by their enemies. This time those enemies are a cult of vampires with some sort of connection to both Madame Masque and Kate Bishop’s formerly deceased and possibly evil mother.
The new West Coast Avengers have been frequently beaten down and humiliated since forming. While struggle is part of any good heroic story and this is also a comedy book, the manner in which it happens is beginning to feel repetitive. Unfortunately, given that this book has already been announced as cancelled, it looks like we won’t get to see the series grow out of that or shake up its formula.
That said, the characters in this book are still charming, the dialogue is good (as it always is with a Kelly Thompson comic), and the pacing is swift. All in all, the writing is still pretty solid.
Gang Hyuk Lim’s artwork is another strong point of the comic. Visual expression is a big part of the style, and it serves a book like this very well. The action scenes are still kinetic and hard-hitting, which adds a nice dose of catharsis. There are some stylistic flares cribbed from anime and manga, which suits the book well too. Triona Farrell’s color work is well-balanced and popping too, which is definitely needed for a West Coast Avengers book.
West Coast Avengers #9 is another entertaining and fun issue of the series. While I have my complaints, I’m still sad to see this book on its way out. Regardless, this issue gets a recommendation. Feel free to pick it up.
West Coast Avengers #9 comes to us from writer Kelly Thompson, artist and cover artist Gang Hyuk Lim, color artist Triona Farrell, letterer VC’s Joe Caramagna.
