West Coast Avengers
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The West Coast Avengers was a spin-off superhero team of the Avengers, as well as the title of their comic book series. Volume 1 was a four issue limited series, with #1 debuting September 1984, and volume 2 lasted 102 issues, #1 published October 1985, #102 in January 1994, with the name changing to Avengers West Coast with issue 47. It has been reported that during the early issues of the second volume, this book was more popular than it's parent book. At the book's end, many of the characters were spun into the Force Works team.
History
1980s
1984 saw the first volume of the West Coast Avengers, written by Roger Stern, with art by Bob Hall and Brett Breeding. It was notable mainly for establishing the core lineup: team leader Hawkeye, his wife Mockingbird, Tigra, Wonder Man and Iron Man.
The second volume launched soon after, with story by Steve Englehart and art by Al Milgrom and Joe Sinnott. The early issues established the West Coast team as slightly more irreverent than their East Coast counterparts, taking upon themselves the nickname 'Wackos'. This period saw the mental deterioration of Hank Pym, who was helping the team as a scientific advisor. Pym suffered a nervous breakdown and became suicidal.
The team became stranded in the past, its members separated in various historic eras within the Marvel universe. While most of the team was caught in ancient Egypt, Mockingbird was held captive in the Wild West by the Phantom Rider, who used amnesiac drugs to convince her that she was his lover. Parallel to this adventure ran the salvation of Hank Pym, and his return to heroics. Moon Knight helped rescue the team, and he and Pym accepted invitations to join the team.
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The adventure in time left repercussions for the team to deal with. Mockingbird and Hawkeye separated after he discovered she had allowed the Phantom Rider to fall to his death because of personal reasons, and the rift was exacerbated when she proved instrumental in a plot by several world governments to abduct and dismantle the Vision for his near takeover of the world. The Vision was reassembled, but his personality was largely a blank, emotionless state. Wonder Man, who as the Vision's "twin" also harbored feelings for the Scarlet Witch, refused to serve as a template for his brother's thoughts again. The original Human Torch was also revived, leading to doubts as to what the Vision actually was. The final straw was the discovery that the Vision and Scarlet Witch's twin sons (born by magic) were magical constructs and did not actually exist. That revelation drove the Scarlet Witch into madness for a time. Later, Mockingbird and Hawkeye patched things up, but she was tragically killed by Mephisto while the team was trying to escape from his otherdimensional realm. It was at the end of this decade that Byrne introduced the Great Lakes Avengers, a somewhat humourous attempt to give the midwest of the U.S. its own team.
External links
Steve Englehart's website (http://www.google.com/url?sa=U&start=1&q=http://www.steveenglehart.com/Comics/Avengers%2520West%2520Coast%25201-16.html&e=9707)