Comic Review: West Coast Avengers (2018-) #9

West Coast Avengers (2018-) #9

Marvel Comics

Writer: Kelly Thompson

Artist: Gang Hyuk Lim

If you haven’t heard, West Coast Avengers is coming to an end. I’m a fan of this series, and I’m really bummed about it. But the ride’s not over yet! There’s still this issue, and after this, we have one more before it really ends. And then we can start cutting those onions.

The West Coast Avengers are attempting to infiltrate a vampire cult in California. Or they were until most of the team gets captured. In West Coast Avengers #9, Quentin Quire and Gwenpool have to trust Kate Bishop’s mother for help to save their team.

This is probably my least favorite issue in this series so far. There’s a lot that I like about it, but it does one thing that, no matter who or what it happens to, I just can’t bring myself to be a fan of it. Before I get into that, I like the rest of this issue just fine. It feels a little short, but stuff happens in it. With most of the team being held captive, there are some good interactions between them. Gang Hyuk Lim’s art is great. The characters are expressive, and the action that’s present looks great. There’s also a few panels with Jeff the Shark and he looks super adorable when he pops up.

I’ll avoid names and try to keep it short, but there may be some slight SPOILERS in the next couple of sentences. There have been a few small hints about it, but in this issue, we learn a character has ties to the Dora Milaje. They’re the Black Panther’s badass female bodyguards, they’re cool. My problem isn’t with them, it’s that the character is related to them. I don’t like when characters in a story have some kind of arbitrary tie to other famous characters. Again, there’s been some hints about it in earlier issues, but it feels like they’re forcing it in since the series is ending.

For the most part, I like this issue. I have to sit on a bit more, but I think it’s still maybe my least favorite of the series so far. But this series is consistently getting an A’s on a grading scale, for me personally, so one B- isn’t the worst thing in the world. There’s not too much plot development but there are some good character interactions. Even the one part I don’t like so much is still an interesting plot development for the character. This is still a great book everyone should be reading.