#Susan a love interest who was led astray into an evil music genre

[thebibliomancer]

Essential Avengers: West Coast Avengers #38: REDEMPTION

November, 1988

The West Coast Avengers

In their greatest battle ever --

-- against THE DEFILER!

Really? Their greatest battle ever?

Is that what we’re going with?

Also, hi, Mockingbird. Hi, Iron Man.

You back on the team? Is the Redemption you two making up with the Avengers?

No.

This is a fill-in issue, set nebulously Sometime. Sometime before Iron Man quit because of Armor Wars. Sometime after Hank rejoined the team as Dr Pym. But also Sometime when Moon Knight wasn’t on the team. Which is an impossible time but maybe Moony had an errand to tend to.

The issue was written by Dan Chichester and Margaret Clark instead of Englehart.

When Englehart is forced from the book, the official reason is that he was getting behind on deadlines. Having a fill-in issue does sort of support that. Although Englehart himself claims that new EIC DeFalco didn’t like him and gave the book to John Byrne as a favoritism thing.

But this is not the time to get into that. Not when we have the West Coast Avengers’ Greatest Battle Ever.

This issue isn’t totally without context. It opens with the West Coast Avengers (Hawkeye, Wonder Man, the Vision, Scarlet Witch, and Mantis) grimly flying in a Quinjet. Maybe on a quest to help Mantis get her memory back. Maybe on their way back from their part in Evolutionary War.

And Wonder Man, looking exceptionally mulleted today muses about the downbeat mood the team is under since they split up.

Wonder Man: “Boy, things are sure different than they used to be. It doesn’t seem that long ago when we were a real team. Teamwork was the only way we could have beaten the Defiler... the only way that boy Mike could have gained -- REDEMPTION.”

FILL-IN ISSUE!

Mike (that guy in the black vest is Mike) THWAMs that ABSOLUTELY GIANT ARM with a trash can lid and tries to run to safety with Susan (red shirt girl). They need to tell someone what “he’s up to!” Maybe some Avengers. Some Avengers have been flying around the area.

But Mike trips on a pipe and smashes his head on a dumpster. And he’s so woozy that the ABSOLUTELY GIANT MAN catches up.

Defiler: “Now, little ones -- you both owe me -- and it’s about time I collect!”

He grabs and hoists both of them by their necks.

But luckily there really were some random (West Coast) Avengers in the area, just as rumored.

Tigra and Wonder man show up in the random alley and say “ordinary creeps like you we eat for breakfast!” so tell him to let the guy and girl go.

So the Defiler throws the kids aside and beats one motherfucker with another motherfucker.

But after smashing the two Avengers, the Defiler feels drained. While the Avengers are still stunned, he grabs Mike and Susan and drags them off toward a Corruption of Innocence feat. the Defiler billboard.

The billboard becomes a swirling green portal and the Defiler yeets Susan and then Mike into it.

While Susan flies in clean, Mike gets snagged on one of the billboard lights. When Tigra and Wonder Man recover and rejoin with Dr Pym, Iron Man, Hawkeye, and Mockingbird, they spot a chain poking out of the billboard.

Iron Man and Wonder Man yank Mike out of the billboard.

Although, we get a little return to Wonder Man being a dick to Iron Man specifically when Iron Man can’t pull Mike free by himself.

Wonder Man: “Fancy suit not up to the job, Iron Man? Let me give you a real man’s hand!”

Mike is covered in yellow-orange chunky goo but he seems okay aside from that. He insists that they need to save Susan because he got her into this.

And what’s this?

Hard core music. 

HEAVY METAL -scare chord-

That’s what the redemption in the title is about. Mike needs redemption. For getting Susan into hard core music.

Lol. Roflmao.

In fairness, his favorite band happened to be hiding a dark secret. And Mike introduced Susan to the Defiler and got them both jobs as roadies for him.

Their friends started going missing and they didn’t realize why until they caught the Defiler yeeting someone into a portal. And that’s what happened today and why they were fleeing.

Hawkeye asks Dr Pym his science opinion and based on nothing, Hank spells out a theory where the Defiler is yeeting people into another dimension in exchange for energy but that the people are probably still alive. FOR NOW.

He’s right but its based on zero backing evidence.

Mike says there’s another concert this very night so they gotta save his thousands of fans.

The (West Coast) Avengers agree to go fight the guy. It’s what they do. But they tell Mike that obviously they’re not going to bring a civilian into it just because he feels bad about getting his girlfriend into the wrong genre of music.

They leave him but he determines to follow anyway.

The West Coast Avengers hit the concert and find that the Defiler is ready for them. An energy barrier stops them from getting too close. And that wily hard core rocker starts sucking the audience into dimensional portals.

Blue grass would never do this.

Since they can’t get through the energy dome, the West Coast Avengers do something I do honestly wish people would try more often when big domes come up in stories.

They just go under it.

They dig into the ground and pop up behind the stage.

Iron Man even gets back at Wonder Man because the Silver Centurion armor is better at tunneling than Wonder Man is.

I have no idea why they’re on this dick waving contest.

Anyway, dig a tunnel. Sneak into the concert. Yeah, and then Wonder Man decks the Defiler. Just fucking punches him across the entire venue.

Meanwhile, the West Coast Avengers take out the screens turned dimensional portals.

Iron Man, rescuing some audience members: “Let me help steer you kids straight -- you can’t let yourselves get sucked into just anything, you know!”

You’re such a nerd, Tony.

But not as big a nerd as Hank Pym.

Scraggin’ flies?

Y’know what? I’m not going to criticize. I adore too much Hank keeping a tiny baseball glove in his pocket in case he needs to make it big to catch something.

I love his magical pockets containing literally whatever.

Since Mockingbird can’t effectively fight the Defiler or knock down dimensional portals, she’s directing people to the exit. So she’s the one that spots Mike trying to sneak into the concert to be part of things.

She tells him to fuck off so he doesn’t get in the way but Iron Man shows up and tells Mike to fuck right back in because he’s essential to saving the day.

Up in the stadium seating, Tigra mocks the Defiler as a slow, clumsy, easy target and yeah she does manage to agile her way out of taking follow up hits. But when Wonder Man flies in to trade blows, the Defiler socks him and boasts that he’s visited other dimensions and drained the energy of their innocents. Its made him strong, donchaknow.

Over at Dr Pym, Iron Man, Mike, and Mockingbird, Dr Pym has a plan. BASED ON SCIENCE.

Since Mike went through one of these dimensional thingers, he might have energy clinging to him. And if that’s the case, he can be used as a key to open up the way for the West Coast Avengers.

And since Mike needs REDEMPTION for listening to heavy metal, he agrees to help.

Dr Pym gets a small piece of rope from his pocket which he embiggens into a bigger piece of rope so Iron Man can anchor the group. And then Mike, Mockingbird, and Dr Pym jump on in.

You’d think they’d take some of their bigger guns to go into an unknown dimension that eats people. But Wonder Man and Tigra are fighting the Defiler, Iron Man is anchoring the others so they don’t get stuck. And Hawkeye is contributing nothing.

Team Pym, Mockingbird and Mike find themselves drawn to an unearthly glow in the distance. Hank speculates that its the Defiler’s main battery and that its drawing energy out of them even at this distance AND drawing them closer.

Dr Pym, Mockingbird, and Mike find that all the captured fans and also hi Susan were trapped in some kind of goo. Which Hank calls an energy parasite. Because he’s just jumping to correct conclusions today.

Mockingbird starts slapping goo to free the folks and Hank PULLS OUT A GIANT-SIZED CHAINSAW!

I know that he can grow things as big as he likes but, like, isn’t that too big to handle? If you slip, you’re gonna cut an innocent person in half, Hank.

But apparently everything goes great.

Since everyone is too drained to walk back to the portal before it closes, Hank grows A GIANT SKATEBOARD FOR THEM ALL TO RIDE ON.

Sometimes comics, even fill-in comics, are great, actually.

Iron Man almost hears Hank’s call on the other side of the portal and yanks the giant rope to pull everyone to safety.

With all his batteries loose, the Defiler starts feeling weak.

He tries to stop Iron Man from hauling people free but Wonder Man and Tigra start kicking the shit out of him.

When the skateboard full of people is pulled loose, the portal starts going nuts. Trying to suck in anyone it can.

And the Defiler decides ‘Welp, time to mosey onto a new dimension’ but Mike gets his REDEMPTION for his evil, sinful decision to bring heavy metal into his sweet innocent girlfriend’s life by tackling the Defiler so he gets sucked into his own portal.

The Defiler: “I can’t go back... dead world... nothing to feed... to drain...”

I’m sure we’ll neverrrrrr see him again.

No, seriously. Villains from fill-ins don’t reappear as often. And this is the Defiler’s first and onliest appearance.

I won’t say he couldn’t be used again in an interesting way but there’s not a lot to him.

After everything settles down, Wonder Man muses that the people rescued from the Defiler were lucky.

Mockingbird: “Luck had nothing to do with it... that kid risked a lot to help us.”

Hawkeye: “Good for all of us there are some things you just can’t corrupt.”

I mean. Yeah, I guess?? He did risk a lot, going into the billboard dimension. And also he tackled a guy.

But playing this up as a big REDEMPTION for Mike? I dunno. His big failing was getting invested in a band that was secretly eating its fans. And his big redemption was tackling a dude.

It’s not landing for me. The redemption angle.

Mike isn’t much of a character and I don’t feel like his offense was offensive enough to warrant big, bold all-caps REDEMPTION as a title.

And him helping the Avengers out by having been half in a portal means his redemption is kinda passive. Sure, he wouldn’t take no for an answer and follow them to the concert when they told him to buzz off. But the help he gave the West Coast Avengers is that they used him to open a portal. Also, he tackled the guy.

Story was fine. Pretty goofy and pretty inoffensive for a fill-in. I like seeing Hank Pym and his deus ex pockets again. Weird that Moon Knight got dropped entirely out of the story and the story didn’t have a lot for Mockingbird to do.

But apparently it was a moment when the West Coast Avengers worked well as a team and Wonder Man thought they would last forever.

Its a tragic note that in the here and now the team has had a divorce because Hawkeye and Mockingbird can’t have a civil conversation about cowboy manslaughter.

Although, I want to note here. If Hank Pym is on the team as Dr Pym, that means that Mockingbird already did the manslaughter and is hiding it from everyone at this point where the team was working well together.

So it kind of undermines Wonder Man sighing about how those were the days.

Anyway, the plot finally catches up to the West Coast Avengers and the Quinjet starts crashing into the next issue.

It happens.

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