Kate Bishop’s mom is a vampire in West Coast Avengers No. 10’s finale
By Alex Widen
Image by Marvel Comics
This Isn’t Your Grandfather’s Comic Book Love Triangle!
That’s right, a “love triangle” is budding, but not the one some readers thought! Despite all of the low key flirting between Kate and Chavez, the pair likely will remain friends. Instead it looks like Kate may be caught between Noh-Varr and Johnny, both of whom are either bi or “curious.” At that point Kate wonders if all of her boyfriends have been gay, and the rest of team claims they were.
If so, then readers may have learned something new about Eli Bradley, formerly Patriot of the Young Avengers! That is, assuming Bradley wasn’t completely overlooked, as he’s frequently been since 2012’s Children’s Crusade finale. Rayshaun Lucas, the new Patriot, is amazingly similar.
By and large, Kelly Thompson does a good job of placing most of the spinning plates down before the final page. Eleanor rattles off just enough facts to explain how she returned from the dead, and why Kate ultimately may be wasting her time pursuing her. The plot with the vampire plot is wrapped up quickly, and the final pages do a solid job of rounding up all of the relationships. While Quire may still be insufferable, he’s trying to be better for the sake of his team, which is new for him. Ramone settles into her new status as a super-human, even coming up with a code-name.
Image by Marvel Comics
What Loose Plot Threads Are Left Dangling?
There isn’t enough page space to tie up every loose end, of course. Madame Masque is still running about, leading her own branch of the “Masters of Evil.” Derek Bishop is still working with her, even despite Masque previously abducting him. Eleanor has fled the scene, but how she became a half-vampire is unknown, nor why Masque seemed to value her so highly. And amid the final splash page full of promise for the series, the final panel is as abrupt an ending as one can get. Lastly, it could be argued that the vampires just served as generic monsters to hit.
Image by Marvel Comics
Moy R. handles the art for this last issue; the fourth artist within ten issues (and the third within six). He’s previously worked for Zenescope Entertainment and BOOM! Studios, and does solid work on what had to be very short notice. He gets a lot of action sequences to work with, from vampire-mom punches to Ramone’s final assault, to no end of tag team attacks. Triona Farrell, longtime colorist, ties it all together with her usual fantastic job. The contrast between the vampire caves and “shrimp-world,” or the WCA headquarters, is stark.
Image by Marvel Comics
What also is stark is how abruptly the plug was pulled. It may be possible from Thompson’s final editorial page (dated 3/11/19) that she barely had 2 months notice. Her regret is obvious, as things were just getting rolling. Unfortunately, direct market sales for the book fell below 13,700 copies in February, and that was perhaps a level too low for an “exclusive” talent. It not only marks the end of this run, but perhaps the end of Thompson writing Kate Bishop’s adventures for over two years. That would truly be a shame, as Bishop has been her muse since coming to Marvel.