West Coast Avengers [2024] #10 - Marvel Comics

WEST COAST AVENGERS No. 10, October 2025

Described by its New York City-born writer as “a glorious west coast sun set”, this ongoing series’ final instalment definitely manages to bring the comic’s opening story-arc to an impressive, satisfying conclusion. Indeed, despite the sudden decision to cancel the title supposedly being caused by poor sales, the grim fate befalling the supposedly “redeemed” Ultron may well make the odd bibliophile even believe that the book was always only ever going to last just ten issues; “Hey! I was just coming out to pitch this. Mine was gonna be made of… metal. Not stone, but… this is great.”

Furthermore, the twenty-page periodical does a nice job of completing Blue Bolt’s character arc by showing the reformed criminal deservedly getting “paroled into service with the Avengers" by a judge. This moment genuinely proves a little emotional, and demonstrates just how well Gerry Duggan can progressively pen an initially disagreeable rogue like Tommy Watt when given some sheet space in which to do so.

Equally as impressive as the book's conclusion though, has to be the way the American author also manages to give most of the super-group’s considerably-sized roster a fair few seconds in the spotlight. Foremost of these moments probably involves Hank Pym’s robotic creation, who ultimately sacrifices himself so as to hold the truly evil Scorched Ultron in check for the foreseeable future. This situation is surprisingly tragic given the character's past history with the team, and sits well alongside other similar heart-breaking, sentimental scenes, such as when a clearly upset Jessica Drew stays on a beach beside her terminally-ill friend Meredith until the cybernetically-enhanced follower of the One dies.

Sadly, what does debatably let this book down is its layouts by Danny Kim. The artist definitely goes a proficient job of pencilling the Whackos’ fight against a seemingly unstoppable arch-nemesis. But once the “malleable armours of Ultron were brought to their melting point” a fair few figures appear to lose their discipline and degenerate into cartoon-like caricatures – most notably when Wonder Man has to choose between capturing the Scourge or saving a train from a sabotaged railway bridge. Furthermore, by the time the narrative has reached Watt’s aforementioned clemency, the illustrator appears to have abandoned any notion of providing his panels with any detailed backgrounds whatsoever, and even resorts to ‘a white nothingness’ for Watts’ final scene with Angelica Jones.

The regular cover art of "WEST COAST AVENGERS" #9 by Josemaria Casanovas