Issue(s): Avengers West Coast #101
Cover Date: Dec 93
Title: "Genosha, mon amour"
Credits:
Roy Thomas - Writer
David Ross - Penciler
Tim Dzon - Inker
John Lewandowski - Assistant Editor
Nel Yomtov - Editor

Review/plot:
Scott Lobdell gets a "special thanks". This is Roy Thomas' last issue of Avengers West Coast, but Thomas' writing style is so subdued it's really like he left last issue. Obviously Thomas inherited the plot scenario and probably even specific plot elements (hence Lobdell's quasi-credit). But even from a scripting perspective it doesn't feel as Roy Thomas-y as usual.

The Avengers that didn't go to Genosha are brought by SHIELD to the United Nations for a hearing. When lectured that the UN can't have a state sponsored super-group getting involved in a sovereign nation's internal conflict, Hawkeye cites the UN's inaction in Bosnia and demands that the UN authorize the Avengers' involvement or else the Avengers will scrap their charter. The UN diplomats whisper to each other that they are in a "quandary" over Hawkeye's words, but it's noted that the Black Widow is scowling, which they take to indicate that she doesn't agree with him.

The way things will turn out, that may just be wishful thinking on the UN's part. Roy Thomas may have been attempting to foreshadow the break-up of the West Coast team next issue, guessing at the reasons that will be given in an issue that he won't write. But that's the last we see of this scene in this issue, and in the next chapter it'll be the Black Widow who withdraws the Avengers from the UN charter.

The majority of this issue focuses on the Avengers' confrontation with Exodus. Exodus is killing human Genoshans, and even though he's doing it to prevent them from killing mutates, the Avengers are obviously not going to stand for that. Exodus makes a special appeal to the Scarlet Witch, but she's no more receptive than the rest of the team. So Exodus tries to leave. War Machine is sent to stop him while the other Avengers mainly try to stop the fighting between the two sides of the Genoshan civil war.

Exodus is able to rattle War Machine with some calculated race-baiting.

Believe it or not, War Machine's reaction to Exodus will be cited as one of the reasons that the West Coast team gets disbanded.

Exodus is able to defeat War Machine, queuing up Sersi to pick up where he left off next chapter. I'd like to think that if War Machine wasn't distracted by Exodus's taunts that he'd have wiped the floor with this ill defined upstart villain, but as we'll see in Exodus' fight with the much-more-powerful Sersi next issue, it doesn't seem like War Machine would have had a chance anyway.

It's also worth noting that Exodus' role in this story is, if not exactly incidental, not the main point. Fabian Cortez is the real villain of this story. Exodus is kind of playing the role that Magneto might have played if he were conscious at the moment (and if he remained at Fatal Attractions level of insanity).

Meanwhile, USAgent has caught up with Professor X and the Beast, who are searching for something in the tunnels beneath Genosha. The Beast is weirdly bigoted himself.

They find a mutate concentration camp.

It's guarded by human Genoshan Magistrates who are reporting to "President" Cortez.

That's our indication that Cortez is playing both sides of the civil war.

Also meanwhile, the X-Men fight the Unforgiven, and this is where they learn that the Cortez they were fighting is really a mutate shapeshifter.

Gambit meets my card pun requirement with that "playin' for keeps is still playin'" line.

Quality Rating: C

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: This is part three of Bloodties. Part four is in Uncanny X-Men #307.

References:

• Continues from X-Men #26.

Crossover: Bloodties

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: Bloodties TPB

This issue came out three weeks late.
I never assumed that the Magistrates working for Cortez were part of a scheme to play both sides of the civil war- I assumed he was using them to contain the mutates so the infection didn't spread to him.

This issue got my attention with the War Machine vs. Exodus cover, but the fight was disappointing.

If I remember right, later stories have it that Exodus gets more powerful the more people in the vicinity have faith in him. Maybe that (from the mutate side) could be said to be boosting him here.

The title refers to "Hiroshima, mon amour".

I probably should have asked this for the entry to Avengers #368 but I'll ask it here: How/Why is Hawkeye even here? I thought he quit after AWC #100 over his grief of Mockingskrull? No on made any call for reservists or anything. And as has been made clear throughout this crossover most of the Avengers don't care that much to drop everything just to get involve. (And of course he's back off the team for AWC #102.)

Of course this also begs the question of why this series wasn't just cancelled during #100 (a natural dropping-off point) with this issue folded into the "regular" Avengers series. (Or better yet, the whole crossover condensed into 4 issues.) #102 then could have been Force Works 1 (or a "zero issue" if so inclined.) I'm just saying because many folks consider the series "over" at isdue 100 anyway.

@Jon- the answer is that nobody told Thomas that he was being fired and Avengers West Coast was being restarted as Force Works until they were already working on Bloodties. So Thomas thought he was going to continue writing the book with Hawkeye as a member until shortly before it came time for him to write his chapter of Bloodties.