Issue(s): West Coast Avengers #31
Cover Date: Apr 88
Title: "The Friday night frights!"
Credits:
Steve Englehart - Writer
Al Milgrom - Penciler
Mike Machlan - Inker
Gregory Wright - Assistant Editor
Mark Gruenwald - Editor

Review/plot:
The Texas Twister is mad with grief over the loss of his girlfriend Vicki "Shooting" Starr, who turned out to be a demon a while back. And he's teamed up with the Phantom Rider, who seems to be possessed by the spirit of his ancestor, the Night Rider that Mockingbird dropped off a cliff after he raped her.

Together, they try to summon a denizen from the spirit world to help them, and it turns out to be Arkon.

It's not quite clear if what's happening is what these two madmen intended, but the end result is that Arkon is on Earth and he's mad.

Back at the West Coast Avengers compound, Iron Man picks a fight with Moon Knight for making out with Tigra in front of him.

Hawkeye asks what that's really about, and Iron Man refuses to open up, but asks Hawkeye to continue to trust him.

This is spillover from the Armor Wars storyline in Iron Man, and it continues when Henry Pym comes running with news that the East Coast Avengers are on the line. It turns out that they just found out that Iron Man recently got into a fight with (the former) Captain America.

Before they can follow up on that, though, they are attacked by Arkon, who is mad that Wonder Man appeared in a movie featuring him.

Arkon has a nuclear device that he says he'll detonate if the other Avengers interfere in his grudge match.

While the rest of the Avengers are enjoying the fight...

...Mockingbird is lured away by Phantom Rider, and they get into their own fight.

Wonder Man eventually convinces Arkon that he'll convince the movie studios to stop making Arkon movies, and Mockingbird gets defeated by the Phantom Rider, but he opts to not kill her yet, and instead leaves her dangling off a cliff. She's able to rescue herself.

Regarding the Arkon movies, Wonder Man says that he became a sensation when he first briefly appeared on Earth, so that's at least an explanation for why Hollywood is making movies about him. At least they know he's a real guy. But of course no one knew he'd be offended if they made movies about him. It's kind of a goofy grudge fight but i guess it was inevitable that Steve Englehart would bring the real Arkon in after having Wonder Man act in a movie about him, and it's fun to see Englehart work his summoning in to the story he's doing with the Phantom Rider. It's also nice to see the Armor Wars tie-in.

In a previous lettercol, it had been proposed that the title of this book be changed to New Avengers. The overwhelmingly negative response to that fills the letter page for this issue. Everyone is against the idea, and Mark Gruenwald agrees that the title won't change. I suppose this will eventually lead to the swap to Avengers West Coast, though.

Quality Rating: C+

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: This takes place between Avengers #290-291 and before Iron Man #229 when the West Coast Avengers confront Iron Man again.

References:

• Shooting Star was revealed to have been possessed by demons in West Coast Avengers #8.
  
• Mockingbird let the western era Night Rider die in West Coast Avengers #23.
  
• Arkon has been "an Avengers foe since Avengers #75".
  
• Due to the ending of West Coast Avengers #29, Moon Knight asks Khonshu why Mockingbird had death on her mind and if the Egyptian god knows anything about the Phantom Rider, but he doesn't.
  
• Iron Man attacked Steve Rogers in Iron Man #228.
  
• Hawkeye says he owes a debt to Iron Man for helping him get out of a life of crime, but Captain America was his first boss in the Avengers. Both points are a reference to Avengers #16.
  
• Arkon says that not even Thor has punched him as hard as Wonder Man does. Wonder Man responds that he knew he was stronger than Thor after fighting him in West Coast Avengers annual #2.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

You gotta love how Arkon is always in a bad mood whenever he shows up.

Back in the day, I liked the Texas Twister, but he is basically wasted here much like the other Rangers ended up doing.

I also thought it was cool to have Moon Knight join the Avengers, but not at the expense of ditching everything Doug Moench had established. I missed Frenchie and Marlene here, plus, the whole Khonshu angle did not quite work out the way Englehart might have wanted to. I think he was shooting for something like having Nabu get Dr. Fate to join the JLA in order to better understand humanity. That is, if Steve had done this story for DC instead.

Clint just bursts out the name "Tony" when talked to the East Coast team? Does anyone on that team know that Tony Stark is Iron Man? I suppose Namor does thanks to the ridiculous Illuminati ret-cons, but no one else should and Clint should know better.

But this isn't the first time Clint has done something like this- in West Coast Avengers Annual 1, he calls Iron Man "Tony" in front of all of the Avengers as well.

I thought of that too Erik... I'm guessing the assumption here is supposed to be everyone knows Tony Stark funded the Avengers and is Iron Man's boss so Clint could say his name without it coming across as odd or revealing too much. The East Coasters know Tony is based in the Westso it wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility that he might stop by -- for those not in the know.