Issue(s): West Coast Avengers #40
Cover Date: Jan 88
Title: "And now the... Night Shift!"
Credits:
Mark Gruenwald - Writer
Al Milgrom - Penciler
Michael Gustovich - Inker
Howard Mackie - Editor

Review/plot:
The West Coast Avengers book is without a regular writer due to the firing of Steve Englehart, so we have editor-written fill-ins until issue #42 when John Byrne comes on board. This one is by Mark Gruenwald and highlights his Night Shift characters.

A new Night Shift member, Misfit, the shirtless guy in the middle above, debuts here. As Michael notes, he's one of the failed Super-Soldiers that Night Shift rescued in Captain America #330-331, but he's just included here without any introduction or footnotes (and he wasn't in Night Shift's Solo Avengers #3 appearance, which occured after the Cap issues).

This is also Al Milgrom's final issue on the series.

Gruenwald does make good use of the schism between Mockingbird and Hawkeye's West Coast Avengers. Mockingbird discovers Digger of the Night Shift executing some mob goons...

...and she brings him in for an arrest.

The Shroud is out of town, and the idea behind the Night Shift is that most of the team is unaware that he's really a good guy keeping them in check. So when they find out that a West Coast Avenger got Digger arrested, they go to get revenge on the West Coast Avengers. And since it's Hawkeye's team that is staying at the WCA compound, they wind up attacking people that have no idea what's going on. The first people attacked are actually the hired help, including a housekeeper that shops for PJs at Victoria's Secret.

Wonder Man is out at a Hollywood event, so the team is down to just Hawkeye, the Vision, and the Scarlet Witch. And Scarlet Witch hangs back at first to protect her kids. So the group is overwhelmed at first.

But Scarlet Witch soon joins in...

...and finally Wonder Man shows up.

Meanwhile, Mockingbird's team decides to investigate the Shroud's base after Mockingbird learns from herself (seriously, watch the dialogue below) that the Digger was working for him.

They find the place empty, but the Shroud himself soon comes home. But when he finds out that his team is out attacking the other Avengers, he leaves Mockingbird's team behind and goes there to settle things. He helps the Night Shift "evacuate" and then has a private conversation with Hawkeye, who knows Shroud's scheme. Hawkeye tells Shroud that he'd better keep his group under better control, and lets him know that he's telling the rest of his Avengers about him. On the first point, Shroud retaliates with the fact that Hawkeye let Mockingbird splinter the team, which is hardly comparable, and on the second point the Shroud says he trusts Hawkeye's judgement and leaves.

For a fill-in, not terrible.

Quality Rating: C-

Historical Significance Rating: 2 - first Misfit

Chronological Placement Considerations: Pushed back into 1988 since next issue ties in with Thor #396-400.

References:

• Mockingbird notes that Hawkeye tried to recruit the Shroud for the West Coast Avengers in the original West Coast Avengers #1 and that Hawkeye subsequently declined whenever Mockingbird suggested that they either bust Shroud or help him clean up his rep.
  
• Moon Knight had a one on one encounter with Shroud in Solo Avengers #3. But while Shroud offered to make Moon Knight leader of the Night Shift in that issue, it didn't convince Moon Knight that Shroud was really a good guy.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

The Official Handbook makes it clear that Misfit was one of the Power Broker's mutated failures that the Night Shift rescued in Captain America 330-331- it would have been nice if this had actually been stated in the story.

...It was obvious at the time if you'd been following Cap's book...

good to see these teams collide. It would have to happen if they both operated in LA. And a logical reason for the conflict. Grunwald will revisit this plot almost exactly in a future Cap issue (even with Digger in the same role)