I don't mind McKone's art; he drew for AVENGERS proper once, so he has that "legitimacy" for this franchise.
It does seem odd that these two "trainees" have black as a costume motif thus far, but we could see some variety. I will be stunned if Gage's own creation, Butterball, doesn't pop up somewhere. I will be curious if Melee, one of the few new characters created before the SECRET INVASION tie-in's started and who was quickly shuffled off panel when Gage took over full time, will remain as part of the staff.
As for a topic that came up in the A:TI topic, I don't mind the format of that or ACADEMY in terms of "tying into" events. It's purpose as a title is to reflect on what is happening in the general Marvel universe, something that, frankly, the X-Books did very poorly until perhaps very recently. Even now, they're usually stuck to the side of these large scale events. Plus, Dan Slott and Christos Gage, either solo or together on A:TI, were good at maintaining their own subplots and character arcs while having to tie into whatever was the line wide plot of the moment. HEROIC AGE seems set to put aside crossover events for a year, so A:A could have at least 6-12 issues of breathing room before the next thing happens.
Hopefully, the Avengers Resistance/Old New Warriors return as staff for this Academy. Gage in particular has done great things with Tigra and Justice, among others.
