Avengers the Initiative

[RockSP]

Ant-Man being all happy to join the Thunderbolts doesn't really make much sense. Why would a coward/slacker want to join Norman's personal kill squad?

 

[Colossal Spoons]

Yeah, unless he plans on being a coward over there too. We dunno how the new team is gonna be, so maybe there's room for a slacker.

 

[cerealkiller182]

I think he was just more happy to be out of boot camp. He's probably expecting some more freedom.

 

[BrianWilly]

Wasn't he a SHIELD agent once? I can't imagine he'd really be that naive.

 

[Dread]

Eric did work at SHIELD but basically as their version of a receptionist or radio dispatch. He hardly did any sort of field work. He always was a little naive as to how people would react to things; it helped him come off as a jerk half the time.

Repost of the latest issue review, with spoilers:

AVENGERS: THE INITIATIVE #20: The last issue of A:TI co-written by series launch writer Dan Slott, after which he moves onto MIGHTY AVENGERS (Taking Hank Pym & Jocasta with him) and leaves the title in the capable hands of Christos Gage, who has been co-writing it for the past 13 issues. Kurth returns on art for the departed Caselli, who is officially on SECRET WARRIORS now.

Spoiler

For major spoilers, Eric O'Grady/Ant-Man III is dispatched to the THUNDERBOLTS, to get ordered around by Norman Osborn. After all the drama and debate over Mutant Zero, it turns out she is Typhoid Mary. Power and combat wise, it makes sense I suppose, although there leaves more to be explained. While she always was presumed to be a mutant, one wonders why she cannot remain in one area for very long; perhaps due to her sanity? She always had about 3-4 personalities; Mary, who is gentle and passive, Typhoid, who wants to sleep with you before ninja-killing you, Bloody Mary who is a complete man-hating telekenetic psycho, and Walker, who is somewhat balanced. She has used swords and knives, but never guns too often and she never seemed capable of TK super speed. Although considering that most of the Shadow Initiative are former criminals, like Bengal or Constrictor, Typhoid Mary does fit in with that crowd. She makes more sense than Copycat or Jean Grey in this situation, and she has appeared on plenty of comic book covers (like DAREDEVIL, MARVEL COMICS PRESENTS and even some Spidey comics, where her Bloody Mary persona debuted), but when it was revealed, my reaction was , "OH? Oh. Alright." At the very least, she's higher up the rung than Copycat.

The real meat of the issue is Hank Pym seemingly having dinner with the deceased Janet Van Dyne and hashing out some of his unresolved feelings towards her; it turns out this is of course Jocasta using a hologram. Coming off of SI: REQUIEM, it still remains very clear that Pym is working through mourning issues. From having Jan's robot double (basically) act as her and even answer for her from beyond the grave to wearing Jan's costume, Pym clearly is going through grieving ways in interesting and sometimes borderline obsessive ways. Seeing that as a step on a path, I can accept him becoming "He-Wasp" on that level. I expect there to be some sort of tension between him and Jocasta and honestly don't mind it too much. We accepted 30 years of Wanda and Vision crushing because Vision had Wonder Man's brain patterns. Then Wonder Man kept coming back from the dead and all that. Reversing the genders a bit works for me, and if Ultron ever returns, must irritate him. Jocasta was supposed to be HIS bride, and she's having "feelings" with the creator he hates? Coming off being pummeled by Phyla, that'll sure get Ultron's rivets in a twist.

Gauntlet also becomes the seniority officer at Camp Hammond, which isn't good because he is the sort of guy who shove protesters to the side in a feat of democracy and then order a death hunt on Hardball, who is now a full on HYDRA commander. While the Shadow team isn't officially out to kill him, I am certain if it happened, Gauntlet would be awarding medals, not criticizing. Slott perhaps struggled with the idea that while those in the military are taught to kill, they aren't taught that killing is always the first option and one is NEVER to feel ANY pangs of remourse or mercy for any enemy, and if one does, drill sarge calls you a weak, worthless coward. I am curious if Gage will be able to handle that sort of balance better off solo. This is honestly a camp that needs Justice now more than ever to balance out Gauntlet's disposition, although I am curious if that would happen.

I also was glad that not everyone was gung-ho with 3-D Man killing Crusader at the end of the last issue. While Delroy of course was justified in over-reacting, and some bloodlust in war happens, it also makes sense that at least SOME of the heroes who had gotten close to Crusader and saw his genuine heroism would feel that Delroy had overstepped a bit. The Skrull Kill Krew of course disagrees and 3-D seems to go off to join them. They certainly will need new members after all but Ryder are dead.

The issue ends on a cliffhanger with the revelation that "Skrullowjacket", much like Harry Osborn, set some plans in motion for revenge in case of his untimely death, which means reactivating the cyborg clone of Thor, which was torn into bits by Hercules (or Storm, depending on what you read last). While part of me would rather Clor face off against the genuine article, that would mean JMS having Thor actually DO something, and that clearly is not a part of his agenda at any point. Better off that Clor stays with A:TI. The challenge will be doing the "rampaging living weapon created by the Initiative starts to pick it apart" in a way that doesn't repeat the themes of KILLED IN ACTION.

The highlight of the issue was clearly the human drama between Pym and "Jan" that merely does more to convince me that Pym is in good hands with Slott and that MIGHTY AVENGERS is going to be something mighty special, pun intended. As for this issue, it is a good ending for the SI affair as well as for Slott as monthly co-writer (although Gage claims he will be working from plots discussed with Slott for a bit). Gage's last solo issue was quite good and I have no doubt that A:TI will remain of consistent quality without Slott at the helm. A better, more important installment then a few of the Invasion tie-in's before it, this arc of A:TI wraps up about as well as one could expect. I will miss Caselli on art, even if he struggled with a monthly schedule (without lead in time, he usually couldn't handle more than 2 issues before delay), though. Hopefully Gage will have enough time to iron out his own flair for the book; there still is a place for the Initiative, even if it was compromised by Skrulls. There are a lot of states in the union that need response teams.

 

[chamber-music]

Hank Pym couldn't even get a break from Tigra. She is happy to sleep with him or date him but no way she would be his wife or have his kids. She would rather have Skrull babies than be with crazy Hank

 

[spideyboy_1111]

[BLACKOUT]So, that guy on that other board was right. I never bought the Jean Gray stuff. She's no kick ass martial artist type.[/BLACKOUT]

i loved the reveal too... they had people guessing it was jean to the last second... i totally knew it wasn't though. I had thought about her being X for a bit, but i had no idea she was a mutant.

 

[Dread]

Hank Pym couldn't even get a break from Tigra. She is happy to sleep with him or date him but no way she would be his wife or have his kids. She would rather have Skrull babies than be with crazy Hank

Not only that, but the Handbook basically revealed that it was the Skrull who was in BEYOND! and was briefly dating Firebird before Tigra (or during, who knows). That has to suck for Firebird; aliens have messed up her life. As someone with strong faith in God, that faith was tested when she learned her powers were not divine, but instead a product of an alien fluke. Now she may learn the guy she used to cuddle with was in fact an alien spy who may have slit her throat had they stuck together longer. Sheesh!

 

[MightyAvenge]

Which handbook says that?

 

[Dread]

Which handbook says that?

SECRET INVASION: REQUIEM that has an updated Handbook Bio for Janet Van Dyne/The Wasp.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Ant-Man being all happy to join the Thunderbolts doesn't really make much sense. Why would a coward/slacker want to join Norman's personal kill squad?

I don't think anyone knows it's going to be Norman's personal kill squad yet. Prior to Dark Reign, the Thunderbolts have established themselves as pretty much the all-star team of the Initiative short of the Avengers, so Ant-Man probably figures he's gonna get all the fame and glory associated with being a member of such a high-class team and he can fudge the little things like, y'know, actually having to fight villains who could kill him. He's got stars in his eyes.

 

[MightyAvenge]

I like how Tigra was eating Pickles and Strawberries, which tastes like a traditional Skrull food. Is she eating the pickles and strawberries, because Skrull-Hank ate the same thing or is it because the baby is a skrull?

 

[cerealkiller182]

Pregnant woman are supposed to get weird appetite urges, I think it was just a planned coincidence on the writers part to segway into the pregnancy.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I figured she was eating it because she remembered Skrullowjacket liked it. I don't think anyone knows that pickles and strawberries are the closest thing on Earth to some Skrull dish besides Crusader and other Skrulls.

 

[RockSP]

Pregnant woman are supposed to get weird appetite urges, I think it was just a planned coincidence on the writers part to segway into the pregnancy.

Exactly.

 

[MightyAvenge]

I personally dont think it was a coincidence, I think she was eating the pickles and strawberries because skrull-Hank ate them, and she ended up liking them too. I hope that Tigra keeps the baby and I also hope that deep down she really wants to be more than just Hanks girlfriend. Maybe after Hank gets over being He-Wasp and and dealing with all his issues, and maybe after Tigra deals with her issues, they can actually have a go at a real-deal relationship.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Ew, I'd rather not see Hank and Tigra together. It was weird enough with Skrull-Hank.

 

[RockSP]

They dated (briefly) back in West Coast Avengers...unless they are saying that was Skrull-Pym too. Which would make little sense.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Weird. I don't know, I just don't really like them together. It makes it seem like Hank is trying to trade up for a sexier, wilder woman than Jan somehow. Irrational thinking, I know, but that's what it makes me think.

 

[cerealkiller182]

Its hard to be single and ignore the sexier, wilder woman. I think of Californication. Hank Moody loves his girlfriend and wants to be with her, but when she breaks things off he just goes out and gets laid.

 

[The Geek Vault]

Well I don't think Hank will be with Tigra. Also do we think Tigra will end up having the child?

 

[Galact-Gal]

Didn't she say she was going to terminate the pregnancy? I got the impression that she hadn't quite made up her mind about it, until she found out her baby's daddy was an alien.



I'm also wondering why Hank Pym wasn't forced into group therapy (like Dugan ). Surely he needs more than just his talk with Jocasta. But maybe since he's leaving the Initiative they don't think that he qualifies for their therapy program.

 

[spideyboy_1111]

Didn't she say she was going to terminate the pregnancy? I got the impression that she hadn't quite made up her mind about it, until she found out her baby's daddy was an alien.



I'm also wondering why Hank Pym wasn't forced into group therapy (like Dugan ). Surely he needs more than just his talk with Jocasta. But maybe since he's leaving the Initiative they don't think that he qualifies for their therapy program.

hmmm i thought they implied he should be there... but he's kinda refusing it

 

[Dread]

Tigra seemed to imply that she may terminate the pregnancy. Considering it was a Skrull playing a role, it may feel like being date-raped or something to her. Between that and the pistol-whipping from Jigsaw, it's been a rough 18 months for Tigra.

 

[Anubis]

All the beatings she's taken over the last few months, she shoulda lost the baby anyway. Guess Skrull half breeds are pretty resilient.

Also, it may have been one of the defective Skrullpym's that went and knocked up Tigra. It doesn't make it any less.....f**ked up, but you know, at least the daddy wasn't a complete *****e.