It is basically a summary of the last 4-5 issues, an epilogue of sorts but also builds towards where the book is going now that Dark Reign is here. It still has a lot of life yet even without the Initiative being canceled, at least in Iron Man's eyes. Osborn is running the show and remodeling the program from the ground up, choosing Taskmaster as his man to run "Camp HAMMER" as well as train his army of crooks to "pretend" to be heroes for the public.
The New Warriors return the original MVP's body to his mourning father, who not only is saddened by the loss of his son, but how the government exploited and cloned him, then lied about it. He agrees to allow the clone "most" like his son remain with him, which can't be the best mental health option for him (just look at how "well" Pym is getting over Janet with Jocasta), but still human, although it leaves the last "Scarlet Spider" (or Patrick; his brothers Michael and Van being killed) alone and without a home. The New Warriors agree to let him stay, but have to go underground as Osborn has spun them as the cause of Camp Hammond's destruction by Ragnarok/Clor.
Taskmaster suggests needing "legit" heroes along for their ride to better convince the public, and the first order of business is rehabilitating Penance, a.k.a. "Emoball" or "The Hero Formerly Known as Speedball", who is a psycho mockery of himself. Metaphorically, he is probably Osborn's version of Mutant Zero (Typhoid Mary, then working for Stark's Shadow Initiative). Paul Jenkins left nothing to do with the whack-job he created, so I commend Gage for at least trying to go through the work of rehabbing Baldwin. Diamondback and Prodigy agree to remain on hand for Osborn's camp, the latter because Osborn's treated him better than Stark did. Trauma is blackmailed by Hood into remaining as therapist for Osborn's platoon of freaks, as Hood knows about his father being Nightmare, and his mother being insane. Gravity has been demoted as leader of Nevada's Heavy Hitters and assigned to his home state of Wisconsin, where he is greeted by the Great Lakes Champions (Ramos mangles Squirrel Girl a little, but otherwise it is hilarious; Gravity is actually a competent hero). This of course leaves Tigra and Gauntlet to decide their fate; stay or go?
Both quickly find themselves with their backs against the wall by Osborn. Tigra is gung ho until Osborn not only reveals his order that Tigra have an abortion of her "Skrull fetus" so it can be experimented on, but that The Hood is working with him and is in overall command of the new Camp. Gauntlet, meanwhile, is left without options when Osborn displays his wish to sever him from his Gauntlet, even at the price of Green's life. While Tigra's reaction was expected, it is interesting to see Gauntlet the military man actually working against his command for once, even for a greater good (or at least survival). He was a horrible jerk in past issues but since Gage has taken over Green has become a lot more rootable. He regrets his mistakes and just doesn't want to abandon his mates. I loved how Tigra managed to escape from Moonstone/Ms. Marvel and the tower. Gage is doing awesome by her as well; Tigra doesn't need a mini, just to be handled efficiently over a period of time. Gage has been doing that. Playing off her experiences as Avenger, solo heroine and even cop, Tigra vows to make Hood pay for his crimes. The duo make allies of each other as they flee from Osborn's flunkies (Griffen, Living Laser, Scorcher, and Razor-Fist) in the sewers, and quickly find themselves saved by the New Warriors. Tigra quickly realizes that she is among fellow C-List Avengers Justice and Rage, proclaiming them as "Avengers Resistance". Gauntlet, of course, notes the irony of how he used to use the words "New Warriors" as a slur to encourage rookie heroes to do better, and now he's running with them. Granted, I would expect the long-ago revealed subplot of Slapstick having once beaten Green into a coma for doing so to come up.
Yeah, lot of stuff happened. Other figures revealed as with Osborn on the final page besides the aforementioned figures are the U-Foes, the Brothers Grimm, Komodo, and Cutthroat.
Gage does well not to pigeon-hole himself into too much of a political agenda. While it is hard not to assume this is more Bush/Cheney commentary when Osborn says things like, "you'd be surprised the leeway I get in the interests of national security", then Osborn drops his "abortion by order" bit, and a storyline where a date-rape victim (which is almost what Tigra was, having slept with Pym's Skrull impostor for months) decides against all odds to actually keep her child is very clearly not something George Soros would approve of. Gage thus works better at making the story not seem one-sided than other writers. A subplot like Tigra's is intense without calling too much attention to itself yet, but it's worked in LAW AND ORDER: SVU after all.
Ramos' pencils are what they are. The more inhuman the character, the better they usually look under him. Honestly considering I didn't care for his RUNAWAYS art, his run on this book hasn't been so bad. His art mostly worked.
In fact my only reservation has nothing to do with this book, but it's place in Marvel as a whole. We have all these figures going after Osborn in various ways, from Spider-Man to Moon Knight to the Agents of Atlas and now the New Warriors, but obviously not a one of them can succeed in any meaningful way unless it happens under Bendis' pen in either NEW WARRIORS or whatever mini is inevitable to wrap the story. If the Hood is going to be taken out, it won't be in a 40k seller like this, it'll be in NEW AVENGERS, and that sense of real-world-ism is a distraction to Gage's convincing narrative of Tigra wanting her groove back, much as the only downside to AGENTS OF ATLAS is that in no way will they take Osborn down, either. On the other hand, if Marvel really wanted to propel some of these lower selling B and C list titles, they would hype up something important happening in them, and then actually allow it. Instead Marvel usually allows writers to go about their merry ways and while they may write fine stories, they may not matter as much to the cohesive event subplot. Invest 2-4 months of heavy hype into Hood getting his "for real" comeuppance in AVENGERS: THE INITIATIVE and it might see a sales spike. Lord knows Tigra could use the boost.
: The Initiative just became Thunderbolts Lite. I really didn't need another team of bad guys being "good". Dark Reign indeed.
