TheCorpulent1
SHAZAM!
- Joined
- Jun 20, 2001
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- 154,474
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Avengers Academy started off with a great first issue. Gage has a knack for setting up good casts with compelling baggage. We saw it numerous times in Avengers: The Initiative--Taskmaster's inner turmoil between the safety of his usual MO and his ambition to become one of the big players; Tigra, Gauntlet, and the New Warriors uniting to recover their dignity and take the corrupt Initiative down; the surprisingly great star-crossed love story between Diamondback and Constrictor--and it's in full effect in this issue. The teaching staff comprises Hank Pym, Quicksilver, Tigra, Justice, and a very damaged Speedball, which is an eclectic group that's sure to have a lot of explosive clashes in its future. The students are a great blend of familiar high school archetypes with a lot of potential for far greater depth thanks to what looks to be the unifying theme of the series at this point: black sheep. The teaching staff are very much the black sheep of the Avengers and New Warriors because of their pasts (some more checkered than others) and the kids are black sheep because, as we find out toward the end of the issue, they're the six kids who were most tortured by Osborn and are thus the most at risk for turning to villainy. That's a bit of an oversimplification and obviously Hank has noble intentions for wanting to keep an eye on them, but the kids feel understandably betrayed when they learn of it. That sets up a pretty solid dramatic conflict for the first arc, which I'm looking forward to.
As far as individual characters, I'm liking most of the arcs Gage has set up in this issue. Hank, as in Mighty Avengers, makes no excuses for his mental instability; instead, it drives his desire to set the kids straight and make sure they never have to deal with the kinds of things he and the other staff have over their careers. Speedball has come back to his familiar name and costume, but his personality is still in Penance mode. Gone are his old wisecracks, replaced by a much harder edge and a lot of residual anger. A certain encounter after a training session seems to imply that Justice stuck around the Initiative-turned-Academy, in part at least, to keep an eye on Speedball and make sure he doesn't go off the deep end again, which feels absolutely perfect for the character, having been both friend and leader to Robbie on the Warriors. Quicksilver mentions he's with the Avengers to distance himself from Magneto to the public eye, now that Magneto is active once again with the increasingly militant X-Men, so presumably he's just sort of been stuck on the Academy's staff because that's where others felt he could do the most good. That works well for me because it gives Pietro a sensible reason for being a teacher while allowing him to remain as charmingly angsty about his situation as ever. Tigra has the least to do in this issue, but we learn that her extensive experience with all forms of law enforcement, both normal and superheroic, is her main reason for being a teacher. Makes sense. I expect we'll learn more about what Tigra's getting out of her presence on the staff later.
Among the students, I most liked Mettle and Veil. Veil is our POV character, so obviously she's developed the most. She's an outsider who's used to being humiliated, so she's got that everyman relatability factor that Marvel popularized and Gage writes her as enough of an individual that it doesn't seem trite. Mettle automatically won me over because he was surprisingly insightful while the other students were cracking jokes. He's a giant dude made of metal but he's very cool-headed and not at all whiny about his situation, as the typical teen hero probably would be. Hazmat, on the other hand, is definitely whiny, although she covers it up with vitriol. She's the standard angry b**** archetype. Finesse, on the other hand, is the standard stuck-up b**** archetype, since she learns everything at super-speed. Reptil is Reptil, and I guess he's there to provide a sense of familiarity to the Initiative audience. Striker surprised me; on one hand, he's your standard jock type--talented with his powers to the point of arrogance and wants the spotlight way too much for his own good--but he was also the prime mover among the kids--he pushed the plot along most by spurring the other kids to action. I wonder if he might end up with the leadership position Reptil wants so badly, leading to some good friction down the road...
McKone's art is the same as ever. If you like him, you'll like this; if not, you won't. I'm somewhere in the middle. He's technically proficient and even a good storyteller, but something about his style has never really sat well with me. His characters have kind of a soulless, vacant look to their facial expressions, I find, and his poses are always just a hair awkward. Still, the art is well done overall and my minor nitpicks certainly didn't create enough of a distraction to interfere with my enjoyment of the story.
As far as individual characters, I'm liking most of the arcs Gage has set up in this issue. Hank, as in Mighty Avengers, makes no excuses for his mental instability; instead, it drives his desire to set the kids straight and make sure they never have to deal with the kinds of things he and the other staff have over their careers. Speedball has come back to his familiar name and costume, but his personality is still in Penance mode. Gone are his old wisecracks, replaced by a much harder edge and a lot of residual anger. A certain encounter after a training session seems to imply that Justice stuck around the Initiative-turned-Academy, in part at least, to keep an eye on Speedball and make sure he doesn't go off the deep end again, which feels absolutely perfect for the character, having been both friend and leader to Robbie on the Warriors. Quicksilver mentions he's with the Avengers to distance himself from Magneto to the public eye, now that Magneto is active once again with the increasingly militant X-Men, so presumably he's just sort of been stuck on the Academy's staff because that's where others felt he could do the most good. That works well for me because it gives Pietro a sensible reason for being a teacher while allowing him to remain as charmingly angsty about his situation as ever. Tigra has the least to do in this issue, but we learn that her extensive experience with all forms of law enforcement, both normal and superheroic, is her main reason for being a teacher. Makes sense. I expect we'll learn more about what Tigra's getting out of her presence on the staff later.
Among the students, I most liked Mettle and Veil. Veil is our POV character, so obviously she's developed the most. She's an outsider who's used to being humiliated, so she's got that everyman relatability factor that Marvel popularized and Gage writes her as enough of an individual that it doesn't seem trite. Mettle automatically won me over because he was surprisingly insightful while the other students were cracking jokes. He's a giant dude made of metal but he's very cool-headed and not at all whiny about his situation, as the typical teen hero probably would be. Hazmat, on the other hand, is definitely whiny, although she covers it up with vitriol. She's the standard angry b**** archetype. Finesse, on the other hand, is the standard stuck-up b**** archetype, since she learns everything at super-speed. Reptil is Reptil, and I guess he's there to provide a sense of familiarity to the Initiative audience. Striker surprised me; on one hand, he's your standard jock type--talented with his powers to the point of arrogance and wants the spotlight way too much for his own good--but he was also the prime mover among the kids--he pushed the plot along most by spurring the other kids to action. I wonder if he might end up with the leadership position Reptil wants so badly, leading to some good friction down the road...
McKone's art is the same as ever. If you like him, you'll like this; if not, you won't. I'm somewhere in the middle. He's technically proficient and even a good storyteller, but something about his style has never really sat well with me. His characters have kind of a soulless, vacant look to their facial expressions, I find, and his poses are always just a hair awkward. Still, the art is well done overall and my minor nitpicks certainly didn't create enough of a distraction to interfere with my enjoyment of the story.
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So i'm still on the learning process!
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