Saturday, October 16, 2010

Avengers Academy #5

Christos Gage is really into the social media. This issue has Twitter and 4chan, and maybe Facebook all playing a part in the lives of the Avengers students. It makes sense that these kids would be so wrapped up in the fame of super heroics, and I love seeing them leveraging their powers for some fame. No character is more interested in fame than Striker, the lightning-powered kid with obvious emotional problems. Gage is creating a slew of interesting characters here, with all sorts of motivations and backgrounds. The most fun part of this book is trying to figure out who is going to end up a bad guy, and who can live up to their heroic potential. (It's probably too obvious to guess Reptil, Mettle, and Veil stay good while Finesse, Striker, and Hazmat turn bad).

Gage uses some Marvel history to bring in Whirlwind. He's always been obsessed with the Wasp, so it makes sense that he'd blame Hank Pym and come gunning for him. I always love seeing Pym grow up, so watching him slap Whirlwind around was excellent. With the youth portion of the cast demanding such a spotlight, I do wish we could get more from the faculty characters.

Jorge Molina's art is fine, but Mike McKone's work defines this book. The characters all look fine, but Veil and Finesse suffer not having McKone's detailed facial expressions.

Good

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