Sunday, July 29, 2012

Avengers Academy #33

Now I’m just getting confused. In the core AvX series, I was clearly siding with the X-Men against those fancy-pants Avengers. But clearly, the X-Men are in the wrong and we’re supposed to be siding with the Avengers, the noble rebels on the run from the all-powerful space-mutants. But in this one, I side with Emma Frost.

The sentinels were built to slaughter mutants, and they’ve accomplished that goal many times. Heck, Emma Frost saw all her students killed right in front of her by the robotic murderers. Her offer to just destroy Juston’s Sentinel, but allow it to be rebuilt, seems positively reasonable. I appreciate that the Academy wants to stick together, but man, that’s a rough call. Surely some of them would side with the mutants.

Christos Gage does a great job with the characters involved, especially the students. I don’t know this Juston kid at all, but it’s very easy to see his emotional state and background from just a few effective flashbacks. (Besides, I’m pretty sure his Sentinel is just the Iron Giant, right?) Haz Mat has a nice moment exhibiting the self-centered worldview most teenagers express, but she’s not the best jerk in the issue. That award clearly goes to Quicksilver. It’s tough to write such an abrasive, annoying guy as likable, but Gage pulls it off. Like he usually does, Quicksilver steals the scene.

Man, Emma Frost’s costume is pretty tough to draw. It honestly looks like there are panels where Timothy Green II just draws her pants-less. I think there is one scene where it took some well-placed word bubbles to keep from showing a bare rear in a T-rated comic! Green draws everyone a bit young-looking, and that hurts Emma, Hank, and Tigra a bit. But his Sentinel is awesome, boasting detail in his nooks and crannies that really make him pop.

Fair

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