Written by Christos Gage
Illustrated by Sean ChenNew students! New staff! New West Coast Academy! – A Classic Avenger is murdered…and everyone’s a suspect! – Captain America, Luke Cage, and Hawkeye guest-star to…fight the Avengers Academy?
This is my favorite Avengers book, but it’s “the first issue of a new era” which means big changes stemming from the events of last week’s (!!) issue #20. Is it still the book that I loved? Is it still everything I want from a young Avengers book (and really, an Avengers book)?
Find out after the jump, and note, spoilers are discussed.
Those in the industry who shout from the rooftops about the inaccessibility of comics for new readers should look at this issue as an example of how to make a book that has been around for a while work for newcomers. In an issue that is labeled the first issue of a new era, Christos Gage and Sean Chen tell a story that welcomes new readers (and characters!) with open arms and pays off big time for long-time readers as well.
One of the things that I thought of when I was putting this book into perspective is how the first 20 issues of this series really felt like one “season” to put it in TV terms. Given that Christos Gage has written TV in the past, that could possibly be his intent or it could just be me reading too much into something that isn’t there, but either way, it works well. And in this issue, the new season kicks off in grand fashion.
This issue manages to create a new central mystery that will run throughout the book, a variation on the “Titans Tomorrow” arc that Geoff Johns and Mike McKone killed on but with some really delicate and delicious twists. The interesting thing about the big turn in direction this book takes in the last few pages is that it works really well as a standalone twist, but it also proves fruitful when you look back to where we’ve already been in the book, especially when you use Reptil as the crux of that change. The big question for me though is this: when did Reptil get turned? Very curious indeed.
The new status quo for the Academy though is like a dream come true for this long-time Avengers fan. I was a massive West Coast Avengers fan growing up, and to see the team move operations to their old facilities and open up enrollment for all kinds of heroes-in-training (including Julie Power (POWER PACK!) and Penance from Generation X – who was a hilarious choice to play tug-of-war) is an inspired move. Gage completely nails the development of the new cast, especially with the way the existing team gradually accepts them initially (although Striker is all about it from day one) and the way that he works Hawkeye into the cast as a new teacher. For me, I was worried that moving Clint into as a new teacher was going to feel forced, but I should have known better with Gage. The way he executes it, it’s clear that it was a move that was meant to be (karma, indeed).
The sparring that takes place between the current Avengers and the Academy kids is a great move, and something that is well executed from an emotional and logic standpoint. I especially loved Striker getting all up in Hank’s business, and the tie to Fear Itself #7.1 as Striker chastises Captain America for getting Bucky killed twice. It was great stuff.
Really, when you get down to the core of all of these things I’m praising, it’s because the characterization is so spot on by Gage. These are almost all new characters in the primary cast, but they have felt like genuine people since day one. With each passing issue, the turmoil and drama and relationships that form between them feel more and more organic and layered, and I’m enjoying the living heck out of seeing it happen on the page.
Gage’s strengths in team books has always been in the characterization – he did the same in the criminally underrated Stormwatch PHD – but this book is without a doubt a high point in the already impressive career of the writer.
Continued belowSean Chen has been contributing solid work to Academy intermittently since its inception, and he continues that trend here. Chen isn’t someone you really hear anyone say “man, that Sean Chen is blowing my mind right now!” about. It’s just not what he does. He’s a guy who just gets in there and does work. He’s like Wade Boggs was. Just hitting doubles all of the time and getting by on bringing his lunchpail to work without a lot of people noticing him, and then 3,000 plus hits later, the guy is a hall of famer.
In this issue, he does a fantastic job of conveying the emotions in the faces and body language of the characters. Gage really needs someone on this book whose strength lies in characterization, and Chen is a perfect fit in that regard. In particular, I liked the parts in which Striker was getting his ladies man on, with his expressions selling the humor very well.
Avengers Academy is truly headed in a new direction, and what a direction it is. I think it’s a pretty underrated book at this point – I genuinely think it’s the best Avengers book by a good margin – and I think that this is the type of book that you could handle to one of those mythical young and new readers the industry so desperately needs and they would enjoy. There’s something to be said of that, and it all comes down to Gage’s gifts as a writer and the talent of his various artistic collaborators like Chen. Nice work guys. I just wish this comic actually came out every week all of the time.
Final Verdict: 9.0 – Buy
