Avengers Academy #14 – Review

By: Christos Gage (writer), Sean Chen (penciller), Scott Hanna (inker), Jeromy Cox (colorist), John Denning (assistant editor), Bill Rosemann (editor)

The Story: Electro attacks France’s main science institute while most of the full-fledged Avengers are away. The kids need a chance to prove themselves and Electro isn’t the baddest guy in town. When they get there, though, it turns out he ain’t alone. The kids don’t do too bad, though, all things considered.

What’s Good: Gage did one thing every great writer must do. He made the heroes active. They wanted something. They wanted it bad, and we the reader can sympathize: they want to prove themselves. They’re not asking for a free lunch. Just put me in the game coach. I like them already. This situation also creates a lot of tension, because when has any battle plan survived contact with the enemy? I love how well the trainees do against the Sinister Six and I have to say, I really like the ending. For a while, when I saw how they got the bad press and all, I was thinking “Oh great. Another thin persecution story. Seen it.” But Gage tricked me. That wasn’t the end. The end was about stepping up to the plate morally that was the big climax of the book. The fight, for all that it was a great superhero donnybrook, was really just a plot device to get to the personal growth made by a surprising number of people at the end. What am I saying about the writing? Gage was right on target.

And, I have to say, after my first exposure to the Chen-Hanna-Cox team, I’m loving the art. The fine lines leave a lot of room to fill the panels with detail, which I love. The credit page is a pretty good example of this. From top to bottom, the big panel is brimming with the external accoutrements of the Avengers Mansion, the backgrounded and framing characters, the tight line of those arguing, with some intense Giant-Man action thrown in as background. That is visual storytelling! And Cox’ colors are beautiful and clear, with the bright spots attracting the eye to the important parts of the page. I also enjoyed Chen’s slanting camera angles and overlaid panels. His layouts and choices of borders (or not) kept the pages from ever feeling the same. Chen and team made it feel like there was so much action going on that it could only be layered. And a PS: I loved the texture of Reptile and Rhino when they slapped down.

Mighty Avengers #30 – Review

By Dan Slott & Christos Gage (writers), Sean Chen (artist), Mark Morales (inker), John Rauch (colorist)

The Story: Hank Pym and the embodiment of reality have a heart to heart while a ridiculously impressive number of past and present Avengers unite to collectively bitch-slap The Unspoken.

The Good: I enjoyed the subplot of this issue far more than I did the main story, but that’s not saying much when talking about “The Unspoken”.  The conversation between Pym and Eternity was far-fetched and more than a little ridiculous, yes, but at the same time it was so wildly off the wall that I couldn’t help but admire its brazen audacity.  I question if this is the right direction for Pym, but am also curious to see where Slott and Gage go with it.  This issue seems to be a prelude of sorts to the upcoming “Siege” storyline, as the New, Mighty, and Young Avengers all meet for the first time.  I was pretty impressed with how epic and powerful that moment felt, and am really hoping to see new team rosters come from this assembly.

The Not So Good: Why, oh why won’t this story end already?!  We’re now four months into this sloth-like monstrosity and practically nothing has happened.  Despite the writers’ efforts to convince us otherwise, The Unspoken continues to be an uninspired and thoroughly boring villain.  I’m utterly baffled that three full teams of Avenger are needed take down this guy when it takes him so long to get anything done.  Sure, the Slave Engine has finally been raised, but at the rate this story is going it will take another four months for this moron to actually activate the damn thing!  My concern is that this storyline will be dragged on right up until “Siege” begins, and I’m not sure I can hold out that long, this story is really that dull.

Conclusion: Mighty Avengers continues to be a fun comic and the best Avengers title being printed right now, but it is taking a serious beating from a bad story that is getting worse every month.  There are a few slivers of good ideas present here, but not nearly enough to justify buying the comic.  You don’t need this one, either.

Grade:  D

-Tony Rakittke

Mighty Avengers #28 – Review

By Dan Slott and Christos Gage (writers), Khoi Pham (artist), Allen Martinez (inker)

The Story: Cut off from the rest of their team by the machinations of Loki, US Agent and Quicksilver have no other choice but to battle The Unspoken alongside China’s premiere superhuman army.  Statue discovers ‘Scarlet Loki’s’ treachery but is prevented from revealing it to the other Mighty Avengers so she turns to her friends on the Young Avengers for help.

The Good: Ever since Slott came on board, I feel like this title has found new life and a sense of fun that is well worth my money.  There is a vibe to this book that reminds me of the kinds of Avengers stories I grew up reading, when dynamic and dramatic team rosters united against epic foes. Uber Republican US Agent was by far my favorite character in this issue, and I laughed out loud when he reverently referred to Norman Osborn as being a patriot.  What made that scene even cooler was his fight with the Collective Man, a Communist who can summon the strength of every person in China.  Delightfully mad ideas like this keep me coming back to this book every month.

The Not So Good: This was a fairly average issue that didn’t amount to nearly as much as it would have you believe it did.  I was so into the battle against The Unspoken that when Slott changed scenes to Pym injecting team members with keys to the Infinite Avengers Mansion or Stature deciding how to overcome the spell Loki placed on her, I felt like they dragged on longer than necessary .  The funny thing about that though was that when I went back to look at these scenes again, they really weren’t that long after all.

Conclusion: The Mighty Avengers is one hell of an entertaining book that harkens back to an older, more enjoyable tradition of Avengers stories.  If you’re fed up paying $8 a month for Bendis’ Avengers books, I strongly encourage you to give this a try instead!

Grade:  B

-Tony Rakittke

Mighty Avengers #23 – Review

By Dan Slott (writer), Khoi Pham (artist), Allen Martinez and Danny Miki (inkers)

Even as I grew to despise Bendis’s writing over the years, I was always willing to give him a chance when it came to The Avengers because they have long been a favorite team of mine since childhood.  From Avengers, New Avengers, Mighty Avengers, and right up to Dark Avengers, Bendis has conned me into thinking that each new iteration of the team might be the one that delivers the kind of epic action and drama that I’ve come to associate with the franchise.  Sadly, every title has let me down.  They’ve become vanity projects for Bendis full of overblown, Seinfeldian dialogue and plots that aren’t nearly exciting enough to justify the $3.99 price tags that are conveniently on his comics.  Needless to say, when I learned that Bendis was leaving Mighty Avengers I became optimistic, and when I read the roster for Slott’s new team, I became excited.  This team, a powerful combination of characters old and new, was a group of Avengers that made sense.  More importantly, it was a team I felt would be fun to read, and so far this title definitely delivers.

Completing the “origin” story of this new team of Avengers, this issue finds Hank Pym, now calling himself Wasp in honor of his late wife, being challenged by none other than Tony Stark for leadership of the group, which has been mysteriously assembled to combat the ancient Chaos god Cthon.  During the conflict egos clash, insecurities arise, a leader emerges, and the team’s malevolent founder is revealed.  In the sea of crap that Bendis has thrown the Avengers franchise into, Slott’s opening storyline on this title is a much needed breath of fresh air.  His script easily balances action, comedy, and characterization in ways that remind me why I’ve loved the Avengers for so long.  Khoi Pham’s art works best on a large scale, and if you don’t believe me, just check out the covers to his first three issues of this comic and tell me you wouldn’t buy a poster of it right now if you could!  Slott and Pham will need a little time to make this title their own, but I’m willing to give it to them because they have finally given me an Avengers comic I can enjoy again.  This is shaping up to be quite a fun comic and I hope you’ll give it a try!

Grade: B+

Tony Rakittke