Avengers: The Initiative Special #1 – Review

By Christos N. Gage & Dan Slott (Writers) and Steve Uy (Art)

The Story: Meant for longtime Initiative readers, this special issue focuses mostly on the Initiative recruit, Hardball and his relationship with both Komodo and Hydra organizations. Also, the book offers a short story about the day Trauma’s unique powers manifested during a school day.

What’s Good: As part of this special’s target audience, I really couldn’t be much happier with how things come together in this issue. It really hits all the right notes as Hardball’s bittersweet love story is handled extremely well. The Hydra plot wraps up (or truly begins?) in a satisfyingly interesting fashion, and Trauma’s origin proves to have been worth the wait. Simply put, longtime Initiative fans will find a lot to like here. Especially since Christos N. Gage’s character work is some of the best to ever grace the series known for it’s strong, well-written cast. In addition, Steve Uy’s artwork is the best it has ever been.

What’s Not So Good: A minor complaint, but Steve Uy’s work is definitely lacking in some spots. While it is without a doubt much improved from his last outing with the Initiative series, I can’t help but wish it was a bit more detailed.

Conclusion: For those that have been reading Avengers: The Initiative from the beginning, consider this to be a must buy. The character work is outstanding and the payoff for sticking with the series so long is most definitely worth the purchase price.

Grade: A-

-Kyle Posluszny