Avengers Academy #27:
Summary: This issue kicks off with Striker holding a press conference telling the world that he was gay. Ever the media-hound, Striker is hoping that news would get him some serious face time with the tabloids, and sure enough, he gets a call from his mother with tons of interview offers... Striker is awesome... Anyway, the Runaways managed to sneak into the Avengers Academy campus during the press conference and seem to have some sort of plan. Before they can enact it though, Juston and his Sentinel arrive on the scene since the Sentinel had sensed the Ultron tech in Victor... Well that right there just upped the awesomeness quotient of this one... Seeing a Sentinel and fearing the worst, the Runaways attack it, which leads to some of the Academy staff and students getting into the battle. Before things get too out of control, Pym arrives on the scene(at about 30 feet tall or so) demanding the fighting stops so he can find out why he had received a report that there was Ultron tech on the campus grounds. Victor explains to Pym that he had been created by Ultron, which was why the Sentinel was sensing Ultron tech... Oh and Victor then does what I was hoping he would and tells Pym that since Pym had created Ultron and Ultron had created Victor, Victor was pretty much Pym's grandson(!). I love Christos Gage's writing!! Now that the battle had ceased, Pym asks why the Runaways had come to the Academy and Chase reveals that he thought Old Lace was still alive, since he could “feel” her mentally again. When Nico used the Staff of One to tell them how to find Old Lace, the Staff pointed to Reptil as the catalyst for finding Old Lace. Pym decides to look into the situation and invites the Runaways inside where they have some funny interactions with the Academy kids. Ultimately Pym figures out a way to open a dimensional portal to the dimension Old Lace was in by using Reptil's amulet as a... um, dinosaur tracer. Before opening the portal though, Pym pulls Tigra aside and tells her that they had a responsibility to take Molly and Clara away from the rest of the Runaways since they were so young. More on that later... From there, Pym takes everybody into his lab and manages to open a portal to another dimension. The Academy kids, some of the staff and the Runaways all enter the portal and before long Old Lace and Chase(as well as the other Runaways) are reunited. Since the Avengers Academy staff had done what she needed them to do, Nico casts a spell to see what the Academy staff really wanted from the Runaways and sees the conversation from earlier between Pym and Tigra. Needless to say, she isn't pleased, and that ends this issue.
Thoughts: You know, I laughed out loud no less than FOUR times during this issue... It was hysterical! Not only that, but the story was fun and made sense, the art was pretty good, and ALL of the characterizations here were spot on. Seriously, Gage wrote Victor so well(my favorite Runaway, fyi) I'm hoping he stays with the Academy after this storyline. The conversations between Victor and Pym were EVERYTHING I had been hoping for coming into this storyline. The ONE thing I was REALLY hoping we'd get to see was Pym and Victor interacting because of their obvious connection, and as usual, Gage did not disappoint. I really don't have any bad things to say about this issue... Wait, does that mean what I think it does?!?
Score: 10 out of 10. You know what? What the hell, this issue gets my first perfect score of 2012. It was the perfect blend of story, dialogue and humor, so kudos to the creative team on this one.
Yeah, as a fan of Pym, Ultron and Victor, this issue rocked hard.
You can tell from this that Gage is a huge Runaways fan. He even remembered how much of a comic geek Victor is. His characterizations of them are spot on. There were so many lines in this that made me smile. Molly referring to the sentinel as the Iron Giant and stating she wanted one (especially since she's a mutant). Victor commenting on how much of an inspiration White Tiger was because he was the first Hispanic Super Hero (thereby annoying Reptil). This issue was just good.
ReplyDeleteYeah, Gage either really liked the Runaways or REALLY did his research, but either way he had every character down. Even Clara, who I never really cared for, was funny in this one(I loved her line to Tigra). I was kind of torn over what to score this comic, but after some thought, I think it deserved that 10.
ReplyDeleteRunaways really needs its own series back, i'll admit i wasn't a big fan of the alien force marriage thing that was the final arc but one bad arc shouldn't mean that we don't get to see the entire team for years.
ReplyDeleteExactly! I'll be the first to admit that the quality fell DRAMATICALLY after BKV left the series, but still, the characters were still good enough to keep around. This issue proves that a good writer(ie: Christos Gage) could make the Runaways work and give us great stories. Hopefully this storyline opens some eyes around Marvel and geta us at the least a Runaways mini with a decent writer.
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