Avengers Academy #36
Meanwhile, Humberto speaks with the Hag of the Pits (Bwahahahaha!!! Hag! Priceless...) the person that created his amulet. The old Hag tells him he can take his powers back, but he must pay a price. One day he will have to fight for the creatures whose powers he possess, and he may die in doing so. She asks him if he can bear that burden, and he says yes, re-powering him as well. With their powers and the help of X-23 and Finesse, the teens make quick work of Coat of Arms, and are then reunited with Striker, Mettle, Hazmat and Veil. The team has to make a quick decision, as they have to go after Briggs before he releases the Clean Slate on the world's superheroes, but if they don't get X-23 the cure fast, she'll die of adamantium poisoning. They discuss splitting up but they know they won't be able to get the antidote without doing it together, due to Briggs having it under lockdown. They decide to go after the antidote to save X-23, and giving them to the rest of the team that needed them as well. With everyone re-powered, they head to the roof after Briggs, but arrive just as he's released the Clean Slate to the world, as this issue comes to a close.
Thoughts: First things first, that scene with Mettle and Hazmat, like most of their scenes in this arc, was amazing. Just the visual of seeing Ken's flesh burn away as he embraced and kissed his girlfriend was extremely strong and it goes to show how talented of an artist Andrea Di Vito is, as well as the always Grade A+ writing of Christos Gage. Also, this is one of the first comics in a while that I can remember having no Credits page, which was good because it never broke up the flow of the pages. I enjoyed mostly everything here, except for the fact the gang didn't split up. I kinda get their point but if Hazmat could kick Briggs and Enchantress' ass earlier, then why not just send her and Finesse or her and White Tiger to at least slow Briggs down? And Lightspeed's speech was a little cheesy and awkward for a fight in the middle of a room, but those things aside, I still enjoyed this comic. I'm definitely looking forward to seeing how the Academy crew, and I'd wager, Jocasta, stop Briggs' master plan.
Score: 8.5/10
If by "infinitely better than yesterday or tomorrow" you actually mean "horribly worse than today or tomorrow," then I agree wholeheartedly! :P
ReplyDeleteAnyway, on to this issue. We were completely simpatico here, I'd have given this issue pretty much the same score. Loved the scene with Mettle and Hazmat. And agreed on Hazmat. Striker is still my favorite character here, but Hazmat is really pulling close. I did think it was kind of dumb of the group to go and cure X-23 before confronting Briggs... Sometimes you have to look at the bigger picture, and stopping Briggs probably should have been the primary goal.
Oh, and one more thing, can we all safely say that X-23 is officially a comic book killer now? New X-Men, X-23, Avengers Academy(and that's just off the top of my head), it seems any book she is placed in ends up getting canned soon thereafter... Weird...
Nah, I liked my way more, but it's good that you're trying. :P And I couldn't agree more about Briggs... I mean, sure, X-23 is going to die, and yeah, I get that you wanna cure her, but it doesn't take the WHOLE team. I'd argue Hazmat could just melt every door and Vault on the way there... and Briggs definitely should've been the main goal, as he threatened the entire world.. and they wouldn't have known immediately. Meaning certain heroes would just drop out of the sky, Luke Cage could be taking bullets for the team because he's bullet proof then all of a sudden he's dead. It was a dumb decision for the kids to make to be honest.
ReplyDeleteLol, I'm not gonna argue with that, But I WILL say Christos has made me like X-23, a hell of a lot more than when she popped up in Venom.
Well, unsurprisingly, your way sucks. :P
ReplyDeleteRight, or just Striker. Couldn't he just fry the electronic locks himself while the rest of the group deals with Briggs. Or just two of them(say Mettle to carry X-23 and Hazmat) to deal with the cure while the rest deal with Briggs. Yeah, agreed, definitely didn't like their decision there.
Yeah, X-23 has been written well here. I think Gage has done a better job with her(especially her friendship with Finesse) than even Marjorie Liu did in the X-23 book, and I love Marjorie Liu's writing! But still, comic book killer! :P
I'm quickly starting to miss the days when I was the only person running this blog. :P
ReplyDeleteExactly, with a team of nine, eight not counting X-23, I find it hard to believe they needed eight people to get the antidote. I get that Gage needed a way to have the cliffhanger but yeah, it just made the team seem stupid.
I couldn't agree more, and the funny thing is, the way Finesse was written from day one makes X-23 the PERFECT friend for her. It's almost like he planned it from the first issue or something... He's a hell of a writer. Looks like Slott may have some competition when the Year End awards come up. ;-)
HA!!! You know, that can easily be arranged again... :P
ReplyDeleteAgreed all the way around. I get that we needed a cliffhanger, but it seems there could have been a better way to go about it. It was a VERY rare misstep for the awesome that is Christos Gage. Still, this storyline has been great, so that's a VERY little quibble.
Yup, the Finesse/X-23 relationship is/was perfect. Huh, I haven't even really thought about the year end awards yet... I think, as of right now, Dan Slott is my runaway pick for writer as of right now... Gage is losing Academy soon, Brubaker is leaving, Snyder messed up the Court storyline, who else is there? I guess a dark horse could be Kirkman with Walking Dead and Invincible.
Lol, screw you sir.
ReplyDeleteYep, although I feel like it's very obvious Jocasta will come back and somehow stop the Clean Slate from being released.
I'd say Slott would be my pick too after his great year on Spidey, Remender was good on Venom, Gage has been awesome on AA and Snyder was great on Bats til the end of Court of Owls, but like you said, Slott has been pretty untouchable. Plus, he's writing two issues of Spidey a month.
I dont know I'm enjoying this storyline but there are some stuff that does not fit in my head...
ReplyDelete..How does X-23 carry her own body with all that adamantium in his bones without her powers?
and that they did't split seemed full too..
And since Speed drank the antidote why she didn't use his speed abylities to, you know, get to the roof before Brigs launched the rockets???
All in all I'm tryng to enjoy the most of I can until this run fantastic run ends..
and By the way, what do you guys think of Allan Heinberg (Sure you X know who is him) beign the writer for a Wonder Woman TV series for CW?
Hm... Good question Alien, I guess you could argue since it's only in her claws it's easier for her to move, unlike Wolverine who has it all through him... as for Speed, I guess who only thing would be if she could even slow Briggs down, considering the short work he made of Striker.
ReplyDeleteI talked to X about that the other day, as well as Falisha, they both seem pretty optimistic, it's gonna be hard to make it worse than that WW show they almost did last year...
So let me get this straight...Hazmat can make your skin melt off if you stand in REALLY close prosimities of her without her suit on?
ReplyDelete...THAT is a scary thought...
Lol yeah, she's pretty damn radioactive at this point. I'm kinda wondering WTF that suit is made out of and if it ruptures will we get a Captain Atom type explosion.
DeleteI think Reed Richards made it just for her, since all the costumes they wear were made by him for their powers. Think about it; Reptil's civilian clothes were ripped to bits when he had to fight against Osborn's goons in the first issue, and Striker may have burnt some of his clothes when he first used his powers.
DeleteThat actually sounds about right DeJay. I'm too lazy to look into it, but I could see that.
Deleteokay...though I'd be surprised if none of the characters don't get their own comics.
DeleteHell, I can just see the 'Mettle and Hazmat' comics coming out of this for the fans of the two.
I'm assuming you haven't seen this.
Deletehttp://www.bleedingcool.com/2012/09/13/marvel-launches-avengers-arena-in-the-manner-of-battle-royale/
...so they're stuck in Murderworld? I hope they can get out of that mess.
DeleteYep... looks to be what the whole series is about, so I wouldn't count on it. Plus, they're probably gonna kill off a few characters.
DeleteLooks like two are hinted at. Though I think the fan-favorites would be left safe and sound, especailly Mettle since he's nigh-impossible to kill, and more then likely he'll be trying to protect his friends.
DeleteHeck, a lot of people make a good point on it; Arcade is sort of a joke of a villain these days.
Also...would you like to see a TV show of this series of comics? Or at least let the characters appear in a cartoon that ISN'T Super Hero Squad?
Yeah, I figured that as well, but you know how they like to throw stupid deaths at us. Ahem, AVX.
DeleteI'd love that, especially if it was done as well as Teen Titans for Cartoon Network a few years ago.
And don't forget Young Justice and the Ultimate Spiderman cartoon: both have teenage super heroes.
DeleteSeriously, I would like to have the Avenger Academy kids at least APPEAR in Ultimate Spiderman. I mean...come on! White Tiger is one of the main characters in those comics!
Definitely, both of those are awesome shows with great storylines and amazing voice over casts.
DeleteHm... I never thought about that. That would be interesting to see the rest of the AA kids pop up.
Exactly. Plus I can see Toph's voice actress being the everyone favorite Radioactive Asian snarker.
DeleteShe would be perfect too.
DeleteThough is it odd that I think Will Friedle would be a good Mettle?
DeleteI could see that working too, or for Striker. Probably have Tara Strong voice Veil if you use her, maybe Carlos Alazraqui as Reptil, I could definitely see it.
DeleteThough I'm curious on something...with the new comic these guys will appear in, don't you think their creator won't be to happy that they'll be in a comic that involves killing off heroes?
DeleteIf the backlash is bad they could always retcon it and say arcade had them in a video game or something.
DeleteAs in...they were kidnapped, put in weird helmets and THOUGHT they were getting killed?
Delete...how come I think that's the more then likely approch they were going...since a lot of people see Murderworld as a joke of a place, since most heroes don't die there.
Yep, that's exactly what I was thinking. Plus he's such a Z List villain, that would be like crazy quilt killing a bunch of Teen Titans.
DeleteExactly. It's almost like Mad Mod (A guy with the same status as Arcade) killing one of the Justice League. It wouldn't make sense. Dr. Doom or Dr. Octopus, maybe, but NOT Arcade.
DeleteCouldn't agree more. Hell, it better be a game, if mettle dies in gonna be pissed..
DeleteI think the only way Mettle could die is of old age. Seriously, he can survive RADIATION, something that can kill a normal person. I think it'll take a LOT to kill him. Nothing that Arcade could think up would work against him.
DeletePlus Hazmat can use her EMP powers to power down all of his gadgets, and Reptil can make his skin harder then stone thanks to Anklyasaurus powers, and not to mention that X-23 has a cult following AND a healing-factor. Seriously, she surived a face-first blast of radiatoactive energy.
You could always have him eat something that's explosive, like how pool killed cage In Deadpool kills the Marvel Universe, since I'm sure his insides are still normal. But you're definitely right.
DeleteYeah, he isn't stupid though. I think he wouldn't trust ANYTHING from Arcade, especially if Reptil told his friends about his experiences with the guy.
Delete