“You’re well I trust.”

“I’m not insane at the moment if that’s what you’re implying… And you?  How are your plans to destroy the X-Men from within proceeding?

These lines got me hooked on Avengers Academy and Christos Gage for life.  To find out why, click to read more.

Backstory, the Avengers brought me into comics.  I went to the newsstand every day looking for a new issue of Solo Avengers or West Coast Avengers, and eventually the main book.  Back when everyone was reading X-Men I was known as “the Avengers kid”.  This love continued into Heroes Reborn and Return, and New, and Initiative, etc.  But somewhere along the way I dropped the ball on Avengers Academy.  Always a title I would get to “eventually”.  Eventually came today.

Wow.  I don’t know any of the “kids” on this team but it doesn’t matter.  From the onset I am riveted by this book.  The Teen Avengers are being trained but meanwhile have all their own issues and opinions etc.  The teaching staff has me digging through my back issue boxes for West Coast Avengers.  Then we get the all too ignored Marvel lore – that Quicksilver, an Avenger is Magneto’s son.  Therefore the X-Men and Avengers corners of the Marvel U are forever linked.  But years, near decades go by without that being mentioned in the books.

Christos writes this beautiful father vs son story throughout the book that peels back layers upon layers of history between Pietro, Erik, Avengers, mutants, everything.  But never once would a reader be lost!  Even lines that have so much unexplained references in them (like about Pietro’s child) flow without needing the backstory.  If you know, then its a great line, and its still a great line even if this is the first time you’ve ever heard about Quicksilver’s child.

Finesse has the potential to be one of Marvel’s biggest characters.  Sure you could make her lady Taskmaster girl or something, but she’s so much more than that.   Reptil is also showing he’s more, more than a one dimensional character created for a cartoon.

I haven’t even brought up the larger mystery of Jocasta’s death going on in this issue.

And the art!  Sean Chen makes everyone in here look larger than life, powerful, graceful, godlike.  You know, like super heroes.  Whether they’re fighting or standing, these characters are above human and should be seen as such at all times.

Is that Boulder in the background?!

I strongly suggest you go to your local comic shop, or Comixology, or whatever and pick up all previous issues of this.  Its the team up book for any new readers in this generation.  Like New Warriors for me, Defenders for some, X-Men, Teen Titans, etc.

Also, I will buy 10 copies of an Emma Frost/Tigra team up book.  That was some of the most brilliant banter I’ve ever read.