Scans_Daily

This took for-gorram-ever to get together. Photobucket was giving me a hard time.

Here, we cover Avengers Academy #21-27 as the kids adjust to the West Coast Campus, meet some old foes, older foes and make new friends.

And I complain about things Arena dropped the ball on, because we all know that's entertaining.

This first arc sets up the new status quo for the series: the kids are still at school, but they're now in a new campus and among over a dozen new students from all over the Marvel Universe. These include:

Lyra Banner, the Savage She Hulk
Ermey Shaub, Butterball (though he calls himself the Boulder)
Jimmy Santini, Batwing
Kevin Masterson, Thunderstrike
Anya Corazon, the Spider-Girl
Victor Alvarez, the newest Power Man
Robert Farrel, the Rocket Racer
Adam Aaronson, "Machine Teen"
Johnathan Gallo, Ricochet
Michiko Musashi, Turbo
Takashi Matsuya, Wiz Kid
And Juston Seyfert . . . who is best buds with a damaged Sentinel.

Okay, Juston stands out a bit, but I'm more curious about Michiko and Johnny Gallo. Along with another new recruit, they were trying to get out of the super hero life for very good reasons. Now they're here.

My idea is that they are there to try and get the others to be more 'normal' as well as share their experiences.

As Tigra and Hank look out over the expanded school, the first class is not as impressed.



Jocasta gets the kids to meet Hank and the primary Avengers representatives post Fear Itself: Captain America, Hawkeye and Luke Cage.

But they're convinced that this is their doom.




And I'm already raggin' on Arena, but it bears mentioning. For all the sweetness and kindness Mettle has, there's another part of him that is really quick to go from "frustrated and Angry" to "Acting Out with Violence without understanding just how strong he is." It shocks even him, repeatedly. It's one of the more fascinating aspects about him.

And because Arena bumped him off so casually and quickly, we couldn't have that sort of in-depth and interesting development. Then again, Arena is about as deep as Popcorn with too much salt.

Also, I love that Hazmat always has his back. I love that.

Jocasta shuts the whole fight down and yells at both sides, for being belligerents. The kids for being assumptive, and the adults for being inconsiderate jerks. Unlike them, the kids can't really shrug off war quickly as if nothing happened. The kids get a minor time out as the adults talk things through.

Hawkeye, meanwhile, is quite amused by this turn of events: he's the establishment now.




Also during this time, Reptil undergoes a secretive change. We don't find out until the end of the issue, but Reptil has been replaced, mentally, with his future self, on a mission to 'save the future!'.

Otherwise, the kids themselves . . . are not doing as good.


Ahem:

"Bow-Chicka-Wow-wow"

But then:



Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is not just limited to wars. I love that it was explored and used to hinder their relationship for added drama. I also love the shot of Mettle looking at himself. Part of him still blames his appearance, when it really is all in Hazmat's head.

The two groups meet up again and both of them apologize for what happened. To a degree. There's some stubborn personalities at work here.



The kids are then introduced to two new full time students (everyone else is going to be part time): Lightspeed/Julie Power and Ava Ayala: the White Tiger featured currently on Ultimate Spider-Man.





A few things:

Jealous Finesse is utterly amusing. Also, Ava is very much as 'intense' as her TV counterpart.

But we can't end an issue on a high note, so when they go to see Jocasta, they find her innards torn out. Being a robot, it shuts her down and Hank does his best to Fix her, but he needs a magnetics expert to really figure out who did her in.

So they call Magneto. He, Emma Frost and Scott Summers show up and immediately become the center of attention as this is during the Utopia era of the X-Men.




I couldn't resists. I love that panel.

There's actually a lot of good snark/silliness in this issue (#22).



Oddly enough, Hank Pym asks Emma to do a surface scan to make sure that one of the kids is not the culprit moments later.



She gets nothing. I guess that training was really good!

Finesse (and her relationship with Quicksilver) take the forefront here. After Magneto enters the lab, the crowd disperses and Quicksilver goes to his prize student.



Oh dear.

Finesse believes this requires further investigation. And with some prodding from Reptil, she eaves drops on Magneto and the others as his price for help is revealed: Quicksilver musts remove himself from Mutant Affairs.




Aww! Aside from the silliness of Super Heroes using violence to solve their problems even more than Pro Wrestlers do, I love that they really care about each other, to take on one of the most powerful mutants on the planet.



Oh, Jerk!Future!Reptil. You really know how to escalate things.

But not everyone likes the call to action.



Oh, Hazmat, you're such a jerk sometimes.

They fight, mostly because of pent up fears and worries than anything else. Also, we get this clunker of a line.



Ya know what, "My scantily clad sister" is so cheesily silver-age that it goes from being painful to hilarious.

So, Emma freezes everyone in place and gets them over the violence. Magneto finds Chronotons around and in Jocasta, and then gets ready to leave, his services rendered.

But then!



It's the little things like this which really make me love this series.

Finesse then goes to speak with Quicksilver again.



Finesse then asks him to stop teaching her to be like Magneto, and to start teaching her how to be like him. Daawww. . .

#23 introduced the last student to be added to Avengers Academy: X-23.

After a (bloody) sparing session with Tigra, she introduces Laura to the class, who are rather shocked.



Future Reptil has so much angst. He worries that things are already divergent from his timeline and he wants to ensure that his 'future' happens (to one degree or another). White Tiger's presence is outside his own memories, so it unnerves him. Meanwhile, our Reptil is in the body of his future self.

He listens in as Laura tells Hank that she does not need further training. Hank knows, but he wants to help her do something other than that.



Ah, I love these kids.

Moments later, Striker and Lightspeed are on an obstacle course, and Future!Reptil was asked by Future!Striker to listen in on it.





He lets out a good cry and Future!Reptil damns the Future!Striker for having him listen in on a kid like that.

I love that sequence. It's one of the more intelligent takes on the idea that I've seen. Ham-fisted? Certainly. That doesn't make it bad or not work. Sometimes, subtle just doesn't work. And this is one of those times.

Later, he interferes more directly with a little nudge. Hazmat gets Mettle to talk to X-23 about his Nazi-related killing problem, and she explains it very well (being well versed in killing for the right and wrong reasons). Then Reptil whispers to her "Watch Out, Hazmat. Looks like you've got competition."



The Senior Staff goes and rescues a mutant kid from Purifiers, who plead with the Avengers that they "Don't Understand" the monster they were trying to destroy.

And for once, those assholes were right. The boy they rescue isn't just a mutant kid.

He's . . .



Yup. This is why he went back. To "Stop" Hybrid. Yes, from the old "Rom: Space Knight" series.

So, he starts leading students (and staff) to Hybrid one by one. Males to feed on, and females to be prime breeding stock for a new race of Mutant Dire Wraiths in his image.

He finds Tigra doing some nice brooding.



I just like that little bit there. She's taken, but then he goes to nab White Tiger.

And she gives backstory!

Which is even darker than "Kraven the Hunter killed my father."






They find almost all the students and most of the staff under Hybrid's thrall. They find him feeding on Butterball--which he loves, because the guy just doesn't die!

But it hurts him. Which, given his powers, is impressive. "Spiritual and physical pain are different things" after all.

He moves to check out White Tiger for his harem, he checks out the Tiger Amulet, and a magic shock breaks her free. Hybrid orders Repitl to dispose of her while he makes sure the others don't break free (as the control slipped in the pain of the magic shock).





But Reptil hits the Danger Alarm, alerting everyone who hasn't been controlled yet, but Hybrid manages to control X-23, Reptil and White Tiger.

So, yeah, Violence happens!



Now, I know what you're thinking. "But Majin! This is a huge continuity error! Why are you letting this slide when you rag on Arena for them?"

Well, for two reasons: One, Christos Gage apologized for it in the letters column as his ignorance.
And second: it's the sort of error that can be chalked up to the character's not knowing better rather than just the writer making a mistake. Hank made a mistake. It's a thing he does.

During the fight, they manage to get White Tiger to hit Hybrid with the Amulet again, and it breaks Hybrid's control.



Juston to the Rescue!





And that doesn't kill the Sentinel.

Yeah.

Arena nerfs everyone in it to make its villain(s) look better.

And that's terrible.

But I do love Finesse's casual response to Future!Reptil's admission.

I also love her answer to him:




Boom!

Shot down!

Our Reptil meanwhile is in the future, trying to come to terms with the weirdness he finds there (like the shape shifting daughter he has with Finesse--who can barely remember her outside her movements. Heartbreaking). Especailly since he and Jeannette are divorced and she has Taskmaster's memory problem.



Reptil's little girl, Maria Lopez, is adorable.



With two minds in his teen body, they can better resist Hybrid's control. But Hybrid focuses his attention on Reptil and Reptil, and fries the older one.




Reptil's modern mind recovers, just in time for Jocasta to come in with one of her spare bodies. She has concluded that Jeremy Briggs, the Alchemist, had it right. The whole Academy thing is a big mistake, especially since it creates a huge target for the kids. She and Hank argue some when Briggs and the several other Initiative grads show up. Violence happens, because, hey, supers . . . Until!


Reptil steps in and gets everyone to talk like reasonable people!  OH MY GOD! Is this a Marvel book?

Hank was worried Briggs reprogrammed her or something like that.  So they are going to have the Sentinel rebuilt quickly to do a scan of her.  While Hank and the others do that, Briggs and company lay out their case. 


The kids initially have an odd reaction. 



Butterball and Lyra's reactions are the best, IMO.  But Ricochet's is nice to notice too.

Striker and Veil (who's with Briggs still) have a quick chat and catch up.



I love flippant dismissals. 

Anyway, Hank gives his case.

Reptil's speech reminds me of a great quote from Clint Eastwood about early 21st century politics: "It used to be that you could disagree with someone and still be friends." 

Briggs agrees to Reptil's idea and things are settled out. 



In the end, most stay, but some leave. 



Hazmat also almost goes, if only to help Mettle get skin (and herself a cure).  Briggs tells her to stay with him: while he takes some chips of Mettle's skin that X-23 cut off in the chaos earlier to work on a cure for him. 

And thus, the sides leave in peace.  But what does the next adventure hold?



Oh, that sort of thing.  Also, the Runaways!  The team that got me into comics in the first place. 

Reptil is spending time catching up on things, like finding out Striker is gay.  Julie Power tells Humberto this and is very supportive of Striker  . . . until they find out he's giving a press conference and coming out nationally.



The Runaways use the media hype to sneak into the Academy, but they are caught by Juston's Sentinel: detecting Ultron Technology.  A fightr breaks out but Julie Power steps in and puts a halt to it because, well, she met these kids before and knows they aren't that bad. 

The Runaways explain that they're there to find a way to get Old Lace back!!  Reptils' gem has a connection to the dimension Old Lace's body was sent after she died and Nico sent her some place to be happy in her 'rest' rather than just burying her.  Hank works on a dimension locator thing leaving the kids to hang out in a waiting room.









I'm going to pause here and once again, bring up the failure of Arena.  They really screwed this budding friendship for no good reason and did so in a way that was quite face palming.  Especially with what happens later.  It really seems like Dennis Hopeless did not do the research, or shoved square pegs into round holes repeatedly to get his story to work.  High Concept stories not well told tend to do that with established characters. 

Anyway, Giant Man gets the thing working, using Reptil as a catalyst. 



And with Molly's assurance, the portal opens.  its a small little bit of awesome, but I had to share it.  They enter the dimension, which is full of dinosaurs and has a version of Devil Dinosaur and Moonboy which may or may not be the ones last seen in the Savage land.  IT's confusing and may be a continuity error of some sort, but we can gloss this one over because --



OLD LACE IS BACK!!

And is promptly forgotten with Avengers Arena.  Nice. 

Nico does a flashback/scrying spell and finds out that Hank and Pam want to take Molly and Klara away from the kids because, well, they need an education and stable growing environment. 

Nico leads the charge against them and the other Academy students.  This is her family.  Don't cross it. 

(Another plot point forgotten by Arena, by the way). 




Fight Ensues!


I don't know, you may want some of those resurrection in the near future.  Or Now. 

Damned Arena. 

But oddly, the fight doesn't last long.  The Academy kids agree with the Runaways.




They go back home and Nico casts the spell "Understand".  And they share some of their most important and formative memories. 





They bond pretty well after that.


The first panel makes their later dating a bit more tolerable, but the Tigra/Klara thing is the best for me.  Two wounded people finding help.

Hank suggests building a simple teaching bot to make sure the girls know what they need to and they leave as good friends.

Which is good for them to have, especially since the next post in this series is . . . Avengers vs. X-Men.  Two more of these posts to go! 

Edit: Removed a word the mods don't like.