Lost Your Own Series? Come Join the Avengers Academy!

I caught up with Avengers Academy over the weekend.  (I was about five or six issues behind!)  I have to say that AA is probably my current favorite Marvel comic.  It's very fresh and relevant and, thanks to writer Christos Gage, the characters become more and more developed with each issue, as they explore their relationships with one another.  Gage gives each member their own personality, incorporating diversity in a subtle (or not so subtle) way. 

Avengers Academy #1

During Marvel's Avengers explosion of 2010, I sampled each new Avengers comic, only sticking with the Academy after the dust settled.  They were the only team to offer something different, and they reminded me of the New Mutants when they first debuted in 1983.  And, having been a huge West Coast Avengers fan back in the day, I was happy to see Tigra used again, this time as a teacher to young Avengers-in-training.  

I liked the possibilities of characters Veil, Hazmat, Mettle, and Reptil during the first several issues.  However, I felt that Finesse and Striker were too generic, both in their codenames and their personalities.   The name "Striker" reminds me of a character from the Airplane! movies, while "Finesse" sounds like a hair product.  They also have black and white costumes to match their bland, angry personalities.  

When it came time to shake things up during a roster change (circa issue #20), I was disappointed that Veil was the one to go.  She was my favorite character and had what I thought was the best costume.  What about Striker or Finesse?  I felt like they could leave and nobody would even notice they were gone.  

New additions to the team were -- surprise! -- Lightspeed (from one of my favorite 1980s comics, Power Pack) and White Tiger, whom I had never heard of, but I liked the costume, despite being black and white, colors already in abundance at the Academy.  I was excited to see Julie Power join and grateful that at least one of the Power kids was finally being used in a series and allowed to grow up outside of the confines of the Fantastic Four's Baxter Building.  She's more a teenager now with a more adult costume (hello, bare midriff!).  (Note to FF:  let the other Power kids grow up a bit, too!)  She also comes with secrets that I never would have guessed (more on that later).   Additionally, I was pleased to see series-canceled teens Spider-Girl, X-23, and She-Hulk (Lyra) joined the Academy.  I guess they have to go somewhere, right?  The new Avengers Academy recruiting slogan should be:  "Lost Your Own Series?  Come Join the Avengers Academy!"

Not only were there good additions to the team, but the team also added Hawkeye as a full-time teacher AND moved to the old digs of the West Coast Avengers!  How psyched was I?!  It was like a WCA reunion! 

The Avengers Academy series gets a bit bogged down during the crossover events (I'm talking to you, Fear Itself) and is at its strongest when dealing with one-on-one character interaction.  I love the relationship struggle between Mettle and Hazmat.  It reminds me of the torture that Colossus and Kitty Pryde went through for years and years, with a little bit of The Thing and Alicia Masters thrown in for good measure.  And Mettle's kind of sexy in his own, skinless way.  

Mettle and Hazmat

Most recently, I loved the very personal conversation between Striker and newcomer Lightspeed.  (SPOILER ALERT!  Just warning ya.)  Striker gay?  Lightspeed bisexual?  Whoa... Thanks for making me appreciate Striker more, Christos.  He's not just a pompous ass; he's confused and insecure!  Can we change the generic codename, though?  And, come to think of it, Julie always was pretty butch back in her Power Pack days.  Now, she's more of a lipstick lesbian -- er, bisexual.  I'm still not crazy about Finesse, though.  Can we kill her off?

I look forward to the continuation of Avengers Academy with characters that aren't popular enough to support their own series, but as a team do pretty damn well.  After The Children's Crusade, how about adding Hulkling and Wiccan to the school?  (Hint, hint.)

Fantastic Four: NOT The World's Greatest Comic Magazine

Last night, I got caught up on the adventures of the Fantastic Four.  I read four new FFs and the recently revived Fantastic Four #600 and 601.  It's really no surprise that Marvel came back with the long-running Fantastic Four comic.  By "ending" with #588 last year, I figured Marvel would run the title FF for a year (12 issues) and then come back with #600.  It was just too coincidental.  I assume Marvel didn't think about FF doing so well, though, and so now they've decided to keep both Fantastic Four and FF.  And, to my knowledge, this is the first time that the Fantastic Four has had two ongoing monthlies at one time (with the exception of The Thing comic back in the 1980s (which I really enjoyed!)).

Fantastic Four #236 (1981)

The Fantastic Four was the first comic to get me hooked on comics.  I picked up several issues at my local comic book store in the early 80s and got hooked when John Byrne was writing and drawing "The World's Greatest Comic Magazine."  His amazing illustration lured me, but it was his character portrayal that kept me around.  I loved the realism he put into each story and his development of Sue Storm from weakest member of the team to the strongest.  He showed her getting pregnant, having a miscarriage, and taking on the dark Malice personality, etc.  He not only showed Sue as powerful, but he made use of Reed and Sue's son, Franklin, as well, by making the future Franklin Richards into a person to be feared.  

Fantastic Four #275

I also loved the romance between Johnny Storm and Frankie Raye, as well as the love triangle(!!) between Johnny, Ben Grimm, and Ben's long-time blind girlfriend Alicia Masters.  Byrne was all about developing relationships, and that really made the comic stand out.  And when The Thing stayed behind on the Secret Wars planet, Byrne added She-Hulk to the mix, thereby adding a lot of "fun" to the book and equaling out the gender ratio of the team. 

Fantastic Four #554 (2008)

After quitting comics in the mid 1990s, I began reading the Fantastic Four again with issue #554 in 2008 when Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch came onboard as the new creative team. Unfortunately, the series has been "meh," even with the change in writers and artists over the past few years.  And none of the team members look attractive.  Johnny looks like he's got a receding hairline and couldn't possibly be the ladies' man he's made out to be. 

Amazing Spider-Man #657

Even the story "Three," in which Johnny Storm dies, wasn't (pardon the pun) fantastic.  In fact, Amazing Spider-Man #657 did a better job of handling grief and showing emotion than the Fantastic Four's own comic(s).  

After the "final issue" of the Fantastic Four, the new comic (and team) FF came out.  It was slightly better than the original, but still lacked the "oomph" of Byrne's Fantastic Four.  Only when Barry Kitson is illustrating do the characters really stand out and look attractive again.  That was what I first thought upon reading FF #10 last night.  The colors throughout each panel were so vibrant, too.  

From FF #10, but I'm unclear as to why Sue and Reed
are wearing around their costumes to water their plants.
Don't they have any sweatpants or anything?

Sadly, with FF #12, Kitson is gone again, and the art by Juan Bobillo flounders in comparison.  And, with the team returning to the reinstated Fantastic Four comic, is the Future Foundation (FF) team now just a larger version of Power Pack, made up of just the random children (human and non) living in the Baxter Building with Sue and Reed's kids?  This version of FF probably won't last. 

So I'm not sure what the future holds for Fantastic Four or FF.  Can they ever return to true greatness?  At least Barry Kitson is returning for Fantastic Four #602.  Let's hope Marvel wises up and keeps him around.  The Fantastic Four really deserve to be more visually appealing to their readers.  Now, how about that character development so they can actually be deserving of "The World's Greatest Comic Magazine" title?