Avengers Academy #32 Review

by Nick Walden, CMRO Contributing Writer

Avengers Academy

Issue #32

Written by Christos Gage, Art by Timothy Green II

Published: August 2012

In the words of a young boy at a Miami Heat game after a loss, “Good effort, good effort.” This book is a solid effort by Gage. I really have enjoyed the junior Avengers themed stories for the most part because Christos can use them like a bit of a sounding board versus other main plots to gain a fresh perspective from our young heroes. Also I like that the old West Coast Avengers Mansion finally got dusted off for some use because the compound is so big you have lots of room to roam with a story and characters.

Other than having a now super powered Emma Frost popping by to relate a bit of the AvX crossover, this book featured some nice plot about Juston Seyfert, his toy Sentinel, and X-23. With such a large cast I do enjoy when we get to focus more on the development of a few characters at a time and Juston is very unique (because he has a giant mutant killing robot as a sidekick). Part of the downside of the crossover is that I feel Gage is doing too much in including AvX elements plus pushing his own plot line which makes for a crowded read. But if you are used to this series then it really isn’t anything new because Gage does this all the time.

For art we switch from Tom Grummett to Timothy Green. It is not a major change of pace even though Green has his own unique style. He does present a slightly different look and tone to the whole book compared to Grummett but I have no complaints about his overall work. Again when dealing with such a large cast including the crossover that is a lot of faces and bodies to re-create so the artist always gets a slight pass. But overall he does well with good expressions and character comparisons.

This book rates a solid 8 out of 10. I liked the read and it fit well with the AvX crossover. You should read this as part of the crossover but this series is strong in its own right and has been a solid pick for months as Gage has developed and shaped these young players in an interesting manner.