Avengers Academy #16 and 17 - Technically, June's issue was the last of this series I ordered. But I made that decision while I was disappointed with the Korvac story, and subsequent issues made me rethink that, so I didn't bother to correct Jack when he sent these along.
These are more Fear Itself tie-ins. 16 is split between Pym trying to fight the now amped-up and possessed Absorbing Man, and Veil trying to rescue a mother from a collapsed building. 17 primarily concerns itself with the cadets trying to deal with what they went through, then the hammer-wielding Absorbing Man and Titania show up at their headquarters looking to cause trouble.
I'm still a little disappointed in the Absorbing Man being so hot for revenge on Pym. Yes, he's possessed, by the dope possessing him admits he's being overtaken by Creel's rage towards Pym. It bugs me that Creel's angry at Hank, after he actually tried to do right for Creel with regards to his prison accommodations. I know, villain, what do I expect. I'm not saying Creel had to become a reformed villain, but having some reluctance to fight Giant Man would have been nice.
The thing I'll be watching for going ahead is how Gage deals with the fallout from some of the cadets killing some of the bad guys in D.C. Not just how the cadets who did it handle it, but if it alters their interactions with the rest of the group, or with their instructors. Hopefully they won't get some knee-jerk "you killed so you are BAD" reaction from the teachers. Or not all of them, at least.
Tom Raney drew issue 16, which looked a bit better than the previous issue. He only had one inker this time, which probably helped. Sean Chen drew issue 17, and I liked the expressions he gave the cadets in the opening pages, when they're disabling one of those mechs. There's either a grim seriousness, or in mettle's case, almost a blank look. It made sense to me, that he'd try and distance himself emotionally from what he's had to do, and might have to do again.
Batgirl #23 - The rest of the Reapers have suited up, killed some cops, grabbed Harmony and Slipstream's armors, and are on their way to Blackgate Prison. Meanwhile, Steph has returned from England to learn the Grey Ghost is dead. Turns out his apparent heel turn was really an attempt to bring the Reapers down from within. Might have helped to let someone know that Clancy. Batgirl leaps into Blackgate, and is quickly overwhelmed by 5 powered armor foes. Fortunately, she arranged for some back-up ahead of time, and the Reapers are neatly dealt with, which gives Steph a chance to find out who they were after. I'd almost forgotten that guy's been back from the dead since right after War Games. That might be a side effect of trying real hard to forget War Games, period.
The comment Slipstream makes about Batgirl's thigh belt being empty, did he mean he emptied it after he pulled it off, or that it didn't have anything in it to begin with. My guess is the latter, Miller making a joke about unnecessary belts and pouches and stuff. I always figured it was where she kept that staff. Even if it's collapsible, I couldn't picture it fitting in the regular utility belt pouches. Maybe she kept it strapped to her back? I think Tim Drake did that with his staff, back in his Robin days.
Pere Perez is back for the art chores this month. I'm disappointed Dustin Nguyen hasn't drawn more issues since he joined the book, but at least the other artists who have stepped in are all pretty good. Little touch by the colorist (Guy Major) I appreciated was that Clancy's corpse is noticeably paler than live Clancy in the recording he left for Batgirl. He has to have been dead for awhile, since it would have happened while she was in England, so I'd think his color would have faded.
Tomorrow, we take a break from the reviews. I know, I barely started, but Sunday is promised to Brisco. Comic reviews will resume Monday.
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