When They Have Nowhere To Run

Looking back, the thing I like best about the Fear Itself tie-in for Avengers Academy was the horror movie vibe of it. A bunch of teens, trying to relax, maybe connect a little, and then, uh-oh, unstoppable killing machines arrive to, well, kill them unstoppably. And the teens have no place to go. They're in a mansion floating in a seemingly empty dimension. Hiding is useless, since the monsters can simply destroy the place one section at a time, and there are only so many places to run. Plus, they'll get tired before the monsters do. They can try and fight, or try and be tricky, but it's all delaying tactics when you get down to it.

Thinking about that made me wish Annihilation: Conquest had played more with the same idea. It was there for the taking. The Phalanx created a barrier that was theoretically impenetrable. Nova did manage to get out, but only with some luck and a nearby neutron star. For most people, his escape route wouldn't have been an option. So the heroes are trapped with an enemy that could pursue them, and what's more, can turn any of them they capture against them. You do see that incorporated into the story a bit. When Blastaar is captured, Star-Lord and his crew have to get their plan underway quickly because sooner or later, Blastaar will become a Phalanx Select, and then they'll now the plan, too.

For the most part, though, the heroes aren't trying to escape. Star-Lord and his bunch went right into the heart of the Phalanx compound. The Wraith (wonder if we'll ever see him again?) didn't bother to run. Nova did, but the nature of how Abnett and Lanning went about it meant there wasn't much chance to play with the sense of being trapped. Rich tried to escape, slammed into the barrier, nearly died, became a Select, got Ko-Rel killed, the Worldmind got the infection under control, and Rich escaped using information the Worldmind had learned from Rich's time as part of the Phalanx.

It might have been interesting to see Nova not hit the barrier, then he and the Worldmind struggle to evade the pursuing enemies, remain uninfected by the transmode virus, and find some way to get out, or turn the tide with the resources available within the confines of Kree space. Alternatively, Abnett and Lanning could have chosen not to kill off Ko-Rel, have her help facilitate Nova Prime's escape, but she finds herself still stuck in Kree space, trying to survive/find her son/slow down the Phalanx. Hmm, almost five years on, I still think killing off Ko-Rel was the biggest mistake DnA made on that book.

The writer who came the closest to using that particular feel was Avengers Academy's own Christos Gage, who wrote the Quasar mini-series. He had Phyla and Moondragon searching for a savior (they wound up with Adam Warlock, guess you can't get everything you want). While being relentlessly pursued by an infected Super-Adaptoid. Escape is hampered because Phyla and Moondragon are focused on finding the savior, which limits their options, much like the U-Boat captain in The Enemy Below. Plus, Heather is having some problems (she's about to turn into an actual dragon), and having a sick person in the party slows them down. So there's that sense of looming dread, from the Super-Adaptoid following them, to Heather's problems, to Phyla's doubts about herself, and the fact her Quantum Bands are gradually running out of power. It can all give a sense of inevitability that someone is doomed, whether it'll be Phyla, Heather, the savior, some other poor schmoe. It didn't turn out that way, not during that mini-series anyway (Heather died in the main Conquest mini-series, thanks Ultron, ya jerk), but the feeling was there for a time.

Self-Sacrifice Rears Its Head Again

I'm a little behind on Avengers Academy, so perhaps this has already been answered. In issue 21, Jocasta appears to have been attacked, and the body she'd been using wrecked. Quicksilver confirms she didn't download her consciousness into any of her other bodies, and there's no trace of her in their systems. So she's basically dead, and someone shut down the security systems from within, so it was one of them. Dun, dun, dun!

So how confident are people this was something Jocasta planned? She was talking about studying the cadets to figure out what they need, for the purpose ot "saving" them. She also there would be pain, though she doesn't specify pain for them or pain for her.

I'm not sure how her appearing to be dead is going to help the cadets. They could start questioning the teachers and their motives more, but they've been doing that ever since they learned the real reason for the Academy. It could be she feels Veil's departure has disrupted their friendship and she thinks this will bring them closer together. Whether that would happen because the kids decide to find her murderer, because they think some of the teachers suspect them, or because they feel they need to protect themselves against whichever teacher has gone round the bend. Maybe it's about the teachers, she wants to spur them into being warmer towards the cadets. Don't look at them simply as students, or soldiers, but as kids who need a friendly older presence. Especially with Justice and Speedball gone, the teachers seem less likely to be jovial.

Everybody Hates Their Boss

I thought the Avengers Academy cadets getting in Captain America's face was pretty amusing, if a little forced (I still think Cap was being surprisingly tactless). That's how it goes in the Marvel Universe these days, isn't it? The top guy does questionable things, starts getting a little too bossy, and pretty soon everyone hates his guts.

Tony Stark's an obvious example, with the Neagtive Zone prison, and the nanites that block powers he tried to use on friends that disagreed with him, and well, his list of jackass behavior is really long, so let's move on.

Gyrich was a jerk to begin with, so maybe it wouldn't have mattered what he did, based solely on how he acted. Still his attempts to hamstring the Avengers, like limiting the roster or forcing them to put the Falcon on the team, plus the crap he was pulling (or being manipulated into) during the first four years of Thunderbolts, didn't win him any points.

Nick Fury brainwashed the heroes he roped into his Secret War garbage, which is how Luke Cage wound up hospitalized from an attack he had no clue he should be expecting, because he didn't know he'd taken part in a secret mission to Latveria that pissed a bunch of people off. And of course Fury told them this from a distance, through an LMD, because when he turned ruthless, he apparently lost the nerve to take what he has coming to him like a man.

Osborn, well, he was crazy and a super-villain to begin with, so it wasn't as though anyone with a brain trusted him to begin with. Unfortunately, the list of people without brains in the Marvel Universe is pretty extensive, including politicians, Ares, and most of the average joes on Earth. The point is, there wasn't any trust for Osborn to break with any individual that actually knew him.

Now here we are with Steve Rogers. I was already concerned last year, when he asked Hawkeye to stick with Mockingbird and her group, because they could be useful if they stay on the right side. It's true, but it's an awfully cold statement for Rogers, and doesn't demonstrate much trust in Bobbi Morse. Then I flip through an Avengers trade, and here's Steve Rogers, joining the Illuminati. That's great, rather than disband the secretive dorks who attempts at secrecy have accomplished nothing, become a secretive dork yourself! Truly, T'Challa is the smartest guy in the Marvel Universe, because he told them it was a bad idea from the start, and wouldn't join.

Now Steve's being insensitive to teenagers and they're trying to punch his lights out. I guess Wonder Man's still ticked at him, too, so add a former Avenger to the list. He's got a ways to go to catch Iron Man, but there's still time before Cable kills him (if Cable's planning to kill all the Avengers, I don't think he has enough bullets), or the Phoenix Force shows up and ruins everyone's day.

Always Something To Deal With After The Fighting's Done

Assuming the Avengers Academy cadets survive, I'll be curious to see how the teachers move things forward after Fear Itself wraps up. Mostly, it's the fact some of the cadets did kill some of the bad guys. Mettle seems appropriately bothered by it, and Tigra's already tried to assuage his feelings of guilt. But Striker didn't seem particularly bothered by the idea, and Veil went for a revenge kill, which is certainly something I imagine the teachers will want to address.

If they find out about it. I can picture Veil voluntarily mentioning it, but I have this impression Gage might be setting up a jealousy thing between Hazmat and Veil, with that panel of Hazmat looking on while Mettle describes surfing to Veil. It could be that was Hazmat simply checking in to see if talking to Veil was really helping, but I don't know. I could see Hazmat letting the teachers know because she hopes it would get Veil removed from the Academy.

I'd like to think the teachers would be understanding. After all, they were the ones who threw the kids into the battle. But the heroes can be so weird about this killing thing. Ms. Marvel killed a bunch of Skrulls during Secret Invasion, but she wouldn't kill Norman Osborn when she had opportunities. Lots of people were killing Skrulls, but because Triathlon happened to kill the one Skrull that was on their side (though he wasn't broadcasting it), he was ostracized by the rest of the heroes*. I can't tell when the heroes are going to overreact, or when they're going to be fairly reasonable about the whole thing.

Maybe it won't even come up. I doubt it, if Veil knows soldiers returning from combat struggle most with having taken a life, I have to imagine Pym knows it, too. Still, there could be so much else going on the cadets have to muddle through on their own, which would be better than receiving condemnation for it, but not as good as - hey, I just realized, Veil could talk with Justice! Tigra said she really looks up to Vance, and he spent time in prison for killing his father. It isn't quite the same, since Vance was trying to defend himself and got a little overzealous, but he was fed up with some abusing the power they thought they had over him, and he struck back. Veil was angered by how the Nazi guys callously chopped down that woman, just because they could, and killed them. Hers was certainly a more intentional act, but it would be a place to start.

* Going by that first issue of Atlas, that's how it went. I haven't read the Avengers: Initiative issues in question.

It's Bound To Get A Size-Changing Scientist Down

Sorry about the absence. The lack of a post on Saturday wasn't in my plans. The lack of posts Sunday and Monday were, but the Saturday post would have told you I was heading away to celebrate the Fourth with friends. Then the Internet was unavailable on Saturday and the plan went up in smoke.

Anyway, Hank Pym set up to fight the Absorbing Man this month in Avengers Academy, a rematch of their fight from last December. Of course, the Absorbing Man has one of those Fear-Hammers now. And Pym only beat him last time by enlarging him to the scale where Abstract Entities exist, overwhelming Creel's mind. This is not likely to go as well for Hank.

I am curious how it'll play out between them. Not the fight so much as the fact that Hank actually tried to do something nice for Crusher Creel by designing a cell that wouldn't require the villain to be in a constantly drugged state. Which Hank certainly didn't have to do, but I imagine he thought it was a nice gesture. No reason to deprive someone of their higher-brain functions. Yet here the Absorbing Man is, rampaging and smashing Pym's face with a magic hammer. There's gratitude for ya.

It may not be Creel's fault, since Maria Hill suggested the hammer is a means for something else to control him. Which makes sense. Why else would Ben Grimm be using his fear-hammer to further the villain's agenda, rather than using its powers to help stop this mess? It'd be interesting if the Absorbing Man actually tries to rein himself in, regain control, because he does remember how Pym actually listened and tried to help before?

OK, that's unlikely. So assuming Hank survives the fight (I imagine he will), does it provoke a reaction in him? He tried to help this crook out, and when next they met, said crook cheerfully used his enhanced powers to make Hank's face resemble roadkill. Will this lead to more self-doubts for Pym, or might he start trying even harder to guide the cadets away from villainy, figuring that once they go that route, there'll be no bringing them back? It's a silly notion, considering all the criminals that have reformed and joined the Avengers, but Hank can tend to get obsessed, and his judgment isn't always the best, so there's a possibility he would overreact to the fight with Creel.

The Same Antagonist Doesn't Always Work

I was pretty bored with the Nazi mechs menacing Washington D.C. in Avengers Academy #15. I liked the issue overall, what Gage is doing with the characters, but I was uninterested in that aspect of the story. Which was strange, since I enjoyed the Nazi mechs that showed up in Atomic Robo Volume 2.

I guess robots piloted by Nazis feel perfectly natural in a story set in the European Theater of World War 2, once you accept it as a world with atomic robots, giant ants, and water-powered pyramid computers that can focus sunlight as a laser. As a threat, they feel like they belong there. Even though they shouldn't feel any more out of place in the Marvel Universe, in a story in the present about older than the Norse Gods gods showing up to feed off humanity's fear, they don't fit. I know the Red Skull's daughter is involved, and her dad was a Nazi but it still seems an odd combination. Maybe I'm missing details. It sounds like Matt Fraction's missing some of the details himself.

On the whole, it doesn't seem like the time or place for them as a threat. Why not minor members of these older gods pantheon/race/hierarchy? Like how most Asgardians aren't anywhere near Thor's level, but a human would find them quite a formidable threat.

Also, I don't see them as a threat to the cadets. Not that I believed Robo would be destroyed, either, but Clevinger spent a little time on some of the regular soldiers also involved in the battle that might buy the farm. Gage does take the opportunity to show the cadets struggling to adapt, as Striker has to get over that experience of his possible future self dying, and Veil tries to protect some civilians but an intangible body doesn't stop bullets very well. And Mettle actually killed someone, of course. Those are moments that will stick with those kids, and Gage will use them somehow or the other, I'm sure. But they don't really require Nazis in mechs. It could be ordinary citizens with firearms, driven mad with fear, who lash out and achieve much the same purpose.

Strangely, I think some of the humor of Atomic Robo helped. When he's complaining about being pummeled by one of the mechs, or griping when it shakes off being hit with a jeep, I guess it's acknowledging the oddness of the situation. A sentient metal man fights soldiers in giant metal suits. Fear Itself seems presented as being much more serious, while not really being any less odd. It's trying too hard, like those Back in Black issues of Amazing Spider-Man when JMS had Peter's internal narration be a constant stream of tough guy cliches to emphasize that this time, Spider-Man means business. I get what the goal is, but it pushes too hard.

Everyone Wins! Except The Loser

Based off this most recent issue, who do you think is the most likely of the cadets at Avengers Academy to go bad? Mettle and Hazmat both learned that it's more likely they won't find a cure for their conditions than that they will. Striker experienced death and is actively questioning whether being a hero is worth it. Veil had access to real power for a few moments and saw the appeal of it. I'm not even completely sure about Reptil anymore. He is potentially risking timeline stability to because he wants to be stronger. Sure, Carina risked it to save herself, but she's not a hero (not yet anyway), so she's probably not the best example to follow.

Finesse is actually the one I'm least worried about now. Yeah, she jammed a sai into Korvac's chest, but it isn't as though the other heroes are ostracizing people who kill these days. If Wolverine's any indication, she could still be an Avenger. Or at least the leader of a future incarnation of Cyclops' Stabbity Kill Team*. I'm more worried about Mettle, since he seem horrified that he punched through Korvac's chest like it was an everyday occurrence. Still, he and Hazmat seem more sad than bitter about their possible situations. I don't think it'll be Striker. He seems more likely to turn into some washout who tries to make an entertainment career than a criminal one. Like a second-rate version of Wonder Man, without the periodically successful heroics.

I'm leaning towards Veil or Reptil, since Veil's seen what grabbing power for herself can lead to (improving her condition). Reptil might justify his actions by figuring it makes him more useful as a fighter or a leader, but he still put his own desires first, not typically a good sign.

* I'm sure Scott will lose his mind again at some point and decide that was a good idea and they should bring it back. Then he finds out Logan kept it going without him and there'll be a big slap fight between the two of them.

Meeting Past Or Future Selves Can Be An Awkward Reunion

One thing I'm curious to see after this fight with Korvac is what being a future version of themselves for a time does to the students at Avengers Academy. I guess it's been confirmed by Gage or someone else connected to the book that one of the cadets is going to go bad. I don't if that means they'll decide to go bad, but can be talked out of it, or if they'll straight up choose evil and that's that.

I haven't developed any sense for who it might be so far, beyond suspecting Mettle or Reptil. But those suspicions are almost entirely because they seem like the least likely candidates so far. It might be interesting (and fairly natural) if spending some time in a version of their future selves, with the knowledge that comes with that, might sway a few of the characters one way or the other. They weren't sure about being a hero, but now they see how it turns out and they like it. Conversely, they see what their life as a hero is like, see the regrets and missed opportunities it's brought them, and decide it's not worth it.

Maybe some of the future versions Carina selected are villains. We only had the last page to see them, that doesn't tell us much. I could assume that Striker's facial hair means he's gone evil, but it's just as likely poor taste on his part. If they are villains, that could have a similar effect. They see the thoughts they have as villains, and it scares them, or they see the confidence and success they have as criminals, and decide that's the path for them.

I wonder if the experience will have any effect on the future selves chosen. Will they remember being yanked into the past, having their bodies hijacked by a younger them to fight Korvac? What would that do to them?

He's Not Building A Genocidal Robot, Trust Pym A Little

In Avengers Academy, Veil has the idea that if she does something heroic, she'll be forgiven for assaulting the Hood and recording it. To that end, she opts to throw the switch that will allow the Wasp to come back from the scattered energy form she is now. Considering Pym held off on this because he isn't sure how solid Jan's grip on reality would be after months at the level of Abstract Entities, this won't end well.

The thing that bothers me about Veil's reasoning is she seems convinced that if she gets thrown out of the Academy, she's doomed. Her atoms are losing cohesion, and one day she'll just drift apart, like Shadowcat's nearly done a couple of times. Now I've given Hank Pym a lot of grief over the years (not as much as the writers, mind you), but I don't buy for a second that he'd stop helping her just because she wasn't at the Academy anymore. I don't think Pym's problem has ever been a lack of desire to help others. It's usually that he's worried he's not strong/good/smart enough to help, and the poor decisions that insecurity leads to. I could buy Pym working his tail off, but not finding a solution to her problem, but that he'd simply leave her in the lurch? Short of another nervous breakdown, I don't see it happening.

Of course, veil's a teenager, and I remember enough about those years to know I didn't usually want to admit my concerns to others, especially authority figures. I have to think the fact the teachers haven't been forthright with the students about why they're really there (namely, concern these kids will go villainous) is the issue. Withholding that creates a tension and lack of trust that affects everything that's said and done, or how they're interpreted. If they fear Veil's going to go evil, why would they help her? We know it's because they're heroes and that's what they do. Witness Pym developing a way to keep Crusher Creel in prison that doesn't involve drugging him constantly. Creel's certainly never demonstrated the sort of altruistic streak that might encourage one to care about his plight, but Hank listened and helped anyway.

Why Hide An Eye In Shadow?

That post I mentioned prepping for yesterday? Let's get to it. I don't know why this caught my eye, but it did, so best to accept it and go forward. 

Taskmaster appears in 32 panels in Avengers Academy #9. Some portion of his face appears in 23 of those panels. There are only two where both of his eyes are visible. This includes panels where he's looking at Finesse (and us) or just the reader, but one eye is still in shadow. The last panel he appears in, for example. As he tells Finesse to take care of herself, his left eye is shadowed over. He even sports that look in the file photo that comes up when Finesse asks Quicksilver to help her track Taskmaster down. 

It's not the hood he's wearing, because the shadows don't cover any other part of his face. I also don't think it's some common technique McKone uses, because it doesn't appear with any other character in the issue, or in the prior issue, even though that one had The Hood in it, who also wears a hood (obviously). It's more his brow ridge overhangs his eye so much it's kept in shade. Or his eyes are set so far back in his head, it's as though they're at the bottom of a pit where the light can't reach. If only one eye is visible, it's typically the right, though in the panel where he's choking Finesse with a rope and discussing the American Avenger it's the left that's visible. 

I thought maybe it was supposed to be something Taskmaster was doing intentionally, trying to keep one eye obscured from the person he's fighting, in case they try to read his moves that way. Considering how Finesse's power works, that wouldn't seem to be of any use. Plus, we aren't always observing things from her perspective, so in those situations, just because we can see one of his eyes, doesn't mean she can. And maybe she can see them when the reader can't. Looking at the panels where both his eyes are visible. One comes partway through the fight (page 14, panel 1), after she's decked him. Taskmaster is disappointed because she's using moves from some fight between Daredevil and Bullseye that was on TV. He's holding his shield and looking right at her (and us). 

The second one (page 16, panel 3) comes after she throws his own sword at him, and pins him to some machinery with it. In that case, he's looking at his sword as it just misses his shoulder, but goes through his cape. Prior to the first panel, Finesse had been doing fairly well. Taskmaster hadn't scored a clean hit, while she'd made contact a couple of times. She got his sword away from him so she could use it (though he knocked it away from her two panels later). Then Tasky criticizes her source material, and goes to work with what he picked up from newsreels. Finesse then turns the tables again, and starts rattling off all the heroes she's actually trained with as she chucks his own sword at him and follows that up with a boot to the face. Taskmaster calls an end to the fight two panels after the sword panel. 

Taskmaster seems to be goading her on, trying to convince her to unleash her full potential. He gives her grief about only using billy clubs, which prompts her to grab his sword and try and use it on him. After she's clocked him, he continues busting her chops for how limited her reference material (and by extension, her repertoire) is. He then promptly boots her in the face (hard enough to draw blood and knock her mask off), follows up with a punch to the jaw (also drawing blood), and then busts out the lariat. The whole time he's prattling on about the people he's studied, and how he's taken jobs with the government just to get his hands on more obscure footage. 

Finesse's rebuttal is to flip him over, and begin describing everyone she's actually fought with, I guess refuting the usefulness of his sources*. I think the eyes are about how Taskmaster's power works. He sees things (and hears, but that's not relevant here) and can remember them, if they're useful, anyway. I think the panel on page 14, he's looking at her and trying to find anything about her that'll stick, and that's really why her using Daredevil vs. Bullseye moves disappoints him. The panel on page 16, he's seeing that there's more to her than he thought, but it's still more of the same. That's why he calls the fight. He's seen everything he needs to. 

After that, it goes back to 1 or 0 eyes visible because his power isn't going be of any use here. He just has to hope she can stick in his memory some other way, and in that sense, with the severe limits his memory apparently has, he's half-blind compared to the rest of us. Or worse. 

* I don't think Taskmaster fought anywhere near full capability. There's no indication he was injured by any of her strikes. Also, while Finesse may have trained with all those heroes, Taskmaster's fought them, and more besides. With real stakes on the line.

Who's Tigra More Worried About?

I was rereading Avengers Academy #9 as prep for a different post I have planned (probably get to it tomorrow), when a bit of dialogue near the end of the issue jumped out at me.

After Tigra tells Hazmat, Veil, and Striker they're welcome to return to the Academy if they want, Speedball tells her she's a great example to the kids, and if they don't realize it now, they will someday. Tigra's response is 'Thanks, Robbie. I hope you're right. I really do.'

Which part do you think she hopes he's right about? That she is a great example for the students, or that they'll figure that out someday? I figure it's the former. After she has that chat with Robbie, she goes back to her quarters and watches that video of the students beating up the Hood and making him apologize. There's not a discernible expression, except maybe contemplative.

At least some of her anger at the students was that what she badly wants to do, but didn't, they went ahead and did. Her perspective could be that's the only difference, that they went through with it and she didn't. I don't know if she ever had a shot at the Hood when she and some of the other heroes were rounding up the Hood's crew, but I doubt she'd have any trouble getting five minutes alone with Parker Robbins in a windowless room with no security cameras if she wanted to.

Depending on how you look at it, her choice could either be the mature recognition revenge solves nothing. Or it could be she recognized there would be consequences for taking those actions, and she wasn't willing to deal with them. That she went public with what happened to her as a way of dealing with it and helping others is a sign she's recognized the former, but getting past her desire for revenge entirely is going to take time. Which is probably why she wound up watching Robbins get humiliated by the students on video. It's a process.

What Hazmat, Striker, and Veil did suggests they have learned either lesson yet. They thought their actions would accomplish something positive, and didn't realize there might be blowback from it. Since they're sticking around, there's at least a chance they can learn those things, but considering how she's still trying to work through her feelings, Tigra might wonder if she's the right one to be teaching them.

Being A Blunt Jerk Works Sometimes

I have to give Quicksilver credit. Even when he's right about something, and he was right about what he told Tigra of the dangers in expelling those kids for one bad bit of judgment, he goes about being right in a way that makes me want Deadpool to randomly appear and kneecap Pietro. That's the speedster's unique charm, I guess.

It was for the best, though. The other teachers may have done a fine job of explaining why the kids should stay, but they didn't really cover exactly why it'd be a bad idea if they didn't undo the expulsion. Speedball sort of did, but his reasoning was so wrapped up in his own past mistakes (thanks again for that, Mark Millar), it made it easier for Tigra to dismiss. Plus, with someone as headstrong as Tigra can be, the other teachers weren't nearly forceful enough. They were on the defensive throughout the faculty meeting, either because they're not strong personalities, or they were worried about pissing Tigra off.

Pietro can certainly be forceful, and he won't keep his opinions to himself, so the fact he traded insults with Tigra, while also presenting his own perspective, probably gave his argument more weight. He met her anger head on, and shrugged it off with his usual sarcasm. I don't know how much they play up how being a cat-person affects Tigra's personality these days, compared to when Engelhart had her human and feline halves essentially at odds. I'd imagine there was a part of her that was impressed that Pietro didn't back down, didn't try to deny any of the things she said about him (compared to Robbie's protest that he's not agreeing with Justice simply because they're old New Warriors alums). Pietro didn't go submissive, and it seemed to work.

I'm still probably going to laugh the next time something bad happens to him.

I Need My Arcade Fix People

I still haven't gone to get comics. It decided to snow yesterday morning. I was jogging and the roads looked fine at first, but the longer I jogged, the harder it snowed, and the worse the roads got. Moral of the story: Jogging makes bad weather happen. I should never have put that piece of Mjolnir I swiped from that guy's car horn in my shoes. I don't think the road's have been cleared completely yet, and it doesn't seem worth risking it. Maybe all that time in the boonies only getting comics every three weeks taught me patience.

I had wondered why I hadn't seen the Arcade: Death Game mini-series listed in the new releases yet this month, and it turns out it was canceled, and it'll be released in May as Avengers Academy Giant-Size. Which is kind of annoying. It's still coming out, but I have to wait a few more months, and I was looking forward to an Arcade story. He has his crazy charm, and his particular style means a creative team ought to have some fun with the death traps he concocts. On the up side, it'll turn out a little cheaper as a one-shot than it would have been as a three issue mini-series.

I wonder how differently it'll read as a one-shot, though. One thing I'd expect with the mini-series format is there'd be cliffhangers at the end of either issue 1 or 2, if not both. Cliffhangers don't work for me in a collected format because I tend to read really quickly so by the time I register the cliffhanger I'm already turning the page and there's the resolution. With the separate issues format, I reach the end of the issue, then I have to wait a month (or two weeks) for the next issue. It ramps up my excitement because I don't have the next part there with me, and I want it.

Admittedly, that only works for the first read-through. After that I have all the parts, and can read them consecutively, so it's no different from reading the story as a trade or one-shot in that sense, but then I can appreciate different things about the story I didn't reading it piecemeal.

Leave The Villain Alone, Kids

The students at Avengers Academy didn't seem very impressed with the argument that you don't use the villain's tactics because it makes you no better than them. I think in the case of what the students did (attacking the Hood not to recapture him, but simply to beat and humiliate him), it's an accurate assessment*. Still, it's not one the offenders were very impressed by.

It could have been argued that it was Tigra's right to deal with Mr. Robbins, and they should have told her what they found and let her decide how to handle it. That might have gained more traction, but it probably sends the wrong message, since the Striker and Hazmat (and maybe Veil) would have seen it as settling a grudge (even if Tigra just recaptured him), and it's probably unwise to encourage that in them.

The best argument I can think of to present to them is that what they did accomplishes nothing. Beyond the fact they made no attempt to arrest The Hood, so he's still free to grab the Infinity Gauntlet or whatever, the video they posted isn't going to help. There are certain criminals, the idea of threatening loved ones wouldn't even occur to them. The Black Fox, for example, is a thief, so it wouldn't be his style. He needed no deterrent. On the opposite end of the spectrum, you have someone like Dr. Doom, who wouldn't bother threatening loved ones because his idea of sending a hero a message would be to have said hero killed.

For all the other villains, it's throwing down a gauntlet. Telling them if they try what the Hood did, they'll be the next to get trounced. Well so what? We're talking career super-villains here. Threats of violence don't impress them, because they've been beaten up by super-heroes and thrown in prison who knows how many times. Would the Wrecking Crew really be impressed by that video? I doubt it. More likely, the villains will feel some sense of solidarity with Parker, maybe even annoyance that the heroes ain't playing fair (taking some of the bad guys tricks for their own), and lash out.

It's like if a friend of yours was attacked by a dog once, and you see a different dog one day, and decide to kick it before it can attack you. If it wasn't going to attack you, you've gained nothing. You may even make things worse, because now the dog may decide - having been kicked - it does want to attack. If the dog was planning to attack (because it's vicious, or been trained that way, or you came in its territory too abruptly), kicking it won't make it less likely to do so.

I get the feeling this is something Gage has been working with on the book, these kids not stopping to consider the consequences of their actions. Striker outing the existence of the Academy because he's fame hungry, Veil potentially bringing Janet back after Hank decided to wait (we don't know if she did it or not), now this. In this case, we've already seen that The Hood took the attack personally. He wants to beat all the Avengers because they stand in the way, but the three cadets that attacked, them he wants to hurt. They've made it more likely Parker will seek out their families and kill them, whereas, if they'd just arrested him, they'd be lumped in with all the other heroes Parker sees as standing in his way.

* I don't think "you'll be no better than them!" holds up as well when applied to killing, because there are situations where killing the villain may be the best option.

Can't A Scientific Adventurer Be A Super-Hero Too?

Talking about Avengers Academy #7, I don't agree with Pym's (or Christos Gage's if you prefer) assessment of Hank's stint as Dr. Pym. Hank describes it as 'Trying to deny I was a super-hero while on a team of them.' I don't feel like, at least during the Engelhart issues, Hank denied he was being a super-hero. The whole point of that arc with Firebird, was about Hank coming to grips with his past missteps, recognizing he still had it in him to be a hero, then figuring out what method was right for him. Hank and Bonita's conclusion was that rather than being a guy who gets big and punches stuff, Hank was better suited to carrying a vast array of devices, which he could shrink or grow as necessary. He'd rely on his ingenuity, rather than his fists.

Admittedly, his options were somewhat limited. At that point - even though he'd somehow internalized Pym Particles so he could make himself (or anything he touched) change size - his body couldn't handle the strain*. That ruled out trying something along the lines of Ant-Man or Giant-Man. Still, Pym's never struck as a particularly good fighter, so an identity that emphasizes brute strength and hitting people doesn't seem like a wise course. I guess he could have gone back to Yellowjacket, minus any shrinking hijinks, but things hadn't worked out too well for him in that identity, and the personality he adopted wasn't right for him either. Being Dr. Pym keeps him from having some excuse to go charging into battle, so he could hang back and assess the situation instead. Come up with the right tool for the problem. The team already had Iron Man and Wonder Man. If what they were up against was too strong for those too (say Count Nefaria), then it's doubtful Hank would be much good as Goliath.

I don't know why I like the Dr. Pym identity so much. It's the one he had around the time I started reading comics, but the only West Coast Avengers comic I had for years was #6, and he was still inactive at that point. The next issue I had was after they'd switched the title to Avengers West Coast for some reason, and involved Immortus*. He was still Dr. Pym at that point, but didn't get a chance to do much that explained how he was approaching heroing. I might have even though he was just some poor support staff guy that got sucked into the mess. I wasn't very impressed.

I didn't go back and start buying the Engelhart issues until after I had this blog. By then I'd read some of Busiek's Avengers, so I'd seen Hank as Goliath and Yellowjacket. Still, I prefer him as Dr. Pym. Engelhart took Pym right to the brink of killing himself, but Busiek wrote a story where Hank's difficulties reconciling the parts of himself nearly killed him, so I'm not sure it's that Dr. Pym was the result of Engelhart breaking Hank down so he could build him up.

Some of it's Dr. Pym's a very different way of doing things from any of his other identities. It's interesting that he can't use his powers on himself, because of the health risk, but he doesn't retire, he just alters his approach so they help him have a utility belt of sorts. He's the guy who relies on gadgets and brains, but unlike Batman, he's not much of a fighter. He didn't develop his fighting skills along with his scientific ones, because he was a scientist first, a super-hero later. It makes sense for Hank to rely on smarts. Reed Richards has powers, but often, they're a way to restrain a foe, or keep Reed out of reach until he devises the means to win. The powers support Reed's intellect, and Pym's ability to shrink objects does the same for him. He can devise all sorts of helpful tools, and the powers give him a way to carry those along without it being unwieldy.

* #62, with a mentally manipulated Wanda. So it's one of those issues we can probably blame for giving Bendis the idea of the whole Disassembled/House of M mess.

Hank's Getting Smarter With Age. Until His Next Foul-Up, Anyway

I've been meaning to do this post for a month, but kept getting sidetracked.

Avengers Academy #7 reminded me of West Coast Avengers #15. You have Hank Pym on the verge of a huge decision, the difficulties of his relationship with Tigra, and a super-villain that badmouths Hank about his superheroic career choices.

With WCA #15, Hank and Tigra are in San Francisco with Hellcat and Damion Hellstrom, celebrating Tigra managing to integrate her human and cat selves, so she's not at war with herself. This revelry is interrupted by Tiger Shark trying to elude Harbor Police, and the ladies make the capture. Turns out Tiger Shark was double-crossed by Whirlwind, who's still on the loose, and the heroes decide to bring him in as well.

At that time, Hank Pym's out of the crimefighting biz. He lives at the WCA's headquarters, but he's basically support staff. Not like Jarvis, or Oracle, more like that Harold fellow who lived in the Batcave in the '90s. Anyway, even though Whirlwind is one of his old foes, Hank is not going to suit up. He will, however, lend his experience by helping set a trap to put Whirlwind in a location where his powers are neutralized, and Tigra and Hellcat have a better shot at him. Things are going fairly well until Whirlwind tries to escape by slingshotting onto the roof Hank happens to be directing the fight from. At which point, Whirlwind giving Pym crap about being a loser who gave up his identity and let others take it, while Whirlwind, no heavyweight himself , has a unique shtick he won't let anyone steal from him. Hank flips out, tries to rush Whirlwind. . . and nearly falls to his death. The issue ends with Hank learning that while he and Greer Nelson (Tigra's human half) may have had a thing going, in her current form, she needs to figure out who she is, so Hank doesn't even have a girlfriend. Which helps drive him to the point of putting a gun to his temple in the last few pages of West Coast Avengers #16.

Avengers Academy is a little different. Hank's still taking a teaching role, but he's also still fighting crime himself. It had been as the Wasp, but he's opted to return to Giant Man. The Absorbing Man breaks confinement, there's no one else left to stop him, so Hank steps up. Crusher talks some trash himself, making fun of Hank for using his ex-wife's crimefighting name, shrugging off Hank's insults about his education, and electrocuting him in response. Crusher calls Pym a loser, and Hank flips out and rushes him, too. It works a little better this time, since he makes contact, but it allows Crusher to steal Pym's powers. This time around, Hank does take care of business, by enlarging the both of them to a realm where Abstract Beings reside, which is more than Crusher's mind can handle. The whole fight is set in between Tigra and Hank awkwardly discussing her son's parentage, and Hank's big plan to bring Jan back to them, over Jocasta's concerns.

It's interesting to contrast the two issues. In each case, Hank tries to attack a super-powered foe. In the first, he does so without any powers himself, because he's trying to give up superheroics, claiming he's not cut out for them. In the later case, he does have powers, because while he still may not be able to settle on an identity, he's at least accepted that he does, if not enjoy fighting crime, feel a responsibility to do so. Also, a charge is a somewhat better strategy against The Absorbing Man, who isn't particularly fast. He'll naturally steal Pym's powers when given the opportunity, and that ends up helping Hank defeat him, by making it easier to enlarge him to a size where the weakness Hank mentioned earlier (Crusher's mind) can come into play. Even if that wasn't Hank's intention at the time, if he simply tackled Crusher because the taunts got to him, he was able to think, and retake control of the situation. Trying to rush Whirlwind, whose entire deal is he's quite fast and hard to get ahold of, was ill-advised, especially considering they were standing on the edge of a rooftop.

In the more recent story, Hank actually listens (eventually) to everyone's concerns that he might be rushing his plan to bring Jan back. It also helps that he saw what brief exposure to that level of existence did to Crusher. In the WCA story, Hank can't really get past Tigra needing time to find herself. Even though she says they might wind up together again some day, he can't see it, he can't wait. He's frustrated that they were together, and then she changed, and now they aren't, and he seems to consider that emblematic of the superhero world he supposedly wants no part of. In reality, he did miss being a superhero, he just hadn't found a style that fit him.

And he wouldn't confide in anyone. When Hellcat asks him what Whirlwind was saying to him, Hank's response is he has no idea. He refuses to let on that anything is bothering him, and so nobody can help him through it. Granted he didn't tel everyone right at the start that his 'Infinite Mansion' was actually helping keep Jan's body together, but before he made his big attempt to save her, he let some other folks in on the plan. Ultimately, the decision was his, but hearing the doubts other people had, helped him realize he had the same doubts, that he was rushing into things again. This time he slowed down a little bit farther away from the edge.