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Review: Avengers Academy #5

Now, I finally get the significance of the title.

No Caption Provided
After reflecting on his own background as a celebrity, Striker schemes of some dangerous ways to gain some fame for the academy (with a particular emphasis on himself.)
 

The Good

As odd as it sounds, I like this book for the fact the academy members are less likable than is typical. I'm all for iconic heroes, but this comic's refreshing for the fact that it's a New Warriors-style book that finally admits that the new generation of heroes might actually be a lot more spoiled and a lot less noble than their predecessors. Honestly, Striker comes off a big "Uh-huh" in this and it's interesting to see him only marginally improve on his selfishness, rather than full-out redeem himself. You can see why he's considered a wild card who could go either way on the hero/villain scale - - and that's truly fascinating to see.

The Bad

Part of the appeal of a book like this is, of course, packing it with plenty of characters, but I can't help feeling like the comic's a little crowded.  We've got a sizable number of Avengers appearing regularly in addition to the already-quite-full academy line-up.

The Verdict - 4/5

Gage has opted to use these issues partly as character pieces of the individual academy members and, by focusing on fleshing out their personalities, that approach has steadily been winning me over on characters I honestly thought looked kind of lame in the early previews. Actually, now that the full nature of this series has been revealed (they're the Avengers Academy because they're like a private reform school) things have just gotten a lot more interesting.