Christos Gage

I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the Young Avengers and the Secret Warriors. So, when I came across this title as part of the post-Siege "Heroic Age" I decided to give them a try before moving on to Fear Itself.

The premise here is that in the wake of Osborn's fall from power, Hank Pym decides to create Avengers Academy to help some of the young metahumans that Osborn had "recruited." But, the origin of this team is much darker. These teens are not the children of superpowered parents; show more Osborn tortured most of them in order to extend their powers. These kids have serious issues and their teachers are all heroes who have troubled pasts or were previously villains, like Quicksilver and Speedball. Additionally, Pym has told the kids they have great potential to be heroes, when in fact, they are there because they're the most dangerous.

I like that the series explores the more horrific consequences of Osborn's Dark Reign. Not only were these kids experimented on, but a few are already wrestling with powers that have destroyed their lives. Hazmat, for example, exudes poison and is so dangerous she has to be in a hazmat suit just so she doesn't kill anyone. This girl has it worse than Rogue - not only can she never touch anyone but she can't even be around people without being closed off. Veil can turn herself into a gaseous state, but she is slowly losing cohesion - dying. This book serves as the origin story by going through each team member and how they came to be at the Academy. It's a diverse group, with a varied power set and clashing personalities.

The downside to this series is that it is very angst-filled. These kids really don't want to be heroes, they want to be normal, and with very good reason. They don't have the positive outlook that the other young teams have. I enjoyed the book, but I do hope it lightens up a bit. Overall, fans who enjoyed the previous teen-age teams will probably like this one as well. Recommended. show less

Normally I dislike crossovers, but these issues can pretty much be read separately from Civil War II. It also helps that Civil War II is a much smarter and better executed story than the original Civil War. The debate in this book is well defined and thought provoking, although it also bogs the book down somewhat, slowing the story and at times stopping it completely. Still, I think the personalities in this book are better than in the previous volume, and there's a lot of potential here for show more future stories. show less

The worst comic writing I've come across in years. The classic Chris Claremont issue the publisher used as filler in the back, by comparison, makes the weak writing of the feature story seem even worse. I should have stopped buying Astonishing X-men with the last Whedon issue, but I was hoping they could maintain the concept without him: an X-men title for casual readers and 'old fans', unmired by tedious continuity issues.

Ug, so disappointing. I could have used the money to buy a better show more book. Or groceries.

In case anyone reading this is concerned that I may be losing my more pretentious interests, have no fear. I'm reading McCarthy's Suttree as well.... show less

I thought the Avengers vs. X-Men event was excellent; a good story with real consequences for the Marvel Universe. In a lot of ways, it was a mirror for the Civil War event. And like Civil War, the event reaches a new level with the inclusion of the tie-ins. The AvX tie-ins truly enrich the story, providing a depth not only to the plot but to the characters as well.

Though I found some of the stories collected here boring or ridiculous, such as Mr. Sinister's sections (the Avengers couldn't show more contain the Phoenix 5, but he somehow manages to? *eye roll*) for the most part the material here is all top notch. What is most essential is seeing how the various X-Men begin to understand how the Phoenix 5 have lost their humanity and what that means for the world. In the main event, this is incredibly rushed. They're all gung-ho to support Scott and then suddenly... they're not. Now readers get the nitty gritty. The parallels with Civil War were especially strong in those parts. For instance, Rogue realizes how corrupt Magik is when she sees the prison the Avengers are being kept in, literally hell on Earth. This was not so very different from Spider-man when he saw the hell-not-on-Earth that Reed Richards built for the unregistered heroes. Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. The impact on the super-powered children (whether mutant or otherwise) was also well done. The sections from Avengers Academy are some of the best included here. War affects everyone, and war always has casualties. Though this book contains many more "match-ups" between heroes and mutants, perhaps most importantly it includes the fall out. What happens after the war is over. Easily five stars for everything that's collected in this companion.

While the material is excellent, I had to deduct a star for the production. AvX utterly fails when compared to Civil War in how it is collected. This book has a lot of material and even for the retail price it is a very good value. That said, this volume of tie-ins is MASSIVE at 1100+ pages, and that makes it cumbersome to hold and read. Worse still, the binding is glued rather than sewn! This means you can't lay it flat without risking damage to the spine and pages coming loose. Honestly, this is an epic fail on Marvel's part. The Secret Warriors omnibus was also huge (though not quite as big) and I found it much easier to read since I could lay it flat on a table when my arms got tired. My other omnibuses are the same. I would have happily paid a bit more for better quality. The Civil War tie-ins were collected in several beautiful, hardcover, sewn-bound editions that were grouped in logical fashion by the material they contained. This omnibus has all the tie-ins, but they do not flow logically. I read the main event first and then this entire volume, and despite jumping around in time and place, I was able to follow it well enough but it could have been better done. Overall, though I am disappointed this wasn't sewn-bound, it's still a must read and preferable to a dozen individual trade releases. Highly recommended. show less