Avengers: The Initiative

#34 was great. Loved the interactions between Tasky and the Caps. Plus, Butterball!

AI #34

Sometimes, sticking to the script, playing by the numbers, not breaking what can't be fixed--all of those exciting cliches--can be a creative team's best option. Much like this week's New Avengers, Avengers: Initiative tells the same story from a different angle. How different of an angle, depends on your perception. I haven't read a whole lot of the previous Initiative run pre-Siege--in fact, none--to really get a scope of the character's motivations, determinations, and perceptory attitudes this side of Taskmaster's; that's only because his view is an invaluably classic one, easily standing out among the rest. Christos Gage spreads enough wealth between the ongoing war in the hills, showcasing a Bucky/Taskmaster matchup ever so effectly, all the while eschewing on the factions that make up the Initiative and the Resistance. Among my favorite scenes containing the lesser known characters is that of Penance. Frankly, the former Speedball makes Mark Millar's Nemesis look like a *&#$@.

Jorge Molina continues to do the tie-in justice with art that always remains consistent. Sometimes when the title doesn't ask for much other than tying in the initial story, that's all you can ask for. To put it shortly (because I need to head to work..NOW), Avengers: Initiative might be the most surprisingly good thing to come out of this event. If indeed the series ends up one big cliche, that'll be just fine by me.

3/5 Bags&Boards - Solid.

Yeah #34 was another solid issue showing Siege from a few different perspectives. I like that we see the Resistance with Justice, Tigra, etc as well as the actual Initiative led by Taskmaster and company. Now with Speedball finally looking like he's forgiven himself over the Stamford incident, maybe we'll see a New Warriors reunion. The fight between Taskie and the two Caps was pretty sweet. And I'm really liking this relationship between Diamondback and Constrictor, I'd like to see that continue in Academy, hopefully they're instructors.

I also think it was a nice touch how in this week's Siege tie-ins, we're getting to see how everyone was effected by Asgard falling.

Bigtymin504 wrote:
I also think it was a nice touch how in this week's Siege tie-ins, we're getting to see how everyone was effected by Asgard falling.

"affected"

kidding...no I agree 100%. The Siege tie-ins this week predominately work due to their various reactions to the same incident.

#35 was damn good. Sad to see it end, but looking forward to Avengers Academy .

Avengers Initiative #35

I will be the first to admit, I didn’t care about this title at all until Taskmaster was part of the book. If you read the book it is easy to tell why. The parts of the book that include the previous Camp Hammond staff are….well just boring. I don’t see the new title Avengers Academy lasting very long, the characters involved are cliché’s that I could observe on any Nickelodean or Disney series. They just seem hollow. This could be the book that fixes that, I just don’t see enough interest.

Task Master was definitely the star of this series, especially his involvement with the Cabal and his choices in Siege itself. While he and Constrictor did flee to fight another day, it isn’t what I thought was gong to happen. I knew that skull-face wasn’t going to stay with Norman through the whole battle, everybody knew. I just thought it was going to end a certain way.

With all the self talk and charisma that Tasky was starting to exude, I was expecting him to still have a strong desire to become something bigger than a mercenary training pay-roll flunky. With all of his character development during Osborn’s Dark Reign, I was really expecting him to turn on Norman and play for the winning team. I was thinking this whole time that he would continue to oversee training at Camp Hammond because he is the best in the business and put one on the board for the good guys. Instead we got the step backwards and watched him run with his tale between his legs.

Tigra’s baby is cute and furry. Almost enough to make me buy another cat, but for the most part I just don’t care about any of the Initiative staff. There was a revision in the status quo, heroes have a choice again, but Taskmaster is gone and so am I.

3 out 5 Lame Initiative Members

I have to agree with hrdwrkngXsoldier here...

Avengers: The Initiative #35

On what I now dub unofficially as "Finale Issue Day," Avengers: The Intiative bows out beneath the shadows. The book that has often be the high-point of the Siege tie-ins--and again I reiterate, a ton of these have been good--the last of Tony Stark's originally summoned "50 states initiative" is now done. New Warriors is teased with, but never comes to fruition; Tigra gets her "revenge" on Parker (not really!); Taskmaster & Constrictor leave Diamondback behind, only to deal with what is presumably The Hand (hello Shadowland?); and the rest of the heroes floundering Camp Hammond either serve as background dishes, or are spoken of as teaching the new Academy (while not appearing?).

If you're tiring of my bitching of Marvel spoilers/solicits/teasers, oh, I'm not done. On the final page of this issue we're told to read "Enter the Heroic Age" next week before turning the page. Are you serious? Count me out for Avengers Academy. Then again, I said the same thing about Avengers: Initiative until Taskmaster's wondrous personality came about pre-Siege and got me to pick up all the previous trades for $5 a pop at the Boston Comic Con.

If the Academy has any value in it at all, maybe I'll take a similar route.

3/5 Bags&Boards - Disappointing finish to what has been a stellar tie-in to Siege. If you've been buying this crossover, you mind as well complete your set.

I really liked 35. It was a good way to wrap up the series. I also liked the Pulp Fiction reference on the last page.

Even though I liked this book Avengers Academy will not be on my pull list.

Avengers: The Initiative #35

As a follower of this book since issue #1, I thought this was a great wrap to the series. It nicely tied in the current events of Siege with plot threads that go as far back as the very first arc of the book. We saw some issues with the first recruits Hardball, Komodo, and Cloud 9 get resolved (I really hope they don't fall by the wayside). Then of course there was Taskmaster being a bad influence on Constrictor lol. I've really liked the budding relationship between him and Diamondback so I'm looking forward to seeing where they go from here. Also nice to see Tigra getting some closure with The Hood for what he did to her way back in Bendis's NA...but something tells me it ain't over between them.

Overall, this was a great series that dealt with the heart of what was happening in the Marvel Universe for the last few years. Its the book where Stefano Caselli really started making a name for himself, before Secret Warriors. Feels like another end of an era but I hope some of the good plot threads from this series carry over to Avengers Academy. Very much looking forward to that book...Pym, Jocasta, Tigra, Justice, Quicksilver, Speedball, and the new students should make for an awesome cast.