Avengers Academy #29

Review by: Walt Kneeland (walt.kneeland@gmail.com )
Quick Rating: Good
Story Title: Protective Services part 1

Wolverine and the Avengers drop the mutant kids from Wolvie's school into the Academy to keep 'em out of the way for the adults' conflict.

Writer: Christos Gage
Penciler: Tom Grummett
Inker: Cory Hamscher
Colorist: Chris Sotomayor
Letterer: VC's Joe Caramagna
Cover: Giuseppe Camuncoli, Jim Charalampidis
Asst. Editor: Jake Thomas
Editor: Bill Rosemann
Published by: Marvel Comics

Wolverine shows up at the academy with some mutant kids from his school. No one wants them getting tangled up in the ongoing conflict between the X-Men and the Avengers, so this seems a good place to stash the kids to keep them out of the battle. Of course, the Avengers kids and the X-kids are not entirely thrilled about the arrangement--though the adults have mixed reactions. Along with this, Sebastian Shaw voluntarily goes along with being put in a cell for everyone's peace of mind provided he has some books. And by issue's end, the kids have gotten to know each other a bit, and Shaw has proven more resourceful than given credit.


I don't think I've ever read an issue of this title, though I've been loosely aware of it. This is yet another issue that I picked up solely for the AvX banner. And unlike most of the other tie-ins, I felt initially rather let-down by this one but by the end found myself a lot more satisfied. The writing itself isn't bad--it's clear these characters have their place and purpose (especially if not interrupted by a crossover/event). But whether I've forgotten or just missed the plot element of Wolverine packing up the kids, this seemed to come outta nowhere for me. Hercules' presence was rather amusing in its way, and I'd managed to forget about X-23 until finding her in here.

As a whole, the art seems rather old-school in a really positive way. The visuals are easy enough to follow, and just work really well for me. The entire art team really hits a home run here...which is saying something, as I'm not usually one to pay attention to the art like this. It's no single panel, really, but the overall look of the entire issue that was enjoyable.

I can't speak to this issue's place in the ongoing Avengers Academy series, but once I got over my "well, WHEN did the mutant kids get gathered up for transport?" the issue in a whole was quite enjoyable, and I look forward to seeing further interactions between these two groupings of kids in coming issues, and am curious as to what role they're ultimately going to play in the overall event. Not a bad tie-in, but definitely side-story material dealing with how the main AvX story affects the "kids," at least for now.


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