Friday, February 18, 2011

Avengers Academy #9

The Taskmaster has always been an entertaining bad guy - he has a photographic memory (of sorts) for combat moves and can imitate any style.

Which means he has the same abilities as the most interesting member of the Avengers Academy, Finesse - which leads her to wonder if he might be her real father.

With the help of Quicksilver she tracks down Taskmaster - and what follows is a heck of a knock-down, drag-out fight.

She's the most interesting member of the team for several reasons: she's the most intelligent (smart characters always drive the story); she's very skillful; and she seems to teeter back and forth between being a "good guy" and a villain.

The other storyline is less interesting - Tigra is angry at three of the students for their attempt at revenge on The Hood, so she tells them they're expelled.

The debate that follows leans a little too close to "After School Special" territory - a constant threat in a book about teens.

The art by Mike McKone and Rebecca Buchman is quite good, especially the fight sequence - it's a shame this is McKone's last issue as the regular penciler.

I'd still like to see the students get some "down time" - doing whatever kids do these days (see a movie, play softball, etc.) - that would go a long way to making them "real people," and not just superhero cutouts.

Still, aside from a few minor stumbles along the way, this continues to be an entertaining comic, and one well worth following.

Grade: A-

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2 comments:

Evan Minsker said...

I just picked up 'Marvel Vs. Capcom 3,' which while it's a really fun fighting game, it totally cuts corners by using the Taskmaster and Super Skrull. Who needs all four of the Fantastic Four if you've got one guy who can do all of the same stuff? And hey, why make Hawkeye playable when you can just give the Taskmaster his same skill set (and the increasingly annoying catchphrase "Just like Cap!" when he uses a shield-based power).

Fun game, though. It's just funny that they don't include any of the FF when there are THREE major villains of theirs in the game.

Chuck said...

Evan, I'm looking forward to checking that game out - I saw a video clip and it looks like a blast!