First Look at Avengers Academy #29

Captain America brings a bunch of mutant teens to the Avengers Academy to keep them outta trouble during the Avengers vs. X-Men conflict but while the kids compete in innocent games and begin to get to know each other, Sebastian Shaw has a plan. He was taken from custody on Utopia and brought to the academy to be placed in detention but he doesn’t want to stay captive of either the X-Men or Avengers.

Issue: Avengers Academy #29

Name: Protective Services: Part 1

Published: 2012 by Marvel Comics

Blurb:

Creators:

Writer: Christos Gage
Artist: Tom Grummett
Inker: Cory Hamscher
Colorist: Chris Sotomayor
Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramagna

Characters:

The Good: Wolverine, Captain America, Quicksilver, Tigra, Finesse, Hazmat, Lightspeed, Mettle, Reptil, Striker, White Tiger, X–23, Giant Man, Hawkeye, Hercules, Dr. Kavita Rao, Madison Jeffries, Transonic, Dust, Loa, Velocidad
The Bad: Sebastian Shaw

My Reading:

The basic idea of this story revolves around the young X-Men being brought to the Avengers Academy for, as Captain America puts it, ‘their own protection’. Basically he wants them outta the way and unable to interfere with his war on the X-Men. He’s already lost track of Hope Summers and kinda won the first round of the Avengers vs. X-Men conflict but he doesn’t want these kids getting hurt or complicating things.

The other aspect of the ‘protective services’ that the academy is being asked to provide is for Sebastian Shaw. He needs to be held in some kind of custody since apparently he was involved with the Phoenix last time and Wolverine doesn’t trust him not to interfere again. He seems peaceful enough though, just asking for some books to read before he walks voluntarily to his kinetic energy absorbing cell.

So with the Avengers and X-Men schools presently co-located, the instructors set up some games for the youngsters to keep them busy. They stage a race between Lightspeed and Transonic and a surfing contest between Loa and Finesse. Both activities give the teens opportunities to get to know one another but it turns out some people have already met. Laura Kinney (X–23) already knew Dust and there’s some history hinted at that hopefully will be explained in a future issue. Beyond that, Laura also seems to take a liking to Finesse as they fight in the training room but I think they were both at the academy before Cap brought in the X-Men kids.

In the end though, Sebastian Shaw breaks outta detention. Aparently he had ulterior motives for asking for the books to read as he used them (by hitting himself in the head with them) to build up enough kinetic energy to punch through the floor of his cell. He’s now free and I expect he’ll be causing mischief in future issues.

What did I learn:

• Dr. Kavita Rao and Madison Jeffries are part of Utopia’s science team.
• Sebastian Shaw was somehow involved in the previous encounter with the Phoenix but he does not remember it.
• Wolverine does not trust Sebastian Shaw.
• Sebastian Shaw absorbs kinetic energy and can redirect it once stored.
• X–23 knew Dust before this issue.
• Loa’s abilities allow her to tunnel through rock and earth.

My Thoughts:

It’s interesting to bring these up-and-coming Avengers and X-Men under one roof but we’ve seen in the past that even if people know and have worked with each other, they can still end up in conflict with one another. We can already see some resentment among the X-Men teens who are chaffing at the fact that Captain America deposited them in the Academy and basically told the instructors to hold them hostage.

Further, the fact that Sebastian Shaw knows about his previous relationship with the Phoenix and has now escaped leaves this as a pretty good setup issue for future events.

My Rating: B-

This comic can be found on Marvel Unlimited, Comixology or at your local comic book shop.

Daily Ramble 252.2 | Comics – Modern Marvel – Avengers Academy #29