Despite the impressive variant-covers-that-form-a-poster, few major superheroes appear in this debut issue. The first issue DOES have a ton of heroes–but not the name-brand ones from the cover. Kids.
It’s about a boot camp for superheroes. Some debut and die, some will never amount to anything, and a few will star in this title and become part of greater 616 universe. The story itself is just a “get to know you” story, not worth recapping. So let’s look at the important characters we meet instead.
Guantlet. His powers are that he has a gauntlet, and he’s an army veteran.
He’s recruited by Agent Gyrich to be a drill sergeant for the students. The other trainers are Vance Astrovik, Rhodey, and a new character Baron Wernher von Blitzschlag, a Nazi scientist who worked on Hitler’s version of the Captain America program.
On to the recruits…
Cloud 9. She makes clouds.
Armory, a cross between Colossus, Vision, and other metalbodied characters. She gets to fight the Mighty Avengers in her debut, and doesn’t end up joining the team.
Truama. He’s the first character who I think has a very cool and different power set: He can shape-shift into whatever you’re most afraid of.
Also debuting here (but not getting to do very much) are: Hardball (he makes hard balls, but I’m hoping I’ll like him more than Speedball); and MVP (a junior Captain America who dies in this first issue).
Alongside them are some previously known characters: Tarene (aka Thor Girl), Slapstick (really !?!), Bengal, Rage (who was an Avenger at one time so…WTF?), Cassie Lang, Network, and many, many others. I’m sure I missed some.
This book is nowhere near as good as the Avengers Academy book, very similar in concept, that will come several years from now. But it’s Dan Slott, and that means it’s definitely a solid read.
English (US) · 