Continuing from last issue's Korvac mini-saga, Avengers Academy #12 sees the students become the masters. Carina, daughter of Cosmic Bigwig The Collector, places their consciousnesses in the bodies of elder counterparts from future realities. The swap should bring enough control over their abilities to allow them to defeat her estranged husband, who wants to rule humanity. He means well.
Despite Carina's confidence, defeating a virtual god doesn't come easy, and one member dies.
For a little while ...
After the proverbial pulse-pounding power play, the Academians succeed where the adult Avengers failed, sending Korvac packing. It's then that the issue gets really interesting, as two members get a new status quo, two get a raw deal by comparison and the other two stay very much true to form.
Writer Christos Gage uses his cosmic conflict to focus right in on the students' psyches, showing us where they're at and where they might one day be. Their reactions to sudden physical maturity are varied and authentic, as are their responses to what follows. He also shows instructor Hank Pym dealing with the knowledge that he's further away from returning his beloved Wasp to life than he thought. And yes, that's dealing - not falling apart!
The artwork by Tom Raney and Scott Hanna is, for the most part, rather good. My favourite sequence features a new way to demonstrate Finesse using her powers, and the whole is splendidly coloured by Jeromy Cox - space nudist Korvac fair throbs with eclectic energies (click to engorge).
Cox also contributes to the cover, colouring Mike McKone's shot of the Avengers Academy Alumni to be. The ravenous Raptor looks particularly fine.
So this issue, the kids defeat a deity. Next month brings something even scarier - the school prom. Be my date?
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