Book of Doom: Avengers: The Initiative #1
It’s Saturday once again, which means it’s time for the Legion’s group review of this week’s Book of Doom: Avengers: The Initiative #1.
I chose this book because it was written by Dan Slott of She-Hulk, The Thing, Great Lakes Avengers and Spider-Man/Human Torch fame. I’ve never read a thing by the guy I haven’t thoroughly enjoyed, but then again Slott’s never really been a part of a Mega Marvel Crossover before. And quite frankly, I’m cross-overed out. After two years of seemingly never-ending crossovers, can you blame me? I’m sick and tired of reading stuff that I have to read twelve other things to understand. That’s why I was going to skip all the Mega Marvel Crossovers until this winter’s X-Men event. All four of them. Yes, four. Give myself a little time to cleanse my palate, you know?
Thankfully, the cross-overing in Avengers: The Initiative is kept to a minimum. There are a few cameos from random characters, but they actually make sense in the context of the story. There’s no mention of civil rights being violated or Cap’s death. It really just seems more like a book set in the midst of a crossover than an actual crossover book.
The basic formula behind Avengers: The Initiative is nothing new: a ragtag bunch of super-powered youth are thrown together and forced to work as a team as they learn about their powers, themselves and each other. New X-Men: Academy X, Runaways and Young Avengers are just a few of the titles that have used that same basic plot. The idea in and of itself is nothing spectacular; it’s the characters and circumstances that the writer creates that can turn a relatively uninspired premise into something great. After only one issue, it’d be premature to call Avengers: The Initiative “great,” but I was pleased with the issue and it seems like Dan Slott is headed in the right direction.
I’m not sure what to make of the cast of characters. Out of the trainers, only Justice truly interests me, and that’s more out of a fondness of the Kurt Busiek Avengers run than a genuine love for the character. The Gauntlet seems like he could get really annoying with his constant drill sergeanting. I’ve never liked War Machine, except when he was Iron Man. Out of the trainees, none of them really standout, but none of them seem like dead weight. Cloud 9 is obviously the star of the book, but I’m not sure how well I’ll relate to a teenage girl with body issues. Trauma could be interesting if they keep on calling him Emo Boy. Komodo and Hardball are barely introduced at this point. The two most interesting characters, Armory and MVP, are unfortunately done with the series (or so it appears), although it really was necessary to flesh those two out more than the rest so the ending had more of an impact.
I really enjoyed the little twist Slott added for why the team has to remain a team. Covering up a death (albeit an accidental one), can not be an easy thing for these kids to do. Which means it should make for some pretty good reading. Slott’s got me hooked for the next issue, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it was for the duration of the series.
Now let’s see what the other Doomers have to say:
Jim Doom: “I really didn’t like this issue at first.
I hate shortcuts like having soldiers talk like morons, since of course every soldier is a high school dropout from Hicksville.
I hate shortcuts of making the free-spirited kid taking part in some variation of skateboarding / snowboarding / cloudboarding? That whole X-Games thing is so 10 years ago.
I hate the tough-talking drill-sergeant parody that The Gauntlet became. Is it too hard to not make every drill sergeant the guy from Full Metal Jacket?
I hate the shortcut that the dark-haired Conor look-alike is called Trauma and he’s all teen-angst. How convenient. Why don’t the depressed kids ever get happy colorful powers?
But they’re shortcuts for a reason – to put the reader into a familiar setting so that other things can happen without having to spend time developing characters. And those other things are what made me like this issue more than I disliked it.
I liked that the most likable character was killed off. It helped to contrast the teen-book overtones throughout the first part of the series. It also entrenched the paradigm shift in the Marvel Universe post-Civil War. These kids aren’t being recruited to be the superheroes of yesterday, with the bright costumes and fun-loving adventures. These kids are soldiers. And in spite of their unique powers and personalities, they are being stripped down to their usefulness as tools and weapons.
It struck the right balance for me, so I’ll stick with it for a while.”
Jean-Claude Van Doom: “As always, I come into any of these Initiative books with a bad aftertaste in my mouth from all the Civil War garbage. This book at least separates itself from the mega-event, setting up this future of Marvel’s universe with a bunch of new heroes set to be programmed into the hero rubric.
I’m not the huge Dan Slott fan that some others are, mainly because I haven’t read enough of his work, but he hits a lot of good notes here, especially the War Machine vs. Little Girl at the beginning. For most of the running time, though, the book is pretty boring, almost like a new Generation X without the mutants.
The big twist at the end ratcheted things up a couple notches, which at least lends consideration for another issue. BUT, did it have to be the unintentional murder of the pseudo-grandson of Captain America? How degrading does Marvel have to make the death of its greatest hero? How many times does it have to be thrown in our faces? And yet, I’m not ruling out that this could lead to something intriguing.”
Doom DeLuise: “Color me unimpressed. I guess I just don’t like the idea of training a superhero army. It takes the fun out of superheroics. I must admit, I did laugh out loud when that “Captain America Jr.” guy got blasted right through the head, but it didn’t really mean anything. He was a stupid character. Seriously, MVP? That’s just a lame name.
Speaking of lame, I’m hoping that somebody re-reads this fifteen years from now and scratches their head when reading that nonsense with the Emo Kid.
There are some positives to this issue, though. I enjoyed seeing War Machine.
Yep, that’s about the only positive I’ve got.
Since Civil War, Marvel has seemingly gone out of their way to make every new issue seem more boring by the week. Throw this one on that pile. Just completely boring and unengaging throughout.”
Something that I didn’t mention but should’ve is that I also think this book did a very good job of establishing the new paradigm in the Marvel U. The problem is that I just really, really don’t like the new paradigm. The “good guys” now are a bunch of nearly fascist pricks who decide to honor accidental victims by constructing a battle training center atop the site of their deaths. That’s like building a new Pentagon or Fort Benning on top of where the World Trade Center buildings fell. And that’s just wrong.
Also, Slott doesn’t know what an IED is, apparently.
Juan-Claude Van Doom,
An I.E.D. is an Improvised Explosive Device. That can refer to a car bomb. Or even an improvised explosive device in a moving car. The truck with a crude bomb in the back of its cab from the first three pagest of Avengers: The Initiative does in fact count as an I.E.D.
Every soldier I’ve spoken to calls it a car bomb, but, if we want to split hairs, any explosive that isn’t manufactured could be called an IED.
I’d say the only real clarification necessary is that IEDs transported in cars (which are still commonly called IEDs) are sometimes referred to as VBIEDs (with the VB standing for Vehicle-Borne).
And JCVD, you’re right about any non-manufactured explosive being called an IED. That’s why the usage in the book is appropriate and that’s why IED is a pretty catch-all term.
Yes, but if the book was trying to capture what soldiers actually say, then it got it wrong. No big whup.
My roommate served a year and a half in Iraq, driving oil trucks all over the country. I asked him what they referred to the explosives as, and he said that most people called them road side bombs, but that the military is in love with acronyms, so they also referred to them as IEDs. He also pointed out that they rarely referred to them at all, because they were afraid of being blown up and didn’t want to think about it.