Axel Alonso spoils Avengers Academy

[brooms]

Axel Alonso’s comment in a recent interview on CBR, talking about diversity in Marvel characters:

“Also, Striker just came out of the closet in “Avengers Academy,” and Wiccan and Hulkling continue to play a huge role in “Young Avengers/Avengers: Children’s Crusade.” I feel like I’m just getting started.”

“Just came out?” Or… about to come out? Christos Gage has been tweeting:

“Regarding Striker: Make sure to pick up AVENGERS ACADEMY #23 in a couple weeks. I’ll have a lot more to say when the story’s out!”




Source is Bleeding Cool.

Comments

[drmcninja]

My thought process:

"Oh, cool, another gay character! About time we had another open one who actually gets real facetime. But why is he fighting OH JESUS WHAT HAPPENED TO HER ARM."

[lieut_kettch]

A bad case case of Pseudo-Kirby-perspectivitis, I think.

[jlbarnett]

everything about her in that pick looks off center to me. Not just her arms, take a look at her nose and eyes.

[nezchan]

She's missing her legs too. You can make a case that they're hidden, but a good artist would show at least some of them to give the impression of the whole body.

[lultam]

Are they gloves or hands?

[thanekos]

She hit him so hard, he's got proptosis now!

[lieut_kettch]

OMG, she punched him in the thyroid!

[nezchan]

That's some bad plotting right there, holy crap. It's almost impossible to tell what's going on, people (and apparently bugs) that are close to the guy in the close shots are missing in the long shots, the equipment structure appears and vanishes, how he winds up with his right but fires with his left, and where the hell does the big bug come from anyway?

And that's not even counting the awkward posing and anatomy issues.

[brooms]

This was my interpretation -

Julie walking away toward equipment (you can see gray thingie at the right bottom of top panel). Striker goes after her, but she flies, he calls her back with his left hand. Enormous bug bites/does something with his right. He's startled and zaps her with the hand he was using to call her back. Julie comes back from equipment zone and punches him.

[nezchan]

It almost looks like he's caressing the bug's feelers there.

[icon_uk]

I'm not sure it's fair to blame the plotting when looking at the art alone since the word balloons will presumably add context and explanation.

With you on the posing and anatomy problem.

[nezchan]

Relying on dialogue to carry a scene means the art isn't good enough to do its job. It's largely an action scene, the art should have primacy here.

I could see if it were a heart-to-heart talk or something similarly intimate, but that's not what this is.

[nezchan]

Oh, I should have added lazy as hell backgrounds and one BAD tangent where Striker is getting decapitated by the horizon line. Seriously, that's a beginner mistake, it's not something we should be seeing on a mainstream title.

[long_silence]

Wasn't Striker the one who was being molested by a Hollywood type producer when his powers kicked in?

[salinea]

Yes.

[brooms]

Yes. And it's one of the reasons why I'm not a fan of this development, tbh.

[lieut_kettch]

You don't suppose he was Anne McCaffrey'd?

Rest in Peace, Anne. You were a great writer and a legend in the world of Science Fiction, but you had some waaaaay out there theories regarding sexual orientation formation.

[shadowpsykie]

Hmmm I'm actually kinda excited for this

[turtlefu]

Are we supposed to be happy about this? I mean, I stopped reading Avengers Academy a while ago, but Striker was a horrible person. Isn't he a borderline psychopath obsessed with fame who sicced Whirlwind on his team just to get press?

Yeah, he's a real prick

[blue_bolt]

1. He set up a fight with Whirlwind so the team would get publicly acknowledged.
2. He was the only person who didn't help in the fight against Korvac.
3. He's hit on Finesse, Veil and made stared at Tigra's boobs, well to be fair she does teach class and fight in a bikini - maybe he's guy and a furry?

P.S: I'd actually like to see a character come out as a furry. That would be awesome. Has that happened yet in Marvel or DC?

[auggie18]

In all fairness, pretty much half the team in Avengers Academy are horrible people. The other half are boring.


Then there's Mettle, who's actually pretty cool.

Horrible is a matter of perspective

[blue_bolt]

1. Mettle's awesome (reminds me of Rockslide)
2. Veil's leaving the team makes sense - she's cured! She never wanted to be superANYTHING and I respect her decision.
3. Finesse seems to be getting better, morally speaking.
4. Hazmat's a little angsty, but hey what do you expect for someone who can argue that Rogue got off easy?

Re: Horrible is a matter of perspective

[jlbarnett]

When was Veil cured?

Re: Horrible is a matter of perspective

[lieut_kettch]

Hazmat's has double the reason to be angsty, seeing as the other "trapped in a suit because of her powers" teammate gets to live a normal life.

[big_daddy_d]

Yea...this doesn't make me hate Striker any less. The guy's a jerk and I've yet to see him actually redeem himself. But, I do hope that he can actually grow to become a better person. Hell isn't that one of the points of this series? For some of these kids to become better?