Avengers: The Initiative #26

[xdoop.insanejournal.com]

This is from Avengers: The Initiative #26, by Christos Gage and Rafa Sandoval.

Comments

[arilou_skiff.insanejournal.com]

I keep liking the Initiative title, almsot against my will.

[hybrid2.insanejournal.com]

So do I.
Still asked it off my pull-list.but i think i'll take it back soon.

[ulf_boehnke.insanejournal.com]

So, who's Emperor Palpatine in the third scan?

Not the hood, surely? he looks way too old.

[long_silence.insanejournal.com]

Unfortunately it's the Hood.

[kagome654.insanejournal.com]

He's looking pretty haggard for a nineteen year old...

[daningram.insanejournal.com]

I suppose I should complaint about this being an obvious house of cards, but what about Dark Reign isn't?

[sherkahn.insanejournal.com]

As I have gotten older and continued to read comics, I have found that this helps.
Enjoy the elaborate, well-placed, beautiful house of cards for what it is, before it call comes down.... live in the moment. Otherwise the sense of dread and disappointment after Marvel or DC set up such great moments will have you expecting to be disappointed and will make the reader more nit picky than usual.

[daningram.insanejournal.com]

Honestly, I think that I might be able to suspend disbelief better if failure weren't so damn obvious. Plus, writers might actually have to get creative!

[majingojira.insanejournal.com]

I just hope Tasky, Komodo and Butterball make it out of the Grinder alive.

Butterball's kind of a given, seeing as his power effectivly is "Nigh Invulnerability" and Komodo may be good given her healing factor puts Wolverine to shame and Tasky's well, he's Tasky!

But they're mostly minor characters, so I worry!

[404glitch.insanejournal.com]

So who re-fucked Robbie? I thought he was better now.

[icon_uk.insanejournal.com]

Moonstone took revenge on him (for making her look bad or something) when her incarnation of Thunderbolts folded. He had been gradually coming to terms with himself, but she drugged him and had him shipped to the nastiest, most brutal, black ops "hospital" she could find. I'm guessing Taskmaster found him there.

[long_silence.insanejournal.com]

I thought a big part of the Hood's new role as criminal kingpin was that he didn't sacrifice his cronies. That's why they were loyal to him. He walked right up to jail and broke all of his people out. A lot of times.

And now he's sending almost a dozen to their deaths. I mean you can only blame so much on Dormammu's influence.

And I thought Taskmaster actually liked Butterball.

And I still hate that Trauma is a psychologist. I mean it's great for the character yes. But it's ridiculous that this high school drop out, a kid who has never even been to college, is a psychologist. Yes his powers give him special insight with certain patients, but there's plenty of things that they can't help him with. It's like he just woke up one day and decided that he was going to be a therapist, and suddenly he was. Diagnosing Robbie as M.F.C.C. just makes it worse, when did this kid ever take the time to study these things? It's criminal that he's actually on staff.

[foxhack.insanejournal.com]

Yes, but that's Butterball. Nothing can hurt him. He may like him but he realizes nothing bad will happen to him... maybe the fight could "toughen" him up?

[bariman1987.insanejournal.com]

Well, there's the massive psychological trauma/survivor's guilt that would result from seeing dozens of people slaughtered in front of you while you aren't injured. Not to mention the many ways his nigh-invulnerability could work against him, like being buried alive but not able to dig himself out, or falling off the edge of the prison and floating endlessly out in the Negative Zone.

[foxhack.insanejournal.com]

But this is Marvel? Life-scarring? That's how you make a MAN OUTTA HIM!

*shoots some editors*

[01d55.insanejournal.com]

Well those are all things that Taskmaster wouldn't think of, because Taskmaster is an amoral mercenary.

A guy like that, just because he likes you doesn't mean he's always gonna have your best interest at heart.

[xandertarbert.insanejournal.com]

Hmm, I thought we didn't see him for a few issues in the beginning because he was being trained to be at least a therapist? Hell, all he needs to do is call himself a life coach and he's fine. No qualifications needed. So we know he has what I'll call battlefield psychology training, and is working with people who seem to disregard any law they see fit to do what they want. Have a kid on staff as a therapist? No problem!

[xdoop.insanejournal.com]

It seems like all the people he's sending are from the Initiative, and not members of his criminal syndicate.

[aaron_bourque.insanejournal.com]

I thought a big part of the Hood's new role as criminal kingpin was that he didn't sacrifice his cronies.

He may not see the Initiative as "his cronies."

[jlbarnett.insanejournal.com]

these are guys who signed up with the Initiative, rather than Hood's gang in particular. So he isn't directly in control of them I don't think.

[mullon.insanejournal.com]

So much cannon fodder.

[wizardru.insanejournal.com]

Marvel's Thought Process:

1. New Warriors is a fun comic. That Speedball kid is kind of annoying, but he's a good sidekick character.

2. Hey, the New Warriors isn't doing so hot, let's do a quick miniseries with them as being in a reality show. Those are hot now, right?

3. Hmmm, we need a way to kick off this Civil War thing. How about we kill Alpha Flight? Nah, did that already. Twice. Hmmm. Hey let's kill those New Warriors kids!

4. Sure, let's make that happy-go-lucky Speedball all guilt-ridden! The kids love that, right? How about we throw him in with...I dunno, the Thunderbolts? Good. We can make him like a BSDM character, right? Oh, and age him...gotta age him.

5. Huh...this Ellis guy has some pretty odd takes on things. Doc Samson acting like a psychiatrist? What, he IS one? Really? Huh, Speedball coming to terms with his guilt and powers? Hmmm....

6. Hey, I know....let's totally screw with the character again! The KIDS LOVE THAT! We are gonna be SO RICH.

[volksjager.insanejournal.com]

I seem to recall there were alot of nay-sayers thinking there was no point to this book after the skrull invasion. I am glad to see that notion proved wrong. I also can't wait to see the first wave of C-list losers get wiped out in the re-taking of 42...

[psychop_rex.insanejournal.com]

Well, hopefully this will lead to Robbie finally snapping out of it and ditching the torture suit. Trauma (whoever he is; I haven't been keeping up with the series) seems to be feeling a fair amount of guilt here - my guess is that it's only a matter of time until he gives into it and clues Robbie into what's going on. Then maybe he can hand the Penance suit off to someone who would fit into it better - like, say, some sort of demon from an S&M hell.

[ashtoreth.insanejournal.com]

At present, Trauma is cooperating because he is powerless against Hood because the cosmic being who gives him his powers has a non-aggression pact with Hood's cosmic being. And he's promised to fix his mother.

I'm looking forward to Trauma finding out that--now that Dormammu's been exorcised, and Loki is fueling Hood--the Hood should no longer be immune to his powers.

[psychop_rex.insanejournal.com]

Uh-HUH. Character overload time, people.

[xdoop.insanejournal.com]

We don't know if this takes place before that story or not.