AVENGERS ACADEMY #39
CHRISTOS GAGE (W) • TOM GRUMMETT (A)
Cover BY GIUSEPPE CAMUNCOLI
FINAL ISSUE!
• End-of-an-era Series Finale!
• In the aftermath of the grueling “Final Exam”, can friendships, romances – and the Academy itself – survive?
32 PGS./Rated T …$2.99
Well, F***!
No word on where X-23 is going after this. With her ten year anniversary followed by her 10 year comic anniversary around the corner next year and the year after, Marvel surely can't be that stupid to leave her in the background forgotten for long. Hopefully more has yet to be revealed to save for the months to come. They could very well be graduating to some new Avengers team or similarly the foundation for some fantastic title. They could also be relegated to short form stories in a title that includes everyone that is or once was an Avenger. Heck, it could just be a title change and restart. The choices really vary out there for marketing.
One thing is for certain though. With White Tiger on this team, and the potential here to expand in other marketing forays as we've seen with the new animated Ultimate Spider-man, the future is ultimately safe for them to land somewhere. They could potentially even attend superhero college as taught by Spider-man, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist with the new Nova thrown into the mix too as a former military cadet graduating to the big leagues like they all are. Really, the possibilities are open for all kinds of directions. Personally for some reason I do lean the synergistic approach that the mirroring of Ultimate Spider-man seems to suggest. This would also offer an interesting bridge gap to allow X-23 herself to bounce between FF and whatever this new title is. That is assuming at least she doesn't return to the X-Men or get a new solo or team title in the post AvX world. X-23: Agent of Shield does have an interesting ring to it (well, if it used an intermediary since Laura would probably be against joining any organization like that formally). Just as the potential to have a title with her, Finesse, and Jubilee could prove interesting too or even the title pitched by Marjorie Liu awhile back with the addition of Jubilee to that cast.
This certainly looks like the end for AA. Certainly a shame, as Christos Gage really did X-23 fans a great service during her brief time on the team. His writing has been very good and I will argue; albeit as a X-23 fanboy. The AvX crossover issues were the best of any in the AvX event; which has been a major letdown.
ReplyDeleteHonestly I am not sure where the character lands from here. The groundwork that Liu, Gage, and Remender have done in the last year could send X-23 in any number of directions. Marvel is not a stupid company (I think); I believe that X-23 was added to AA for the sole reason of keeping AA afloat; even though it seemed like her solo title should have been kept going. Probably a lot of factors in that; Liu moving to Astonishing X-Men; so who really knows.
I would love to see another solo title; but if she is headed to a team title my personal wish would be Uncanny X-Force. That would be entertaining from all kinds of directions; especially if she went over to Daken's side!
The future for the character is uncertain for sure.
As an aside; got a mild X-23 fix from Marvel's webcomics online. The comic was GeNext with an older X-23 playing Professor Kinney (interesting concept). The writing was pretty bad.
I'll have to look into that. Thanks for the heads up on it.
DeleteI'm hopeful Gage will land on his feet with another title, as this isn't the first time they've done this. The Initiative was canceled for it to become Avengers Academy, so I'm expecting similar to happen again.
With Remender leaving Uncanny X-Force and it potentially ending, I'm not sure if X-23 would be going that direction. Marvel Now! hasn't announced a replacement X-Force comic as yet. So it is possible that she could end up there. Though I gotta admit I'm also hoping for a return of her solo with her ten year anniversaries coming up(2013 for creation, 2014 for usage in comics) as well as the NYX ten year anniversary in 2014.
I saw Remender was leaving Uncanny as well with solicits for November here. That guy is super busy with other projects; so pretty sure this was another case of Marvel juggling priorities. Not sure I would want another writer picking up after Remender for that series anyway. I remember when Liu and Way left Daken; that comic slid straight off into the gutter.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.newsarama.com/comics/marvel-comics-november-2012-solicitations.html
I saw an interview on CBR that is doing the new Gambit and he mentioned the possibility of Marrow or X-23 coming into the fold at some point.
http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=40579
Sooo... we will see.
I am with you on re-launching the solo title. But why Marvel would do that after recently cancelling doesn't make a whole lot of sense; although not all of their moves make sense to fans. As far as NYX; huge Kiden Nixon fan... rest of the cast not so much.