Comics You Should Be Reading

As a sort of pseudo "Tales From The Longbox" entry, I am going to file this one under "Comics You Should Be Reading."

Avengers Academy (Written by Christos Gage) is one of those books, that probably gets filed by many readers under the "just another crappy Avengers tie in," and if you are one of those people, oh how wrong you are.... this is easily the best of the current Avengers titles HANDS DOWN.... yeah I just said that... and I stand by it. Following the exploits of a handful of students as the inaugural class of "Avengers Academy" whom initially believe to be chosen due to their exceptional gifts, and early on, find out that it is because they are believed to be the most at risk of "crossing over to the Dark Side" thanks to the influence of Norman Osborn.

Oh yeah.... and it's not as if the students are the only ones carrying around the emotional baggage, the instructors (Hank Pym, Speedball, Quicksilver, Tigra, and Justice) carry plenty also. The books dealing with Tigra's beating at the hands of the Hood, and Speedball dealing with the aftermath of the Stamford disaster (and trying to teach the students through his mistakes) stand out as two of the many highlights of this excellent series. If Gage doesn't receive at least an Eisner Award nod for this series, there is truly something wrong with the nomination process. Month to month this has consistently been one of the best titles on the market, and always tops on my reading pile.