80-Page Thursdays: Avengers Academy Giant-Size #1!

Man alive, when was the last time we had a Marvel 80-pager here? Way back in 2019! But, we've got one I hadn't seen before, with a couple characters that were getting the push at the time, and maybe a couple Marvel's still trying to break big. And, it might set up not one but two series later! From 2011, Avengers Academy Giant-Size #1, written by Paul Tobin, pencils by David Baldeón, inks by Jordi Tarragona.

Full disclosure here, and absolutely personal bias: I don't love the Avengers Academy era. It didn't feel like a great use of some established characters--hey, Hank Pym's not in anything, I guess he's a teacher now. But just from this issue, the Academy kids seem to feel like they're treated like property, forbidden from using their powers unless it's in service to the Avengers or the government. (Pretty sure you should side with the kids, but it sucks that some Avengers get made the bad guys for enforcing that, even if they were getting the screws put to them as well.) On a rare day off in NYC, Reptil, Veil, Finesse, and Striker decide to enjoy the day; even if it's only a day and they were probably being watched by Avengers even if they promised they wouldn't...The kids happen to see Firestar and Spider-Girl fly/swing by, but after they wander off from each other, Reptil and Veil worry the others might have run off, and they might get in trouble themselves if so. Their search is cut short, when while checking out a somewhat suspicious Avengers Academy poster, they get hit by flying bricks and giant robots. No points will be given for guessing the baddie: it's Arcade.

While on their way to meet up with fellow Young Allies member Toro, Spider-Girl and Firestar are lured in by a giant Spider-Girl balloon and captured as well. Arcade intended to put them all in his patented death-traps, but Reptil and Spider-Girl wake up early, so Arcade improvises a competition between them, to score points and save their friends, or at least some of them. He seems to be enjoying creating on the fly; but the whole endeavor was meant to show he still had the juice to kill super-powered heroes, even if they were just kids. (Arcade claims to have killed 'scores' of regular people, an interesting choice of terms!) While gas-girl Veil figures out her trap, Spider-Girl and Reptil run Arcade's wild goose chase: eventually, Arcade murders them all, or at least appears to: no spoiler, but O.G. junior hero Kitty Pryde pulled the same on him, back in Uncanny X-Men #197! 

Traditional as hell: of course the Avengers and the government aren't looking when the kids are kidnapped: they can only surveil to punish you, not help you. This also seems to pretty much set up the later Avengers Arena and Avengers Undercover series with Arcade; but Reptil was the only hero from this issue to appear in those. I don't know if I've seen Reptil lately; which would kind of be standard for a younger hero like that after his book went away; except he was also in the Super-Hero Squad cartoon and comic! I wonder how many years we are away from a childhood fan of his bringing him back. (He did appear in a King in Black issue fairly recently.) 

Firestar...man, Firestar's been around since what, 1981? And Marvel still seems to be at a loss over what to do with her, at least consistently: her most recent appearances were the last West Coast Avengers, where I think she had PTSD and alcoholism, developed after her stint as a double agent against Orchis during the Krakoa era. Which may or may not be an improvement from having to sit at the kid's table? I'm not saying all of Firestar's stories should be sweetness and light, but that feels a bit much.

I had to look up the others: Veil had to give up her powers before they killed her, but Finesse seems to have settled into B-list bad guy for hire work. Her powers seemed like Taskmaster's, but part of her larger plot was that the Academy deemed her among the most likely to become a villain, so she just did. At least a bit; she maybe just didn't want to anything to do with Avengers after that, which, fair. Striker's maybe still out there, but not used for much except maybe crowd filler. The Young Allies Toro was a largish bull-guy, not the old Human Torch's sidekick, but while I thought he would've been phased out when the Liefeld-era girl Bucky was removed, he stuck around at least a little. He might be one of several refugees from alternate earths on 616, but the original Toro came back as an Inhuman, so we might not see YA Toro again.  

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"Strike."

Hmm, I had typed something here, but I don't think it saved. Anyway, the Wand of Watoomb does look like it would hurt, shoved anywhere. Read more!

"Hell."

We're keeping Shiklah's insults PG-rated, because no doubt she would've gotten progressively cruder with Satana. Also, if I recall Arcade's OHOTMU entry correctly, he was a spoiled brat failson who murdered his parents when they cut him off, then got into progressively more elaborate hits. (Marvel probably dropped a ball not capitalizing on him when escape rooms were bigger!) OK, the entry doesn't use the expression 'failson' but you get the point; although my question was, does Arcade have skills? Other than killer level design? Maybe we'll see later. 

Also, some time back we saw the old, Amanda Sefton Magik mini-series, and the various Hells of the Marvel Universe were maybe consolidating after centuries separated. "Better to rule in Hell," Milton said, and there's probably no shortage of ambition down there.

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"Travel."

Although Sat is able to travel back and forth from Hell--or some hell--I'm not sure how common that is. I think I remember an issue of Spider-Man/Deadpool were Pool would, in the moments he was killed before reviving, see Shiklah in the netherworld, where she either couldn't or wouldn't come out. Or, maybe Sat sending her there blocked her from transporting back. Or, maybe I make these up on the fly... 

I also can't recall the last comic I saw Arcade in--Murderworld from 2023 was maybe intended to make him a big wheel again, but not sure if it took..

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"The End" Week: Avengers Arena #18!

We mentioned before in our strip with Arcade that his track record had been pretty bad, up to this series; and today might be his high point. From 2013 early 2014, Avengers Arena #18, "Boss Level, part 5 of 5" Credits per the GCD: written by Dennis "Hopeless" Hallum (credited as Dennis Hopeless), pencils by Kevin Walker (credited as Kev Walker), inks by Kevin Walker and Jason Gorder.

Murder World--that's a misnomer, it's really an island--had started with sixteen young heroes forced to fight to the death, and five were down as we enter the endgame. Apex, Death Locket, and Chris Powell (Darkhawk, without his amulet and powers) had nearly cornered Arcade, but he teleported out, then convinced Apex that she was this close to winning this thing, and if she did she could set the narrative. With Chris down and Death Locket under her control, Apex turns Murder World's weapons on the remaining heroes, many of whom were fighting each other on the beach. Hazmat lost control of her powers and was going to blow, but Reptil scoops her into the ocean, saving the others.

As Arcade's weapons prepare to swarm the remaining heroes, Apex tells Death Locket she will be sad to sacrifice her, her "favorite toy," which sparks DL to fight back. That gives Apex's other personality, Tim, the chance to take over, and he begs Death Locket to kill him before his sister Katy kills everyone, and as the weapons shut down on the beach, you can see she did. Now the survivors are left with one order of business: getting their stories straight. This probably isn't a great idea, but understandable: the kids didn't think they would be blamed for any of Arcade's evil crap, but didn't want to be turned into a story, either.

On day 30 of Murder World, the surviving heroes (including Hazmat and probably Reptil, and Chris gets his amulet back) are rescued by S.H.I.E.L.D. and some of the heroes whose schools they had been abducted from, like Wolverine and Captain Britain. But while the kids keep quiet, that leaves the door open for speculation, and manipulation; as Arcade posts "Murder World truther" style videos, to discredit the heroes that let the kids down. There may be a grain of truth in that, but still. 

"Murder World" is spelled with a space throughout this issue; I'm used to it being "Murderworld." Like Westworld! Hopeless finishes the issue with a text feature, how he wanted to do a superhero school title, with maybe a school vs. school tournament around the third story arc, but Tom Brevoort and Axel Alonso said no, go with that. There would be more though, as Avengers Undercover was next. This was a fun series, even if I feel like it did Darkhawk dirty: he's like the 23-year-old that has to sit at the little kids' table for holiday dinner, and the kids all think there must be something wrong with him, otherwise why would he be at the kids' table?

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