Avengers the Initiative #12 By Hervé St-Louis May 4, 2008 - 10:10:25 AM Marvel Comics Writer(s): Dan Slott, Christos Gage Penciller(s): Steve Uy Inker(s): Steve Uy Cover Artist(s): Steve Uy $2.99

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The first class of the Initiative graduates, but with many casualties and losses.  A committee is drawn to get information on what went wrong and why the former New Warriors have left the Initiative. While every kid decides his or her future, the inner working of the initiative changes as an old director is fired.  Who will stay? Who will leave and who will return from the dead? This is issue is a perfect jump on point for readers not familiar with this series.

I had serious problems about this series in the past related to its place at Marvel Comics. Its premise, training kids to become super heroes has been done many times and with more popular characters. I was not familiar with most of the characters in this story. Yet, there is a sense that they are real individuals with their own trials and conflicts. The story continues to be entertaining but this issue closes the first chapter and promises to introduce new characters in the form of new trainees. Let’s hope it can live up to the first year’s run of this series and add more major character that the average reader has clue about.  I just wonder how many of these characters will continue to be featured in a comic book in five years.

Uy is a great artist who adds layers of tension on the calm figures he draws. He puts just enough information in a page to make it interesting and not too crowded.  It’s easy to read. However, Uy could not have achieved all of this without his brilliant colour washes that remind one of Japanese animé. There is a lot of moodiness and bright lights over-saturating the characters but adding a touch of warmth to the illustrations.

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