By: Christos Gage (writer), Reilly Brown (art), Victor Olazaba (inks), John Rauch (colors), Joe Caramagna (letters), Ellie Pyle (assistant editor) & Stephen Wacker (editor)
The Story: Spider-Man guest lectures at the Avengers Academy.
What’s Good: You know how sometimes Spider-Man, despite being well established as a very powerful superhero, member of the Avengers, etc. turns into a bumbling dumb ass? Well, I like to think that is his Peter Parker showing through the uniform and this is what’s on full display in this issue. So, if you like a Spidey that only has things marginally in control, you’ll enjoy this issue.
Christos Gage guest writes this issue and takes the chance to smear Spidey together with Gage’s outstanding Avenger’s Academy series by having Spidey agree to be a guest lecturer (remembering that Peter Parker used to be a bona fide teacher) at the Academy. Spidey has always kinda been about team-ups and anything that helps expose people to Avenger’s Academy is good because that series is tragically overlooked. The makings of the scene where Spidey gets invited to teach are pretty funny as Spidey is originally insulted that Hank asks The Thing to guest lecture, so Spidey has to whip out the fact that he has a bona fide teacher’s license and used to teach for a living. That’s pretty classic Spidey: The man has an Avenger’s card in his wallet, but still has the whole inferiority complex going to the extent that he has to pseudo-tout his teacher’s license. LOL!
Of course, once he is in class, things don’t go well and hilarity and danger ensue as Spidey takes the kids out on patrol. Gage does a great job of introducing us to all the Academy kids; as expected since they’re his creations.
Reilly Brown does a nice job with the linework. The storytelling is always spot-on and the characters are well drawn.
What’s Not So Good: While I’ve enjoyed this unofficial Spider-Man/FF crossover, I’m ready for it to go away. I think what cinched it for me was that the opening sequence was a little clumsy. This is the scene where the FF are fighting a giant gorilla before Hank Pym shows up to recruit a guest lecturer. I just feel like we could have covered this story (Hank invites Spidey to the Academy) in a few less pages and that would have left more time for Spidey to interact with the Academy kids; which was kinda the point of the issue. For example, you could’ve just shown Hank & Spidey handing off some burglars to the cops, they muse that “this is an unusual team-up…. we’ll have to do it again. Ha ha!”, Hank then says he needs a guest lecturer…. Maybe The Thing? Would Spidey mind asking The Thing next time he’s at the Baxter Building, Spidey is then insulted and mentions his teacher’s certificate…. Boom! You could do that in 3-4 panels and you have about 6 more pages to spend promoting the Academy kids. True…there is no giant gorilla (unless you substituted a gorilla for the burglars) in this set-up, but no one is buying Spider-Man or Avengers’ Academy to see giant gorillas. [We buy Hulk for that...]
The only other thing bugging me is very much a personal preference: I really don’t like the coloring on this issue. I think Brown does complete enough linework that you don’t have to have this highly shaded coloring. I just generally hate this type of coloring because the colorists always seem to screw up the light sources. For example, if The Thing is falling chest-first from the sky and the panel looks up at him, the bright sky is above him and he should not have highlights on his pecs because his chest is in shade. Who likes this coloring style?
Also, how long is Carlie Cooper’s hair? C’mon editors! The ladies hair length is changing by 6 inches issue to issue.
Conclusion: This is a pretty good issue and I’m glad to see the Avenger’s Academy kids getting some play. Hopefully this issue gets them some more readers because I think that series is great. But, this was a classic “liked it, but didn’t LOVE it” issue.
Grade: C+
- Dean Stell
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Filed under: Marvel Comics Tagged: | Amazing Spider-Man, Amazing Spider-Man #661, Amazing Spider-Man #661 review, Avengers Academy, Christos Gage, Dean Stell, Ellie Pyle, Joe Caramagna, John Rauch, Marvel, Reilly Brown, review, Stephen Wacker, Victor Olazaba
