Let’s Talk Comics

First off, I know it has been way too long since my last post. For that, I apologize. This past semester at university was the busiest both academically and socially I’ve ever had. That being said, my readers don’t come to this site to hear about my personal life. They come here to read about some damn comics. To that, I say, “Hell yeah.”

So last night, Tom Brevoort asked over Twitter who people would like to see on an Avengers team. It got me thinking. After this Dark Reign thing is over, how many Avengers teams do there need to be? Who qualifies as an Avenger in the new Heroic Age? What happens to the people who are more suited to the underground lifestyle the New Avengers have been living? If Steve Rogers isn’t going to be Captain America in the near future, where does he stand?

Here’s what I think:

I think there needs to be a big, mainstream Avengers team. Most people I’ve talked to agree that Captain America (Bucky), Iron Man, and Thor need to be the core of this team. Everybody can spend all day arguing about who else deserves to be on this team (Spider-Man? Wolverine? Spider-Woman? Ms. Marvel?) I would say that founding Avenger Hank Pym needs to be on the main Avengers team, but it would be a disservice to his recent character development in The Mighty Avengers to be anything less than a leader. I’ll get to where I think Pym should be in a second.

We know that there is going to be a Young Avengers team, and that creators Allan Heinberg and Jim Cheung will finally be returning to their characters with Young Avengers: Children’s Crusade.

In the aftermath of Dark Reign, Norman Osborn won’t be head of HAMMER. We don’t know if HAMMER is going to continue to exist as an organization, or if SHIELD will return. Maybe neither will exist and a new organization will be formed. I’m guessing that after Siege, the President will place Steve Rogers as the director of the peacekeeping organization.

Under this new organization, something will have to be done about The Initiative. There were rumors a while back about an Avengers Academy book, and I think that a book like this is needed. In the series the 50-State Initiative will be carried out by volunteers who wish to register  and work for HAMMER/SHIELD/other (for a salary). Instead of conscripting everyone with superpowers, State Teams will be made up of those with the drive to serve instead of people being forced or bribed to serve. This Avengers “Academy” would be lead by none other than Hank Pym. The character has shown himself to be a leader and has taken young heroes (Stature and Vision) under his wing in The Mighty Avengers and performed extraordinarily. It would also be an interesting story to have the real Hank Pym in charge of The Initiative after his Skrull replacement messed it up the first time around.

Finally, we have characters who aren’t necessarily the golden boys (or girls) that the Heroic Age Avengers need. Luke Cage, Iron Fist, Daredevil, Spider-Man, Wolverine…these are all more “street” level characters. I think it would be cool to have a book that focuses on a team of street level Avengers taking care of business. It would almost be like the Ultimate Knights storyline in Ultimate Spider-Man. Marvel could even call the book Marvel Knights. It gives characters like Luke Cage, Iron Fist, and other street level characters who don’t necessarily sell well enough to have their own solo titles a chance to shine and have their stories told.

So I guess from a publishing standpoint, certain books would be replaced by books with new directions.

The Mighty Avengers –> The Avengers

Avengers: The Initiative –> Avengers Academy book

New Avengers –> Marvel Knights street team book