Avengers:The Initiative Volume One: Basic Training

Avengers: The Initiative. Volume One Basic Training. Written by Dan Slot. Illustrated by Stefano Caselli and Steve Uy. ISBN: 9780785121602

This review is difficult to do, because of the interwoven nature of the plot and tons and tons of spoilers a linear out line would create. So we will have to do this a little differently.

Backstory
In the world of the Marvel Universe, the super villain Nitro was fighting the New Warriors and exploded, killing Night Thrasher, Namorita, and Speedball, and 600 residents of Stamford Connecticut.

Using this incident as a catalyst, Tony Stark, The Iron Man, and Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four pushed for a superhero registration act, taking away all super powered individuals rights to privacy and anonymity. This created the Civil War, a company wide story arc that has changed everything about the Marvel Universe. Iron Man, at the head of the ProRegistration movement and Captain America, champion of individual liberty and personal freedom, led what basically amounts to two super teams through a meat grinder of personal politics.

The upshot is, the Civil War is over, and the oppressive and totalitarian forces of have won. There are to be Fifty super teams, one for each state, and if you want to use your super powers, you must Register, and receive training and be assigned to a super team. If you choose not to, you will either be sent to prison in the Negative Zone, or you will have your super powers stripped from you using "Super Power Inhibiting Nanobots" or S.P.I.N. tech for short.

Enter the Initiative.

The Initiative is a superhero boot camp. It is run by War Machine, with Dr. Henry Pym, the size shifting Yellowjacket, Justice as team councilor, and Gauntlet as drill sergeant.

The first batch of recruits include a one woman arsenal codenamed Armoury, a little girl who generates mist and just wants to be allowed to fly named Cloud 9, cocky energy-generator Hardball, MVP, a superior athlete, the former New Warrior, and well named Rage, Thor Girl, who's name tells you everything, Komodo, a girl with all the powers of the Lizard and none of the drawbacks, Ultragirl, a multipowered upbeat kid, Slapstick, a poor mans Morph with the power to create whacky energy constructs, and Trauma who can assume the form of a persons greatest fears (thing a human Boggart from Harry Potter.)

Nice line up, Right? Don't get used to it. In their first training exercise one character accidentally kills another and has their own powers neutralized as a consequence. This is not a feel good title.

Further, Cloud 9, who just wants to be allowed to fly, is given a gun, and in their first emergency, helps defend the President's Crawford Texas ranch along with the Texas Tornados. She shoots down a plane, and realizes that the pilot does not always parachute to safety. Later, in another battle, she attempts to suffocate a foe by forcing her cloud stuff down their throat.

Trauma: "Cloud 9, what are you doing?"

Cloud 9: "I'm forcing my cloud stuff down her throat."

Trauma: "You're killing her!"

Cloud 9: "So?"

Trauma: "What's Happened to you?!"

What indeed? Komodo tries to eliminate a superhero using SPIN tech bullet. Her greatest fear, and the one he uses against her, is that the Initiative will use one against her, make her normal, make her a nobody.

And Trauma, Trauma is classified as an Omega level Threat, and is put under the personal control of everyone's favorite bureaucrat Henry Peter Gyrich. He calls him his big gun, and is the lynchpin to Gyrich's secret little black ops group, The Shadow Initiative. It consists of The Scarlet Spiders, three cheap Spiderman knock offs from Starks Armored Spidey plan, Bengal, Constrictor, Trauma, and Mutant Zero, an operative who does not exist.

When the Hulk arrives back on planet for World War Hulk, Gyrich gets to try his Omega Level Threat.

Trauma, who does survive, is down graded to a Level 50 threat.

Also, before the end one of the recruits betrays the Initiative for personal gain, with great consequence. And someone attacks and almost kills Gauntlet, prompting a witch hunt that shows the Initiatives true colours.

Technical

Dan Slott is a gifted writer. He has a wonderful ability to hold disparate storylines and weave them together is a flowing web of adventure. His dialogue is excellent, giving each character a voice of their own.

Stefano Caselli's art is already familiar to many Marvel fans from his runs on Young Avengers and Runaways. His style is realistic, with an excellent grasp of anatomy, and just a hint of manga, particularly in female forms and faces. His action is tight and frenetic, with lots of detail.

Analysis

The very fact that I can't review the action in this book is a good clue as to how important it is to the overall Marvel storyline. This volume is a plot twist a minute action packed rollercoaster ride.

And it is terrifying. The entire Civil War raised important issues in the Marvel Universe about personal liberty. This continues them....Cloud 9 is an adolescent girl who just wants to use her g*d given powers to fly. Instead, so that everyone can be safe from tragedy, she is being turned into a cold blooded killer.

And that is the thrust of everything that Marvel has done in the past year. Personal Accountability versus Personal Liberty. Trading freedom for security.

I have long subscribed to the theory that our art reflects our fears. I think that this is elegant proof of the theory. In a day and age when the Department of Homeland Security can tap our phones without a warrant, these fears are becoming deeply ingrained into our collective subconscious. Pay attention to how many time the cadets are monitored without their knowledge. Count the number of their civil liberties that are violated. And don't say that all boot camps work this way, these people were not given an option. These are not volunteers, they are draftees.

I feel these aspects elevate this story from a comic book to a social commentary. I enjoyed it, even as it disturbed me. I hope you will find it as thought provoking.