Feature Post - Avengers Academy

As I mentioned before, I picked up the Avengers Academy series after been suggested to by quite a few people, claiming how brilliant it was. I decided to start from #21, the 'new era', and have now read that and #22 and have to say I am fairly impressed by the series. Setting any story in a school with younger characters is, in my opinion, the foremost platform for character development, and as this is what will mostly attract me to a story, Avengers Academy is an enjoyable read. Having not much previous knowledge of the series or the characters, apart from the teachers, I'm actually quite surprised at how quickly I've taken to all but one, the new student White Tiger who after only two issues seriously annoys me. In #21 two aspects of the story stood out for me that, although commonly used, gave the series depth and a strong stand point. These are the jealousy and unease the original students feel with the introduction of the new students and the loyalty between them, especially since they now feel threatened by the new students, even though they won't admit it. Although this was carried into #22 and even developed further, for example the loyalty the students feel to the teachers (Finesse and Quicksilver), I really didn't enjoy the random appearance of X-Men who I really do not like, especially Frost (die bitch, die). The interactions and the situations were more awkward than in #21 and some of what was being shown - Magneto telling Quicksilver to back off from mutants and Quicksilver agreeing - was just stupid to me. Fortunately, this wasn't enough to put me off the series as the X-Men were just guest starring but I really didn't appreciate it. Seeing Hawkeye in action again in a new series has also got me more excited for The Avengers movie, but also even more disappointed that members of the team like Pym and Quicksilver aren't in it - here's hoping for a sequel with more members! I still haven't got #23 - stupid Christmas making the post slow - but I'm quite excited to read it.