Teen-Hero Month: Avengers Academy.

Do you know what made Spider-Man a revolutionary superhero?
He was he first teenager in a comic to become a superhero who weren't a sidekick. Today, that may not seem like something extraordinary, but making a hero who where a teenager, which meant that he was not as perfect or likable as an adult, was so shocking that Stan Lee was told by friends and colleagues that it would never fly.
But it did. And Marvel gave birth to an entirely new kind of heroes. They aren't as smart, as brave or as mature as the adults, but the teenage heroes still appeals to us for their effort to be better. The teen heroes are fighting to be the heroes of tomorrow.
... Which makes it sad to think of the fact that not many teen heroes are allowed to grow up in comics. They are either totally forgotten, or killed off, or their character is completely ruined in really stupid stories...
Anyway, I will use April to talk about some of the series about these brats. Starting with my favorite Marvel series.

At the beginning of the so-called Heroic Age of the Marvel Universe, a training-camp called "Avengers Academy" was created in order to train six young superhumans to become the Avengers of tomorrow.
... Or that's what the six teenagers are suppose to believe.
They quickly discover that they aren't in the training facility because they were selected for their potential for good, but because each of them has traits similar to the typical super villain. They have been selected in order to prevent them from becoming the Avengers new enemies.
What makes this series great is that their problems aren't the dormant part of their personality. Because that would have been easy. To just make them little a-holes who needed to be fixed. their faults are not something that can be removed, but something they must learn how to live with without it destroying them. For example:
Mettle had a peaceful life before he got his powers. He was raised on Hawaii by hippie-parents and no one wanted to get in a fight with him because he was huge like a mountain. He has spend the most of his life surfing, and was an all-around nice and mellow guy. But after his transformation he discovers that he is slowly turning more violent, and it happens when he least expect it.
And the teachers are a good mix too. Besides being great characters, they are also as messed up as the students. In fact, Hank Pym is the headmaster of Avengers Academy.
Avengers Academy offers an addictive mix of teenage insecurity, unclear morals, tons of lies and double-crossing, as well as interesting and action-packed stories. Highly recommended. Especially the tie-ins to the event "Fear Itself". But I must also inform you with great sadness that the quality of the stories drop a bit during the period of "Avengers VS X-Men", but it wouldn't be the first time that a comic-event ruined a good series.
That's all for now. Next time, we will take a look at Cassandra Cain.
I'm Waezi2, and thanks for wasting time with me.