Magic is gone. Giles is dead--Angel killed him. So are most of the Slayers Buffy spent the last couple of years training and leading against the many monsters and menaces of the world. Some of that was Angel's fault, too. He was working with and sort of possessed by the entity calling itself "Twilight" and for a while there he was moving a bunch of pieces around the board--including Slayers, high-tech vampires, the very fabric of the universe--for his own purposes. Now with Buffy M.I.A., Angel's wracked with new levels of broody guilt. Along comes Faith, the once "bad" Slayer who entered a sort of mentor/partner relationship with Giles in Season 8. She's taken it upon herself to try to guide a pretty much wrecked Angel back to the light--or at least get him out of his room.

That's pretty much the rough outline of where things start in the first issue of Angel & Faith, which marks the full-on return of the vampire with a soul to Dark Horse Comics after the conclusion of "After the Fall" at IDW. Written by Christos Gage with art provided by Rebekah Isaacs, the book plunges headlong into the post-Twilight messiness of Season 8. We picked Mr. Gage's brain about the first issue and he gave us a guided tour into a Buffyverse that was looking a bit grimmer than it did last time we saw it.

****Spoilers after the break****
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Tags Angel & Faith, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Christos Gage, Dark Horse Comics, Joss Whedon, Rebekah Isaacs

Okay, Avengers Academy fans, we have a bombshell for you, which is being announced RIGHT NOW at San Diego Comic-Con 2011, at Marvel's Next Big Thing panel: starting with issue #21, the Academy – which brings together at-risk superpowers students in order to turn them to the side of good – will be moving to the former headquarters of the West Coast Avengers. Not only that, but it’s opening its doors to ALL teen heroes in the Marvel Universe. And someone is going to die!

To find out more about this gigantic change of status quo (which turns out to NOT be that gigantic after all), we chatted with series writer Christos Gage, as well as Editor Bill Rosemann, who filled us in on why the move was necessary, how the Academy is just like Glee, and whether a certain Scarlet Witch might find herself teaching sometime soon:

MTV Geek: New school? New students? Chris, you’re killing me here, what about the OLD school, and the OLD students. As a comic book fan, I hate change, so you’ve got me worried…

Christos Gage: Relax! With one exception, all the old students will be back, and the dynamic you love about the book - a group of troubled kids walking the line between becoming tomorrow's heroes or tomorrow's villains - will continue to be what we're all about. Read more...

Tags Avengers Academy, Christos Gage, San Diego Comic-Con, SDCC

There’s a fine line the students of Avengers Academy walk. They’re all told they have the potential to be great heroes, someday becoming Avengers themselves. But as revealed at the end of the first issue, the reason they’re being trained is that they all had greater potential to be supervillains. Over the past eight issues, the students – and their teachers – have grappled with this, under the confident pen of writer Christos Gage.

With a number of huge storylines coming up for the Academy kids, we decided to check in with Gage about last issues bombshell: after creating a video of the kids beating up the defenseless villain The Hood, and posting it on YouTube, AA teacher Tigra expelled the whole class. We got the scoop on this storyline, asked Gage what the kids would do when presented with different moral quandaries, and also got a tease of what to expect for the Academy in a little event called Fear Itself.

Geek: Let’s jump right into it… There’s always a tough line for “villain” series to walk, as they head towards either their inevitable turn for the worse, or their path to redemption. How tricky is it to walk the line with these characters? Is there a point when you’ll say, “Ah screw it,” and just turn ‘em evil?

Christos Gage: See, I don’t consider this a villain series the way THUNDERBOLTS or SECRET SIX are villain books. Those characters chose their path some time ago, even if they may now be trying to change it. To me AVENGERS ACADEMY is about young people who haven’t yet figured out who they are undertaking the journey of discovering that. I’ve already said that at least one of them will reject the Avengers’ way and defect to the other side. And sure, it could happen with all of them. For me, the challenge is making it so that both options have their attractions. I don’t think anyone would buy one of these kids waking up one morning and saying, “Y’know what would be awesome? Taking over the world.” But deciding you want to be able to touch the person you love, or that you don’t want to die, or feeling like you’ve screwed up too badly to make things right…I think we can all relate to that. Read more...

Tags Avengers Academy, Christos Gage, Marvel Comics

Getting into a comic book mid-way through its run is hard! So we’ve made it easy for you: in just five short minutes (or less), we’ll get you caught up on a comic book you need to pick up tomorrow… Today! Oh, and in case it wasn’t clear: spoilers on.

Avengers Academy is probably one of the best new series to pick up, particularly if you’re looking to get into Marvel Comics, and are confused where to start. Like it’s philosophical predecessor Avengers: The Initiative, Academy uses a cast of new, young characters training with veteran characters, as a way of creating an easy in-point on Marvel history both past and present.

Here, the hook is that this class of super-powered teens aren’t necessarily the next Thor, or Captain America – they’re the next Doctor Doom, or Loki. Heavily damaged by Spidey’s arch-nemesis Norman Osborn while he was running the American secret forces (way too long to explain here how that happened), each of the students has the potential to be the next great Avengers villain. Instead of letting that happen, the Avengers set ‘em up with a few teachers who have also walked the dark path, and pushed through. The teachers train the students to use their powers, but also offer object lessons in how to do the right thing.

Problem is, it’s so much more fun to do the wrong thing.

Here’s a rundown of the members of the team, as well as the staff:

Finesse:

Has photographic reflexes, and is kind of a robot. Not literally, she just studies everything that happens and deals with it logically, rather than emotionally. May be the daughter of Avengers villain Taskmaster, which we’ll be dealing with soon. Read more...

Tags Avengers Academy, Christos Gage, Marvel Comics

Press Release

Marvel is pleased to present your first look at Avengers Academy #7, from the critically acclaimed creative team of Christos Gage and Mike McKone! Giant-Man returns! Hank Pym’s road to redemption has been a long one, but one of the founding Avengers is ready to take on the big threats alongside his students as Giant-Man!

Look what critics are saying about Avengers Academy!

"A title that keeps growing on me…An interesting and multifaceted read." –Blair Butler, G4

“This has been a remarkably successful launch of a new series, and I'm jazzed to keep reading.” – Greg McElhatton, ComicBookResources.com

“Gage has done a fantastic job thus far.” – Kevin Fuller, IGN.com

“With this simple yet elegant twist…it’s nice to see that teenage angst isn’t just for mutants anymore.” – Aint It Cool News Read more...

Tags Avengers Academy, Christos Gage, Mike McKone