Avengers: The Initiative, Vol. 1: Basic Training

Avengers: The Initiative (Collected Editions)

by Dan Slott (Writer), Stefano Caselli (Illustrator)

The Civil War is over, and from now on, this is the new face of the Marvel Universe—The Initiative.
Whose side were you on? If you were pro-registration, then there's one hell of a price to pay: you're in the army now. Fall in with Yellowjacket, War Machine, She-Hulk, Justice and The Gauntlet as they train the heroes of tomorrow for the super-powered conflicts of today Marvel's army of super heroes has just become a super hero army.
Also featuring The Mighty Avengers and a new generation of Marvels.

Collecting: Avengers: The Initiative 1-6

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Graphic Novels, Superheroes, Graphic Novels Comics, Fiction, Science Fiction

144 pages, Paperback

First published March 26, 2008

About the author

Dan Slott is an American comic book writer, the current writer on Marvel Comics' The Amazing Spider-Man, and is best known for his work on books such as Arkham Asylum: Living Hell, She-Hulk, Silver Surfer, The Superior Spider-Man, and Ren & Stimpy.

Reviews

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Where: Camp Hammond, Stamford, Connecticut

What: Fifty State Initiative, boot camp for young super heroes

Gauntlet, Drill sergeant: You are all worthless maggots!! I don’t care if you shoot laser beams out of your butt! I don’t care if you puke thunder and lightning. I don’t care if you can turn yourself into a freaking chihuahua. I don’t care if you can outthink the Leader. Sh*t, the freaking dumb-ass Hulk can do that. I will turn you miserable bunch of losers into a team. When you go up against Ultron or the Red Skull and you pee yourself, at least you ain’t gonna wait for Tony Stark or Captain America to bail out your miserable behinds. Hey, Emo boy, you eyeballing me, puke! Get on your stinking face! Now! You think that’s funny, Slaphappy? Start running around the base. Keep going until I’m tired. Ready to go home crying to mommy and daddy, Gecko Girl? Look to your left. Your other left, sh*t for brains. Damn, maggots couldn’t take on a bunch of Moloids. You are nothing but disorganized bacteria on a donkey’s ass. Get down and give me fifty. What are you waiting for Ballboy, an engraved invitation?

[Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the wake of Civil War, all super-powered individuals must learn to use their powers responsibly or be sent to prison for using them. Enter Avengers Boot Camp where we are training the next generation of heroes. Slott has done a great job of setting up some shady stuff going on behind the scenes at Camp Hammond. It was definitely entertaining. Stefano Caselli's art is so expressive and detailed. I love his style.

[Terence · Rating 3 out of 5]

Following the events of Civil War, it's now law that any super powered individual be licensed to use their power. The Avengers are making an army fully equipped with bootcamp for new recruits.



The whole Civil War storyline on feels like one big what if story. They decided to take a real life look at what a world full of super beings would more accurately look like. While it logically makes sense it goes against the essence of comic book heroes. The other issue is now rather than having nearly ever super powered individual trying to do the right thing, the government is deciding. Is what's good for the government good for the people though?

New recruits are put into the pleasures of army bootcamp. The unspoken fact is if recruits ever want to use their powers they have to pass through bootcamp otherwise they get de-powered and sent home. Doesn't matter what that power is the promise is the same, do what you're told or wave good bye to your powers.

[Eva B. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like Avengers Academy but not as good. The best part was when Trauma used his powers on Hank, mainly because Hank is my favorite and I love to see him suffer.

[Brandon Daniels · Rating 3 out of 5]

I remember hearing good things about this series when it was coming out. But it does not age well. I’m not sure how long Dan Slott had been at it at this point, but a lot of the writing is heavy handed and cringe; not unlike some of Mark Millar’s worst books from this time. We even get a full on W Bush cameo, which I don’t remember being a thing in the regular books of this era. That said, it has a few interesting bits; and I may check out the next trade.

The art is the big selling point. I first became aware of Casselli on Hickman’s Secret Warriors, and I have been a big fan since. It’s interesting seeing some of his earlier work. Though, it also made it hard not to compare this to Secret Warriors, which is much better. There is a mid point reveal of a secret backup team in this that is weirdly similar to something Hickman would later do (better) in Secret Wars, and I’d bet this was an influence on that.

[Alan Castree · Rating 2 out of 5]

Maybe 2.5. But it’s just a disturbing story when you have a corrupt government weaponizing superheroes or just dissecting them for their DNA to try and weaponize that. There’s a story here, sort of, but a sad and frustrating story.

[David · Rating 1 out of 5]

Was all excited to go back and begin reading this Dan Slott series I'd never read. Boy, was I disappointed. Didn't like this one bit. He's painted Hank Pym pretty much as a villain. That really annoys me. So much so that I don't want to read the rest of the series. Bummed.

[Automation · Rating 2 out of 5]

completely pointless tie in to bigger marvel events, not completely horrible but not great, not necessarily either so if it isn't great, whats the point?

[Andrew · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is like Young Avengers-ish - except not nearly as good as that Young Avengers run. The Avengers run for the time period I’m on, suggests reading this - but I’ll probably stop with this first volume. I didn’t enjoy this and honestly, I’m kinda over the whole “superhuman registration act” stuff and ready to move on from that whole storyline.

[Ernest · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very fun read. Following immediately on from the events of Civil War, this follows the path of America’s new sanctioned force and the new recruits that will train to be in it. This was not a simple training school where despite everything, everyone turns out to be friends and everyone passes. Early on, characters are established and things are made clear that things are serious.

I really enjoyed the story and the characters presented, both old and new. The artwork was also well done, although some of the faces at times felt stilted. Some knowledge of Marvel history makes enjoying and appreciating this text more worthwhile, and you really get the interconnectedness of the Marvel (616) universe when the events of World War Hulk are involved. This is one series that will be worth continuing (especially knowing what happens broadly in the Marvel 616 universe) and has the potential to be well remembered into the future.

[Meepelous · Rating 2 out of 5]

Probably closer to one star, but I'm giving it the benefit of the doubt since this is obviously part of a much larger plot arc.

EVERYTHING about this book made me uncomfortable. Lots of unnecessarily sexualized female characters and pro conformity/military/government propaganda in buckets. Although the later is conditional on the over arching plot so maybe not? I guess I should read civil war or something but since I came to this from the irredeemable ant-man I'm not sure how much of this I can take.

I would also like to point out that while the art for most of the book is acceptable. The last chapter is shamefully horrible! Marvel is one of the largest comic book publishers in America and they accept this crap?

[Gavin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of the art in this book was terrible. Some of the storyline was terrible. Some of it wasn't.
The interesting part was getting to meet some of the new younger heroes, and finding out about them. Hank Pym really has a lot of blood on his hands...Jim Rhodes sure is Tony Stark's lapdog...Captain America sure wouldn't stand for this.
There's a small preview of World War Hulk which was cool, and Spider-Man being his usual self but as an outlaw...
So there's good and bad, hit and miss, but Dan Slott's dialogue leaves much to be desired in many ways...

Not sure if I'll follow up on this or not...

[Sookie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bunch of kids with superpower get roped (read harassed) into joining the initiative as per government directive. Government exercises a propaganda with a Nazi scientist, scientist with questionable decision making capacity, a tool of a politician and the worst possible drill Sargent.

The new cadets come with old tropes and known comic book cliches. Being mildly entertaining and generally pointless in large scheme of things, this can be skipped. If its the post Civil War arcs one is looking for then move along to Dark Reign or Secret Wars.

Hopefully the follow-up events post Civil War won't fall flat this bad.

[Fate's Lady · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am just starting to get into comics, and without all of the background on things like M-Day, World War Hulk, and about a million other things, I had no idea what was going on. I was obviously following a bunch of super-hero recruit kids, but because the background events relied so heavily on events in other books, it was pretty disjointed and annoying, and since characters were mostly recycled from other series, we didn't get much history or personality from them at all; I was just supposed to already know and like them, I guess.

[Jordan Lahn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a bad start to the series. Still getting to know the characters, buy they seem interesting so far. The only complaint I have is that a lot of these minor characters float in and out of the story without much to do or much introduction. I know from the Marvel wiki that characters like Slapstick and Thor Girl have been around for years, but they hardly get anything to do in this story and seem to just be there for variety.

[Tom Malinowski · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Civil War is over and The Initiative is in place. A daring objective to put licensed heroes in each of the 50 states. We follow new cadets Cloud 9, Hardball, Komodo, Rage, Slapstick, Trauma and more. Under the tutelage of Avengers - Tigra, War Machine, Justice, Yellowjacket they try to hone these youngsters to be the next defense against the evil in the world. When tragedy strikes quickly, and there's a cover-up, cracks begin to form in The Initiative.

The Marvel Universe had such a unique tone when this was happening 10 years ago. Good to revisit it.

[Silas · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fairly inconsistent book, particularly the art. The last issue's art is horrendous. The story features some less-used characters along with a few new ones, fleshing out the aftermath of the Civil War storyline, and the establishment of Fifty States Initiative, which establishes a superhero team in every state. It's an interesting idea, but doesn't really come together yet in this volume, which is seeded with hints of storylines to come, but mostly deals with young heroes training, interrupted by a crossover with World War Hulk that rehashes a tired story of young heroes going off against orders that I have seen many times before. I have heard that it gets better, so I will likely carry on, but this is only an average story so far.

[Shane · Rating 3 out of 5]

This got kinda stretched out because in the middle of it I realized it crossed over with the World War Hulk event and I hadn't read that yet, so I read it in order with this and a couple other spin offs.

It's not bad, lots of new (to me at least) faces here with a couple old ones. Basically showing exactly why there shouldn't have been a registration act, because the government is evil.

[matt murdock · Rating 3 out of 5]

i wasn’t a huge fan of this at first but it started to pick up in the second half. all of the people running camp hammond and training the younger heroes irritate the fuck outta me (except justice) but i guess they are Supposed to so i am willing to put up with it. i like most of the younger heroes they r cool

[Harry Rubin · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's kinda neat to read about lesser heroes that are recruited as a result of the superhero registration act. Ultimately, none of the characters stand out. They are all carbon copies of the real Avengers. Unlike with Young Avengers none of characters have an interesting story to tell. This was pretty mid.

[Gomezmr · Rating 5 out of 5]

This comic is so amazing.

[J · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an interesting concept but so much of the book depends on events happening elsewhere, making it a bit hard to follow at times. Art is all over the place.

[Ramón S. · Rating 1 out of 5]

Super boring!!!!!!!! The art doesn't like me either

[PrincessLhala · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice one.

[Lisandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

3,9 estrelas

[guanaeps · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the book that made me fall in love with Dan Slott and Stefano Caselli. Well worth the read.

[Alexandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

I got this book for my birthday from my sister, but I didn't read it until somewhat recently. I wasn't really sure what to expect, so I didn't have incredibly high hopes for this book. So, when I finally got around to reading it, I was surprised at how much I loved it.
Avengers: The Initiative Vol. 1: Basic Training starts out as a few miniature stories, all with different settings, introducing some of the main characters. There a several old faces from the Avengers, such as War Machine, Yellowjacket, Justice, and the Thing. In addition, there are tons of new faces, most of them being teenagers or young adults. Some of them include Trauma, Cloud 9, MVP, Komodo, Hardball, and Slapstick. Many times, the book will randomly change setting, but it never got too confusing. The book follows the stories of many of the characters in the book, but no one person has too much time spent on them.
The book is about these characters getting taken to be trained to become Avengers. There are many obstacles that have to face and battles they must fight. For example, they have to fight the Hulk and stop him from destroying New York city.
There were many things I loved about the book. I think the one thing that I loved most was all of the new characters. My favorite recruit was Terrance Ward, aka Trauma. He has the power to turn into anyone's greatest fear, and I think that's pretty awesome.
I recommend this book to people who like the Avengers, Marvel comics, and superheroes.
-Alexandra-

[Rocky Sunico · Rating 4 out of 5]

Adding a review upon re-reading this book. It had totally slipped past me that this was actually a Dan Slott book. It's interesting to revisit the world of post-Civil War Marvel. Say what you will about the event in itself, the editorial team really committed to making the impact of that event ripple across all the different Marvel titles. And The Initiative books were one of the clearest examples of this.

Of course, there's a lot that could (inevitably) go wrong given how Camp Hammond is set up. And the very first issue already has a bit of a disaster in one of the training exercises that becomes a key plot point that will be carried across the issues. The tie-in with World War hulk felt very early in the book's life and took over a bit before the characters could be better fleshed out. But such is the nature of obeying a larger editorial calendar across titles.

But there's a lot of potential for story -this first volume mostly lays a lot of groundwork, but you could totally feel the potential of things. I just forget whether or not it actually pays off.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 5 out of 5]

Basic Training (#1-6). Though this first volume of The Initiative is largely made up of one-shots, it tells a larger story, one part soap-opera, one part drama, of what happens to the Marvel Universe after the Civil War. The foundation of that story is a series of strongly defined characters, some of them new, some of them old. Add in some mixed motives and some moral ambiguity. Make sure to repeatedly return to the issue of the New Warriors, something that this comic would rather wonderfully spool out over three years. Finally, add in some mysteries, like the fate of MVP and you have a very strong comic that goes beyond typical fightin' superhero fare. Even the two crossovers issues, focused on World War Hulk, are quite good because they tell their story in an unusual way and introduce yet another mystery (who is Mutant Zero!!??) and yet more moral ambiguity (with the Shadow Initiative). [5/5]

[Todd · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really wanted to rate this higher but unfortunately the World War Hulk tie-in falls a little flat and there is too much going on around the Marvel U for this to feel totally complete.

I do really like the characters though. Gauntlet makes a great soldier power rather than superhero. Hardball is a bit of a cliche but he has potential. Cloud9 is my favorite here. She's obviously in over her head. She's the poster child for why the Initiative will eventually be taken down. All she wants to do is fly.

The adults are the worst. Gyrich shouldn't have any power left. He's been around so long and had so many mistakes. Pym is Pym (well kind of as we shall learn later). Rhodes is just here to remind us that he's military Iron Man.