Effortlessly strong writing
This issue takes a breather from the warfare of Fear Itself to let the Academy students calm down and come to grips with what they've had to do. And when this title takes a breather, it actually winds up throwing Absorbing Man and Titania at you. Regardless, some amount of recuperation was achieved before this new battle begins, and the blending of having these young heroes coming to terms with what they've had to do, while the issue's villains are plotting to kill them most ruthlessly, is done surprisingly well. This issue has a lot of strong and subtle character moments, and a late-issue chaser of climactic action, and it is handled exceptionally well, as has come to be expected by this point, by writer Christos Gage.
This isn't a perfect issue, and it's a bit weaker than the Fear Itself crossovers in the previous few issues, but there's still a lot to like. The opening few pages show the cast working as a team far better than ever before. At the same time, while the team is functioning as a unit, Gage manages to take just one panel within this to completely alter the tone of the scene towards the dark, with Veil having a hard time keeping herself from killing people unnecessarily. The issue's leading pages of battle are capped off by an adult hero's cameo that lets the young cast in on what the reader knows from reading Fear Itself, and the flat facts of who has died, when revealed to the kids, makes that event more powerful than it already was.
This issue is full of powerful character building moments, yet all the while peppered with a sense of dread. Not only because we know Absorbing Man and Titania are on their way to kill the kids, but also because of preview spoilers that say a few of the kids will be leaving the book, and while we don't know who or why, from this issue we can certainly make assumptions as to some heroes who could be washing out of the Academy in the not-so-distant future.
Month-in and month-out, this title remains one of Marvel's strongest. It speaks volumes of this title's creative talents that I really don't want any of these characters to exit the book.
