Avengers Academy #17

I will get right to the point. I, personally, think this is not only the best issue of Avengers Academy so far, or the best of the Fear Itself tie-ins, but one of the best comics I have read in a long time. The issue starts of with the team still in the war zone, fighting both with nazi mechs and their own inner demons. 
 
At this point in the book I was a little afraid that the book might overstress this ground-level fight setup and become a little stale (we have seen this exact same scenario in the last book), but then Christos Gage manages to do something which very little comic book writers seem to be able to: quit a good scenario while they are still ahead, before the scenario starts to bore the reader. In that sense, just a few pages into the book, we get a break from all the Nazi fighting action, and return back to base for some very nicely done dialog and character interactions. I loved to see that Gage actively tries to add more depth to Finesse and Striker (as characters). It would have been very easy to let them react in their established, 'why would I care about these guys' way. Instead, all students are depicted in a way that seems reasonably plausible given their bio and situation.  
 
Finally, Gage ends the book on a twist that just has to take your breath away if you followed the AA kids since issue #1, and care for them. Very, very cool setup, which makes me expect that the next issue is going to be just as good as this one. 
 
Ok, after all these positive remarks some very small criticism:  

• The art in the issue was ok, but not quite as outstanding as the writing.
• If Titania and the Absorbing Man could open dimensional doors so easily, why did they lose time destroying some equipment and not transport back into field immediately?
• My book had manufacturing error :( ok, not something that anybody can really do something about, but still pisses me off a little since I enjoyed the book so much. Thinking about buying it again so that I also have a mint copy.