959

I liked the second volume more than the first because there was less emphasis on basic training-type activities and more on some action and character development. ( )

One of the things I like most about this collection is the fact that it takes a while to read. I'm used to shelling out $20 for 144 pages that whiz by in an hour or less. This book has 208 pages and took a couple of hours for me to finish. I wish that was a more commonplace occurrence.

What got me started on Avengers: The Initiative was Taskmaster joining the Initiative as the drill instructor, as the previous one was out of commission (as seen in the first trade). I have some gripes about his costume and how he's portrayed, but I'm relatively happy with him here, especially in the last issue.

The main story arc is "Killed in Action," hence the title of the collection, and it involves the character of MVP and how the past can come back to haunt you. The first class of superheroes are also graduating from Camp Hammond in this collection, and the second class of superheroes are coming into the camp.

My favorite issue in this one is the last: Washout. It was a good one to end the collection with, and I really hope that they use the character of Boulder/Butterball again.

My one complaint is the art. They switched artists starting with issue 12, and the art is pretty bad. I had a hard time telling who some of the characters were supposed to be because they looked nothing like they had before. ( )