Spinning out of the latest relaunch was a new title that caught our eye, Avengers Academy. We liked the concept (established characters teaching new, would-be heroes) and we’ve love the work of writer Christos Gage since he first came to our attention on DC’s Deadshot mini-series a few years back. For this one he’s teamed with artist Mike McKone, another creator whose work we enjoy.

Gage talked with Scoop about the new series and its origins.

Scoop: The Avengers line-up of titles is obviously one of the areas that Marvel is putting a lot of effort into. How did you first get involved with them?
Christos Gage (CG): I snuck in the back door! Dan Slott was writing Avengers: The Initiative and starting on Amazing Spider-Man while also finishing up She-Hulk. He needed a breather somewhere, and Tom Brevoort thought I might be a good choice to write an Initiative fill-in issue. I wrote what ended up as the Butterball issue, #13 - one of my personal favorites as well as one the readers seemed to love - and Dan liked it so much he asked me if I wanted to come aboard as co-writer, which I did starting with #8. When Dan left Initiative to write Mighty Avengers, I inherited the book, and then it evolved into AvengersAcademy.

Scoop: So, was Avengers Academy something you thought of or did it come from the editorial side?
CG: It's something that evolved in a number of different ways. Dan and I, back when we were collaborating on Avengers: The Initiative, had talked about folding it into a book called AvengersAcademy after Dark Reign ended, although we didn't really get into specifics. The concept of veteran Avengers training young superhumans who could just as easily become villains as heroes was mine, and the new characters were created by me and Mike McKone, but the form and approach of the book were shaped in large part at Avengers retreats, where folks like Tom, Joe Quesada, Brian Bendis, Ed Brubaker and Matt Fraction offered brilliant suggestions about storylines, plot and character. The idea for the Scared Straight crossover with the Thunderbolts, for instance, was Ed's. Those retreats are wonderful for shaping ideas. You come in with something and when you leave it's still the same basic thing you came in with, but a hundred times better.

Scoop: Having read a lot of your work, it's clear that you know your Marvel history. Yet at the same time, you don't really bash readers over the head with it. What's your take on how the long continuity of The Avengers and related titles should inform your storytelling?
CG: I believe continuity should serve the story, not be served by it. If there's something I can use to make a story juicier, like the fact that Hank Pym and Tigra dated when they were in the West Coast Avengers, I'll use it. But I won't assume everyone reading knows what I know…I'll seed the information into the story as naturally as I can. I think you get into trouble when you start telling stories primarily to serve continuity…for instance, a story about Hank's first wife that exists solely to update events so she was killed by terrorists instead of Communists, or something like that. If there's a story to be told about Hank's first wife that affects who he is and what he's doing now, great…otherwise there's no sense in even mentioning her. When you get too hung up on continuity, you're a snake eating its own tail. We're here to tell good stories, not win trivia contests. Tom Brevoort can trounce anyone in a Marvel trivia contest, but he's the first to tell you when you're being too “inside baseball.”

Scoop: On the reader side, we're only three issues in thus far, but there's already a definite flavor coming through. We think it’s akin to the earliest issues of the original New Mutants series. Is that are part of what you're going for or is that generalizing too much?
CG: That's an excellent frame of reference. I remember when there were only two X-Men books: Uncanny and New Mutants. New Mutants was told from the point of view of young kids who were on this dangerous, exciting and scary path of trying to figure out who and what they were going to be…something we can all relate to…but it happened in the context of a cool superhero comic. That's absolutely a big part of what I want to go for. Except in this case, the instructors are also on the same kind of journey, just as adults…trying to become their best selves, or overcome previous mistakes.

Scoop: You seem to have a great take on the teen angst that such characters might have. Is that a part of the writing process that comes easily to you or do you have to fight yourself to remember the highs and lows of being that age?
CG: Oh, I remember. And I think most of it is universal. What's tough is not using Duran Duran references.

Scoop: Do you think having the various established Avengers around as instructors will help readers give these new characters a chance? Are the instructors window dressing or will things happen with them as well?
CG: Of course I hope the presence of longtime Avengers like Quicksilver and Tigra will help the book sell in what's probably the toughest market for new characters I've ever seen. But that said, the instructors are far more than window dressing. They're a huge part of the story, and a lot will be happening with them. Our first six issues do spotlight the kids more because they're new…I felt readers needed to get to know them in order for their presence to mean anything, whereas they probably already know something about Hank Pym and Justice. But starting in issue #7, the teachers will receive more screen time…in fact, #7 focuses on Hank, and I think his fans will be very pleased by events in that issue!

Scoop: We love the fact that there's a letter column in this series. Why do you think that's important?
CG: It creates a sense of community, which I think is important, especially for a new book. Yes, there are message boards and so forth, but this is like the “official” message board. People from all over the world are writing in…we've got males and females, fourteen year old readers and longtime fans who've been collecting Avengers books for thirty plus years…and I think it's great. I love the letters page.

Scoop: Obviously you're further along than the issues we're read to this point, but which character is your favorite so far?
CG: This will sound like a cliché, but it's true: whoever I'm writing at the moment.

Scoop: Which, if any of them, has surprised you?
CG: They all surprise me at times, but if I had to pick two, I'd say that Mettle and Striker have evolved into more complex characters than I realized they'd be. I kind of had them pegged as archetypes - the mellow big guy and the arrogant rich kid - and they went and turned into people.

Scoop: What should readers expect in the next few months?
CG: Spotlights on Mettle, Striker and Reptil…a big Hank Pym moment …some classic Avengers villains from when I first started reading the book…the plot thickens with Finesse and Quicksilver…Tigra's past comes back to haunt her…and more awesome Mike McKone art! Oh, and I manage to sneak Devil Dinosaur into the book…because that's just how I roll.