Action Lab Entertainment 2017
Written by Vito Delsante
Illustrated by Lee Gaston, Steve Walker & Ares Taveras
Coloured by Wilson Ramos Jr.
Lettered by Full Court Press
The new formed Teenaegis (consisting of the Rottweiler, Quarrel and Heavy Metal) have infiltrated Hoosen Academy in the hops of stopping a rash of teen suicides and bringing the person responsible to justice. Rodney has come face to face with the culprit, Gilbert Benson, who has the power of telepathic mind control. The other two teen heroes have been captured by the Principal, Tomas Aquinas, and his Academy of Agony. But, in a twist of fate, Aquinas has offered the two boys a permanent place in his Academy.
After a three issue arc I have to say I want more of the younger years. While they may not be the wonder years it is still nice to see them as kids, learning and refining who they will become. The parallels between these kids and the Teen Titans is utterly fantastic and it only serves to reason that this would be the case. In this issue and the last one we saw the Actionverse version of the Hellions with a male Emma at the helm. This is kind of a dream come true scenario and the fact that Principal Aquinas and his students manage to do what they do here means there are more stories where rematches are very likely whether as teens, young adults or full fledged adults.
What Vito and the guys have managed to do here is create and expand this universe in ways that not only are exciting but remnants of a the past, an homage if you will, that older fans will find familiar and younger fans will love exploring for the first time. This really does capture the beginning of something that can be run with in various ways that will continue to transform the ever expanding expanse of this world. The writing is sharp, witty and full of what I think kids would be saying, doing and thinking and that is surprisingly hard to do without it feeling forced or an adults version of what a kid should be.
Alright so yes I'd like the interiors to be tighter and have more of a comic book feel rather than a self-published indie book. It leaves me feeling it’s generic whereas when we get to him as Stray it is is so much more powerful to see. The use of page layouts through their angles and perspective are nicely utilised however backgrounds not so much. Principal Aquinas has moments when he looks like Mr. Magoo and the attention to detail just isn’t here. While the work would work with an all-ages book this is supposed to be a super-hero book and it just doesn’t fit.
Vito’s way of using the ebb & flow of storytelling through the story and plot development alongside characterisation and dialogue is extremely well done. The way the boys get the Principal to tell his plans and why he’s preparing these kids is great and leads yet again to another possible future story arc. I’m just incredibly impressed with how the story is written. The story itself, how it is presented and the impact it has on me as a reader more than makes up for what I consider the wrong style of interior artwork here.
Action Lab has a world of super-heroes and they all have so much potential while sharing a universe. This arc just went and made that so much bigger, more exciting and filling it with the kind of unlimited potential most people dream of being able to do.