Reprogramming the Initiative
With Norman Osborn in charge, writer Christos Gage talks about the big changes ahead in AVENGERS: THE INITIATIVE #25
Posted May 28, 2009 12:00 am
Updated Jun 2, 2009 10:12 am
By Tim Stevens
On June 24, the Initiative will be dead and buried. Prepare to all hail the Initiative, all thanks to Norman Osborn.
In AVENGERS: THE INITIATIVE #25, by Christos Gage and Humberto Ramos, the HAMMER Director adds yet another organization to his top-to-bottom revision of super-powered policy in the United States: the 50-State Initiative. And, as with each of his previous alterations, fans should expect a dark mirror reflection of the program's original intentions. America at large, however, will not have a clue.
"As it's portrayed to the public, the goal is the same as always: to put a team of super heroes in every state in the Union to better protect America," Gage says. "From [Norman's] point of view, however, the true goal is to put a team of super-powered
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operatives in every state who answer to him, and will carry out his agenda without question."
In order to ensure that the people remain in the dark, Osborn has to make some changes to how the program presents itself. First amongst these concerns will be where the Initiative will call home—or, in this case, homes.
"The new incarnation is going to be more secretive, all under the guise of 'security,'" reveals the writer. "Initiative training camps and headquarters will operate away from public places, under a veil of secrecy."
Fans can expect the first of these camps to be revealed in issue #26 in a Western state.
Before Osborn can begin his own version of the Initiative, there remain the already existing teams to deal with. How does one eliminate 50 groups of super heroes without raising suspicions? As Gage suggests, you do not eliminate them, you tweak them a touch.
"[The teams are] still officially part of the Initiative, but personnel may be added, shuffled around or replaced according to Norman's wishes and how troublesome he thinks they'll be," he explains. "We see this in issue #25, when the Heavy Hitters undergo some roster changes. And very soon we'll see what happens to those who openly challenge Norman's way of doing business."
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Of course, with all of the balls Osborn has going in the air, he has little time to oversee the operations of the Initiative directly. Enter his hand-picked operatives, the Taskmaster and the Hood.
"Taskmaster has made a career out of training criminals, and that's what Norman needs: someone who can train contrary, personality-disordered super villains and make them able to pass for heroes," the writer says of Osborn's first choice for Initiative leader. "The fact that Taskmaster can instinctively mimic any moves he sees also gives him an edge in cases where Norman is trying to pass off villains as actual heroes, such as with the Dark Avengers. Taskmaster could teach, say, Shockwave to somewhat convincingly pass himself off as Iron Fist if necessary."
Seemingly a perfect fit; still, recent events in THUNDERBOLTS and DEADPOOL could throw a potential wrench into their relationship.
"Obviously, Norman isn't aware that the Taskmaster recently helped Deadpool try to kill him and Taskmaster isn't about to tell him," Gage notes. "It would be interesting if he found out though, wouldn't it?"
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The second half of the duo, the Hood, assumes the role of recruiter. He will funnel prospective Initiative members from his super villain union into the training camps. The relationship between he and Norman therefore becomes one of mutual gain with Osborn getting his foot soldiers and the Hood and his constituents gaining more power.
"For the Hood and his gang, the goal is to gain a veneer of respectability, to become 'legit' on the surface, while continuing to enrich themselves at the expense of those they are supposedly watching over and gaining immunity from the law because they are the law," Gage divulges. "In essence, every state in the union will now have its very own corrupt sheriffs, except those sheriffs will wield a wrecking ball or melting ray instead of six-shooters."
The corruption of the Initiative begins in AVENGERS: THE INITIATIVE #25, written by Christos Gage, drawn by Humberto Ramos, and bullying onto shelves on June 24. To read more INITIATIVE, head to Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited!
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Wow, it won't be easy being in the Initiative now : if you don't agree with Osborn' view, you better be somewhere else, I guess there will be a lot of people killed in action.I miss very much the departure of Stephane Caselli, because he gave an unique visual tone that supported very much the purpose of the title, where you couldn't escape the aspect that super-heroes are at first costumed ...
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Wow, it won't be easy being in the Initiative now : if you don't agree with Osborn' view, you better be somewhere else, I guess there will be a lot of people killed in action.I miss very much the departure of Stephane Caselli, because he gave an unique visual tone that supported very much the purpose of the title, where you couldn't escape the aspect that super-heroes are at first costumed guys, a little alike than 'Kick-Ass' , contrasting with the real content of the book (: these two titles started the next step of story-telling in comics of these days : we can't talk anymore of realism as Alan Moore initiated it, we're in the snuff ages, the age of snuff story-telling ). I wished desesperately the book would focus on the differents Initiative teams ( Texas Rangers, Action Pack, the GLI,... I'd love to see the adventures of Captain Ultra or the Blue Shield under Caselli's pen ) for at last a given story-arc, instead of focusing on Camp Hammond.I can't say I'm very pleased by the choice of Humberto Ramos, I can't take seriously what's happenning in this book with his style ( the Shadow Initiative, .... as I can't consider seriously Counter Force with Slapstick in it ) but he seemed to be the perfect artist to finish the Ragnarok story actually. For the next things to come, I'd rather prefer someone more adapted of the Dark Reign' context and the supporting cast, someone like Tom Coker, for a Hood-Typhoid deadly confrontation...
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why Kyle Richmond couldn't be a main character of 'Avengers: The Initiative' ? Till there's no ongoing scheduled for 'The last Defenders', why couldn't they star a little in here ? Hope to see again Atlas and Blazing Skull by the way...
what i love about Dark Reign is it's genius and well thought planning. I love how it has been creeping it's way into so many Marvel titles and still making sense.however, times is hard, and i can't afford to follow everything the way i want. laid off +baby on the way= waaaay less comics :carnage:
This, I was waiting for. This, will rock.
Actually this one sounds like it'll be done right. Osborne HAS to remake the Initiative and he's waaay too overexposed, ahem, I mean busy, to deal with it himself. Plus, having Humberto Ramos on pencils means instant sales. Not from me though, I'm not paying for this title. Damn, I guess that means he won't be on the New Avengers book anymore.