This is it. The final issue of ‘Avengers Assemble’ is out in the world right now and it was quite the fitting sendoff for one of the most fun books on my pull list in a while. Fans of Spider-Girl, Team Sad, Hawkguy, Team Captains, ‘Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes’, and everything else that spawned from or is referenced in this series should be more than happy with how Kelly Sue DeConnick and Warren Ellis ended things. Nothing like going out on a high note!

In this final arc of this series, Avengers Academy student Anya Corazon sought out help from the Avengers after her teacher went missing after the Terrigen Bomb was dropped on Earth. Though she thought that she was just being passed around the team from handler to handler, Spider-Girl was actually learning at the knees of the greatest superheroes in the Marvel Universe while solving her case. After learning the fundamentals of being a hero from the likes of Black Widow, Captain Marvel, Spider-Woman, Wolverine, Bruce Banner, Iron Man, and Captain America, the team (including the teen hero) had finally gathered enough intel on Dr. June Covington to take down the Toxic Doxie and thwart her evil plan.

First of all, I never knew that I wanted it until I got it, but the knock knock joke between Hulk, Captain Marvel, and Spider-Woman was amazing. DeConnick is always on point when it comes to witty superhero fight banter and there was no shortage of it in this issue. Hawkeye and Logan even got in on that action with their beer bet, which was also a lot of fun.

It was great to see Anya put together all the skills that she learned from the Avengers in this issue. It was like her final exam and she passed with flying colors, but instead of getting an A+, her grades came in the form of compliments from Cap and Wolverine. But I think it was even better to see her rock out in her Brooklyn apartment to the ‘Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes’ theme song/her new ringtone. That gag never gets old and I will definitely miss seeing it regularly.

Finally, I liked how Marvel attached a few different artists to work on this issue. It felt like each time the artwork changed, Anya was going through a different transition. Matteo Buffagni and David Meikis, who were the regular artist for this arc, provided the pre-Avengers Spider-Girl phase. Then, Neil Edwards showed her change from student to graduate. And finally Raffaele Ienco ended things with Anya’s new status quo. As awesome as it usually is to see multiple artists in one issue, it was definitely cool to see each stage of Spider-Girl’s development depicted differently not only in her attitude, but how she looked as well.

It most certainly has been a fun ride to read ‘Avengers Assemble’ and the final two pages were the perfect way to leave things. With so many Avengers books out right now, we’re going to see most of these folks again real soon, but like I said in my previous reviews of this series, I hope that the stars of this series (especially Jessica Drew and Spider-Girl) don’t slip through the cracks in the Marvel offices and appear more prominently in other books down the line.

Final Score:

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AVENGERS ASSEMBLE #25
Written by Kelly Sue DeConnick & Warren Ellis
Art by Matteo Buffagni, David Meikis, Neil Edwards, Raffaele Ienco, & Ruth Redmond
Cover by Jorge Molina