Sigh.

You really start to wonder, after a while, just why it is that some of you guys follow the books at all.

Was there any real point? There was the most important point, the point that trumps all other points: to tell good stories and to entertain people.

Looking for any greater meaning or purpose in what you’re reading every time out is a bit of a losing proposition.

And the hyperbole-a slap in the face to who? The characters? I just asked them, and they’re perfectly happy with it, being fictional and all. To you as a reader? I’m sorry, but as I’ve laid out time and again here and elsewhere, the transaction is this: we make stories for your entertainment, you read the stories, enjoy them or not, and decide whether you want to read more. That’s it. No other rights or obligations inherent or implied.

We did AVENGERS ACADEMY, and it performed well until it had run its natural course and then ended, like so many other titles before it. And that’s not terrific news for them that read and enjoyed the book, but it’s very much the way of the world—no different than with a television series or a series of novels or whatever. Beyond that, what you’re asking is why a concept that couldn’t sustain itself saleswise long-term isn’t still being used—and the answer to that one is right there in the question.

Ultimately, too, the goal of Avengers Academy wasn’t specifically to train people to become Avengers, it was to train people so that they might use their gifts and talents more responsibly.