Billy stole Teddys bling!!

And so the day finally arrived...the return of the Young Avengers.

The brain child of Allan Heinberg and Jim Cheung has now been left in the more than capable hands of Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvin as Marvel high-tails it into the age of Marvel Now.

#1 reintroduces the YA (now 17+) dealing with life after the events of Children's Crusade - Kate is exploring her feminity and Teddy is cheating on Billy with superheroism. We're also re-introduced to Noh-Varr (Civil War: Young Avengers & Runaways), Kid Loki - who is obviously up to no good and looking to dispose of Billy (why?!) and Miss America who seems bent on stopping him. And then the little surprise at the end in the form of Mrs Atlman

Now, if you've read any of our previous ramblings about YA, then you'll know that we're MASSIVE fans of the YA and as far as we're concerned, Heinberg and Cheung have a center place in the What Would Doom Do Hall of Fame, so there was always a bit of apprehension about this new line up.

So...what did we think? Well...there were a few things...

Teddy is minus ALOT of bling, Kate is all grown up, Billy gained some bling and more importantly became Billy CAPLAN (We always thought the K has a certain charm you know?).

But apart from that, it was an amazing first issue.

Gillen has always said from the very beginning that he's not looking to recreate Cheung and Heinberg's YA's. His YA's are no longer tweens, his are about being 18 and no longer aspiring to be part of the adult world but actually being in it. Already this issue definitely has a much older vibe and it actually feels like the YA aren't just kids anymore, and Gillen pretty much shows this from the very beginning with Kate.

Our only worry is if/how Gillen will part from the characteristics we've come to identify the previous characters with - Billy in particular. Not only has he become Billy Caplan, but we'd really hate to see his sarcastic wit evaporate with his tweenage years, but based on what Gillen is trying to achieve, this could easily and understandably be something that our fave Wiccan has grown out of.

To aid his revival of the YA's Gillen has teamed up with his self confessed partner in crime Jamie McKelvie, and it couldn't be a better match. Along with Matthew Wilson's colors, the pages are amazing. They've created an amazing youthful, cool and dare we say 'hip' vibe, especially with the opening pages. They pretty much read like music, and we really understand what Gillen means when he talks about creating a playlist for his new Young Avengers. One thing that we're really liking is that McKelvie's art definitely screams less action and more late night partying which is definitely what we'd be expecting from our 18 year old Avengers. 

Aliens, shape shifters, gods and sorcerers...we may be missing a little bit of speed and a super soldier, but I think we can forgive that for now.
What would doom do.
It's time to get over his hay days of Children's Crusade and realise that these young nippers are almost all grown up, and it all starts with this. Oh yeh...and he'd get the O'Malley variant.

Who the hell are the Young Avengers?

I've been waiting to do a Young Avengers (The 2005 brainchild of Allan Heinberg and Jimmy Cheung) post for a while, but since the end of Children's Crusade (which is AMAZING by the way...go and read it, like now...whilst you're at it start from Young Avengers #1) it's all gone quiet, and we were all left waiting to know what would be next for our favourite young heroes.
Well today that question was finally answered.

With all the hype around Marvel NOW! starting to build, today Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie broke the silence and have finally brought them back to life! But not as we know it...This is the NEW Young Avengers...and i'm not quite sure how I feel about that to be honest.

The Young Avengers are my favourite characters/team on the Marvel roster, I literally love them, and i've followed their journey pretty much from start to end.

The team (without any spoilers for you YA newbies) of Wiccan (Billy Kaplan), Hulking (Theodore Altman), Iron Lad (Nathaniel), Patriot (Elijah Bradley) and later Hawkeye (Kate Bishop), Vision (Jonas), Stature (Cassie Lang - daughter of Scott Lang, Antman II) and Speed (Thomas Shepherd) are teens aged 15-17, trying to juggle normal, awkward teenage life with the thralls of superherohood. But perhaps the most intriguing bit is that they all have special links to the Avengers of past and present. (dun, dun DUN!)

The amazing artwork of Cheung (whom I had the pleasure of meeting and babbling to at London's Super Comic Convention) and awesome writing of OC guru Heinberg are pretty much perfect. They completely capture the tone of the young teens and manage to balance the humour and trials of teenage-hood with the complications of heroism.

There are tears, tantrums, AWESOME revelations and plenty of sarcasm, making Heinberg's and Cheung's Young Avengers some of the strongest (characterwise), interesting and engaging Marvel characters to date. And I bloody love them. I can't express how strong the story for these guys is, and its definitely something to add to your collection, especially Young Avengers #1-12 and Avengers: Children's Crusade #1-9

Flash forward to 2012 (although only 5 months on from the last issue of the YA) and my favourite squad appear to be making a return...but whilst Wiccan, Hulkling and Hawkeye have remained, Speed, Patriot, Vision and Stature are nowhere to be seen (although readers of YA will know why Vision and Stature are unimportant to this heh). Instead, they are joined by Miss America (basically Patriot with long hair and boobs), Marvel Boy (Nor-Varr...last seen in YA /Runways: Civil War...but basically a Kree version of Speed...even sporting the white hair) and a young Loki.

Now, whilst I am more than excited for the return of the Young Avengers i'm keen to know what this means for the characters that have already been developed...will the same relationships remain? will Patriot be returning and most importantly will Speed play any role in this new line up?! Is there even any room for him now?! He's a personal favourite of mine (and many others) and very integral (kinda) to the story of the YA as well as Wiccan! Only time will tell...and i'm more than willing to give Gillen and McKelvie a chance...but they're really not giving anything away...especially with the reveal of 2 pages from Young Avengers #1...

I felt that this team was strong enough as it was, although the final issue of Childrens Crusade did leave you thinking "what's next...", and with pretty much all the questions answered and mysteries solved (not including obvious plot holes...), was CC #9 the unofficial ending for my favourite team??

So this is the next chapter for the Young Avengers...let's see what you got Gillen and McKelvie...

What Would Doom Do? he'd weep into his pillow ruing the day that he ever crossed the Young Avengers...but maybe he'd give this reboot chance...for a little while atleast.



RIP my Young Avengers?