Six years ago, creators Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie worked together on the hit indie comic book series, Phonogram. This creator owned Image title has already seen a sequel and has a planned third volume set to release later this year. But when Phonogram was originally released, it brought quite a bit of attention on the then British game journalists as Marvel quickly swooped in to bring them into the house of ideas. Since then, Gillen quickly became a fan favorite writer at Marvel, with works on Uncanny X-men, Thor, and the hugely popular Journey Into Mystery. Meanwhile McKelvie found work at Marvel on comics like X-men: Season One, and other Gillen penned projects like S.W.O.R.D. But finally the two are back together on a brand new Marvel project that will take place in the company’s new Marvel Now initiative.

Gillen will be writing and McKelvie will be drawing the brand new Young Avengers series for Marvel, set to release in January 2013. Gillen already has a knack for writing Superhero teens, as was seen in his Generation Hope and Journey Into Mystery runs. Journey Into Mystery even gained a huge fan following for its portrayal of a young, naive, and optimistic Loki stuck in situations where grey area decisions were the only means to victory. Sadly, news came out with the announcement of Marvel Now that Gillen would be leaving Journey Into Mystery and Loki would be replaced by Sif as the main character of the series. Thankfully, we now know that kid Loki and Gillen will not be apart for long, as Gillen writes his story in the upcoming Marvel Now! Point One #1, directly leading into the new Young Avengers on-going. While it’s not uncommon for Loki to be responsible for the formation of an Avengers team, it will certainly be something relatively new to actually have an Avengers team with Loki on it. Yet that won’t be the only shake up to the new Young Avenger’s roster. The team will still contain Wiccan, Hulkling, and Hawkeye (Kate Bishop) of Allen Heinberg’s run, but Gillen will also be adding more than just Loki. Also joining the Young Avengers will be Noh-Varr (Marvel Boy/Protector), after his questionable decisions made in Secret Avengers, and Miss America of Earth-212.

Gillen intends to write the Young Avengers as a “pop-song-as-super hero-comic”, fitting in with the style to which he wrote Phonogram along with Jamie McKelvie. This should work beautifully with McKelvie’s style of drawing young, modern dressed characters with a strong range of emotions befitting the character’s age. In fact, Gillen is so confident in what he and McKelvie have put together, he has stated “I think the first eight pages of the comic will lay out our stall pretty explicitly. If we haven’t got you by then, I’m fine if you just turn away. I don’t think you will”. With Gillen’s rather impressive track record we’re certainly keen to believe him on this, despite having seen little of the finished product. Of course, Gillen has been confidently posting about this title for sometime now, since it was originally teased as “Amateurs” during the Marvel Now teaser campaign. Even on Kieron’s Tumblr, he has given fans a behind the scenes glimpse of his works, much as he did for Journey Into Mystery. Lately he has even given the comic a bit of a soundtrack, with this post. In an interview on Marvel.com today, Kieron expanded the soundtrack to Young Avengers with this interesting collection of songs: “212” by Azealia Banks, “Be My Baby” by the Ronettes, “I Love It” by Icona Pop, “I Would Die 4 U” by Prince, “I Wish I Was Someone Better” by Blood Red Shoes, “The Night” by School of Seven Bells, “Young Hearts Run Free” by Candi Staton, “I Feel It All” by Feist, the “Breakaway” cover by the Detroit Cover, “Born On The Floor” by the Make-Up, “Born To Run” by Bruce, and “Absolute Beginners” by Bowie. For those curious of hearing more of Gillen’s musical tastes and how he affiliates it with Young Avengers, we recommend following his Tumblr blog.

Now, while Gillen and McKelvie are the big two creators on Young Avengers, they are of course not alone on the book. Awesome comic inker Mike Norton will be joining them, along with Matt Wilson as the series colorist. Gillen is also dragging Clayton Cowles with him to letter the series as he brilliantly lettered Journey Into Mystery. Young Avengers #1 will be in stores in January of 2013, but you can catch your first glimpse of Gillen and McKelvie on the project in Marvel Now! Point One #1 when it hits stores next week, October 17th.