The major comic companies put out enough comics that sometimes it can leave your head spinning and eyes bleeding as you search the new titles each week for something worth reading. To aid in your Geeky endeavors, Speak Geeky To Me on occasion reviews new titles from the major companies to spotlight the best and worst of what’s available at your local comic shop. So sit back, relax, and enjoy a new Comic Review.

 

The Info Bit

Title: Young Avengers #1

Genre/s: Superhero/Drama

Writer: Kieron Gillen (Journey Into Mystery, Phonogram)

Penciler: Jamie McKelvie (Suburban Glamour, Phonogram)

Inker: Mike Norton (Battle Pug, Revival)

Colorist: Matt Wilson (SWORD, Phonogram)

Letterer: Clayton Cowles (Journey Into Mystery, FF)

Publisher: Marvel

Number of Issues: 1 (on-going)

Page Count: 22

Price: $2.99

 

The Review Bit

Young Avengers has been the comic book that Tumblr users, cosplayers, and hipsters have been dying in wait over ever since writer Kieron Gillen wrapped up his epic Journey Into Mystery run with Kid Loki last year. This is only made all the more trendy with the reunion of much of Gillen’s team from his break out indie book, Phonogram. Artists Jamie McKelvie and Matt Wilson return to Gillen with this book, and for this reason and others it has a feeling quite similar to that of Phonogram. It truly is a comic I would define as quite “Gillen” in nature, and is very unlike the rest of the recent Marvel Now titles.

The series opens up rather unexpectedly with Kate Bishop, the new female Hawkeye, waking up in a bed not her own. It is the bed of a man, and she’s proud to be there, with all of the connotation that entails. It is the bed of one specific man though, who is not even a man. It is the bed of the alternate dimension Kree warrior, Noh-Varr (better known as Marvel Boy or The Protector). Noh-Varr enters his room, fresh from the shower, and we get our brief reintroduction of both characters as the Kree alien puts on a 1960’s vinyl record and exclaims his love for Earth music as he dances around in his underwear. Instantly anyone who has ever read Phonogram is likely making comparisons that just are hard to ignore with the same creative team and focus on music. But the addition of iconic pop culture references in the background fans that flame even more while giving us subtle insight into the characters’ personalities (who would’ve guessed that Noh-Varr would be a fan of Spirited Away?). Of course all this happy character definition stops abruptly when the Skrulls attack Noh-Varr’s space house, leading to a quick and interestingly designed action sequence.

Cut to the intro of the next duo of heroes on the new Young Avengers, with a funny introduction to Hulkling. After a bit of crime fighting, the shapeshifting Skrull hero sneaks back into his bedroom where we meet his boyfriend, Wiccan, in a heartfelt argument that is sappy, yet doesn’t come off as sappy. Gillen writes the characters having a rather well done conversation between a young male-male couple that didn’t come off as awkward, as such things often do in comics. And while Hulkling and Wiccan are safe in their home, Loki and Miss America both get great introductions that lead into a battle atop Wiccan’s house. While Hulkling runs up to investigate who is fighting atop his civilian home, Wiccan casts a spell in hopes of making Hulkling a happier person and appeasing his beloved boyfriend. As the dust settles on the fight and Hulkling returns to his boyfriend’s surprise, everything seems great…but a final page splash will shock the fans into realizing otherwise.

The first issue of Young Avengers seems in some ways to be the traditional start to any superhero team book in comics. The team members have all been introduced to us, yet they are by no means a team yet. Never-the-less, a threat exists that will likely bring them all together by the end of this initial story arc. In other ways, however, this is hardly a traditional superhero team book. While there was a bit of fighting villains, most of the story dealt with character definition and development through dialogue. This was also notably dialogue you would expect between young adults of the seventeen to early twenties age group, which Gillen seems to easily understand. The writer perfectly captures the tone and doesn’t come across as cheesy, where many similar books feature dialogue that might’ve been written for an early 90’s sitcom. Both creators show their youth and knowledge of what is hip in the comic here by referencing things like cosplay and other pop culture themes (though both are notorious social networkers with heavily used tumblr and twitter accounts, so it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise). Music also seems like it might be a big part of this series, as it was with Phonogram, based on the opening sequence with Noh-Varr. In the afterword, Gillen states he definitely wants the book to be about 18-year olds becoming adults and dealing with all that that entails, using superpowers as metaphors for everything eighteen year olds must deal with in real life. But this youthful tone even expands beyond the captions and dialogue of the comic, rolling into the credits. The credits of Young Avengers were quite cute, taking up 2-pages with a powerfully minimalist design, and giving titles like “Lols” and “Feels” to the editors. The credits also offer a response to the biggest question I personally had in the opening pages, “what was Noh-varr playing”, which ended up being popular 60’s girl group, The Ronettes.

Just as the credits were powerfully designed, the entire comic featured unique and stunning graphic design choices. For anyone who has seen any preview or interview with the creative team online, you’ve likely seen the double page spread of Kate Bishop and Noh-Varr fighting Skrulls in a heavily paneled sequence that blasts the captions as their own panels, made of large font (it’s our first preview image in this review). It really gives an interesting feel to the book seeing such pages in action. But beyond the designs, the art itself is simply great. I must admit I was expecting McKelvie’s art to not work so well with superheroes, as his pages in Marvel’s SWORD mini-series felt somewhat jarring (though he did great work in X-Men Season One). Yet in the end, McKelvie and Mike Norton provide absolutely beautiful artwork that seems to really compliment the story with youthful character designs that actually appear to depict 18 year olds rather than growth stunted adults (a major problem in many comics featuring teenagers or kids). This is made even better with Matthew Wilson’s coloring, which was smooth yet not overtly colorful. Everything looked very down to earth and realistic, in quite the good way. Finally, credit must be given to Clayton Cowles, who put together some impressive lettering and great Norse font for Loki.

 

The Rating Bit

Young Avengers #1 has yet to offer a truly epic tale, despite its powerful cast, but certainly shows the value of good dialogue. This book is likely to be more dramatic than action packed, but with character interaction like that which has already been shown this could be its best selling point. Mixed with great art and wonderful graphic design, Young Avengers’ first issue easily gets a 9 out of 10. Pick up your copy and read it before Tumblr spoils all the best bits.