Young Avengers 12, Avengers AI 6

Young Avengers 12
Gillen (w) and McKelvie and Norton (a) and Wilson (c)

The Young Avengers are preparing for an unprecedented attack on 616's Earth without the aid of any of the adult superheroes as they continue to be unaware of the problem, thanks to Mother's interference. In response, the YA have assembled a legion of young superheroes to fight off the invading hordes while they press into Mother's home dimension to battle her and their assorted specific enemies. The biggest and most consequential fight of all of this is Billy fighting against Mother, using all of his not inconsiderable power to try to hold her back while the others do what they can to save Teddy. In the midst of all of this, Loki finds out that he's fallen victim to the same sort of mind games he put into Teddy's head early in this series that rather set off this chain of events; the reality warper (in this case, Loki) created his biggest fantasy (Leah) and made it his worst enemy (imbuing her with his missing power).

Another great issue and another fantastic twist all while being a solid lead-in to our arc finale, which will certainly need the cool down two issues we'll get to (still sadly) end the series. I read and re-read the end of this issue a few times to make sure I was getting it all and to yell at myself for missing it all again. I talked about things like this a little while ago when we learned in X-MEN LEGACY that Legion's battle against Cyclops was all a ploy to lure Luca out and was, in fact, still totally in line with the mission he'd set for himself to start the series. The hints are there throughout the series and of course Loki created this Leah just like Hela created that Leah and of course that's where his missing power is and of course it's all spawned from his guilty conscience and of course it's genius and wonderful and thought-provoking. So much here and there still feels like there's so much to cover in this series and so very few issues to get to it all. Even here, the complicated Kate-Noh-Varr/Noh-Varr-all other lovers dynamic still get a nod, David's complicated feelings towards this team, towards being in control, towards Billy and Teddy, and everything else come out a little, Miss America's shady past has a very small light shined on it, and so on and so forth and yet we didn't even talk about that because Loki created Leah and inspired their own downfall while powering her up to defeat him and the team. Geez, this is a good book.

Avengers AI 6
Humphries (w) and Schiti (a) and D'Armata (c)

The war with AI is growing more certain by the moment and Maria Hill sits down with Monica Chang to put her on a new team, one built to take down potential robotic threats. Meanwhile, Vision aims to out-duel Dimitrios in a new game, one based around Pym's video game. The art gets decidedly more video game-esque as Vision defeats Dimitrios by showing him something Pym and Vision worked up together, hoping to prove that the world is in better shape if humans and machines work together as opposed to fighting for dominance. It doesn't convince Dimitrios, but it allows Vision to leave and to gain strategic advantage over the AI. Back in Pym's lab, Pym and Doombot find the source of a buzzing that's been bothering Hank and Hank is able to decode it and realize it's a secret message from Victor, meaning that he's still alive. Finally, Alexis pays a visit to Dimitrios and it's revealed that he's one of the First Six and is the brother of the mysterious Alexis.

The story here isn't necessarily a bad one, though it continues to be a little convoluted for my liking, both over-explained and under-explained. We're still not totally sure of the history of the Diamond or of Dimitrios (things that will likely be explained soon) but we're also getting a lot of motivation, which isn't that hard to understand yet it sometimes comes across as really watered down. Anyway, Humphries really emphasizes the idea of the team here while also separating them; everyone gets at least a few pages in this issue but only a maximum of two of them appear together at any time. It's a team that is working towards the same goals but doing what they do best to achieve those goals and being able to split up the time effectively is both important for Humphries and pretty well executed. Vision gets the most time, both in a fun little section with he and Hank and in his fight against Dimitrios, which has to take a little bit longer and strays a little too far into the cutesy for my liking (there's a huge emphasis on creating it like a video game with art to match which is both entertaining and a little grating). Valerio Schiti, stepping in for series regular Andre Araujo, provides good art and Frank D'Armata's colors continue to be impressive. Not a bad book but one that does tend to drone a little as motivations get rehashed.

Avengers Arena 14, Young Avengers 9

Avengers Arena 14
Hopeless (w) and K. Walker and Gorder (a) and Beaulieu (c)

We're approaching, far too quickly for my liking, the planned end of this series. This is an ongoing series but it does have a conclusion in mind (just as it always must have, given the nature of this story) and we'll reach that conclusion with issue 18. For now, though, we have to ask who's going to make it that long. Apex and Death Locket are still underground at a laboratory/morgue somewhere on the island. The rest of the survivors, minus Nico and Chase, have been wandering the island for seven days hoping to find their way to Arcade or off the island. Anyone who's separated from the group has disappeared; Reptil first, going to scout ahead only to vanish, then Hazmat and X-23, chasing after something Hazmat saw and hoped was Mettle. Now Cullen Bloodstone, Anachronism, Nara, and Cammi are at breaking point with only a couple days left before Arcade's deadline. Cullen shares his story with Cammi after he and Anachronism had a bit of a row (they're British, they say things like "row") but the story is interrupted when a trigger scent is released by a Mettle skeleton walking around the island (so at least Hazmat's not going crazy! She might be dead though, she was with X-23 when the trigger scent activated). The concoction is flooding the island and a feral X-23 is attacking anything that moves, including, presumably, a newly spawned monster from deep within Cullen (activated when he took off his Bloodstone Ring).

You can see how we might be winding down to the end of the series as Arcade floods the island with kill hormones for X-23. Even without that, though, the attitude of those who remain is markedly down, even if it was never particularly up. They've plotted, they've planned, they've strategized, they've learned about the island, and it's all for nothing because, at the end of the day, they're still totally stuck and exactly where they started. People have disappeared the last couple days, leading to even lower spirits, and the end is nigh. The book has always been really good at tone and really good at, in a natural way, giving us backstories for its main characters. We haven't really had a good one in a few issues (most people have been explained by this point, particularly the ones we don't really know in the main Marvel Universe) but Cullen's is disseminated intelligently and at the right moment. Sure, it's not in the form of flashbacks, like so many of these ones have been; instead, it's Cullen flat out telling his backstory, but it fits well here and Cammi's the right person to bring it out of him. The reason she's been alive so long is that she knows when and how things need to be done and now is when this story needs to come out, both for them and for us. I also really like the use of the trigger scent here. Well, I hate it for Laura but I like it for story and motivation. One of X-23's biggest problems she's had to try and overcome is being used by people as a weapon and that's exactly what's happening here. Tough stuff to try to come back from. This series continues to impress and I'm sad to see it go with 18, even if I wouldn't have said that at the start of the book and if they've promised us something cool after (I feel like I've read that somewhere).

Young Avengers 9
Gillen (w) and McKelvie w/ Norton (a) and M. Wilson (c)

Last issue ended with a load of cliffhangers so we have to get through those little by little as this issue progresses. First and foremost: the kiss. David explains to Hulkling that he realized, when he lost his mutant power but his brain was still fully opened to him, that he was bisexual, though it hasn't come up in recent days because he hasn't been looking to start a relationship. He's still not, really, but he admits that he would have regretted dying without kissing Teddy the once because he views Teddy as the remarkably strong one in what looks like a rather strong relationship. Teddy admits his fears to David who suggests he try to take some time off, if he can, to get his head together. Of course, that can only happen when they're not stuck in Mother's dimension running from her. Working on that is the rest of the team, who are still facing down Leah in the barren place Loki had sent her. She talks to them briefly and with much vitriol before America leads them out. Loki tells what is mostly the truth to his teammates: she is sort of his ex and he sent her to this dimension because he couldn't hurt her here. Kid Loki, trapped in Loki's mind, taunts him for the reveal of the truth (being the best lie) but he doesn't have time to deal with that. He concocts a plan to rescue David and Teddy which involves running through a bunch of their evil dimensions to gather a horde of villains to dump on Mother as they make their escape with their teammates. It, improbably, works, and Mother is left to clean up her dimension while they make it back to their Earth. They discuss their next plans, which are basically to stay the course of Loki teaching Billy magic (Billy could be the most important person in the universe so it's probably good that he learn how to use his tools). Teddy approaches Billy at the end and tells him that they need to take a break. He departs to go meet with a therapist in the form of a support group for people who, weirdly enough, have been left feeling abandoned and confused by their partner. His therapist? A seemingly more grown-up Leah (Teddy didn't meet her when they all ran into her).

Oh man, too much to say about this issue. Guys, that's a really long summary and frankly I don't think I covered enough. There are weird bits and pieces that deserve their own analysis (Mother asking Kate when her birthday is and threatening that she's about to join Mother's side) but THAT'S HOW MUCH THERE IS HERE. This series remains as complicated and beautiful as ever, with McKelvie's art really shining through as there are plenty of long panels meant to illustrate a single character's features and emotions. There are a pair, on back-to-back pages, that show Leah and Loki in separate wide-angle panels that focus on their eyes that are just stunning. I've long praised, on this blog and in life, the art of Jamie McKelvie but the emotion he brings to characters continues to blow me away. The first real look at his art was in a Secret Avengers issue written by Warren Ellis (16, I think, of the last volume of Secret Avengers) wherein McK drew this amazing underground city with insane architecture and had Moon Knight soaring around it. It was absolutely gorgeous and that still tends to be what I think of when I think of him. Though I've seen plenty more of his work by now, this series is really changing my perception of him, going from that guy who draws these beautiful and fluid set pieces with really strong characters to being one of the best in the business at drawing people and their various emotions and tics. It's truly wonderful to see. Aw geez, I've spent all my analysis time talking about the art. Maybe you guys should just check this book out. No wait, you definitely should. One of Marvel's top books for sure. And I mean, just look at that cover! Teddy has long been probably my least favorite member of this team (I don't dislike him, I've just never particularly been drawn to him by anything he's done or said or whatever) and this cover still makes me want to die a little inside. Beautiful.

Young Avengers 2, Avengers Arena 5

Young Avengers 2
Gillen (w) and McKelvie w/ Norton (a) and Wilson (c)

BOY, this book has a different feel than Uncanny Avengers. I tried to tell myself I wouldn't compare the two (that's why I didn't include this review with UA) but I guess that's where I had to go. It's still not a bad thing for me to say (yes, well done, me). This is still a pretty excellent book. The tone is incredibly different and it one hundred percent should be. This is the kind of stark contrast that should overwrite every non-comic fan's feelings about comics. Just because they fall in the same medium doesn't mean they're all the same thing. They're like, you know, books. Or any other sort of media. One book is designed to be dark and ask questions about prejudices and hate and people, another is meant to examine teen people and alternate dimensions and is therefore considerably lighter. Neither book was bad. In fact, both were pretty spectacular in their own way. I feel most non-comic fans scoff at the idea of comics because they're all viewed the way they once felt; like every book is essentially the same with different characters. Of course, that's not how all old books were to the people reading them, but I know I can at least see their point in the assumption. These books couldn't be more different while also leading us to similar places.

This issue focuses mostly on Wiccan and Hulkling, then brings in Loki to aid the two. Wiccan and Hulkling, fresh off Wiccan bringing Hulkling's alternate dimension "mom" to their dimension, are startled to find that she is not at all what Hulkling remembers and has made Wiccan's parents similarly gooey (physically gooey) and dissimilar. It's a shock to the two of them, compounded by her impossible to solve physiology and the fact that, when the two Young Avengers turn to the Uncanny Avengers for help (surprise appearance that justifies my earlier comparison!), this impostor seems to have corrupted more than just their household. The UA don't assist in any way and Billy and Teddy are sent to their new "room," which resembles a blank comic panel. As Wiccan tries to figure out what to do next while trying to piece together what's just happened, Loki turns up and rescues the two, bringing them to his favorite diner to illustrate their various problems. The two well-learned young superheroes know better than to outright trust Loki and suspect he might, in fact, have something to do with this impostor so they bring him to Asgardia to make sure he has no tricks up his little sleeves. There, they're confronted by Loki's father (geez, more parents confronting their kids in unlikely manners, I think we have ourselves a THEME), the previously dead frost giant Laufey.

There are many things happening in this series. As Gillen is a master at making and tying together a story, there's absolutely no way we have all the facts to piece together what's happening just yet. There is some weird thing happening with all the adults of this world (and, for all we know, everyone in general outside of our heroes) that is reverting them to some sort of weird 1950s sensibility. It ties in very nicely with the fact that these are the YOUNG (18 year old or so) Avengers and that they are so in touch with the youth of today. So far, the way Gillen's creating the contrast between the families and kids of today and those of the idealized 1950s world is coming along really nicely. I'm excited to see where he wants to go with it and where this is leaving our three unseen members (Hawkeye, Miss America, and Noh-Varr). Very interesting book.

Avengers Arena 5
Hopeless (w) and Walker (a) and Martin (c)

Boy, this series just keeps getting better and better too. Just REALLY happy with all the Avengers-related offerings right now, from Assemble to Avengers to U and Y A to New Avengers to this. Across the board happiness from that corner, which, pretty recently, wasn't true. Like in the last few issues of this book, I didn't know much about the focus characters, this time Kid Briton and the Braddock Academy. By now, we've gotten a look into just about every group so Hopeless feels more comfortable shifting within the issue between groups. Kid Briton, apparently, is the Captain Britain of another Universe, one even more unstable than ours, where he was raised from birth to be a fighter. As a result, he has far more skills at his young age than Captain Britain had and he has the arrogance of a highly-powered teenager. For those who know a bit about Captain Britain, you already know that his powers come from his self-confidence.

This issue starts off with Kid Briton wondering how fair it is that he's nearly invincible with his powers, as opposed to everyone else and, in particular, certain members of his own group. We also see some flashbacks from the Braddock Academy where our Brian confronts young Brian to try to make him understand why his arrogance is misplaced and unhelpful. He could (and really should) be so much more but he often comes off as a bully with crazy powers. It's a great idea and we get a huge sense of his arrogance in this quick flashback. We also learn that he's cheating on his nice and compassionate and probably too kind for him girlfriend Apex (also of the Academy) with other Academy member Nara, an Atlantean. Back in Murderworld, Kid Briton bullies group members Anachronism and Bloodstone and delights in their falling from a cliff into a river (the two seem relatively safe after the fall). Nara joins in laughing and Death Locket, the little girl Deathlok the group took in during issue two (I believe), blasts Nara off the cliff herself. Apex protects Death Locket from Kid Briton's anger and reveals that she knows Brian had been cheating on her all along but that's over now. Kid Briton's "health bar" drops as his confidence wavers.

This book is both really interesting and really fun. I wonder how non-gamers view the layout of some of these things. Arcade has clearly taken a turn from pinball machines and death-bumper cars (that probably happened) towards new gaming equipment. Each participant in Murderworld has their own health bar and there are med-packs and food items hidden around Murderworld in ways that very much resemble video games. It's another great idea in a book full of them. The health bar is also a very straightforward way to keep the audience up to date and to show subtle changes that might not have the same impact otherwise (i.e. Kid Briton's confidence falling hurts his health, even though nothing physical has happened to him, because his powers are now downgraded). It's unique to Marvel, for sure, and I might say it's unique to most comics in general. I have to say again, though, that this has been a really fun series so far with a lot of punch to it. In total, between this, Young Avengers and, earlier, Uncanny Avengers, I'm not sure I've had a day of reviews that were this firmly in the "buy this book" category. Nothing makes me more pleased than that.