Customer Reviews

Young Avengers

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is an incredibly enjoyable series of stories about an excellent cast of characters, but I'm going to focus on giving information on this particular collection and its contents:

The book contains issues #1-12 of Young Avengers, plus Young Avengers Special Edition #1, in which Jessica Jones interviews the members of the team (this story is even placed in the right chronological order, between issue #8 and issue #9). These thirteen issues comprise the whole "first season" of Young Avengers.

Compared to the two earlier hardcover/paperback Young Avengers collections ("Sidekicks" and "Family Matters") this volume is slightly larger and the images' scale is increased somewhat. It's not a huge change, but it's a nice enhancement.

EXTRAS: This volume includes several bonus features not present in the earlier collections. (1) An introduction by comics writer Jeph Loeb, a friend of author Allan Heinberg. It's two pages long and has several spelling errors. Not impressive.

(2) At the back of the book are six pages of Heinberg's early conceptual notes for the series, including many details that changed as he refined his ideas: character names, personality traits, even the gender of Hulkling. It's great stuff.

(3)Heinberg's rough-draft script for the series' opening scene in J. Jonah Jameson's office. Very interesting in that it shows Heinberg's gradual change in habits from writing for television to writing for comics.

(4) A two-page interview with Heinberg conducted by Marvel's editor in chief, Joe Quesada. Good stuff.

(5) A one-page interview with Heinberg conducted by Tim O'Shea of Silver Bullet Comics. Also good.

(6) Ten pages of Jim Cheung's early character designs, conceptual sketches, unused cover ideas, etc. Also some photos of Young Avengers action figures and some promo art. Very nice.

In all, it's a pretty cool package for someone who's really into the Young Avengers. If you already have the earlier collections, you're not missing much by not getting this, but if you don't own copies and are looking for the best collection, I'd say this is it.

The only things lacking, I think, are the letters pages from the original comic issues. They featured an ongoing debate about the sexuality of two of the YA characters--a testament to a ground-breaking, award-winning feature of this series and these characters--and it would have been great to preserve that sometimes heated, often overwrought conversation. I would have paid $10.00 more just for that. Including them in a future deluxe collection would be a fantastic move.

All in all, a very good collection of a great series, perfect for a library collection or an avid fan. Many thanks, Marvel!

Brian Michael Bendis' "Avengers Disassembled" event was, all in all, a pretty poor story, apart from the unrelated conclusion to "Thor v.2" written by Michael Avon Oeming, which was utterly brilliant. However, it is fair to say that most of what spun out of it was incredibly valuable, the main exception being Bendis' own "New Avengers" series, which, while a sales hit, has never clicked with me; the AD reboot, however, gave us Ed Brubaker's Captain America, Warren Ellis and then Daniel and Charles Knauf's Iron Man, (belatedly) J. Michael Straczynski's Thor, and Allan Heinberg's Young Avengers, which has a seemingly awful title and premise, but utterly fantastic execution. If you are skeptical, give it a shot.

This first arc, titled "Sidekicks" (something of a misappelation in my opinion, since the characters are not sidekicks, unlike, say, the original Teen Titans), is just about the perfect origin arc for a superteam. Heinberg effortlessly weaves old continuity into his story in fascinating ways, carrying on from the fallout of AD better than Bendis ever did. The Young Avengers first appear in New York, consisting of four heroes whose appearances are modelled on Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, and the Hulk; understandably alarmed, the real Captain America and Iron Man investigate, bringing along reporter and former superhero Jessica Jones (another Bendis creation); and two girls, Cassie Lang (daughter of the deceased Ant-Man II) and Kate Bishop (daughter of a rich family, and the only character without a connection to an existing hero) decide to look for the team, and insist on joining. Hanging over all this is the impending arrival of Kang the Conqueror, arguably the worst foe in the history of the Avengers (he physically conquered the world once, and blew up Washington, although that's rarely mentioned, since it's largely been ignored since). I won't get into much detail on the plot, but sufficed to say that by the story's end the team will have gone through the ringer, and come out both triumphant and sorrowful. Next comes a two-parter (drawn by guest artist Andrea DiVito) that continues the struggle between the Young Avengers and the adult New Avengers over their right to exist, and exposes a shocking secret at the root of one character's powers; after that, a sort of 'secret origins' special detailing the lives of the team before they became superheroes, with several artists; and, finally, a four-part (originally meant to be six) epic involving the Young and New Avengers, the Skrull and Kree Empires, and Hulkling's newly-revealed backstory.

Heinberg's writing is brilliant; witty, dramatic, poignant, and insightful; he takes basic character types and brings them to life. He is matched by Jim Cheung on art, whose beautiful work (albeit with a somewhat limited array of facial types) brings the characters and their world to vivid life. The only flaw on the part of each is how slow they are, but that's not a problem in trade (although it will be when you become addicted to the series, as I did, and are then confronted with the paucity of published adventures for this team). Guest artist DiVito is also high quality, although it is initially hard to see anyone but Cheung draw the team (and I'm not especially fond of DiVito's female faces, which have a sort of pinched quality). A panoply of other artists make small contributions to a special issue detailing the characters' origins, which generally work quite well.

The only flaw to be found is that, as of now, this is the end of the Young Avengers' adventures, and, when they return, it will be to a Marvel Universe that has changed heavily around them, affecting them in the process.

I just read Alan Heinberg's Young Avengers for, oh, I'd say the millionth time. I have to tell you it gets better and richer and with every reading.

The great thing about YA is how brilliantly Heinberg confounds your expectations as to what this book is going to be. When you first hear about the characters he introduces, they don't sound too promising. Hulkling? Iron Lad? A young Vision? It has the potential to be the worst kind of derivative drivel.

But Heinberg takes what could have been a purely commercial attempt to profit off these established names and creates characters that are truly fresh and unique. Yes, they all have ties to the existing Marvel Universe, but the true nature of those ties turns out to be very different than what you may have expected. In fact, the reveals continue well into the second volume of these stories, and they just get better and better.

The plotting and pacing of Young Avengers is fantastic - block out some time when you first pick it up, because you won't want to stop until you've read all 13 issues.

You'll also love the snappy dialogue - Heinberg's writing reminds me of some of the best episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The Young Avengers speak in a language that's frank, slangy, and often very funny - how can they be so clever even when fighting baddies? Their jokes are like Spider-Man's, only not lame.

Heinberg show tremendous courage in many of his choices here. One of the characters with the most potential, who is set up as one of the series' leads, comes to a surprisingly unfortunate end. Another turns out to be getting his powers from a different source than he or she claimed - and an illegal source, at that.

I also applaud Heinberg's decision to allow two of his male characters to fall in love. They discover their feelings in a way that seems natural, and without the usual angst that young gay characters are forced to suffer, especially in this age where MTV serves up as many queer images as Logo. No, these boys are more concerned with being grounded for using their powers than they are about being persecuted for being gay. Refreshing!

Plus, the boys' relationship sets up one of the best jokes I've ever read in a comic book - the offhand explanation as to why an openly gay superhero might not want to go with "Asguardian" as a codename.

I tend to read comics more for the story than for the art, but Jim Cheung leads a stellar collection of artists in a book that's a great feast for the eyes.

As an aside, my 7-year-old son was pretty Iron Man crazed, especially during all the hype for the new movie. But after I showed him Young Avengers (he's too young to read much of it, but he loves the pictures) he now proclaims himself "Iron Lad!"

I hope Heinberg keeps bringing us more adventures of this team - he has at least one reader who'd be only too happy to grow up with these as his favorite heroes.

Scott Sherman, author, First You Fall: A Kevin Connor Mystery

The idea for Young Avengers alone could have been a complete disaster. Veteran television writer Allan Heinberg however injects so much imagination and innovation into Young Avengers though, that the final result is something that is surprisingly spectacular, and Heinberg's love of Marvel lore is apparent here as well. In the wake of Brian Michael Bendis' Avengers Disassembled arc, a mysterious team of young superhumans, dubbed the Young Avengers by the media, make their presence felt. There is Patriot, modeled after Captain America and wearing a uniform similar to Bucky's; Iron Lad, a traveler from the future who has united the group and harbors a huge secret; Wiccan, a magicly powered individual who appears to have abilities similar to Thor, but instead shares a surprising heritage with a former Avenger; and Hulkling, a shape-changing powerhouse whose own heritage is a shocker you won't see coming. This handsome hardcover collects all twelve issues of the series, as it begins with the Young Avengers facing off against, and eventually teaming up with, Captain America, Iron Man, and Jessica Jones; before taking on Kang the Conquerer, as well as losing a key member, only to gain two others, and the return of the Vision. The second storyarc deals with Hulkling's heritage, and the interstellar war that erupts because of it, culminating in a team-up with the Young Avengers and the New Avengers. The art throughout this hardcover collection features great work from Jim Cheung; whose efforts are undoubtedly the best to be found here. There's also work from Andrea DiVito, and special guest spots from Michael Gaydos, Jae Lee, Bill Sienkiewicz, and industry favorite and classic Avengers artist Neal Adams. All in all, this long overdue, complete hardcover collection of Young Avengers is an excellent addition to any Marvel fan's library, and if you missed out on the series and were wondering who those kids were running around in Civil War, this is an excellent pick up.

Re-read both volumes of Allan Heinberg's "Young Avengers" this afternoon. It's been a long time since I was so emotionally affected by comics. Most comics published today rely very heavily on cynicism (yes, Mark Millar - I'm talking to you!) but the romanticism, soap opera and respect for continuity that used to characterize the House of Ideas are sorely missed. Not so this series. Heinberg's from TV - he wrote The Naked Truth, Sex And The City, Gilmore Girls and The O.C. He shares an office with Geoff Johns and Jeph Loeb. Oh, and he's openly gay (so if you're a homophobic fundamentalist, please stay away from this guy).

"Young Avengers" is to the Avengers franchise what "New Mutants", "Generation X", "X-Force" and "New X-Men" are to the X-franchise. This book was launched together with Bendis' "New Avengers" series and both series were set immediately after the "Disassembled" event. What you need to know prior to reading this book is that the Scarlet Witch went crazy and caused the worst day in Avengers history - resulting in the death of several Avengers and Iron Man announcing that the team is disbanding for good. The book begins with J. Jonah Jameson, Kat Farrell and Jessica Jones (of "Alias" fame) discussing the recent appearance of some kids dressed up like Avengers. Jones was given the assignment to investigate and report on this group for the Daily Bugle. She bumped into Iron Man and Captain America who both decided that this group should be shut down. Iron Man doesn't want anymore Avengers and Captain America, remembering the death of Bucky, doesn't want anymore kids in danger (this story took place before Bendis' "New Avengers Vol. 1: Breakout" and Brubaker's "Captain America: Winter Soldier"). What follows is a hunt for the various members of the Young Avengers and the introduction to each member of the team:

Iron Lad (Kang) is the one who brought the team together. He's actually a young Kang the Conqueror from the 30th Century. He's trying to hide in the present to prevent himself from becoming the evil warlord that we all know and love! The whole of Vol. 1 is about Iron Lad's struggle against becoming Kang and after killing Kang, he realized that he had to return to the 30th Century to prevent the Timeline from being destroyed. He left his neuro-armor behind and it is now the new body for...

...The Vision. Remember that the Vision was torn apart by She-Hulk during "Disassembled". Well, Iron Lad downloaded the Vision's operating-system into his armor. The Vision had a preprogrammed contingency plan to locate the members of the Young Avengers should the original Avengers be destroyed. Iron Lad used this information to locate all the other members of the team to battle Kang the Conqueror. This new Vision possesses all the memories of his predecessor as well as the young Iron Lad.

Huckling (Teddy Altman) looks like a teenage Hulk but he's actually a shape-shifter. Actually he's a Kree-Skrull hybrid (as we'll discover in Vol. 2) - his father is the Kree Captain Marvel and his mother is the Skrull Princess Anelle (last seen in the classic "Kree-Skrull War").

Asgardian (Billy Kaplan) appears to have Thor's lightning powers but he's really a magic-user. He later changed his name to "Wiccan". He's also Huckling's gay-partner (told you fundamentalist-types to stay away, didn't I?) and twin-brother of...

...Speed (Tommy Shepherd). Billy and Tommy are actually the lost souls of the twin children of the Scarlet Witch! Speed is a super-speedster like his uncle, Quicksilver. He's also able to create explosions with his vibrational powers.

Patriot (Eli Bradley) is the grandson of the original black Captain America, Isaiah Bradley (refer to the controversial miniseries "Truth"). He initially lied to everyone that he got his powers through a blood-transfusion from his grandfather. In truth, he was ingesting the MGH (Mutant Growth Hormone) drug to enhance his body's natural abilities. Eli was badly injured defending Captain America in Vol. 2 and in the end, he really did develop super-powers after receiving blood-transfusion from his grandfather.

Hawkeye (Kate Bishop) is the 2nd daughter of billionaire Derek Bishop. She's also a rape-victim who took up self-defense and weapons training. She helped the Young Avengers during their second outing to rescue hostages in St. Paul's Cathedral. While fighting Kang the Conqueror in the ruins of Avengers Mansion, Kate discovered the weapons belonging to Hawkeye, Mockingbird and Swordsman. The weapons were all confiscated by Captain America at the end of Vol. 1 but he decided to give them to Kate at the end of Vol. 2 with the blessing to use the codename "Hawkeye" as well.

Stature (Cassie Lang) is the daughter of Ant-Man II, Scott Lang. Scott died at the beginning of "Disassembled" when the zombie Jack of Hearts exploded on him. Cassie came to Avengers Mansion to search for her late father's belongings and found herself fighting Kang the Conqueror along with the Young Avengers. She also discovered that she was able to grow/shrink because of the Pym Particles that she stole from her father over the years.

"Vol. 1: Sidekicks" is about the Young Avengers fighting Kang the Conqueror and becoming a team in the process (despite the disapprovals of Captain America and Iron Man). The characters are more richly developed in "Vol. 2: Family Matters" - especially in the "Young Avengers Special" reprinted within. Cap is still adamant about disbanding the team and threatens to talk to the kids' parents about their super-heroing careers. Jessica Jones then sought out each Young Avenger and talked to them personally. Heinberg wrote this issue in the tradition of the Perez-Wolfman "New Teen Titans" series in the early 1980s with their annual "A Day In The Life Of..." spotlight on each character. This is a very helpful storytelling device and the issue enriches each character so much that we care for them as individuals - almost like we've known them for years although they've only been around for half-a-dozen issues or so! The main storyline of Vol. 2 is actually a new Kree-Skrull War! Both the Kree and the Skrull Empires are staking their claim on Hulking since he's the offspring of the greatest Kree warrior, Mar-Vell, and the Royal Skrull Bloodline. Heinberg, assisted by artist Jim Cheung, gives us the best Marvel all-out war-action since the glory days of "Secret Wars" and the "Infinity" trilogy - even making us care for the Super-Skrull in the process!

Finally, this is a series for anyone who's complaining that Bendis' take on the Avengers lack the original flavor of the classic Marvel series. Heinberg pays his homage to classic Avengers tales such as the Kree-Skrull War and Celestial Madonna but updates them for a 21st Century audience. In fact, it can be said that Heinberg even writes the New Avengers better than Bendis does in his series! Spider-Man is genuinely funny here (rather that annoyingly out-of-place in Bendis' book). Wolverine, as usual, had the best line when he exposed that Hulking was disguised as the Super-Skrull to fool the invading aliens - "The nose knows, bub!" Most importantly, Heinberg's characters resonate with the readers, making us care for them deeply. These are not icons. These are teenagers with family problems, identity problems, questions about their sexuality, struggling to belong, rebelling against authority figures, personal tragedies, etc. In this, it is reminiscent of the best of Claremont's "New Mutants" or Wolfman's "Teen Titans" - but in some ways, superior even to those classic tales. Maybe that's why I'm (along with many other fans) can't wait for Heinberg to wrap up his TV-commitments and give us "Season Two" of the Young Avengers Saga! :)

[Note: The two volumes are also available in an oversized hardcover reprinting all the issues of "Season One" - Young Avengers #1-12 and Young Avengers Special.]

Since reading Seige I was very interested in the Young Avengers. This book has updated me and given me a history of each member. It was interesting to read and I really enjoyed it.

Allen Heinberg and Jim Cheung's original run on Young Avengers was a comic gem mixing superb, fresh writing with gorgeous renderings. In twelve issues Heinberg and Cheung plot a truly engrossing tale that astonishingly manages to craft characters with weight and intent. Indeed, by the end --or one could say the end of the first arc-- the reader will have empathy for each "Young Avenger." The cruelest blow is perhaps the insatiable desire for more--for more of Heinberg's amusing banter and Cheung's beautiful artwork. Alas, successive stewards have failed to steer the Young Avengers toward the magic and marvel that Heinberg and Cheung so succinctly captured.

The story aside, should this TPB be purchased? If you already own the individual issues, then there is not much "bonus" content to advise a purchase. I agree with "24mark" that the inclusion of the "Letters" pages in this collection would have been great and informative. Heinberg's conversations with readers regarding sexuality operated as a vignette into the comic book intellectual community, showcasing in a limited fashion the voices that compile the comic book reading crowd. Bummer that they were not included. Moreover, for the uninitiated (to the Avengers or to comics in general!) this collection is an excellent jumping-off point. If anything, I would say having Cheung's art conveniently compiled for your private admiration is well worth a consideration.

Allan Heinberg knows how to tell an interesting story. This series has something for anyone. I wasn't an Avengers fan until I picked up this book. It got me interested in the bigger Avengers mythos. Strong story telling, fantastic new characters with diverse backgrounds in deeper connections to the bigger Marvel Universe. The art is also perfect for this series...there's not many times when you don't have a criticism for a series.

If you want to get a good start into Young Avengers this would be the book to read. It contains Young Avengers 1-12 and Young Avengers Special #1.

If you queer and your here and your geekier than your sheer, Buy this book. This is the first 12 issues of Allen Heinberg's Young Avengers and its done brilliantly. Buy this now, you wont regret it. And it has the best new faces and characters Marvel has to offer in a long LONG time.