Dark Reign: Young Avengers #3(of 5)

After hearing the wonderful news that Paul Cornell will be bringing back THE greatest comic book character in Marvel history, Nate Grey(big thanks to Matthew Hex for alerting me!), I figured today was as good a day as any to read the latest issue of Mr. Cornell's Young Avengers mini. Obviously Paul is the writer, while Mark Brooks provides the pencils.

-We begin with the Young Avengers pairing up with one of the New Young Avengers and watching how they operate against some losers from Hydra. If the New Young Avengers can impress their designated Young Avenger chaperon, they'll be invited to join the Young Avengers. Stature and Big Zero didn't get along at all, Patriot and Melter hit it off, Wiccan and Hulkling were enchanted(HA!)by the Enchantress, and Speed and Coat of Arms also got along well. Egghead and Vision were at odds with each other and Hawkeye(Kate Bishop)and Executioner didn't see eye to eye, but more on that later. After Hydra was defeated, the two teams returned to their bases to discuss how things went.

-While the Young Avengers were comparing notes on how the New Young Avenger they were observing did, Kate divulged that Executioner knew her secret identity and was threatening to release it to the authorities if he wasn't allowed to join the Young Avengers. Upon learning this news, the team began to plan what their course of action should be.

-The New Young Avengers spoke to each other about their master plan, which seems to be to trick the Young Avengers into letting them join the team. However, Melter and Coat of Arms seemed to be warming up to the idea of becoming true super-heroes.

-This issue ends with none other than Norman Osborn spying on a conversation between Executioner and his mother, Princess Python of the Serpent Society. Osborn then asks an assistant to find out which member(s)of either team has killed somebody, and to have him alerted whenever one of the Young Avengers calls... Wha-huh???

I was enjoying this comic up until Osborn's appearance... Is it written somewhere that Osborn MUST appear in EVERY Marvel comic book??? Jeez... Anyway, the story is slowly coming together here, with the New Young Avengers obviously not being what they seem, and the Young Avengers finally beginning to realize that. I will admit to being a bit confused by what the master plan of the New Young Avengers is.

The leadership structure of the New Young Avengers is also a bit foggy to me. Although Coat of Arms is supposed to be the leader, Enchantress seems to have the most pull with her teammates. On top of that, Executioner also seems to have his own plans, plans that are separate from the plans of his teammates. Even though the story is still a bit all over the place, Paul is doing a great job with the character development. Almost all of the New Young Avengers have interesting little back stories developing. For a score, I'll give this issue a 7 1/2 out of 10. This was a good comic that has me interested in reading the next issue.Why look, it's Norman Osborn! Is there a Marvel comic book he isn't currently appearing in???