Young Avengers #5

Thursday is an X review night, and predictably, I chose Young Avengers as my first book to review this week.  Young Avengers has been everything I could have hoped for...  And more!  So yeah, this is definitely the book I'm most looking forward to reading.  Which means I should probably get to reading!

Young Avengers #5:

Summary: Loki actually manages to come through and channels Wiccan's powers into a massive counter-spell.  With the rest of the team now magically powered, they are able to eliminate all of Mother's hench-parents, causing Mother to leave.  However, a side-effect of the spell means that the group can't go to their parents, or near where their parents died, since that would make them return to life and go all evil and stuff.  Or at least that's how Loki explains it.  Miss America sees it more as that Loki wants the group to stay together for some Loki-esque purpose.  Whatever the reason, the crew does decide to stick together and do super-heroic type stuff.

Thoughts: This was a pretty solid issue.  I wasn't in love with it, as I was the previous issues, but I still enjoyed it.  The team is officially together, we still don't know for sure where Loki stands, and Wiccan seems ready to return to being a hero.  In other words, the future looks bright!  Speaking of looking bright, the next issue brings us Speed and Prodigy, which is like a double treat for me!!  I loved Speed through the original YA run, and was a huge fan of Prodigy before Decimation ruined New X-Men: Academy X(stupid Marvel...).  It should go without saying that I am hugely looking forward to the next issue.

Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.

Young Avengers #4

Next up this week is the series that is rapidly becoming a favorite of mine, Young Avengers.  I can't heap enough praise on this series, or the job the creative team has done thus far.  Since I'm sure I'll be gushing about this issue too, I'm just gonna move right into the review.

Young Avengers #4:

Summary: So Noh-Varr(apparently NOT Marvel Boy any longer!) and Kate arrive on the scene and save the rest of the team.  From there, they beat a hasty retreat in Noh-Varr's spaceship, but are pursued by... pretty much EVERYBODY'S parents.  The spaceship ends up being damaged by Noh-Varr's father, which leads ends up grounding the team.  With time rapidly running out, Loki makes one last desperate attempt at getting Wiccan's powers, telling Wiccan that this whole ordeal could be ended with either Loki borrowing Wiccan's powers or with Wiccan's death...  Wiccan decides to trust Loki and lends him his reality altering abilities, at which point Loki teleports away.  This issue ends with Mother's army closing in on the outmatched team.

Thoughts: Yeah, I still love this comic.  What more can I say?  Everything about it was great.  Loki's constant attempts at manipulation is always fun, finally bringing Kate and Noh-Varr to the rest of the group was something I've been waiting for, and I'm still digging the story.  So yeah, win for me!

Score: 9 out of 10.

Young Avengers #3

Last review of the night is none other than Young Avengers...  You know, the book I most look forward to reading.  So yeah, let's skip this whole intro nonsense and get into the action!

Young Avengers #3:

Summary: Miss America saves the boys from Laufey, and Loki teleports everybody to the safety of Mary Jane's nightclub...  Wha-huh!?  By this point, Hulkling's mother and the rest of the evil parents seem to have a lock on the group.  Anyway, Loki tells the group that Wiccan could cast a spell that would rid them of their evil parents.  However, learning/casting the spell would take a long time, which would leave the evil parents alone to do all sorts of evil parent-y things.  To circumvent the time issue, Loki tells Wiccan to lend his powers to Loki so Loki could cast the spell faster and end the threat of the evil parents.  Needless to say, Wiccan has no interest in lending Loki any powers.  By this time, the evil parental units arrive and beat the crew into unconsciousness.  This issue ends with the group waking up to Hulkling's mother telling them she was going to eat their souls, or something equally nefarious.

Thoughts: You know I enjoyed this comic.  So let's get that out of the way right off the bat...  I liked this comic!  It was really good!  I enjoyed the Miss America making the timely save.  I loved Loki trying to convince Wiccan to lend his powers over for ten minutes.  I liked learning a little bit about Miss America's background.  I liked the boys texting Kate...  Could we have gotten a little more action?  Or learned how Miss America knew where to find the group?  Or learned just what Hulkling's mother's deal was?  Sure, but this issue was still very strong.  And before I end this, I have to say, Kieron Gillen is doing a fantastic job with the dialogue here...  The characters sound more realistic than most of the comic characters I read about do.  So yeah, like I said, very good!

Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.

The art in this comic is also top-notch.  The facial expressions here are fantastic.

Young Avengers #2

And our second review of the evening is going to be none other than the second issue of Young Avengers.  I loved the first issue.  A lot.  Here's hoping Kieron Gillen can keep up the great work with the second issue.

Young Avengers #2

Summary: Wiccan and Hulkling head downstairs and find Hulkling's mother happily cooking for Wiccan's parents.  Wiccan and Hulkling rapidly realize something was wrong with Hulkling's mom, as she's starting to give off a crazy June Cleaver type of vibe.  Wiccan realizes that Hulkling's mother had done something to his parents and tries to send her back from whence she came, but Wiccan is still wiped out from bringing Hulkling's mother over and she easily stops him.  Next Hulkling tries to stop her, but can't put a dent in her, so Hulkling collects Wiccan and beats a hasty retreat.  The two head to Avengers Mansion and ask the Uncanny Avengers for help, but Hulkling's crazy mother has beaten them there and has seemingly taken over the Avengers as she had done to Wiccan's folks(!).  Wiccan's parents collect the two and toss them into some sort of extra-dimensional prison.  Luckily for Wiccan, Loki breaks in and rescues him, breaking Hulkling out of his prison as well.  The trio head to a diner and after some discussion, Wiccan and Hulkling seemingly decide that Loki was the problem(wait, what?!) and head to Asgardia to ask the Asgardians for help.  This issue ends with a Frost Giant coming out of Asgardia to take possession of Loki for his real father, Laufey.

Thoughts: Yep, I think I have a new favorite series.  Gillen is hitting all the right notes here, and I am loving this series.  Now, it wasn't all perfect, but I did enjoy this issue thoroughly.  My biggest gripe would be Wiccan and Hulkling apparently deciding that Loki was the problem...  I'm not sure how they came to that conclusion...  Maybe because Hulkling noticed Loki on his roof when the spell was cast the prior night?  Maybe it's simply that they figure Loki HAS to be behind this since he IS Loki?  Other than my mild confusion regarding Hulking and Wiccan's decision(and the lack of Kate and Noh-Varr!), I have zero complaints here.  Great stuff!

Score: 9 out of 10.

I LOVE Loki's dialogue in this series...

Young Avengers #1

Now THIS is the series I've been most looking forward to out of ALL the Marvel Now! titles.  Around the same time I got into comic books(the second time around...), the original Young Avengers came out.  And I LOVED it!  It was everything I wanted in a comic book!  Young Avengers, and Morrison's New X-Men run, are probably the two books that had the most to do with me becoming the comic book reading machine I am today.  Now, this Young Avengers series doesn't have the original creative team(Allan Heinberg and Jim Cheung), but it does have Kieron Gillen as the writer...  Gillen was really good on Journey Into Mystery(dare I say great?), but I wasn't a fan of his Uncanny X-Men or Generation Hope work(which is no fault of his, I hate Hope and didn't really like any X-books post-House of M).  Now he's getting to write several of my very favorite comic book characters(Hulkling, Wiccan, Hawkeye, Marvel Boy), I am REALLY hoping this series is good.......

Young Avengers #1

Summary: This issue gets started with Kate Bishop(or Hawkeye, if you prefer), waking up in some guy's bed...  Huh.  While Kate tries to figure out what she was doing there and what she should do next, the guy in question strolls in the room.  And that guy?  Marvel Boy!  Marvel Boy seems more... hippy, than last we saw him, and starts dancing like Mary Jane Watson circa 1970 to some oldies music(?!?).  Kate and Noh-Varr(that would be Marvel Boy's real name, fyi) talk a bit before Skrulls attack his spaceship, because that's what Skrulls do.  From there we head to the streets of New York where some punks are mugging a woman.  Spider-Man appears on the scene to stop them, but ends up getting shot, much to the punks' surprise.  However, "Spidey" hops up and attacks the two with shape-changing abilities before vacating the premises.   It turns out that "Spidey" was indeed Hulkling, who had been secretly going out to do the superhero thing since his boyfriend(that would be Wiccan), had basically forbidden the two of them from being superheroes after the events of Avengers: Children's Crusade.  Hulkling climbs in the window of Wiccan's parent's house(which is where he was living after the death of his mother), where he finds an angry Wiccan waiting for him in his bedroom.  Wiccan rants about how "they" promised not to be heroes anymore because of all the deaths they had seen.  Hulkling tells Wiccan that he was through living a lie and was a hero, and that he fell in love with a hero, not whatever Wiccan had become.  With that, Wiccan realizes how selfish he had been, and promises Hulkling that he would support him with his super-heroics   From there, Wiccan heads to his own bedroom and begins searching through other dimensions...  Next we head to (the maybe evil, maybe not evil) Kid Loki, who senses that Wiccan was using his powers, and as such he had to do something about that...  Kid Loki teleports to the roof of Wiccan's apartment and prepares to unleash a magic spell against the unaware Wiccan.  Before he can though, he is confronted by Miss America, who warns Loki against doing anything to Wiccan.  That leads to the two having a bit of a skirmish.  Hulkling hears the disturbance upstairs and heads to the roof, just in time to see Kid Loki teleport away, while Miss America flies off, not telling Hulkling what that was all about.  From there, we head back to Wiccan, who finds what he was looking for and manages to transport Hulkling's mother from an alternate dimension to his room.  Hulkling heads back downstairs and is shocked to see his formerly dead mother standing in the hallway.  The two embrace and eventually Hulkling heads back to sleep.  Later on, Hulkling's mother tells Wiccan's parents that she didn't approve of Hulkling wasting his time on Wiccan, and proceeds to smother the Kaplans(not "Caplans", Kaplans!!).

Thoughts: Well, you know what?  I really enjoyed this comic!  Gillen did a really good job with characterizations(Although Wiccan and Hulkling could turn down the drama just a bit) and I have to say, I was thoroughly impressed!  I'll admit, when I first opened this comic and saw that Kate was having a random fling with Noh-Varr, I was a bit... let's say taken aback.  But the more I thought about it, the more it worked...  I mean, why not?  The hero she looks most up to is Clint Barton!  Or Hawkeye, for those of you not in the know...  Hawkeye is... well, he IS rather promiscuous   On top of that, Kate is comfortably over 18, as is Noh-Varr, so why not?  If anything, I hope this isn't going to end up a one night stand, because Kate and Noh-Varr actually work for me.  Two of my favorite characters hooking up?  Yeah, I can deal with that.  Wiccan and Hulkling were also written very well, as you had Wiccan still acting up due to Stature's death at the end of Children's Crusade, while Hulkling was trying to keep the peace with Wiccan by sneaking around to help people, because that's who Hulkling is, a hero.  And it was Hulkling who reminded Wiccan that he too was a hero.  I mean Gillen wrapped up the whole, "Wiccan's self-loathing" storyline in a few panels.  And he did it in a way that made sense to all the characters involved.  The ending was also great, because while Wiccan may have though he was bringing back Hulkling's "mother"(actually a random Skrull who raised him), he was bringing over an alternate version of that woman, and alternate versions don't always equal identical version...  I mean, this comic was great!  Now the question is, is it perfect...  And after literally sitting here for several minutes after typing that last sentence, for me personally, as a fan of these characters?  Yes, it was perfect for me.

Score: 10 out of 10.

Those wacky dancing Krees...

Avengers: The Children's Crusade #6 is still perfect!

Yep, just one review in this post, and it's the comic I was most looking forward to reading all week... Scratch that, all month... Hell, I've been looking forward to reading this one since the moment I finished the last issue actually! And boy did this issue not disappoint. If only every Avengers comic was like this mini-series has been... Hell, if only every comic book was as good as this mini-series has been! Well, let's not waste any more time, here's my review of the awesomeness that is Avengers: The Children's Crusade #6.

Avengers: The Children's Crusade #6(of 9):

Summary: Having regained her powers and memories, the Scarlet Witch isn't exactly what you'd call happy, as she also recalls decimating mutantkind and killing several Avengers, including her husband, Vision. With those thoughts in her head, Wanda decides to kill herself the same way she disassembled the Avengers, with an army of magic created Kree warships and Ultrons. While the Young Avengers ponder what to do, Hawkeye, Beast and Jessica Jones emerge from Avengers Mansion to see exactly what the hell was going on here. Upon seeing Wanda bursting with power, and the identical way so many Avengers died before(including Hawkeye), the three Avengers are taken aback, at least until the Young Avengers bring the resurrected Scott Lang over to them. After a quick explanation of how they retrieved Lang from the timestream and how Wanda was back to being Crazy Wanda again, Hawkeye contacts the rest of the Avengers and tells them what was going on. Iron Man tells Hawkeye to keep Wanda there for as long as possible, and to try to keep casualties to a minimum. Not wanting to see somebody like Wolverine murder the woman he felt was his mother, Wiccan has Stature bring him up to speak to Wanda. Wanda decried the fact that her husband, teammates and children were dead, and Wiccan refutes all of those points, telling her the Avengers were still standing, the Vision was still alive(in a way...) and that him and his twin brother(Speed) were Wanda's children. Not fully believing him, but curious, Wanda uses her magic on Wiccan and realizes that Wiccan and Speed are indeed her long thought to be dead children... Well, there it is, it's official now! Wanda makes the forces she created disappear, and lands to talk to her sons. While Wiccan is simply happy to have found his mother, Speed is more realistic, and warns Wiccan that the Avengers were simply going to come by to put Wanda down, as they had planned before the House of M. Beast approaches Wanda and tells her that with three words she took the mutant powers away from millions of mutants, and he was hoping she could undo the damage that she did. Wanda tells Beast that she doesn't want to unleash a worldwide spell like that again(because she's not Crazy Wanda anymore), but that she would be willing to try to fix a depowered mutant who wanted to act as a guinea pig. To that end, Jessica Jones recommends heading to X-Factor Investigations, which had taken numerous cases from depowered mutants wanting to know what had happened to their powers. Upon seeing the Scarlet Witch, and knowing that angry former mutants would probably try to kill her upon seeing her, Madrox tells the collection of Young Avengers and Avengers to leave before there was trouble. Wanda reiterates that she wants to try to undo what she did, so Rictor agrees to serve as the guinea pig, much to Shatterstar's dismay. Wanda walks over and grabs Rictor's face, hitting him with magic that sends him flying across the room. With that, the room shakes, and Madrox figures that now Wanda was going to bring his offices down on him, until Rictor reveals that he was the one who created that tremor, and that his mutant powers had returned(!!!). Madrox congratulates Wanda on her accomplishment and tells her that was one depowered mutant down, with about a million more to go. While Wanda let's that number sink in, the X-Men land outside Madrox's offices in force, not looking very happy. When asked what her plan was, Wanda simply states that she'd give the X-Men what they wanted the most, more mutants.

Thoughts: Okay, let's not even play any games here, I'm giving this comic a perfect score. Once again, Allan Heinberg and Jim Cheung have proven that they are the best writer/artist tandem in all of comics. There's so much I want to say about this comic, that I don't even know where to start... I mean we now know definitively that Wiccan and Speed ARE Wanda's sons. Yeah, it was practically a given anyway, but this issue put it down once and for all, they ARE who we thought they were. Besides that, we have Wanda back at full power. And NOT insane! I mean the fact that she gave Rictor his powers back could have huge ramifications throughout the Marvel Universe. First though, let's talk about Rictor... Will he be keeping his powers? I mean because if he did, that would be eight different kinds of awesome! I'm a bit dubious because, in a way, it seems like this mini-series is taking place in it's own little world... I mean with how long it's taken this mini to come out, when would Peter David give Rictor his powers in X-Factor? If he was to give him his powers back now, then we'd know that Wanda's spell was permanent. It's the laggy timing of this series that's throwing everything out of whack. Personally, I can't see Rictor keeping his powers... But then, he has them back now, so maybe he will. And what of the previously dead Scott Lang? Will he remain alive too? There are SO many ways this mini-series could go as we race towards the finish line, that I don't even want to throw anymore guesses out there. I'm just going to sit back, smile, and enjoy the best Avengers story that I've read in ages.

Score: 10 out of 10.Finally.

Quick Hits: 3/20/11

Having suffered enough after reading those 14 mainly crappy comics from last week, I've decided to reward myself by reading the three comic books I'm most looking forward to from this week, Amazing Spider-Man, the Fear Itself Prologue, and Children's Crusade: Young Avengers. Yes, after suffering through Krypto defeating Kid Flash in a race, and Deathstroke's eye inexplicably being pulled out, I think I deserve a break. So thank you Marvel, for helping me remember why I collect comic books with these three awesome issues.

Amazing Spider-Man #656:

Summary: Picking up from last issue, Massacre has kidnapped a mess of hostages and has shot one and blown 7 of them up as a warning to the police to stay away so he could steal some money from a bank. Spidey(still without his spider-sense) arrives on the scene to help, and manages to get a spider-tracer attached to Massacre before getting shot in the gut. Spidey tells the cops to let Massacre get away, since he figured he'd be able to track Massacre with the tracer. Unfortunately, Spidey's spider-tracers use his spider-sense to tell him where the bad guy has gone, and with no spider-sense, the tracer is useless... D'oh! Mayor Jameson gets wind of Massacre's massacre(what?) and holds a press conference stating the usual lines(we'll catch the bad guy, we're strong people, etc). After the press conference, Jameson meets up with a young child whose mother was one of the people Massacre killed, and still reeling from the death of his own wife, Jameson promises the boy that Massacre WOULD die for his crimes. From there Spidey rigs up a new armored Spidey suit to compensate for the lack of a spider-sense just as Massacre takes a few hostages at the stock brokerage he worked for before he went crazy and became a costumed super-baddie. It appears Massacre has discovered the spider-tracer and wants Spidey to show up so he could kill him. Spidey(in his shiny new costume) arrives on the scene and immediately covers Massacre's hostages with webbing that blocks radio signals, thus preventing Massacre from blowing them up. By this point Mayor Jameson has arrived on the scene and has ordered the police snipers to kill Massacre once they had a clear shot. Massacre tries to shoot the hostages, but Spidey leaps in the way and deflects the bullets. Now officially pissed, Massacre pulls out another remote control and threatens to blow up some hostages that he hid away from the scene of the battle. Spidey webs the remote to Massacre's hand, which blocks the radio signal and leaves Massacre with only one useful hand, at which point Spidey pummels the villain into near submission. Massacre manages to stagger towards an open window, right in the line of the police snipers, who fix their sights on him and fire, as per Jameson's orders. Spidey jumps in the way and deflects all of the bullets, which saves Massacre, since Spidey refused to see ANYBODY die while he was on the scene ever again. The paramedics take Massacre away and Jameson confronts Spidey over saving Massacre. Spidey tries to use the old, “If we kill him we're as bad as him” speech on Jameson, which simply serves to infuriate Jameson further. With that, Spidey swings away and this issue ends.

Thoughts: This was yet another really good issue of Amazing. I mean since I started collecting this series again, I don't think I've scored any issue under an 8, which is REALLY impressive. I like Massacre as a villain, and was glad he didn't simply get blown away at the end, since I think he has some real potential. I also really liked the way Dan Slott emphasized how important Spidey's spider-sense was, and how difficult it was for Spidey to function without it. Sure, there were a few things here that bothered me, like Spidey dodging all but one of Massacre's bullets WITHOUT any help from his spider-sense, and Spidey's co-workers(sorry, they just don't have the same charm as the Daily Bugle staff), but all in all, this was a highly enjoyable comic, as usual.

Score: 9 out of 10.And with that, Spidey gets the big ol' FAIL award!


Avengers: The Children's Crusade: Young Avengers #1:

Summary: We kick things off with Iron Lad exiting the timestream to confront his future(and EVIL) self, Kang the Conqueror. Iron Lad prepares to defeat his future self when grown up versions of the Young Avengers(notably minus Wiccan) arrive on the scene and tell Iron Lad to leave Kang along since he's one of the Avengers now, same as them. Iron Lad is totally floored by that revelation and tries to remind his former teammates that the reason they first banded together was to defeat Kang, NOT team with him! From there we get a flashback from before the Young Avengers first went public and only included Iron Lad, Wiccan, Hulkling and Patriot on their roster. The flashback is AWESOME, and involves the kids trying(and failing) to defeat Electro right before Electro breaks out all those super-villains from the Raft, which accidentally leads to the reformation of the Avengers. Back to the present(future?) where Kang and the grown-up Young Avengers explain that the reformation of the Avengers was actually a really bad thing as the Avengers had become more willing to permanently eliminate anybody they believed was a threat, including Wiccan. Kang tells Iron Lad that after Wiccan and the Young Avengers tried to rescue the Scarlet Witch from Latveria, the Avengers came down and killed both Wiccan and the Scarlet Witch. Iron Lad can't believe that fact and rushes back into the timestream to prevent these grim sounding events. Once Iron Lad is gone, grown-up Wiccan emerges from the shadows and asks Kang if it was really necessary to lie to Iron Lad. Kang says probably not, but that the lie would send Iron Lad to Latveria, where Iron Lad would start the chain of events that would turn him into Kang and destroy the Avengers... Forever!!!

Thoughts: Um, it was Allan Heinberg writing the Young Avengers, drawn by Alan Davis... How do you THINK I felt about it?!? I LOVED it! EVERY page of it! First off, the art gave the comic a younger X-Men-ish feel, which actually fits this series very well. But then Davis is one of the FEW artists whose work I can pick out of a line-up, so it was cool to see him lend his distinctive style to my favorite band of teenage heroes. And yes, the Young Avengers ARE my favorite group of teenage heroes, probably ever, so needless to say(and unsurprisingly), I loved this issue. Nobody writes the YA's like Heinberg, which he proved again here. What more can I say? This issue was a weird little fill-in issue in the middle of the Children's Crusade mini-series, but I loved it, and it has me anticipating the next issue of Children's Crusade more than ever!

Score: 10 out of 10.Good art, a good story AND funny as hell? What more could I ask for?


Fear Itself Prologue: Book of the Skull #1:

Summary: This issue gets underway with Baron Zemo assisting Sin in breaking into one of her father's(that would be Herr Red Skull)secret bases. Why is Zemo there, you ask? He owed Sin for the information she gave him about Captain America(Bucky Barnes) a while back. They head to Egypt and infiltrate the base, getting past several of the Skull's deathtraps and discovering a book. Sin starts to read the book, which takes us back in time to WWII. During the war, Skull had some Hydra magicians preform a ritual sacrifice of some Atlantians to gain the favor of some dark god. The dark god sent something to Antarctica, which is where Skull and his Nazi goons decide to go. They are followed by Captain America(Steve Rogers), Bucky and Namor, who is VERY angry about the sacrifice of his fellow Atlantians. The Nazis arrive first and discover a golden hammer(which nobody is able to lift) and a giant blue creature. By this time the heroes arrive, and Skull tells his magicians to hide the hammer, while he hops in an airplane to escape. The heroes fight and defeat the giant, figuring that the giant was what Skull had summoned, never knowing about the golden hammer. After reading all of that, Sin decides that she has to find the hammer, so she could do what her father never could, find a way to use it. Zemo and Sin manage to escape the base before it blows up, and Sin shoots at Zemo, damaging his teleporting device, since she didn't want him sharing in the secrets they learned. From there Sin teleports onto Zemo's plane, leaving an angry Zemo lost in a desert in Egypt, swearing revenge.

Thoughts: First things first, I could read Cap's WWII adventures FOREVER when written by Ed Brubaker. So needless to say, I LOVED the flashback sequence. This issue gave us our first real glimpse into what Fear Itself is going to be about, and it has me quite intrigued. I'm going to guess that Sin discovers the location of this mystery hammer and manages to lift it, giving her the powers of a god. And quite frankly, there are few things worse than somebody as insane as Sin gaining the powers of a god... I've been loving the work Brubaker has been doing with Sin, so I'm looking forward to seeing where Matt Fraction decides to take her, especially if she really DOES become a universe-level threat. Needless to say, I am PSYCHED for April 6th , which is when the first issue of Fear Itself arrives. I can GUARANTEE that it'll be WAY better than any event comic that comes out of DC in 2011. Hands down, no doubt.

Score: 9 1/2 out of 10.The beginning...

Siege: Young Avengers #1

Siege: Young Avengers #1: Writer: Sean McKeever. Pencils: Mahmud Asrar.

Review: We get this story started with Hulkling and Wiccan overlooking the wreckage that was Asgard. It turns out that Wiccan was a bit of a Norse Mythology buff, and as such, seeing Asgard in such a sorry state has left him depressed and despondent. Nonetheless, the two head off to see if they could find the rest of there teammates/other survivors. Eventually they run into Wiccan's twin brother, Speed, who has been racing around Asgard at top speed taking the injured out of the rubble and bringing them to safety. Speed leaves and Wiccan continues to wallow in self-pity. Meanwhile, Patriot and Hawkeye(the female Young Avenger one)are buried under tons of rubble which has left Patriot indecisive, since he is afraid to do anything that would risk the roof caving in. Back on the surface, Hulkling and Wiccan run into the Wrecking Crew, who are pillaging the throne room of the fallen Asgard. This pisses Wiccan off, so he breaks off his search for survivors and goes after the Crew. After a bit of a battle, the two Young Avengers manage to take down the Wrecking Crew, which lifts Wiccan's spirits. Back underground, Hawkeye grows tired of Patriot's indecisiveness and begins to slowly tunnel her way out. This spurs Patriot to help, and before you know it the two are on their way to the surface. Speed gives up his search for survivors after not finding anybody to help, and is ready to call it quits when he gets a pep-talk from Ronin(the former Hawkeye), which gives him a renewed vigor to see what he can do to help. Patriot and Hawkeye make it to the surface and run into Wiccan and Hulkling, who then bump into Speed, and together, the five young heroes decide to head towards the site of the big final battle to give the Avengers a hand.

What I Thought: Ah, the Young Avengers... I am a huge fan of the Young Avengers, I was from the first issue of their all too short series, all the way through whatever sporadic comics they've popped up in over the years. So it should go without saying that I was REALLY looking forward to reading this comic... Unfortunately, it just never lived up to my high expectations. For me, as a huge YA fan, it was just lacking. The characters were whiny and indecisive, and the story was pretty thin. While I was happy to actually see/read about these characters, this comic definitely left me wanting a lot more...

Score: 6 out of 10.Can anybody explain why Clint bothers to put his mask back on in this scene? His ID is public knowledge as it is, so why even bother with the mask?

A Quick Look at Dark Reign: Young Avengers #5(of 5)

Writer: Paul Cornell. Pencils: Mark Brooks.

What Happened: The Young Avengers arrive at the hideout of the fake Young Avengers and discover not only the fake Young Avengers, but Norman Osborn and some of his Dark Avengers. Needless to say, from there we have quite the brouhaha. The fake YA and the Dark Avengers take the battle to the Young Avengers, while fake YA Coat of Arms stands on the sidelines, conflicted over what to do. Surprisingly, the Young Avengers manage to gain a slight advantage in the battle, so Osborn calls Sentry in to help out. Wiccan tries to reason with Enchantress, and he tells her that she isn't really an Asgardian like she originally believed, but that she's just a regular girl who Loki empowered to mess with the Avengers. Sentry doesn't take kindly to Wiccan's continued talking, so he blasts him to the floor. At that point Coat of Arms has seen enough, and she links herself, Enchantress and Wiccan via a magic chain and Wiccan uses his magical powers to transport Sentry away from the battle. With Sentry defeated, Melter of the fake YA figures he made the wrong choice aligning his team with Osborn and company, so he has Enchantress teleport the fake YA away from the battle. With the fake YA's gone, Sentry transported to who knows where and Bullseye injured, Osborn decides to retreat, telling the Young Avengers that the entire battle never happened before taking his leave. And that for all intents and purposes was the end.

What I Thought: I liked this mini-series. That's really the best thing I can say about it. I like most of the fake Young Avengers, and I've always liked the original Young Avengers. I also liked the way Sentry was easily defeated in this issue, I've never liked the Sentry, so I definitely enjoyed seeing him humbled. All in all this was a pretty good mini-series... Except for the last page. I don't know WHAT the hell it meant. I'll post it, and if anybody has any clue as to what it means, by all means, drop me a line!

Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.??????

A Quick Look at Dark Reign: Young Avengers #4(of 5)

Writer: Paul Cornell. Pencils: Mark Brooks.

What Happened: We begin with the Young Avengers trying to convince Executioner that Kate Bishop and Hawkeye aren't one and the same. The Young Avengers then meet with the faux Young Avengers and offer Coat of Arms and Enchantress a spot on the Young Avengers, with the rest of the faux YA having to find a new name and continue working towards true heroism. Coat declines, not wanting to abandon her team, but Enchantress happily joins the YA. Melter of the faux YA is incredibly insulted that he was snubbed(plus he isn't pleased that his girlfriend, Enchantress, will be leaving), so he makes a call to Norman "Marvel" Osborn, which Coat overhears. Loki reveals to Osborn that Enchantress is a mortal who mistaken believes she is an Asgardian, and Osborn seems pleased by what was said during the phone call. Big Zero and Egghead decide to ruin Enchantress' chances of being a YA, and they download information about Enchantress' true identity to Vision. The YA promptly toss Enchantress off the team and she returns to the faux YA extremely displeased. Coat vaguely warns Speed that her teammates are up to something, but she refuses to divulge exactly what. This issue ends with the faux YA tricking the real YA into meeting them, where they are jumped by the faux YA and some members of the Dark Avengers.

What I Thought: Hey, I enjoyed this issue. But then again, I'm just happy that the Young Avengers are actually doing SOMETHING in the Marvel U. The story has been solid, the art is good, and the cliffhanger at the end definitely has me eagerly anticipating the final issue of this mini-series. I have to say, after reading this mini, I'm quite pleased Paul has been tasked with bringing back the greatest comic book character of all-time, X-Man(duh!), in the upcoming Dark X-Men mini-series. Paul can definitely write an entertaining comic.

Score: 8 out of 10.Boy is Enchantress barking up the wrong tree... Not only is Wiccan gay, he's, "Very, very gay!".

Mighty Avengers #29

Plot: Dan Slott, Script: Christos Gage, Pencils: Khoi Pham.

What happened: We start off with some background information concerning the Unspoken and the Slave Engine which he took and hid from his fellow Inhumans while he was their king. In the present, the Chinese Army attacks the Unspoken but end up failing miserably. Back in Infinite Avengers Mansion, Ronin(who used to be Hawkeye)saves the Young Avengers from an attack by the Scarlet Witch(who is actually Loki). In another part of the Mansion, Pym embarks on some kind of experiment which sends him through the Macroverse. Back at the fight, Scarlet Witch knocks Clint out of her way and attacks the combined forces of the Young Avengers and Clint. Meanwhile, the Unspoken has arrived at the Slave Engine and is confronted by US Agent, Quicksilver and a few members of the Chinese super team. Unspoken reveals the true purpose of the Slave Engine to the gathered heroes, it devolves humans into Alpha Primitives, who are the slave caste of the Inhumans. Unspoken powers up the Slave Machine and US Agent as well as two members of the Chinese team begin to devolve into Alpha Primitives. Back at Infinite Avengers Mansion, Clint tells the Young Avengers to distract the Scarlet Witch so he can determine if she is who she claims to be. How does Clint do that? He plants a big old lip lock on the stunned Witch! After letting go, Clint is positive the lips he kissed weren't the same as the lips of his former longtime teammate. The Scarlet Witch becomes incensed and attacks Clint, but gives the Young Avengers an opening to attack her/him, which they do with gusto. Wiccan casts a spell which begins to reveal Loki's true form to the Young Avengers and Clint, but Loki reverses it and leaves in a huff, promising death to all. This issue ends with Stature finally able to tell Clint and her teammates about the emergency transmission from Quicksilver which was blocked by the Scarlet Witch.

What I thought: I really, REALLY enjoyed this issue! This series is EXACTLY where Clint Barton belongs, with a bow in his hand, not in that mockery of a comic, “New Avengers”. Reading this comic reminded me of all the great old Avengers stories before BENDIS dug his fingers into the series and tore all of the good away. If you're like me, and you're sick of BENDIS' bastardization of the Avengers, do yourself a favor and give this series a shot.

Score: 9 out of 10."Dirt-crawling worms"? "Gutter Magic"? That's some of the best comic book dialogue EVER!!! If I were to become a magician, I'd definitely use gutter magic on my foes!

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???

Dark Reign: Young Avengers #2(of 5)

I have a great affinity for the Young Avengers. That is the REAL Young Avengers, not the team of poseurs that we were introduced to in the first issue of this mini. With the way the last issue ended, this issue should herald the return of the real Young Avengers. Hopefully after this mini-series wraps up, Marvel will FINALLY give the Young Avengers a new series. This comic is written by Paul Cornell.

-This comic opens with the obligatory battle between the two teams calling themselves the Young Avengers. The battle turns out to be quite even(although it SHOULDN'T be...)until Enchantress flips out and halts the fighting with a massive magical blast.

-Patriot decides to try using words instead of fists and asks if these new Young Avengers were founded by Norman Osborn, similar to the way Osborn created the Dark Avengers. The leader of the new Young Avengers, Coat of Arms, says that Norman Osborn was the major influence in why she gathered her team of misfits. Apparently Coat was a fan of Norman during his Green Goblin days, and upon meeting him, he threatened to have her killed, so she put her Young Avengers together to strike back at Osborn... OOOOK...

-After that rather bizarre explanation, Patriot tells the faux Young Avengers that they can try-out to become real Young Avengers, or they can choose a new name for their team. Patriot says he'll return in 24 hours to hear what they've decided and Wiccan teleports the real Young Avengers away.

-Needless to say, the faux Young Avengers don't appreciate Patriot's ultimatum, and grouse to each other about Patriot and the Young Avengers. After the faux Young Avengers decide they won't jump through hoops for Patriot, Enchantress uses her magic to change her teammates minds, making them now want to try-out for the real Young Avengers.

-Later on, Melter(who saw what Enchantress pulled)confronts Enchantress and asks why she did what she did. Enchantress says that it is her destiny to be a Young Avenger, before she seduces Melter into dropping the topic.

-This issue ends with Executioner of the faux team talking to his mother over the phone about meeting Kate Bishop(Hawkeye of the Young Avengers). Executioner tells his mother he intends on molding Kate into a great hero like his mother, Princess Python!?!?

This comic wasn't half bad. The utterly bizarre story about Norman Osborn and Coat of Arms was pretty much the only thing here that I didn't like, and judging from the expressions of the Young Avengers after hearing Coat's story, I think her story was supposed to be weird to the point of being ridiculous. This issue also began to flesh out some of the members of the faux Young Avengers, which is much needed/appreciated. Melter seems like he truly wants to be a hero, but can't due to accidentally melting that old lady last issue, Coat is obviously nuts, there seems to be a lot more to Enchantress then meets the eye and the revelation that Princess Python is the mother of Executioner was kind of welcome. It seems like Executioner believes his mother is actually a super-hero, which should lead to some interesting stuff down the road when he inevitably discovers her true identity. Big Zero and Egghead were kept in the background this issue which was fine by me since I don't like either one of them. For a score I'll give this comic a 7 1/2 out of 10. I'm not really sure where Paul is taking this series, but I'm willing to stick around to find out.

Dark Reign: Young Avengers #1(of 5)

For no reason in particular I'm going to give this comic a read tonight. I know NOTHING about this mini-series(I hardly ever check out the solicitations)except that it has Young Avengers in the title. This is written by Paul Cornell, whose work I'm not very familiar with.

-??? OK, first a review, THEN some editorializing.

-This comic introduces us to a team of teenagers who are most definitely NOT the original Young Avengers. We begin this issue with this new team of Young Avengers stopping a store robbery in a style that would probably be more suited to the Punisher as opposed to the Avengers. Two of the robbers get killed, one gets turned into a dog, and the other gets put in a coma.

-From there the title characters head to a bar and have a few drinks before heading to their base, an invisible manor in Central Park. After arriving home they argue about the way the robbers were taken down and ultimately accomplish nothing.

-The next day, the leader of the team, Melter, accidentally melts an old woman who thought he was trying to mug her. After realizing what he had done, Melter retreats back to his base where he sees the original Young Avengers teleport in to confront Melter and his team.

-These Young Avengers consist of: Melter-he has the power to melt stuff, seems to be the team leader and the most "heroic" of the bunch. Coat of Arms-she put Melter as the leader of this team, so it would seem she is the true boss here, she is also an artist and doesn't appear to have any super-powers. Enchantress-claims to have been thrown out of Asgard, wields powerful magicks. Big Zero- she has the ability to increase her size and also appears to be a racist. Egghead- seems to be a robot/android. Executioner- he doesn't appear to have any powers, uses firearms, seems to relate to the Punisher.

Now I can say it. ????? I'm not really sure what the hell was going on here! If Paul was trying to create a completely unlikable team of "heroes" I guess he succeeded. This was all just weird! When you grab a comic book that says Young Avengers on the cover, you almost expect to read the opposite of what was in this book. To be honest though, if this comic didn't have the Young Avengers name on the cover I think I would have enjoyed it a lot more. What I mean is if this team had some kind of anti-heroish name I'd have been fine. But, this team is a VERY far cry from what I expected to be reading about.

After saying all of that, I will state that I'll be picking up the next issue in order to find out what happens next. If this group had some minor tweaking done(change the team name and get rid of the big racist girl!!!)this could definitely be an interesting team. For a score I'll go with a 7 out of 10. This was a solid(if a bit confusing)first issue.

Secret Invasion: Runaways/Young Avengers #3

Overall- Meh. If you want to know how I feel about this comic, you're best bet is to read what I had to say about issue #2 of this series. The same basically applies here. I like the Young Avengers. Always did and always will. Same goes for the Runaways. Not even Chris Yost can screw that up, which surprises the hell out of me.

As for this comic, I only read it just to get it finished with. That's not ever a good reason to read something, but that's what I did, so I really just didn't care what happened in it, as long as Yost could hold himself off of murdering teen aged heroes, which happens to be his specialty. Since he was nice enough not to kill half the members of both teams, I'll be nice enough to give this comic a 3 1/2 out of 10. Trust me, that's me being nice...

Secret Invasion: Runaways/Young Avengers #2

Overall- Just for the record, I did read the first issue of this mini-series, but because of my overwhelming hatred for the "Secret Invasion" in general and Chris Yost in particular, I've left this comic sitting around for a while now. I might as well read it now, seeing as that I did buy it... I also did love the Young Avengers, that is when they had a comic!!!

My hatred for the writing of Yost has been constant, and as far as I am concerned, he is indicative of everything wrong with Marvel Comics right now... With that being said, this comic was not as bad as it could have been. That's about the nicest thing I can possibly say about anything penned by Chris Yost, the man who destroyed one of my favorite comics... I really couldn't give a #### about this mini-series or "Secret Invasion" but this comic was OK.

I know, I know... I'm sure someone out there is thinking, "If he hates this comic/crossover/writer/company, why is he buying the comics?". Deep down in my heart, I am and will always be a fan of Marvel Comics, the REAL Marvel Comics, not the bull#### Joe Quesada (Marvel's Editor in Chief) is force feeding us and I just can't bring myself to stop collecting Marvel Comics no matter how horrible it all gets. I guess Marvel has become like a terrible car wreck on the side of the road for me... No matter how much I know I shouldn't look, I look anyway.

Anyway, for me this comic is a 4 out of 10, a score that could be considered a minor miracle, considering how much this comic had going against it.