Young Avengers, Vol. 1 by Allan Heinberg

The cameos from various Avengers had me fangirling all over the place, though I'm sad that my favourite is dead at the moment. I especially love Billy, Teddy and Tommy's backstories. In fact, I dare say that this comic is a study in how you should write characters of different ethnicities and sexualities!Īnd that's not the only thing it's got going for it! The dialogue is wonderful: effective, believable and had me laughing out loud at several points! The plot, while rushed in a few places, was very good too. Devoid of stereotypes or generalizations, Eli becomes so much more than just the black kid, Billy and Teddy are not just the gay couple and Kate is absolutely kick-ass. But the comic's greatest strength lies in how much it respects its own characters. In the foreword by Jeph Loeb, he says that Young Avengers should have been a disaster, a train wreck, and he is right: it very easily could have been. Stories of this nature will always be a little silly, but in the case of Young Avengers, there's a huge emphasis on the 'A LITTLE'.

Let's face it: this is as good as the 'teenage-ification comics' (word? It is now!) are going to get.

The main characters are new, and any backstory you need is explained as the story progresses.

It's a good book for anyone not overly familiar with the lore and backstory of every Marvel character. It was almost throwaway too, it was referenced once and never again. I was disappointed that Kate Bishop's backstory involved being assaulted, it's a tired trope giving a female character that backstory as motivation. Same goes for Eli's character, he's African American but it's only relevant in relation to his grandfather's time as the 'Black Captain America'. I loved the way Wiccan and Hulkling were written as regular teenage guys who happen to be into each other without falling into any stereotypical attributes. This was released in 2005, which wasn't that long ago, but long enough that casually including LGBT characters in media was pretty rare. I was particularly fond of Wiccan, because honestly just having a gay character is enough to add a star sometimes. I liked the core group of characters, each of them gets a little bit of backstory (some more than others) to flesh them out as characters. but this is my first experience with Marvel's take on the concept (excluding The X-Men). I guess I'd describe myself as a lapsed DC fan, so I'm so used to young hero teams, Teen Titans, Young Justice, etc. A bunch of super powered teenagers get together and fight crime.

I don't think you need too much prior knowledge of the Marvel universe beyond a fairly basic understanding. This is a really fun, self contained series.

Young Avengers, Vol. 1 by Allan Heinberg