Peace and Enlightenment Vs Close Harmony Girl Groups
February 2, 2013 10:38 AM Subscribe
Why Young Avengers #1, the "Perfect Pop" comic from Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie, is the future of Suphero comics. Commentary Track: Gillen & McKelvie Discuss "Young Avengers" #1 - complete with the first few pages of script. Young Adult Library Association Names 2013's Great Graphic Novels for Teens.
As much as I love Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie's work together, I thought YA #1 was, well.. kind of boring. Sure, the art was great and the writing was snappy, but it felt like a handful of ideas thrown together with not much thought about where they're going or why. Just that it looks good and they wanted to break some new ground. Maybe it will get better as the series goes on and the pacing becomes clearer. For now, I'm not going to rush to pick it up.
posted by fight or flight at 10:50 AM on February 2, 2013
posted by fight or flight at 10:50 AM on February 2, 2013
I will pretty much buy anything involving Kieron & Jamie; and I will not give a shit that there will be fanboys in the world that will shit on it because they shit on everything.
(That said, let's have the new Phonogram now, 'kay?)
posted by Kitteh at 11:27 AM on February 2, 2013 [1 favorite]
(That said, let's have the new Phonogram now, 'kay?)
posted by Kitteh at 11:27 AM on February 2, 2013 [1 favorite]
I like the counterpoint of the last link. Two superhero compilations in a list of ten books. "Young Avengers" may be the future of superhero comics, but I'm really delighted that doesn't mean it's the future of all comics.
posted by egypturnash at 11:59 AM on February 2, 2013 [3 favorites]
posted by egypturnash at 11:59 AM on February 2, 2013 [3 favorites]
I bought Young Avengers #1 because after Phonogram and Journey Into Mystery I am thoroughly on board the Gillen/McKelvie train, but at this point I think I've spent more time reading about Young Avengers than I spent actually reading the comic. The comic itself was a promising start, I love how joyful and fun it all feels, but it's doing double-duty to try and kick off a story while introducing six characters and the plot has barely got started. Let's not pin all our hopes for the superhero genre on YA just yet when we could be pinning them on Hawkeye as well.
posted by penguinliz at 1:34 PM on February 2, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by penguinliz at 1:34 PM on February 2, 2013 [1 favorite]
OK, so the X-Men have the Danger Room and Batman has a PhD in criminal psychology. They are action professionals who visibly dedicate lots of effort to preserving and extending their skills. What's up with this new crop of adolescent upstarts, thinking that they can get by on pluck, nepotism, and occasional mentoring from older working superheroes? It's almost as bad the situation in The Incredibles, which was the superhero equivalent of faith-based homeschooling.
posted by Nomyte at 2:50 PM on February 2, 2013
posted by Nomyte at 2:50 PM on February 2, 2013
Was that a question? Close harmony girl groups every time. No contest.
posted by jfuller at 4:33 PM on February 2, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by jfuller at 4:33 PM on February 2, 2013 [1 favorite]
I've gotten terribly spoiled by Kate Bishop being in a comic for the last two weeks. What am I going to do next Wednesday?
I bought Young Avengers because of the hype and I'm glad I did. It's a good setup. I don't know if I could give YA #1 to someone who had never heard anything about the authors or the characters and have them hooked. But hell, it's a first issue: just introducing everyone adequately is a pretty big job in and of itself.
The biggest surprise, for me, is that I actually like everyone on the team. Even Wiccan and Hulkling, who always struck me as kind of bland in the first YA run. Kid Loki's surprisingly charming, Noh-Varr's characterization seems like it's going to make sense, and I immediately tried to figure out what comics America Chavez had been in before this so I could read more of her. Kate Bishop is still awesomeness in purple, so no surprise there. I actually want to know more about all of these characters. That never happens in these sorts of comics.
And, you know, this splash page.
posted by dinty_moore at 6:21 PM on February 2, 2013 [1 favorite]
I bought Young Avengers because of the hype and I'm glad I did. It's a good setup. I don't know if I could give YA #1 to someone who had never heard anything about the authors or the characters and have them hooked. But hell, it's a first issue: just introducing everyone adequately is a pretty big job in and of itself.
The biggest surprise, for me, is that I actually like everyone on the team. Even Wiccan and Hulkling, who always struck me as kind of bland in the first YA run. Kid Loki's surprisingly charming, Noh-Varr's characterization seems like it's going to make sense, and I immediately tried to figure out what comics America Chavez had been in before this so I could read more of her. Kate Bishop is still awesomeness in purple, so no surprise there. I actually want to know more about all of these characters. That never happens in these sorts of comics.
And, you know, this splash page.
posted by dinty_moore at 6:21 PM on February 2, 2013 [1 favorite]
For those of you who haven't felt overwhelmed by YA coverage, Gillen posted a meet the characters (with soundtrack!) and another panel by panel commentary on his tumblr.
Of the two, I think the meet the characters was a lot more interesting, especially in regards to the shape of the series.
posted by dinty_moore at 6:30 PM on February 2, 2013 [1 favorite]
Of the two, I think the meet the characters was a lot more interesting, especially in regards to the shape of the series.
posted by dinty_moore at 6:30 PM on February 2, 2013 [1 favorite]
Oh wow, I had no idea this was happening. I might have to start buying monthly comics again- after Grant Morrison slowed down on the Batman books, I pretty much stopped except for a handful of Brandon Graham and James Stokoe titles.
I love the variant cover by Scott Pilgrim's Bryan Lee O'Malley, too.
posted by Merzbau at 6:34 PM on February 2, 2013 [1 favorite]
I love the variant cover by Scott Pilgrim's Bryan Lee O'Malley, too.
posted by Merzbau at 6:34 PM on February 2, 2013 [1 favorite]
While it seems like Gillen's a relatively recent transplant to comics from games journalism, he was actually an extremely prolific poster on Warren Ellis's delphi forum when he was a teenager. I've been following this kid's work for a long, long time. This is definitely an example of someone who was committed to a dream of being a writer and has pursued it relentlessly for over a decade.
posted by empath at 7:18 PM on February 2, 2013
posted by empath at 7:18 PM on February 2, 2013
"When someone slags off your comic for the extra page pirate scanners add to the version they've downloaded, you have to smile." -- Kieron Gillen's Twitter feed.
posted by straight at 7:42 PM on February 2, 2013
posted by straight at 7:42 PM on February 2, 2013
I read Young Avengers #1 and I was... eh. They're not Avengers just variants thereof, and I didn't find too much of interest, although it is was better than most of what I have read of Marvel Now. Young Loki seems interesting. But I really have no idea who all these people are, so I'm probably out of step. Wiccan?
Apparently one of Wanda's kids? Who didn't exist?
When someone slags off your comic for the extra page pirate scanners add to the version they've downloaded, you have to smile.
I spent five minutes to figure that it's a thang with booty girls and the Hydra logo?
posted by Mezentian at 2:08 AM on February 3, 2013
Apparently one of Wanda's kids? Who didn't exist?
When someone slags off your comic for the extra page pirate scanners add to the version they've downloaded, you have to smile.
I spent five minutes to figure that it's a thang with booty girls and the Hydra logo?
posted by Mezentian at 2:08 AM on February 3, 2013
Wiccan?
Apparently one of Wanda's kids? Who didn't exist?
Yeah, that was the focus of a couple of arcs in the first Young Avengers run.
This is what I gathered: At one point, Wanda had twins. And then they died. And then she killed some avengers out of grief, which I think was the thing that made the avengers disband for a while?
But either Wanda was so powerful or the babies were so powerful that it caused their souls to stick around and be born again, but to different parents. Wiccan grows up to be a gay nerdy Jewish kid with Scarlet Witch's powers, while Speed grows up to be a juvenile delinquent with Quicksilver's.
Said twins meet during the previous Young Avengers run and then spend a while wondering why they looked exactly like each other and a lot like Magneto.
Speed is not in the current Young Avengers, because his job in the previous Young Avengers was to be a dick, and now we have Kid Loki, who is a far more interesting type of dick.
I found the previous run of Young Avengers to be pretty disappointing. Though I admit I mostly read it for more Kate Bishop and then spent the entire time being disappointed that the comic wasn't all about Kate Bishop and Cassie Lang being BFF's and maybe making out, so maybe there's a thing to be said about expectations.
posted by dinty_moore at 5:44 AM on February 3, 2013
Apparently one of Wanda's kids? Who didn't exist?
Yeah, that was the focus of a couple of arcs in the first Young Avengers run.
This is what I gathered: At one point, Wanda had twins. And then they died. And then she killed some avengers out of grief, which I think was the thing that made the avengers disband for a while?
But either Wanda was so powerful or the babies were so powerful that it caused their souls to stick around and be born again, but to different parents. Wiccan grows up to be a gay nerdy Jewish kid with Scarlet Witch's powers, while Speed grows up to be a juvenile delinquent with Quicksilver's.
Said twins meet during the previous Young Avengers run and then spend a while wondering why they looked exactly like each other and a lot like Magneto.
Speed is not in the current Young Avengers, because his job in the previous Young Avengers was to be a dick, and now we have Kid Loki, who is a far more interesting type of dick.
I found the previous run of Young Avengers to be pretty disappointing. Though I admit I mostly read it for more Kate Bishop and then spent the entire time being disappointed that the comic wasn't all about Kate Bishop and Cassie Lang being BFF's and maybe making out, so maybe there's a thing to be said about expectations.
posted by dinty_moore at 5:44 AM on February 3, 2013
Can I just give a shout-out to Fearless Defenders?
I'm a longtime Defenders fan (although they are hit and miss historically), but the first episode of the new series was pretty solid.
There was one thing which I did not like -- the complete rewriting of everything we know about a character's proclivities -- but it was otherwise a good book.
I'm not huge into comics, so I didn't know an ALL FEMALE Defenders was coming, but gosh, did hear about the 13th monthly X-book with ALL FEMALE X-Men? Yes I did.
posted by Mezentian at 4:01 AM on February 8, 2013
I'm a longtime Defenders fan (although they are hit and miss historically), but the first episode of the new series was pretty solid.
There was one thing which I did not like -- the complete rewriting of everything we know about a character's proclivities -- but it was otherwise a good book.
I'm not huge into comics, so I didn't know an ALL FEMALE Defenders was coming, but gosh, did hear about the 13th monthly X-book with ALL FEMALE X-Men? Yes I did.
posted by Mezentian at 4:01 AM on February 8, 2013
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posted by Artw at 10:49 AM on February 2, 2013