Review: Young Avengers #6
Posted By Ian Menard on June 29, 2013
This month, Young Avengers took some time out of its regularly scheduled programming to catch the reader up with some old friends – David Alleyne aka Prodigy of the New X-Men, and Tommy Shepherd aka Speed, formerly of the Young Avengers. David had the mutant ability to know the skills of anyone and everyone around him, and even though he was de-powered on M-Day, he retained the knowledge. He works a help line, answering incredibly varied questions from how to disable bombs to how to fight Elektra. Tommy, as a speedster, works ten minutes a day assembling tablets. Unfortunately, from his perspective that time is a couple weeks. The two get coffee and lunch, discuss their plans. Both figure they’ll work a few weeks, save up, and do something else. It’s a very limited plan that just shows how young these two are.
Of course, the issue isn’t all ramen and coffee. There’s also a break-in at the office by someone masquerading as Patriot. The two kids attempt a sting, but everything goes horribly terribly wrong. While it’s somewhat unclear what happens to Tommy, it certainly looks unpleasant, and the mysterious intruder is incredibly creepy. What connection he has to the main story – if any – is yet to be seen, but hopefully David will let the Young Avengers (and especially Tommy’s brother, Wiccan) know what happened. The main team could really use a brainiac, and a goal, so that could really be a great fit.
This was a spectacular issue of Young Avengers. While the first arc was good, this issue was a great preview of what the series is capable of. Writer Kieron Gillen has such a great handle on the voices of David and Tommy – the former bitter and disillusioned and a little standoffish, the latter upbeat and not nearly as jaded as he thinks he is. The two have a great dynamic, and the issue was fantastic even before the creepy new threat was introduced. If Gillen can make life as a temp this interesting, then the superheroics can be really amazing.
Filling in for regular series artist Jamie McKelvie is Kate Brown, whose manga-inspired designs truly shine. Her monotonous page layouts capture the boredom of David’s job, which isn’t shaken up until Speed comes along. That’s when things get interesting, with characters standing outside of panels, dozens of tiny panels filling pages, capturing minute details. Young Avengers has always been a title with strong design, and Brown jumps right into that. Her Speed is especially expressive, but David certainly gets his moments.
Overall, this series is looking up – not that it was ever looking down. It’s fun, it’s funny, it’s youthful, the characters have distinct voices and endearing interactions, and now they have more of a purpose than ever. The next issue cannot come quickly enough.
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