Comics are Awesome III

[Sparky Prime]

Young Avengers - Secret Identities (2005)

The New Avengers have formed by now, as we see their new headquarters in Avengers Tower with Spider-Man, Luke Cage and Captain America discussing how to handle the situation with the Young Avengers. Cap decides to send Jessica Drew to talk to Cassie's mom, while he goes to talk to Eli's grandparents. Iron Man studies their new Vision, discovering he has adapted the brainwaves of Nate Richards (similar to how the original Vision adapted the brainwaves of Simon Williams), essentially making him a teenaged Vision. Meanwhile, Billy tries to tell his parents that he's a super hero, but they misinterpret it as him coming out as gay, and embrace his relationship with Teddy. Eli notices some drug dealers near a warehouse and ends up crashing into their production facility, headed up by Mr. Hyde. The rest of the Young Avengers join him, only for Wiccan to discover Eli is using the drugs they're producing, Mutant Growth Hormones. Turns out, Eli doesn't have super powers. When he first met Iron Lad, Iron Lad had been looking for his uncle, Josiah, who has been missing for a few years now. But Eli lied to him, telling him he'd gotten a blood transfusion from his grandfather, Isaiah, that gave him super soldier powers. He's actually been using MGH to fake it. Eli is able to defeat Mr. Hyde by taking a massive dose of MGH. After the battle, Eli quits the team now that his secret is out.

I remember this story having a bit of controversy in that Eli was taking drugs to give him super powers. This was based on Allen Heinberg's own steroid use. I get what he was going for but not sure it translated that well. At any rate, mutant growth hormone is an interesting idea, basically a drug that gives normal people temporary super powers, or can temporarily boost someone's powers if they have powers. I'm a little disappointed this was only 2 issues, because they could have done so much more with this story that would have fleshed it out better.

Young Avengers - Family Matters (2005)

The Young Avengers are officially disbanded by Captain America. The team meets after school, hoping to get Eli to talk to them, when Teddy is grabbed by Kl'rt the Super-Skrull. The kids manage to get away, and head to Billy's home, where they find Teddy's mom is there looking for him. Super Skrull catches up to them, using a device that forces a Skrull back to their true form. Teddy's appearance remains unchanged, but his mom is revealed to be a Skrull. She attacks Kl'rt, but he kills her and kidnaps Teddy in the confusion. The Young Avengers go to Avengers Tower for help, but the New Avengers aren't in, only Jarvis and Vision. Vision agrees to help, but Patriot thinks they need more, and Vision points out another potential recruit from his contingency plan. This turns out to be a speedster named Tommy Shepard, and much to their surprise, appears to be Billy's identical twin, save for having white hair.
Meanwhile, Kl'rt reveals that Teddy is actually named Dorrek VIII, and is the son of the Skrull Princess Anelle. He was taken to Earth by his mother's chambermaid (whom Teddy thought was his mother) to find his father to protect him. Now Kl'rt wants him to take his rightful place to reunite their Empire. The Young Avengers arrive, but shortly thereafter, are attacked by Kree warriors. They want Teddy because his father was the Kree warrior Captain Mar-Vell. The Young Avengers manage to escape with Super Skrull, and tells Billy and Tommy he think they are the sons of Scarlet Witch. But before they can get much into the topic, they're attacked by Skulls, with the Kree and New Avengers arriving shortly after, quickly becoming an all out battle.
Teddy calls for a ceasefire, but when a Kree fires at Captain America, Patriot jumps in front of it, and the battle restarts. Eventually Teddy agrees to go with them (the Kree and Skrull agreeing to a sort of shared custody) to get the fighting to stop. After they leave, it's revealed Super Skrull swapped places with Teddy, allowing Teddy to remain on Earth for the time being. At the hospital, Eli receives a blood transfusion from his grandfather, giving him super solider powers just as he had originally claimed happened. Kate stands up to Cap when he tries to shut them down again, arguing they have the right to use their abilities to help people. Cap agrees and gives her the name Hawkeye, because her standing her ground reminded him of Clint. Tommy joins the Young Avengers as Speed.

So they reveal the mysterious connection Billy and Teddy have to the Avengers that was set up in the first story arc. Billy and Tommy being Wanda's kids is presented here as speculation they only briefly touch on, but it's obviously a forgone conclusion already. The question is how it's possible, given what happened to the twins last they had been seen. Something a later story would address. Teddy being the son of Captain Mar-Vell and Princess Anelle I don't recall anyone guessed at the time. Mar-Vell already sort of had 2 kids: Genis-Vell and Phyla-Vell. Although both of them were artificially created and aged to adulthood after Mar-Vell died. Not sure they've ever crossed paths, but that'd be fun to see. I liked the idea of Teddy being a hybrid of a Kree and Skrull. Given the races history, it creates an interesting dynamic for Teddy. Something this story touches on, but again, we'll see more of later on.

I really like the use of the Super Skrull here. Starting him off as a villain trying to kidnap Teddy, and eventually have him allied with the Young Avengers by the end, helping Teddy. Unfortunately, I don't think they ever address this ruse with him having switched places with Hulkling again. You'd think once the Kree or Skrull found out they'd been duped, they would have come back for him in force. Would have been nice if they had tied Secret Invasion into that to some degree. I recall Hulkling telling some Skrulls who he is, but they didn't even care in that storyline. Hulkling being the heir to the Skrull throne eventually comes up again in Empyre. I feel like they could have done more with him being the son of Mar-Vell, or half Kree, other than he has some clout with the Kree.

Eli getting a blood transfusion giving him the super soldier serum from his grandfather feels a little tacked on. I like that his lie became the truth. But, I dunno, it just feels odd that it happened in this arc rather than the previous one.

[andersonh1]

Today's comics: World's Finest #32 and Green Lantern #16 (which gets a legacy number of 583... I'm not sure which series they added up to reach that number!)

So let's assume the Golden Age's 38 issues aren't counted... different character.

GL vol. 2 - 200 issues
GL vol. 3 - 181 issues
GL vol. 4 - 67 issues
GL vol. 5 - 52 issues
GL vol. 6 - 12 issues
GL vol. 7 (current) - 16

That gets us 528. I'm assuming Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps is not counted, though if it was that would make 578. Count the The Green Lantern's 24 issues instead and that's 552, so that's still not right. I'm honestly not sure where they got the legacy numbering. I'd like to see what they counted and what they didn't.

[Sparky Prime]

That gets us 528. I'm assuming Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps is not counted, though if it was that would make 578. Count the The Green Lantern's 24 issues instead and that's 552, so that's still not right. I'm honestly not sure where they got the legacy numbering. I'd like to see what they counted and what they didn't.

Yeah, nobody knows where DC came up with the number. I've seen several debates online speculating how they arrived at it. Like you point out, there isn't enough Green Lantern issues to account for 583, so they have to include some other GL title(s) that shouldn't be.

[andersonh1]

That gets us 528. I'm assuming Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps is not counted, though if it was that would make 578. Count the The Green Lantern's 24 issues instead and that's 552, so that's still not right. I'm honestly not sure where they got the legacy numbering. I'd like to see what they counted and what they didn't.

Yeah, nobody knows where DC came up with the number. I've seen several debates online speculating how they arrived at it. Like you point out, there isn't enough Green Lantern issues to account for 583, so they have to include some other GL title(s) that shouldn't be.

I thought they may have counted "Green Lanterns" as close enough (though it seems like The Green Lantern would also be close enough), but that series had 57 issues, so it's still off. That would take us to 585. Yeah, nothing adds up here.

[andersonh1]

Today's comics: World's Finest #33 and Green Lantern #17/584. And the old DC bullet logo is back! Glad to see it.

[Sparky Prime]

So the next few chapters in Young Avengers are mostly event tie-in miniseries.... Rather than do a big review of them all individually, I'm just going to briefly cover them.

Young Avengers Special
Accidently skipped this issue, and I think I confused this for the Presents minis-series earlier. I believe this came out after the first story arc. Basically a collection of short stories that helps to flesh out the characters a bit more before they became super heroes, told from the perspective of various interviews with the team. The art is pretty much hit or miss for me. Not a fan of Jae Lee's art style, who does Wiccan's segment. The stories I have to say I really enjoy, with each shedding some much needed insights into the characters. Wish they had more stories like this actually, since we don't see much of the Young Avengers prior to them forming the team.

Civil War: Young Avengers/Runaways
Like so many event tie-ins, this really had no barring on the main event, and the continuity doesn't exactly make sense. The Young Avengers were in the main event, although they mainly appear as background members for team Cap. Here, the team is just kind of hanging out, as if they aren't involved, and decide to go help the Runaways when they turn up on the news as a specialized team attempts to arrest them. From there it's a typical team up... The two teams misunderstand each others intentions, some members of both teams get captured, and they work together to break them out. It's a shame Marvel didn't utilize either of these teams better in this event. Following this, editorial wasn't paying attention or something, because Hulkling and Wiccan would be shown as members of the Initiative. I gather an issue of She-Hulk later retconned them to be a Hulkling and Wiccan from a parallel universe for some reason impersonating their 616 counterparts. Also a shame we didn't see more of these two teams working together. It's interesting both teams have a Skrull and a creation of Ultron among their lineup that they could have done so much more with. This story also includes Noh-Varr who later joins the Young Avengers in volume 2.

Young Avengers Presents
These were self contained issues exploring various issues the team was dealing with at the time. To be honest, I kinda forgot about this miniseries. Not that these are bad stories, just not that memorable and a couple of them really don't really do anything. Like, we get to see Hulkling meet Mar-Vell who is currently displaced in time. But then they immediately undermine the story by revealing Mar-Vell is actually a Skrull impersonator. Wiccan and Speed's story doesn't really amount to anything which I remember really being especially annoyed by when the issue first came out. Wiccan and Speed go looking for Scarlet Witch, but find Martin Preston instead, who basically tells them to give up the search. So we don't really get any good character interactions or developments at all. At least I would say the rest of the issues have character development by actually focusing on their interactions with other characters and/or their beliefs.

Secret Invasion: Runaways/Young Avengers
The second, and last, team up of the Runaways and Young Avengers. This apparently takes place after the Runaways return from a time travel story in their own series, and find the Skrull invasion in full swing with the Young Avengers under attack. So this time, it's the Runaways that jump in to help out the Young Avengers. With Hulkling being Skrull royalty, you'd think the Young Avengers would have been a big part of Secret Invasion, but they don't really factor into the main event at all. While this tie-in does address Hulkling's royal Skrull linage, it ignores the previous storyline of the Skrulls trying to bring him back to lead their people. Instead, they try to kill him so that he doesn't interfere with the invasion.

Dark Reign
This introduces a team of "Dark Young Avengers" mirroring the "Dark Avengers" team. Only the real Young Avengers don't just stand by while another team uses their name. So this series is all about who gets to use the name. Eventually the Dark Avengers show up to settle the battle and the two young teams battle it out. It goes so badly for the Dark team that Norman declares none of it to be a part of Avengers history.

Siege one shot
I know I read this when it originally came out, but until I re-read it, I'd completely forgotten what this was about. In the aftermath of New Asgard's destruction, the Young Avengers help to rescue survivors and battle some of the villains who are trying to take advantage of the situation.

So yeah... It was nice that Marvel didn't forget about the Young Avengers between 2006-2010, but having them only show up in these tie-ins in the background of these events was disappointing. I assume they didn't want to do much with these characters until Heinberg returned to continue the story with Children's Crusade. You can tell Marvel was just spinning their wheels with some of the characters, Wiccan and Speed in-particular.

[andersonh1]

Today's comics: Green Lantern #18/585, World's Finest #34, Green Lantern/Green Arrow special #1

[Sparky Prime]

Young Avengers The Children's Crusade (2010)

Spoiler

The Young Avengers battle the Sons of the Serpent, when Wiccan's displays an impressive amount of power to stop a nuke from going off and knocking out all the bad guys. The Avengers become concerned Wiccan may represent another threat like Scarlet Witch, and tells them about the full events of Disassembled and House of M. The Avengers want to run tests on him to determine the limits of his abilities, keeping him (and Hulkling) locked up in the meantime. The Young Avengers break in and suggest they go find Scarlet Witch, as she might be able to undo everything she did. Magneto shows up agreeing with Wiccan's teammates. The Avengers appear and fight Magneto, but Wiccan teleports him (and his teammates) to Transia. There, they encounter Quicksilver, who is not happy to see his father. Accidently injuring a woman in the crossfire, who looks a lot like Wanda, they discover she is actually a Doombot.

The group are convinced Doom could explain why no one had managed to locate Wanda in all this time, with his magic and technology shielding her, but they are cautious about storming Doom's castle. Wiccan eventually goes by himself while the others are asleep. He finds Wanda and learns she is betrothed to Doom, just before Doom appears and knocks him out. Later reviving him, Doom explains Wanda is suppressing her own memories and powers. She came to him of her own free will looking to help the people of the village she was living in and, according to Doom, they ended up falling in love. Meanwhile, the Avengers have arrived and a fight breaks out between them and the Young Avengers. Curious about her missing memories, Wanda goes to talk to Wiccan, who begins to explains everything to her as they use escape tunnels in the castle, when they encounter the fighting Avengers. Wolverine is about to kill Wanda, when Iron Lad turns up.

The battle continues until Iron Lad takes the Young Avengers, and Wanda, into the timestream to escape. Stature suggests going back to the events of Disassembled to undo everything. Patriot warns about the consequences of altering the past, but Iron Lad assures him his technology will prevent that. However, he is proven wrong when Scott Lang is able to see them. Jack of Hearts appears, begging Wanda not to make him do it, and just as he detonates, the Young Avengers arrive back in the present, inadvertently bringing Scott Lang with them, preventing his death. Iron Lad doesn't understand how they've time traveled, his suit wasn't recharged, and Wanda reveals she regained her memories and thus used her powers to make it possible. Wanda then attempts to kill herself with conjured Kree ships and Ultron robots but Beast and Jessica Jones arrive and help Wiccan talk her down. Testing whether Wanda can restore the mutants powers that lost them on M Day, they visit X Factor, and she successfully restores Rictor's powers. However, the X-Men and Avengers show up and once again fight over what to do with Wanda.

The Young Avengers flee back to Doom's castle, where they learn the whole reason Wanda had been able to do the level of magic she did in Disassembled and HoM was that Doom had attempted to help her resurrect her kids by channeling the "Life Force", but it overwhelmed her. They attempt the ritual again to restore the mutants lost powers, but Doom takes the power for himself. The X-Men and Avengers arrive and working together, they're able to remove Doom's power boost and he escapes, but Stature is killed. Iron Lad suggests changing history to save her, but Vision objects and Iron Lad attacks him, destroying him. Wiccan warns this is the moment Iron Lad becomes Kang the Conqueror, but Iron Lad doesn't care, only focused on saving Stature, and departs into time. With the battles over, the heroes decide to let Wanda go, with some of the blame on Doom, and nothing to be gained by executing Wanda. Wanda decides to go solo to figure out who she is without the X-Men, Avengers, Vision, Magneto or Quicksilver to define her. The Young Avengers officially disband (Eli decides to go live with his mom in Scottsdale), and Wiccan spends several months in a depressed state (also serving to show why they were absent from several subsequent event storylines). Eventually Hulkling is able to snap him out of it, and the Young Avengers are called into action by the adult team. Revealing a statue that includes Stature and Vision, Captain America says whether they decide to continue as Young Avengers or not, they are Avengers.

I remember really looking forward to this when it was first announced. After 4 long years, and so many event tie-ins that didn't really matter, Heinberg finally returned to move the Young Avengers plot forward. Unfortunately, it would take him 2 years to complete 9 issues, and the ending... Has a few problems. I get the feeling there had been some editorial interference, given the direction some of the characters would end up taking, but some of it also felt like they just wanted to rush to set the story on a certain path as well.

We get the official return of Scarlet Witch since she went missing after House of M. She'd shown up a few times here and there, as is pointed out in this comic, although this series establishes some of those meeting may have been a Doombot in her place. Not sure why they would want to undo those meetings, and I'm not sure why it would matter if Wanda didn't remember her previous life anyway. I'm disappointed they try to play off Wanda's mental break in Disassembled and HoM as being a plot Dr. Doom carried out. I guess later stories clarified that it was still all Wanda's fault, but still... When it comes down to it, it's ridiculous this story lets Wanda off the hook so easily. I just don't buy the X-Men and Avengers would allow her to just walk away. Don't know what this "Life Force" she and Doom used for a power boost is supposed to be. This is the first time such a power was ever referenced from what I can gather, and has since been explained to just be an aspect of Wanda's magic. Doesn't make any sense to me, but when it comes to magic, Marvel has the tendency not to explain things well... or at all.

The way Iron Lad turns to become Kang felt a bit too simple as well. The reason Kang is evil, is that a girl he liked died. Given Kang's history, I feel like there should be more to it than that, especially given no one stays dead in comics. On that note, I gather Dr. Doom later brought Cassie back to life in a 2015 story, and she took on a new identity: Stinger, modeled more after the Wasp. Not sure why they didn't have her rejoin the Young Avengers, but she and her dad became a new super hero duo. So the reason for Iron Lad to become Kang according to this story quickly became completely irrelevant.

The 'death' of the teenaged Vision was clearly to facilitate a reset of the character's status quo. The adult Vision had already been rebuilt by Tony Stark and reintroduced in an Avengers title several months prior to the conclusion of this story. They do mention the possibility of rebuilding YA Vision here, but due to his body being 30th century technology, they are unsure it'd be possible. So they don't even attempt anything, even though I'm pretty sure the Avengers have the level of technology that they could have rebuilt him. I've read Iron Lad, after becoming Immortus, uses an AI named Jonas in his suit, but that's the closest the character has come to returning.

Patriot surprisingly has stayed away from being a super hero following this story. Eli has had a few cameos since, but mostly just background appearances. Another character has taken the name Patriot, but he is Sam Wilson's sidekick, and has had no interaction with the Young Avengers.

Disappointed that Speed really doesn't get much characterization. Because the story focuses mainly on Wiccan, we don't really get much about how Tommy feels about finally finding Wanda, or how he feels about being one of her sons. Billy seems elated to finally find his mom. But I've always felt it was a missed opportunity to involve either if their biological parents in this story. See how they react to their sons being the reincarnated souls of Scarlet Witches twins, or how the boys view their.... complicated family dynamics. I mean, we never see how Billy or Tommy deal with having a biological family that gave birth to them and raised them. The way the story glosses over that makes it almost seem like they'd been adopted when they aren't.

I do enjoy this story arc, but I feel like it tries to do too much and as a result, has a lot of missed opportunities to explore so many character moments. It definitely reads like Heinberg wrapping up various plots he'd had in mind, but didn't really have the time to fully develop.

[andersonh1]

Aquaman #1 - written by Jeremy Adams. Not bad, if not as good as the last two "first issues" from the New 52 and Rebirth eras, though both of those were essentially the same series since one lead right into the other, and we've since had a break. Aquaman no longer looks like Jason Momoa, he's back to the classic look, albeit with a beard. He's king of Atlantis again and somehow has Mera's water controlling powers in addition to his own. He and Mera have a daughter (I guess their dead son is gone from continuity). It's a quick read going from rescuing a crashing plane to fighting a giant water kaiju to Atlantis vanishing along with all the inhabitants, which sends Aquaman through an Omega portal looking for it, something he goes to the Justice League for help with. It's a quick, breezy, action-adventure story with nowhere near the angst of previous versions. I'm in as long as it maintains a good level of quality.