What I’m reading: Young Avengers - Family Matters
June 18th, 2008
I completely missed this series when it first started, I only knew vaguely about the character Iron Lad, mainly because he appeared to be an alternative version of Iron Man. Little did I know that there was a very enjoyable series featuring the next generation of heroes. The Marvel equivalent of the Teen Titans I guess, I don’t like to compare the two companies off like that though.
I was only slightly intrigued when I saw this graphic novel at the library but the artwork looked crisp and I had encountered some of the characters throughout Civil War and now the Skrull invasion series currently happening. The library is free (yay) so I took a very tiny chance on it.
Pretty happy I did.
Very well written scripts that invited me in despite not having read any of the earlier books, Iron Lad by this stage was already dead and being replaced with a new version of the Vision. There is something wonderful about reading a book set before Civil War and Captain America is still seen as the leader of the Avengers. Watching him show up on the doorstep of a teenager who is moonlighting as a super hero to speak with his parents is one of those subtle moments that make these books a joy to read.
Most of this falls down to excellent writing and it doesn’t surprise me that the writer is Allan Heinberg who has been a writer and producer on shows such as Party of Five, Sex and the City, Gilmore Girls, The O.C., and Grey’s Anatomy.
There is an interesting mix of characters in the Young Avengers and it goes a long way embracing diversity in the comic book world. We have an openly gay couple who refreshingly are not over done, an African-American leader, a Wiccan, an alien, a robot/synthetic, twins, super powered characters, a non super powered character and a mixture of male and females. It’s a wonderful melting pot.
The adult Avengers make an appearance or two and as I mentioned it is nice seeing Iron Man and Captain America as allies before Marvel did their best to make Stark a tool.
Head on down to your local library and try and get them to order this one in! Or better still pop into the comic book shop and drop some cash on them - they might give you a copy in exchange for your shiny dollars.
I’m also finally reading the last instalment of the Tomorrow Series (I’m still dodging the saga of the seven suns - although I picked up a comic book prequel to it).
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Categories: Comics | Tags: allan heinberg, comic books, Comics, teen titans, What I'm reading, young avengers
I enjoyed this book too, and would have liked to see it continue as an ongoing. Unfortunately the writer’s Hollywood commitments seem to have dragged him away from comics, and Marvel seem reluctant to let anyone else handle the characters on any more than a mini-series or guest appearance basis.
Rols last blog post..The Happening
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that’ll be shiny Euro’s thank you very much!
I’m going to try to randomly read stuff from your recommended comic stuff this summer.
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Rol - I don’t know if their reluctance is a good thing or a bad thing to be honest. In lesser hands I imagine this series to be average at best. But that doesn’t help anyone when the thing doesn’t come out for huge stretches at a time. Nothing irritates me more than the irregular waits All Star Batman and Robin but when it does show up it is truely golden so the indignation subsides!
I’m wondering anyway if we don’t currently have too many titles featuring the same character - this is probably a discussion for another day.
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Arjan - I sould prepare a list for you
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I’m really glad you liked the Young Avengers. When I saw this title in ‘Marvel Previews’ I knew I had to at least give it a go and I wasn’t disappointed. Since you missed Iron Lad, I can tell you who he is (he’s not Tony Stark), but I’ll only do it if you want me to.
As to the “Marvel did their best to make Stark a tool” comment, I totally disagree. I like where Marvel are taking Iron Man lately and applaud them for taking this chance.
Suggestion: If you’d like to do a ‘post-civil war Tony Stark is a tool’ QYDJ debate, I’d be more than happy to argue the negative.
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Yeah they very carefully brought me up to speed on who Iron Lad was, of course had I not been a long time Marvel reader I suspect the reference may have simply gone over my head.
With Stark, I’m not a fan of Director Stark, I much prefer him at Stark Enterprises/Industries/Solutions, I can’t even say that I’m a huge fan of the current armour either, I just dig old school Iron Man I guess (except for the moustache). It doesn’t help that I don’t really like the artwork on Iron Man Director of SHIELD either, I don’t think they have their most talented artists on the title.
Loving the Iron Man/Dr Doom series.
As for the suggestion, I make it a rule never to get involved in a land war in Asia.
I will heartily accept a guest post on the subject though!!!
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A guest post? Interesting.
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I sense that you’re intrigued. Excellent.
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