| Title | : | Young Avengers, Vol. 1: Style Substance |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0785167080 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780785167082 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 120 |
| Publication | : | First published August 28, 2013 |
Collecting: Young Avengers 1-5, material from Marvel Now! Point One.1
Young Avengers, Vol. 1: Style Substance Reviews
-
um i loved this and i just went to find volume 2 of the trade paperback and i can't find it ANYWHERE. i need it. i must find it. IT'S GOTTA BE OUT THERE SOMEWHERE.
-
Such a light, fun, enjoyable read.
-
Ok, ok, ok! I get it now, guys!
Because I'm me, and my library likes to order books is some wonky order, I had to read
Young Avengers, Vol. 2: Alternative Culture, before I read this one.
Big mistake. HUGE! Don't do it.
Volume 2 didn't make me stand up and cheer (possibly because I was missing relevant plot points), but it wasn't awful, either. However, for the life of me, I couldn't figure out why my friends were rating this one so highly.
Aaaaaaand now I know...
Style > Substance is nothing short of complete awesomeness.
Really.
It's funny, smart, touching, and full of action.
And Loki. Don't forget little Loki.
Is he good? Is he bad? Or is he just as confused as we are?
I LOVE him! Totally my favorite.
In fact, if I have another kid, I've decided to name it Loki.
Relax, my tubes are tied...
So Wiccan wants to make his boyfriend, Hulkling, feel a little less alone in the world, and casts a spell to bring his mother to him from an alternate reality. Now, his real mother died, so Wiccan snatches this one from her dimension right before she would have been killed.
Except it's not Hulkling's mother.
It's Mother.
As in, a parasite who's been waiting for someone like Wiccan to fuck up, and let her in the door.
And now she's gonna suck the life out of them...and their friends.
The plot is great, but the genius lies in the dialogue, in the interactions, the reactions, and the inner thoughts of the characters.
Even the yambler recaps are hilarious!
Perfection!
Thanks for giving me the nudge I needed to go ahead and track this one down, Sesana. Totally worth it.
Read this. You won't be sorry. -
*3.5 stars
Really interesting setup, and something I want to continue, but a bit more exposition could have been useful. Kind of hard to go into this one with no prior Young Avengers knowledge, which I definitely don't have. But I did super enjoy how diverse this was. Like yes!!! -
You know how certain stories feature kids or teens in them because the storyteller somehow thinks that kids/teens won’t identify with the grown-up heroes and need someone relatable? That’s generally bogus – nobody wants to be Tom Cruise’s whiny kids in War of the Worlds, they want to be Tom Cruise. Nobody wants to be Jar Jar Binks or kid Anakin, they want to be Obi-Wan! Young Avengers somehow subverts that rule by making their teen characters the characters teens – and adults! - would want to be. Part of this success is how well Kieron Gillen’s captured what it feels like to be a teenager – turbulent mood swings both up and down, along with the exciting potential of the future, and the screw-it-all attitude that powers you through anything.
The Young Avengers are: Wiccan and his boyfriend Hulkling, Kate Bishop/Hawkeye and her boyfriend Marvel Boy, Kid Loki, and Ms America. Hulkling (and I love the character but what a stupid name!) doesn’t have parents and is living with his boyfriend Wiccan and his family who’re super-cool with the setup and their kid’s sexuality. But he misses his mum, so in an ill-advised scheme, Wiccan conjures up Hulkling’s mother from a parallel dimension only for Kid Loki to interfere and the Mother that steps out turns out to be some kind of shape-shifting/Agent Smith-like replicating crazy monster! Young Avengers Assemble!
In a book starring teen heroes, Gillen’s choice to make the antagonist an authoritarian figure literally called Mother is pure genius because who do kids rebel against? Their parents! This is my first Young Avengers book so I have no idea how or why Loki is suddenly a 14 year old but he’s definitely the best character in the group. Besides his good taste in breakfast food (bacon roll with ketchup – yummers!) he has a great scene where he tries to explain to the sceptical group that he’s a bad guy-ish but he’s also kinda good: “You guys read/watch Game of Thrones? Who’s your favourite character?” Everyone: “Tyrion” Loki: “I’m Tyrion!”.
Jamie McKelvie and Mike Norton’s art is damn near perfect. The lines are clear and smooth (which is the one thing that I felt was uncharacteristic of our teenage heroes – none of them had spots!) and the presentation is awesome. Teenagers – especially teen superheroes – are bound to swagger a bit and this book reflects that, opening with a cinematic title/scene switching opening sequence showing Hawkeye and Marvel Boy fighting Skrulls in space after boning. You can almost hear the power pop melodies of Green Day’s American Idiot playing as they launch into the Skrulls, smiling, as Kate says, with the kind of arrogant bluster teenagers tend to possess, that “being a superhero is amazing – everyone should try it!”. It even ends the same way with that self-important “you have been reading – Young Avengers!” title card sequence which is terrific, perfectly presenting the way teenagers see their lives, as the most interesting movie ever made. The flipside is, if you’re not enjoying the book it could come off as supremely annoying.
There’s also an amazing splash page where Marvel Boy explodes into a nightclub to save the rest of the Young Avengers from Mother and her brainwashed cohorts where we see the whole layout of the club, following his actions with numbers and close ups outside the layout drawing for details – I’m not doing it justice describing it, but it’s really something to see. They even go abstract in this book as Wiccan finds himself trapped within the panels of the comic, acting as a jail cell, as Loki and Hulkling bust open the panels to break him free, and skip over the panels like it’s a platform game to get back into their story. Again, the best Marvel books out there right now are incorporating elements you’d see in indie comics rather than superhero comics (Hawkeye is doing this the best) and it works so damn well – this sequence was unexpected and brilliant.
I don’t know any teenagers but I think if you gave them both Young Avengers and Teen Titans to read, they would go with Young Avengers – it’s a better book on every level and seems more appealing and convincing to a younger audience by being more identifiable, especially as Teen Titans is currently written by a guy in his 50s wearing a Hawaiian shirt! I’m not making this a Marvel/DC thing because I enjoy (and dislike) books from both, but I feel like Marvel have achieved audience range with this book while DC’s New 52 titles remain aimed at a certain kind of person in their 30s who only want to read “dark and gritty” tales.
This book is called Style>Substance which describes the attitudes of the characters but definitely not the characters or the book itself which has plenty of both. Young Avengers - what an unexpectedly great book! Gillen and co. capture the spirit of youth in Young Avengers, when all you needed was your favourite song and your best friend and you were unstoppable. The characters are balanced really well, at times confident and clear-sighted, other times vulnerable and suddenly realising their limitations, and they also seem like real teenagers – there’s even a scene where they get carded at a club! Young Avengers is a really fun superhero book that’s easily one of the most impressive Marvel NOW! titles out there. -
CAN MARVEL PLEASE MAKE THIS SERIES INTO A NETFLIX SHOW OR SOMETHING I NEED ONE IN MY LIFE!!!
Okay so this series was absolutely amazing!! This bunch of characters was such a brilliant mix and they all just worked really well together!
I felt like it represented teenagers in a very accurate light; from game of thrones references to the tumblr style previously section at the start of every issue! They tackled and represented homosexuality, depression, racial diversity etc so so well and I really do think everyone should give this series a go as I can assure you that you won't be disappointed! -
This was a really solid first volume of a comic book series. It was easier to follow than probably any other comic I've read, which was nice. It introduced all the characters in a really natural way while still having its own plot. And it alludes to some sort of backstory that I'm intrigued to find out about it the next volumes. If you like Marvel but with a fun twist--the characters are all offspring of the Avengers--then I'd recommend it. Also Loki is great.
-
The more I think about this series, the more I absolutely hate it. I'm sorry. I know everyone else loved it, but I absolutely hated it.
I started with Heinberg's run of Young Avengers, you know, the original, and fell in love with that. It was absolutely wonderful. There were diverse characters with interesting plot-lines, great chemistry, and so much life to them. It was wonderful. I was so excited to hear it was starting a new, and even that Kid Loki was being added. I was excited. I was so disappointed.
I read Kieron Gillen's run of "Journey into Mystery" and at first, I loved it. Kid Loki was fantastic. But the further the story went (away from the Fear Itself plotline, might I add), the more convoluted it got. It got very confusing, and lost it's spark.
Gillen brought Kid Loki in, because that's his baby. He's made a name for himself through Kid Loki. So he wrote Kid Loki well. Nobody else.
First, he messed with my all time favorites, Billy and Teddy. At the end of "Avengers: The Children's Crusade" Billy was suffering from depression because he nearly killed people, found out his mother was the infamous Scarlet Witch, lost some of his best friends, and was considered so dangerous that Wolverine nearly killed him. I think that's good reason to be a bit depressed. But here's the thing, at the end of that run, Teddy got him out of his funk and back in to crime fighting because it was what they both loved. Where did this series pick up? With a Billy who was whiny and emo and cried a lot. The fact that Billy had put the uniform back on was completely ignored. Gillen wanted the teen angst, because that's what we all love, right? Teen angst (Ugh!). So we get Billy crying and yelling at Teddy and being overly depressed. It was not Billy's personality at all. I don't think Gillen even really read any of the previous books, otherwise, he would know Billy is not this whiny douche.
Teddy basically turned in to just the "perfect boyfriend" that everyone wanted. There wasn't much else to his personality that I could find. Technically the same goes for Billy. Their entire personalities were that they were each other boyfriend's and they loved each other and were uber gay. Oh but of course, Gillen is hip, so they all watched "Game of Thrones" because that's sooo nerdy and after all, Billy and Teddy are nerds. (For anyone who was paying attention, they were super-hero fanboys. Slightly different. I'll let that slide, but still urked me).
I believe Kate Bishop was in this? All I know was that she somehow magically ended up in a space ship with an alien dude. That was it. Don't know what she did the whole time, other than to stand there.
Then there's the space dude. Noah-var or Marvel Boy? I think those were his names. He was just there to do flips and act even more gay than Billy and Teddy were, and also somehow be a playboy. Gillen didn't even bother really introducing him as anything other than the space-boy. Gillen just assumed we all knew who this white-haired kid from space was.
And then we get our Token character, Ms Marvel. I actually don't know what her real name was. I don't think we were ever told. Or what her personality was like. All I know is she says "chico" a lot and punches people. She really was just there to be a Hispanic character. No personality. No fleshing out. Nothing. At all.
But the icing on the cake was the plot. "Mom" was this evil monster (oh, which Billy brought out, because Billy is a horrible person, apparently) that took over parents. So whenever the kids were around their parents, the parents turned evil. Oh no, super controlling mommy and daddy don't want their kids being super heroes. Now we have to stay away from our parents! What the fuck? That is the crappy ass plot-line that little kid shows come up with because kids love it when the parents disappear. It was so stupid and childish. And not even that threatening. I really didn't understand what it was all about. It was just so stupid that I kept wanting to smash my brains out.
The only good thing this story had going was that McKelvie is creative with panels. There were a few times that he sort of broke the fourth wall, having Loki and Billy running around in the gutters, but that was it. I personally hate McKelvie's style. It just makes me uncomfortable. It's so simple, but so overly detailed that it looks weird. I hate that he draws tear-ducts. It just looks so weird. His style just irks me.
Overall, I absolutely hated this series, but I think I'm the only one. -
Bullet Review:
This was a lot of fun. Diverse characters (several women, one Hispanic, and then the most adorable gay couple), witty dialogue, some twists and turns. But mostly, it's the dialogue and the humor that I enjoyed - some of the finer plot points were lost on me. -
This was so good omg!
It pretty much starts with Loki making plans to avoid some future outcomes meanwhile Billy brings Teddy's mom back or atleast a variant but turns out she is some mind control parasite and turns the parents against them or wants them to have their children come home and thus Young Avengers form once again and like avoid these mind control beings and whatever this new enemy is and its emotional for sure and kind of brings the bang back together and some members new and old and it does a great job of highlighting it and I loved the inclusion of Ms America here and Loki being dramatic as usual and an epic ending so yeah a great read, awesome read, just fun dynamics between the characters and amazing art that will keep you hooked till the end! -
Re-read today for nostalgia reasons.
This is still one of my all time favorite books! I love this team and this is a great re-introduction after the 2005 series. It gives such a great feel for each of the characters. The stuff with Billy is more moving the second time around. While I still don't quite understand why he thought back a version of Teddy would be a good idea he's a teenager. America, Noh-Varr and Kate are kick ass as usual. I really like and miss Kid Loki, to be honest. I really wish he'd had a series to himself. -
Killer opener guys. Kick ass like a rock star. Past the opening credits, this feels nothing like the classic melodrama of "teenage angst" and a lot like a great adventure with young people who are still plenty fine with making a lot of mistakes (as long as it's in pursuit of their own selfish happiness). This I why you bring talented creators to Marvel - keep breathing fresh air into the worn-out stories.
Rather entirely self-aware in the writing Mr. Gillen, and thank God for that. Sometimes we have to accept some pretty stupid-sounding code names and powers in our Supes, and leave it to Gillen to at least nod at the retardedness. I love a good laugh, and at the expense of stupid? Even better. I know that makes me an awful person. Get to know me, I'm sure there's more awful where that came from.
At one point in the story the villain imprisons the heroes in a series of white boxes, and it becomes a Deadpool-esque (but cleverer and less talkey) meta-commentary on the use of panels in storytelling. I loved it precisely because no one told us what was going on - the characters just accepted it and dealt.
The Loki scenes just remind me how great Gillen writes the little weasel. Now I'm gonna hafta go back and finally re-read his entire Journey Into Mystery run because damn he funny. Dammit, I've got too much of a backlog to get to - I'm gonna have to start prioritizing my To-Read books with some extra tagging to help me remember all the good stuff I want to get to, and all the reasons why I want to get to them. This "let's see what's next on the shelf" strategy is bullshit.
Someone else who reviewed this elsewhere (might've been War Rocket Ajax) had it right: the idea of making this book all about a struggle against parental control was positively brilliant.
What makes this book even more fun is the extra little design details they added - like the tumblr analogue they used for the intro pages (especially the persona handles they gave to serious characters such as "I THUNDA THERE4 ITHOR" for Thor).
McKelvie's art is top-notch in this book. I've been screenshot'ing page after page of great layout, action sequences and funny constructions (you *have* to see the Marvel Boy double-page spread for some real fun).
I think the boys here have taken a cue from Fraction & Aja's Hawkeye - and if the worst complaint is this feels a little like one of the greatest comics of the year, I want to complain about comics so hard it hurts! More YA! (well, I heard that this series got cancelled - morons only know why, this should've been preserved against stupid financial decisions, like some genius at Fox did for Fringe. Urgh.) -
Source: Library
-
So much fun. I love the Young Avengers in general (though, sadly, we're down a few from the original team) and I've really loved reading Kid Loki. Putting them all in one book, written by Gillen, who is clearly having the time of his life? Near perfection. Now, I didn't have a clue about Miss America, but I think I like her well enough from what I saw here. I'm grateful that Marvel is getting less squeamish about Teddy and Billy's relationship. They were always a cute couple, but they could go several issues at a time without touching each other, which was annoying. That's out the window now, and I couldn't be happier.
So we have characters that I already love, being handled with care, great dialog, and a storyline that's nicely suited to this particular book. I even like the art. The only complaint I have is that some of the panel layouts are less than clear. Other than that one little thing, I absolutely love this book, and I can't wait to read more of it. -
I've read this in the monthly floppies but reading this as a digital trade is the ultimate reading experience.
I read this on an iPad on the Marvel app while playing on Spotify the recommended tracks of some key scenes and it was just awesome. The next thing I should do is to pick some recommended reading music from the playlist Kieron Gillen posted on his Tumblr. I have a feeling that would be a whole different reading experience.
If you're a Gillen and McKelvie fan, you should get this. -
three stars ∗ wow i loved every character and the artwork was fantastic!! i can’t wait to continue this series omg
-
If you are looking for a graphic novel with queer rep in it read this it's so good
-
This was much better than I expected. We have kickass heroes, it's diverse and we even have my favorite God of mischief. Looking forward to seeing how this continues in later volumes.
Defiantly recommend. -
Style > Substance. At once the title of this story arc, and a pretty good summing up of the series (so far). For while the visuals are eye-popping and the script is witty (and it does try oh-so-hard to be hip), the whole plot feels contrived and just an excuse to, um... assemble this new version of the team. But when you come to think of it, a lot of team books are like that. I guess now I just notice it more. That said, it is my favourite Kieron Gillen-written comic book, and I'm a BIG fan of Jamie McKelvie's art. I find it has a style similar to Mike Allred's.
I did find it a fun read. I just don't get all the gushing praise this title's received from the "expert" critics. Maybe all the hype just raised my expectations too high, and the real thing couldn't live up to it. -
Reread: March 6, 2021
At this point, Young Avengers has become one of my comfort reads. There's something that keeps me coming back to these stories and these characters, and it gives me a sense of family, a sense of home. The only downside is that I rush through it and I know it will be over before I know it.
Original review:
There's not much I can say about this series, that I hadn't said before. It's probably my favorite series ever, and Gillen's run is my favorite part (that man is a genius, it's no secret).
It's always a pleasure to come back to characters and events that hold a special spot in my heart. -
Fun! And gay! And pretty!
-
Now this is how you write a teenage superhero team!
-
This comic will always have a special place in my heart.
-
3.5⭐️
-
3.5/5
I know about the Avengers because of the movies but the Young Avengers? Who the hell are they? Apparently they are Kate Bishop aka. Hawkeye (the second one or whatever, two people with the same name confuses me) and his hot alien (or is it from another Earth? Man, this stuff is hard to keep track off with newcomers like me)boyfriend...friend with benefits... whatever, Loki who suddenly is a teenager (level with me here, I didn't know him before the Thor movie. Btw, I don't like Tom Hiddleston.), a girl who likes to punch people that looks a lot like the main character in The Wicked + The Divine so my mind is creating as weird crossover and two other dudes, one who is sort of Hulk but less pissed and another that does something cool with dimensions or whatever, you know it better than me!
So of course, all parents break loose (pun intended! even if it's lame) and the Avengies (term of endearment I just made up) have to team up to fix the mess. But everything doesn't just go back to normal which I liked because if there are no consequences, them why the hell did I read the story?
So, it was a bit confusing to know who the characters were and I'm still missing a lot of info but I'll guess I'll know more by volume two. I like that they are relatable teenagers with normal teenage reactions while also being mature when needed. Also, not knowing what the hell is Loki up to was a lot of fun (and he's not Tom Hiddleston in this one!) and I like where the story is going.
P.S.: I can believe the ACTUAL name of a character is Hulkling. You just wanna make us laugh, right? -
Ya not my cup of coffee... Picked this one up since I heard this series had The Wicked + The Divine team work on it! I like Kieron Gillen's writing in The Wicked + The Divine, but here, I could not really get into the story! Jamie McKelvie's artwork is fantastic as always though!
-
I have always liked the Young Avengers as a team, so I enjoyed reading this fantastic volume, showcasing the team. Well, some of them. Marvel Boy was totally awesome and I can’t wait to see more of him.
I would’ve given this 5 stars, but Miss America was one-dimensional. This stood out like a sore thumb since the other characters displayed depth and were a lot of fun. And the storyline surrounding Mother, the inter-dimensional parasite, was a little bizarre.
The creative team did a terrific job. I found the art and comic panels both exciting and engaging, and I'm looking forward to the next volume.
-
This new direction for the writing/art/characters is definitely not for me. I know I've missed quite a lot of the plotlines that occurred between The Children's Crusade and Style > Substance, but this just felt like too much of a departure from the Allan Heinberg/Jim Cheung combo that I had started to grow so fond of. The art shows a very competent hand, but the flatness of the colours and the lack of interesting backgrounds/lighting left me feeling bored. This volume was a struggle to get through overall, and I don't think I'll be reading any further.
-
'What's happening?'
'I'm happening. Famously so.'
This was entirely fun thanks to Kid Loki's shenanigans. He never disappoints and the parents totally creeped me out for a bit there.
America Chavez remains the best ever, Kate Bishop is definitely the superior Hawkeye and Teddy and Billy are just adorable af. -
I loved this volume of Young Avengers. Kid Loki is cunning and funny and blends well with the young superheroes. I have a soft spot for Billy, who has an interesting story and strong powers.
I really like this arc.
