Terribad?
This is probably the Marvel Now! Series I was most looking forward to I am a huge Young Avengers fan and they haven’t ever had an ongoing so when this was announced I couldn’t wait.
Plot
Noh Varr and Kate Bishop are in a spaceship but they are attacked by Skrulls soon after Kate wakes up. Hulkling disguises himself as Spider-man and takes out some thugs but he encounters Wiccan when he gets back to his house.
Review
This was a really strong start to the series and it is well worth picking up and this issue shows some real potential. I’m not saying this issue is perfect it has a lot of problems a lot of issue 1 have when trying to get a new team together or in this case get an old one that split up back together. Kieron Gillen was really hyping this book I mean really hyping it he said this was going to be amazing and a clever series so I hoped it would be good but like I said this issue is good but it isn’t yet amazing but it is early days and I have never read a #1 that is ever truly perfect but Kieron Gillen does his best to make this a very strong issue 1.
I did like how Gillen started the issue of with Kate Bishop she is my favourite Young Avenger I like Wiccan I like Hulkling and I love Iron Lad and Stature (R.I.P L) but Kate is my favourite by far mainly because she isn’t a superhero but she is a very good leader. Gillen characterizes her very well you can tell she has changed in age in this series since I believe she was 16 in the Children’s crusade and now Gillen says she is 18 which really is the theme for this book being 18. While there is a fair bit with Kate Bishop in this scene there is a fair about of character development with Noh Varr as we see what happened to him after he left the Avengers and how he has been living. Out of all of the team he’s probably my least favourite but with this scene I do like him a little more and that really is something if I like a character a little more in 3 pages all I can say is well done Kieron Gillen you really understand these characters in every way possible and shows the best characteristics of them first, you can really tell from this that Gillen put an immense amount of effort in to introducing these characters.
Most of the issue is centred on Hulking and Wiccan which makes sense really since the way the Children’s crusade left off you would want to see more off it. This scene originally is just a bit of fun with Hulkling disguising himself as Spider-man and taking down some thieves this was a nice way to introduce the scene as it was a bit of fun and some of the jokes Hulkling made were quite funny especially the Second Mutation one but it was a bit of fun before some proper emotional scenes. The sequence with Hulkling and Wiccan talking is very realistic you can tell these characters are going through a difficult period because of what recently happened. This was really the standout scene in this issue and it really develops their relationship a bit more.
This issue suffers from awkward pacing most of it is devoted to Wiccan and Hulking with a few pages with Noh Varr and Kate Bishop also a few with Loki and Miss America. This is a very necessary part of the issue all of it is but it is a bit over the place and you don’t feel like this is a team book write until the later part of the issue when Hulkling meets Loki and Miss America. With some new team books I generally have a problem that it doesn’t feel like a team but with some of the scenes in this Kieron Gillen makes it feel like a team book without it feeling forced as you see Loki trying to stop Wiccan doing something at first this doesn’t seem like much but with the way things unfold it is. The pacing is a bit off in places and that really is the only problem with this issue.
After the story in the Marvel Now! Point one with Loki and Miss America which was fantastic I couldn’t wait to see what happened next and well it doesn’t disappoint. It is shorter than I’d hoped but Gillen makes good use of the pages though because he advances the story along quite well but he doesn’t give everything away straight off as we still don’t know why Loki is trying to stop Wiccan yet but I really don’t mind he continues to drop hints to keep you interested but he doesn’t give it all away. I still want to know why Miss America wants to stop Loki doing anything and how she knows where he is every time yeah she’s super powered but he’s the god of mischief just a little confusing but I’m sure it will be explained.
The ending of this issue was unexpected but after the earlier parts of this issue it makes sense and it totally works and I can’t wait to see how it ends. The last page is well odd it isn’t exactly clear what happens but I’m sure it will be elaborated next issue.
One problem I had with the issue is Terribad? Is that a word I understand Loki is an Asgardian it just feels like a typo or something but maybe I’m wrong.
The art in this issue is different but in a good way. Jamie McKlevie art is simple he doesn’t really overdo it with the lines he sticks to the outlines of people and people’s clothes he isn’t like Jim Cheung and he doesn’t use lots of light affects but it still looks great. I really liked the way McKlevie drew Ms America she looks really cool while still having a big presence on the page she looks very strong but not overly hard and shows her young age very well. McKlevie shows the young age of all the characters very well especially with Wiccan and Hulkling in their little scene. What really impressed me though is in the early parts when the Skrulls attack Kate Bishop and Noh Varr there is this incredible two page spread where all the panels are arranged in a different way it worked very well and it was easy to follow. I didn’t like how McKlevie drew Kate as I don’t think she needed to have her mouth open most of the time. While McKlevie was good Matt Wilson makes this book look fantastic his colours are so pretty to look at and some of his colour choices are great especially when the Skrulls attack it looks great in every way.
Verdict
This was a great start to the series and it shows a lot of promise this is by no means perfect not helped with some pacing problems but on the whole this issue was a fantastic read and I can’t wait for the next issue.
4.5 stars
