Finally, Young Avengers, a book which would appear to be the demented hellspawn of a hundred committees.

Even writer Allan Heinberg acknowledges that the origin of this book lies in Joe Quesada putting the title to him, with no actual idea attached.  It seems that the mere idea of publishing something - anything - called Young Avengers had found favour in Marvel solely on the strength of the name.  And Heinberg also seems willing to admit that his first reaction was the same as everyone else's.  Because there aren't any Young Avengers, and there aren't any characters to sensibly fit into that role, so the whole thing sounds horrifically contrived and empty from the word go.

So as Young Avengers #1 hits the stands, we have a writer and publisher promoting the book with a pitch that boils down to "Yeah, we know it sounds like a terrible idea, but honest, give us a shot."  Which means Marvel now acknowledge that the mere words Young Avengers are not a very good concept, which begs the question of why the hell they wanted to commission a Young Avengers book in the first place when they didn't have anything other than a name.  Oh, and Marvel also now find themselves with an Avengers spin-off book that bears no resemblance to the revamped New Avengers title, and includes a knock-off of a version of Thor that they've just killed.  And since all the characters are knock-offs of other Marvel characters who have already been licensed independently, the licensing possibilities of Young Avengers must be slim to zero.

If anybody in Marvel has ever used the word "synergy" in connection with this title, they should buy a dictionary at once.

But you know what?  It's actually not bad at all.

Granted, it works in large part by accepting head on that the whole concept is a bit ropey.  The kids are regarded as a bunch of wannabes; they're not desperately good at what they do; everyone agrees that their names are dreadful; and they're suitably horrified by the media-coined "Young Avengers" name.  Instead of trying to sell us on the coolness of the Young Avengers, Heinberg gives us a story from the perspective of the Pulse cast, designed mainly to leave us wondering just who these clots think they are.

And, a little to my surprise, I find I'm genuinely interested to see where Heinberg is going with this.  There are some cute ideas in here.  I rather like the idea that the Marvel Universe simply doesn't do teen sidekicks because its inhabitants woke up to the stupidity of the concept when Bucky got killed.  (Yes, it's a continuity error, because versions of Bucky were active into the mid-1950s.  But it's a good idea, and I don't honestly care that it contradicts a bunch of mid-70s stories designed to awkwardly reinstate stories that Lee and Kirby deleted in the early sixties.)  There's some good interplay between the Pulse characters, and the teen heroes come across as endearingly crap rather than just annoying.

Jim Cheung has improved a lot during his time at CrossGen, and returns to Marvel as a great artist for this kind of material.  This is a primary-colours superhero book, and quite right too.  Cheung gives the heroes enough dignity and dynamism that they emerge as likeable when they could easily have been buried.

Yeah, I actually liked this book.  Wasn't expecting to.  Pleasantly surprised.  It's still a crap idea for a comic, but by playing off the weakest aspect of the idea (ie, the fact that it's so crap), Heinberg may have managed to turn it to his advantage.

Rating: A-

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