Young Avengers Ultimate Collection (Young Avengers Graphic Novels) [Paperback]

This is an incredibly enjoyable series of stories about an excellent cast of characters, but I'm going to focus on giving information on this particular collection and its contents:

The book contains issues #1-12 of Young Avengers, plus Young Avengers Special Edition #1, in which Jessica Jones interviews the members of the team (this story is even placed in the right chronological order, between issue #8 and issue #9). These thirteen issues comprise the whole "first season" of Young Avengers.

Compared to the two earlier hardcover/paperback Young Avengers collections ("Sidekicks" and "Family Matters") this volume is slightly larger and the images' scale is increased somewhat. It's not a huge change, but it's a nice enhancement.

EXTRAS: This volume includes several bonus features not present in the earlier collections. (1) An introduction by comics writer Jeph Loeb, a friend of author Allan Heinberg. It's two pages long and has several spelling errors. Not impressive.

(2) At the back of the book are six pages of Heinberg's early conceptual notes for the series, including many details that changed as he refined his ideas: character names, personality traits, even the gender of Hulkling. It's great stuff.

(3)Heinberg's rough-draft script for the series' opening scene in J. Jonah Jameson's office. Very interesting in that it shows Heinberg's gradual change in habits from writing for television to writing for comics.

(4) A two-page interview with Heinberg conducted by Marvel's editor in chief, Joe Quesada. Good stuff.

(5) A one-page interview with Heinberg conducted by Tim O'Shea of Silver Bullet Comics. Also good.

(6) Ten pages of Jim Cheung's early character designs, conceptual sketches, unused cover ideas, etc. Also some photos of Young Avengers action figures and some promo art. Very nice.

In all, it's a pretty cool package for someone who's really into the Young Avengers. If you already have the earlier collections, you're not missing much by not getting this, but if you don't own copies and are looking for the best collection, I'd say this is it.

The only things lacking, I think, are the letters pages from the original comic issues. They featured an ongoing debate about the sexuality of two of the YA characters--a testament to a ground-breaking, award-winning feature of this series and these characters--and it would have been great to preserve that sometimes heated, often overwrought conversation. I would have paid $10.00 more just for that. Including them in a future deluxe collection would be a fantastic move.

All in all, a very good collection of a great series, perfect for a library collection or an avid fan. Many thanks, Marvel!

Brian Michael Bendis' "Avengers Disassembled" event was, all in all, a pretty poor story, apart from the unrelated conclusion to "Thor v.2" written by Michael Avon Oeming, which was utterly brilliant. However, it is fair to say that most of what spun out of it was incredibly valuable, the main exception being Bendis' own "New Avengers" series, which, while a sales hit, has never clicked with me; the AD reboot, however, gave us Ed Brubaker's Captain America, Warren Ellis and then Daniel and Charles Knauf's Iron Man, (belatedly) J. Michael Straczynski's Thor, and Allan Heinberg's Young Avengers, which has a seemingly awful title and premise, but utterly fantastic execution. If you are skeptical, give it a shot.

This first arc, titled "Sidekicks" (something of a misappelation in my opinion, since the characters are not sidekicks, unlike, say, the original Teen Titans), is just about the perfect origin arc for a superteam. Heinberg effortlessly weaves old continuity into his story in fascinating ways, carrying on from the fallout of AD better than Bendis ever did. The Young Avengers first appear in New York, consisting of four heroes whose appearances are modelled on Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, and the Hulk; understandably alarmed, the real Captain America and Iron Man investigate, bringing along reporter and former superhero Jessica Jones (another Bendis creation); and two girls, Cassie Lang (daughter of the deceased Ant-Man II) and Kate Bishop (daughter of a rich family, and the only character without a connection to an existing hero) decide to look for the team, and insist on joining. Hanging over all this is the impending arrival of Kang the Conqueror, arguably the worst foe in the history of the Avengers (he physically conquered the world once, and blew up Washington, although that's rarely mentioned, since it's largely been ignored since). I won't get into much detail on the plot, but sufficed to say that by the story's end the team will have gone through the ringer, and come out both triumphant and sorrowful. Next comes a two-parter (drawn by guest artist Andrea DiVito) that continues the struggle between the Young Avengers and the adult New Avengers over their right to exist, and exposes a shocking secret at the root of one character's powers; after that, a sort of 'secret origins' special detailing the lives of the team before they became superheroes, with several artists; and, finally, a four-part (originally meant to be six) epic involving the Young and New Avengers, the Skrull and Kree Empires, and Hulkling's newly-revealed backstory.

Heinberg's writing is brilliant; witty, dramatic, poignant, and insightful; he takes basic character types and brings them to life. He is matched by Jim Cheung on art, whose beautiful work (albeit with a somewhat limited array of facial types) brings the characters and their world to vivid life. The only flaw on the part of each is how slow they are, but that's not a problem in trade (although it will be when you become addicted to the series, as I did, and are then confronted with the paucity of published adventures for this team). Guest artist DiVito is also high quality, although it is initially hard to see anyone but Cheung draw the team (and I'm not especially fond of DiVito's female faces, which have a sort of pinched quality). A panoply of other artists make small contributions to a special issue detailing the characters' origins, which generally work quite well.

The only flaw to be found is that, as of now, this is the end of the Young Avengers' adventures, and, when they return, it will be to a Marvel Universe that has changed heavily around them, affecting them in the process.

I just read Alan Heinberg's Young Avengers for, oh, I'd say the millionth time. I have to tell you it gets better and richer and with every reading.

The great thing about YA is how brilliantly Heinberg confounds your expectations as to what this book is going to be. When you first hear about the characters he introduces, they don't sound too promising. Hulkling? Iron Lad? A young Vision? It has the potential to be the worst kind of derivative drivel.

But Heinberg takes what could have been a purely commercial attempt to profit off these established names and creates characters that are truly fresh and unique. Yes, they all have ties to the existing Marvel Universe, but the true nature of those ties turns out to be very different than what you may have expected. In fact, the reveals continue well into the second volume of these stories, and they just get better and better.

The plotting and pacing of Young Avengers is fantastic - block out some time when you first pick it up, because you won't want to stop until you've read all 13 issues.

You'll also love the snappy dialogue - Heinberg's writing reminds me of some of the best episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The Young Avengers speak in a language that's frank, slangy, and often very funny - how can they be so clever even when fighting baddies? Their jokes are like Spider-Man's, only not lame.

Heinberg show tremendous courage in many of his choices here. One of the characters with the most potential, who is set up as one of the series' leads, comes to a surprisingly unfortunate end. Another turns out to be getting his powers from a different source than he or she claimed - and an illegal source, at that.

I also applaud Heinberg's decision to allow two of his male characters to fall in love. They discover their feelings in a way that seems natural, and without the usual angst that young gay characters are forced to suffer, especially in this age where MTV serves up as many queer images as Logo. No, these boys are more concerned with being grounded for using their powers than they are about being persecuted for being gay. Refreshing!

Plus, the boys' relationship sets up one of the best jokes I've ever read in a comic book - the offhand explanation as to why an openly gay superhero might not want to go with "Asguardian" as a codename.

I tend to read comics more for the story than for the art, but Jim Cheung leads a stellar collection of artists in a book that's a great feast for the eyes.

As an aside, my 7-year-old son was pretty Iron Man crazed, especially during all the hype for the new movie. But after I showed him Young Avengers (he's too young to read much of it, but he loves the pictures) he now proclaims himself "Iron Lad!"

I hope Heinberg keeps bringing us more adventures of this team - he has at least one reader who'd be only too happy to grow up with these as his favorite heroes.

Scott Sherman, author, First You Fall: A Kevin Connor Mystery