Young Avengers #4 Preview

[ablackraptor]

Kate and Noh-Varr actually do something!





I never did read anything with Noh-Varr (I guess I jut never found him that interesting), and I know that Gillen's take on him is quite out-of-character in comparison to his previous depiction, but damn if his take isn't fun as hell to read.

Full preview here: http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=preview&id=16181

Comments

[eternaleponine]

Oh hey, it looks like they've decided to use Kate's new costume/uniform from the Hawkeye book.

[ablackraptor]

Yeah, IIRC, they were originally planning to just stick with the previous two piece belly suit, with the Hawkeye thing just a one-off costume, but Jamie McKelvie loved the design and wanted to use it.

[eternaleponine]

It seems to suit the look of the book as well, moreso than the overly complicated two piece I'm not really sure what's going on but it probably seemed like a good idea to a 15-year-old costume she had before.

Although it does look a bit like Katie-Kate is out fighting crime in her pajamas, if you're going to have to take down bad guys anyway, you might as well be comfortable while doing it. *g*

(Which is all to say that I like the fact that they stuck with the new outfit.)

[ablackraptor]

It does. Admittedly I liked the two piece, even if its massively impractical, but the new outfit does fit the new tone quite well.

[turtlefu]

Wow, it looks like after 4 issues something might actually happen!

I'm sorry, I'm still bitter about how much this series has failed to meet my expectations. This series is just entirely too cute and self-aware. Normally that makes it fun, but when every panel is accompanied by a wink and a nudge it's just too much.

[mrstatham]

Eh, too many books spend far too much time trying to be ridiculously huge and epic and fall horribly short; YA has been, for me, the perfect antidote to Hickman's already bloated and bland 'epic'.

[ablackraptor]

I can definitely see other people's criticisms, but I agree, this is definitely a lot more fun to read then the main Avenger title. Sure, its not perfect, and the pacing is unstable, but its fun and poppy, and that's all I need.

[mrstatham]

This. I'm not attacking anyone who dislikes this, or likes Hickman's stuff, but YA at least feels different to the other books. Avengers and New Avengers just feel like Hickman doing another big 'epic' only with his cast switched up from the FF to the Avengers.

Honestly, I'm just surprised the two 'lesser' books are the most enjoyable, because this and Secret Avengers are far, far more readable at the moment.

[ablackraptor]

That's pretty much how I feel about them. Adjectiveless A, New A, and Uncanny A just felt boring or too closely tied to AvX for me to enjoy. While the first issue of YA was admittedly too rushed and I can undersand where a lot of criticisms are coming from (except for the slut shaming Kate got after the first issue that appeared on the letter pages), at least it makes me smile and has interesting characters with great dynamics.

I agree whole hearted there though, this and Secret are the best Avenger titles to come out of Marvel Now.

[turtlefu]

I don't read letter pages, I had no idea people were slut-shaming Kate.

Which is weird, because one of my criticisms for #1 was the way Kate was written. Read Fraction's Hawkeye. Do you think that Kate would even, for one second, let the thought of "Oh noes! A one night stand!" cross her mind? So I dislike it, for the exact opposite reasons?

[ablackraptor]

I only read them occasionally, but one of the letters had a rant about how heroes are meant to be role models, so they had a problem with Kate and Noh-Varr hooking up after just meeting each other. According to his Tumblr, he responded to that letter because it was the most respectful and wasn't limited to just bashing Kate, so there's others that are far more harsher.

I don't know, I could imagine if it was the first time she's ever slept with someone on the first date she might think for a second that this isn't how she normally behaves. I can see her questioning if her actions were OK if doing this is new to her. But, agree to disagree there.

[turtlefu]

The weird thing is, according to Gillen, YA is plotted like Journey. He has a very clear plan for where this story will go. Does it read like does? No.

It may not be aspiring to be epic, but it's certainly inspiring to have a specific point of view/theme/topic (Youth Culture). Instead it just reads like bad fan-fic, crowd-sourced from Tumblr.

I want to like this book so bad, but I can't because every panel makes me roll my eyes and I have a huge list of complaints. At this point I'm enjoying Academy more. (I would actually love to write about this more in-depth, but I'm not sure if that's allowed)

[akodo_rokku]

I think you mean Arena? People make that word mixup a LOT, and it's a shame.

[turtlefu]

Yup.
TBH I'm actually regular enjoying Arena. Not enough to be on my pull list, but if it steps up its game a little bit it just might.

[majingojira]

Bugs the crap out of me that people still do it, but given how bland and shallow I've found Arena to be, it's honestly unsurprising. It could be good, and has some gems hidden in it, but they are being smothered by a misunderstood and misused premise.

I dislike it, but feel free to enjoy the good it does have. It's an odd mixture of good and bad that is quite fascinating.

[silverhammerman]

Ditto, I really want to like this book because it's got a great creative team and actually feels pretty in touch with youth culture, which is good for a teen team book, but it's just taking so long to get going. At times it seems like it's leaning on it's Tumblr-ifficness instead of actually telling a good story.

[majingojira]

Can't argue with that. It is so far rather shallow, but it's an entertaining shallow at least for me.

[shadowpsykie]

hehehe my favorite thing about this is that the creators are fully aware how fanservice-y this is :D

http://kierongillen.tumblr.com/post/48352785643/the-preview-of-4-is-out-unsure-if-i-want-to-link

[northstarfan]

Is it that fanservice-y? Everything above the belt is outlined in loving detail while below...*shrug*

Dick Grayson is in no danger of losing his crown, methinks.

[ablackraptor]

Well, Gillen has flat out admitted that he wants to sex up Noh-Varr a bit, as he feels there's not enough fanservice in comics directed at non-hetero male audiences (and I applaud him doing that because its my personal philosophy that if you're going to sex up the girls, do it to the guys too), so while this image isn't overly fansevicey, there probably will be some fanservice in the issue itself concerning him.