Canadians flip Labour Day the bird (Part II)

[colonel_green.insanejournal.com]

It's Teen Heroes R Us, with four scans apiece from Dark Reign: Young Avengers #4 and Nomad: Girl Without A World #1.

Starting with DR: YA, the issue opens with Princess Python, her son Executioner II,  and Hawkeye all attending some big social event in their civilian garb.  Suddenly, a group of the Young Avengers arrive chasing a villain; Hawkeye II is among them, and she briefly stops to compliment Kate's dress ("Did you see that?  That was Hawkeye!  And she said she liked my dress!").



I've read fics that say different, Cassie.  Incidentally, I like that Cornell tries to give Vision II a teenaged personality, rather than being Robot Guy.

The next day, the YA go to the putative Young Masters and tell them that they want Coat-of-Arms and Enchantress in the group ("It beith for the win!"), but the rest have to get a new name (though they say they want to keep in touch).  Melter is super-annoyed, and ends up using the business card that Norman Osborn gave CoA a while ago to call him; he's surprised to learn that Osborn can see him.



Speaking of her, the YA take her to the ruined Mansion they hang out in.




This bit is...really weird, honestly, because there's no followup to whatever she's trying to do.  This cuts to a scene with Cassie and Vision II dining out, and Egghead ambushes them and downloads a bunch of files into Vision, which cause him to doubt Enchantress II for whatever reason; and then we cut to her back with the Young Masters, sobbing about how they sent her home without saying why.

Anyway, at issue's end, the YA get called to a meeting with the YM, and find themselves confronted not just by them, but also by Iron Patriot, Wolverine, and Bullseye.

Over in Nomad, Rikki is trying to meet up with New Cap, and using her police radio actually arrives on the scene of one of his adventures.  However, she's interrupted by Black Widow:




Unless there's something further here, this sort of confirms what I thought when I first heard the premise of this miniseries: namely, that they're going to be stretching things a bit in order to keep Rikki meeting Bucky off until the final issue.  With Patriot back in Cap #600, it wasn't clear if he knew she was Rikki Barnes or not - Natasha here explicitly does, and the brush-off is pretty cold on her part.



She goes on about how John was basically a villain on her world, but that he's really nice here, and she enjoys hanging around with him, since it makes her feel like she could fit in on this world and she always wished that she and her brother had been close back on Counter-Earth.

Two things about this:

1)  Is he adopted or something?  Because from what I understand about Rikki's parentage, he shouldn't be genetically possible here.  Whatever, just go with it.

2)  I'm sure you've thought this through very well Rikki, from his perspective.  Look up "Westermarck Effect" in the dictionary (assuming he is a genetic relative of yours somehow).

Moving on from that squicky thought (there's a lot of weird teen sexuality in this post; thus, it is perfect for Scans_daily), Rikki spends her time investigating some weird kid running for student council president who seems to have mind-control powers or something, and discovers they're hiding something in the basement of the school guarded by a feral beast.  She gets beat up pretty bad by it, and goes home to find someone has left something in her room:



Anyway, a pretty good first issue.  Certainly better than anything McKeever wrote while at DC; maybe there was something in the water over there.

Comments

[pyrotwilight.insanejournal.com]

But didn't the writer say this Enchantress was the real Enchantress?

Sigh. I really should just give up believing anything Marvel says, shouldn't I?

[colonel_green.insanejournal.com]

I don't think so; I recall him being pretty evasive about what she was. We've seen Amora post-Ragnarok already, and he's pretty good with continuity.

[long_silence.insanejournal.com]

I think that the artist Mark Brooks may have said something along the lines of the Enchantress being the only preestablished character which led people to think she was the real one.

But I don't think Cornell said anything of the type.

[neuhallidae.insanejournal.com]

Noooooo, don't change the costume, Rikki! The one you've got is awesome!

[nagaoka.insanejournal.com]

Seriously! I hope it's short lived, if anything. Black and yellow? Come on...

[halloweenjack.insanejournal.com]

So, what you're saying is... Rikki, don't lose that number (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMLV05lqsx8)?

[thokstar.insanejournal.com]

Certainly better than anything McKeever wrote while at DC; maybe there was something in the water over there.

I suspect that McKeever was more of a Marvel fan than a DC fan growing up, and thus has more experience with Marvel characters; various statements he's made suggest that he took a while adjusting to his new comics (he got kicked of Birds of Prey in a way that makes it seem like he was falling behind, and his first story line for Teen Titans [Titans of Tomorow] was based off of notes that Johns had left.)

[mullon.insanejournal.com]

I find it hard to believe that Rikki would be able to set up a new identity and lodgings for herself in a brand new world so quickly.

[colonel_green.insanejournal.com]

We don't really know how long she's been here; and really, a driver's license, social security number, birth certificate, credible school transfer, and you're set as far as most documentation needs go.

[pyrotwilight.insanejournal.com]

Well she canonically came to 616 right after Cap died so she's had over a year given Cap 600 says it's the yearivversary.

[(Anonymous)]

I still prefer this version (made last month by Doctor Vortex from the Girl-Wonder forums):

[faile_neume.insanejournal.com]

Oh Billy <3

We've all used that excuse before.

[tahngarth.insanejournal.com]

Natasha is in every frickin' title these days. She's turning into the new Wolverine.

...albeit a good deal sexier.

[neuhallidae.insanejournal.com]

Seriously. There's gotta be some more Skrulls left, because in this month alone, she's being captured by HAMMER, fighting Mr. X with Songbird after having faked being Yelena for God knows how long, and being snotty to Rikki (I can't be the only one who got a "Back off my man, you little bitch" vibe here) all at once.

[ashtoreth.insanejournal.com]

I love this idea. Replace all storylines featuring Wolverine with Widow--GO!

[greenmask.insanejournal.com]

Rikki seems to be going to school in the 90s.

Plus, re: Vision.. "teenage boy" =/= "creepy perv". If someone had said that to me in my teen years (..or now), especially in public, I would've been all, "get away!" and angsted about it for a month.

[jlbarnett.insanejournal.com]

really cold by Natasha. And the last name should clue her in that it's probably as much about family as anything else so just telling her to go away is really wrong.

[ellimere.insanejournal.com]

I think the Nomad stuff might actually be her doing.

Considering the awful trauma James has gone through, and how conflicted he feels about his own legacy, how the propaganda made it seem like anyone could do it, and how high the price was for both him and Jack Monroe, it makes sense that Natasha wouldn't want him to meet a strange girl in his costume.

And she's always been kind of a straight-to-business bitch.

[colonel_green.insanejournal.com]

She's to-the-point, but for someone who's completely harmless (and in a rather sad situation), she's way too hostile here.

Particularly when she outright knows that Rikki is an AU relative of James', something Rikki herself isn't aware of. That sort of connection could be nice for both of them.

[ellimere.insanejournal.com]

I think it's a connection to make in the proper time and place. I mean, I there's no real-world protocol for AU descendants, but it seems like springing that on them in the heat of battle is...not the smartest way to go. I think Natasha is generally overprotective of Bucky, and is probably harsher in general if she thinks she's somehow helping him. This isn't exactly a strong point, but I think it makes sense. I also think Bucky and Rikki actually meeting in that situation would wind up worse than the meet-up between her and Rikki. Better Rikki be angry at Natasha than angry at Bucky. Time will tell if she has any motivation, but she has a history of being really mean when she's actually trying to protect people. I mean, she shot Daredevil through the chest once. She also tried to scare the original Thunderbolts straight, and she didn't pull any punches, there.

The thing is though, that the Nomad identity also has a ton of issues that go with it, ones that the current Captain America is certainly fully aware of. I wonder if they'll reference that, as such a harsh story seems kind of outside the tone of the book. (Though the original had cartoony art, too.)

[naebler.insanejournal.com]

Anyone else get the feeling Natasha left the Nomad suit for Riki so she can meet Bucky? It's possible Tasha thought meeting another Bucky might be hard for him so she got Riki set up with a different identity... Just saying to think on it before people villainize Tasha too much ;)

[silver_paired.insanejournal.com]

Oh, Jonas, you and your femmeslash fantasies. Pfft.

Also, I think this's the first time they've actually come out and said "Gay" in relation to Billy and/or Teddy on-panel. Hunh.

[colonel_green.insanejournal.com]

He spends his spare time contributing prompts at Marvel_Kink.

[bruinsfan.insanejournal.com]

It makes me wonder if this version of the Enchantress has a magic specialty like the original's. Amora was able to make sworn enemies fall "in love" with her, so it's possible Billy not normally having the slightest interest in her in that way wouldn't protect him.

[baby-werewolf.livejournal.com (from insanejournal.com)]

For some reason I just find the line 'I am a purple supervillain' utterly hilarious.

[seele02.insanejournal.com]

"I've read fics that say different, Cassie."

Oddly enough, I haven't. By which I mean, I don't think I've found much of any YA fanfic, period. Her response was cute, though.