Young Avengers #4 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

OMG, how could this comic be even more awesome than it was last issue?  "Come with me if you want to be awesome," indeed.

The problem with reviewing this series is that the best aspect of it -- the witty banter -- is almost impossible to describe.  First, Gillen delivers it in a way that makes it feel totally organic.  We're just watching a bunch of young friends having the time of their lives on a road trip.  I mean, sure, they're on the road trip because they're actually escaping an interdimensional parasite and their car is a Kree spaceship.  But, it's a road trip all the same.  But, beyond just being organic, the banter is so amazing because it's based on the complicated interplay of the characters' personalities, both individually and collectively.  You've got to understand Teddy, Kate, and Noh Varr to understand why their conversation -- "Your boyfriend is so cute!"/"He's totally faking it."/"My faking it is total." -- is hilarious.  To try to dissect it seems to dishonor it, so I'm going to avoid doing it.  Just trust me.  The banter it is witty.

But, this issue is more than just witty banter.  Loki is at his level best here, pointing out something that never dawned on me but completely devastated me:  Billy, the gay human mutant, just happened to go the same school as Teddy, the gay Skrull prince.  What are the chances?  Pretty good, as Loki notes, when one of the people involved is a reality warper.  Gillen suddenly throws BIlly and Teddy's relationship into question not in a soap-opera way, but in a way that totally gets to the core of this series.  Maybe BIlly did summon up his "improbably dashing prince" because he doesn't have full control over his powers.  Gillen isn't driving a wedge between them simply to add in some dramatic tension; he's really digging to the core of the characters.  As scared as I am that something's going to happen to Billy and Teddy, Gillen handles this twist so brilliantly that I trust him completely, regardless of the outcome.

But, lest we think it's all teenage angst and drama, we also get some serious ass-kicking.  The music-video battle scene this issue is spectacular and made me sad.  Why did it make me sad?  It made me sad because one day Gillen and McKelvie won't be working on this series together and just the thought of it is enough to make me want to eat Ben & Jerry's on the couch while listening to the Ronettes.  The drums, the drums.

Next month is too far away.