Nothing has me more concerned in comics than the possibility
that Billy is subconsciously making Teddy love him other than the possibility
that Billy isn’t subconsciously
making Teddy love him but Teddy won’t be able to get passed worrying that he
is. Every since Loki mentioned that the
likelihood of a gay, handsome Skrull prince rescuing Billy from his boring life
was extremely low for everyone without
reality-warping powers, it’s all I can think about every time I see them
together, an obsession that Teddy also unfortunately shares. Enough of that, though. It’s too depressing.
Jamie McKelvie continues to do awesome, amazing things on
this title. Using the Tumblr format to
recap the last three months was genius and I think that it really firmly
establishes him as the most inventive artist out there right now, even more
than Capullo on “Batman.” Of course, it
helps when he gets to work with the stories that Gillen hands him. This series is best when it shows the kids
having normal lives, like going to a Dazzler concert on the far side of the Moon
or taunting the Norse God of Mischief over the use of the word
“smooching.” (OK, normal lives for
them.) Gillen doesn’t just focus on the
bonds that Billy, Kate, and Teddy have to one another. Here, we see how well Noh-Varr is integrating
into the group, urging Teddy to talk to Billy, and how poorly Miss America is,
as everyone realizes how little they know about her when she summons a
dimensional portal.
Returning to Noh-Varr for a moment, he really is the
break-out character of this series so far.
Everyone else had pretty firmly established personalities coming into
this title, but Noh-Varr was pretty much a blank slate. Gillen has infused him with so much life –
from his love of girl bands to his relationship with Kate – that it’s hard to
believe how boring he was under Bendis.
He often drives the funnier moments of this series (such as Kate and his
“Pancakes?/Pancakes.” exchange), but, as previously mentioned, he also provides a certain older-brother stability that the Young Avengers have always
lacked. This series lives and breathes by
its detailed character-studies and team-dynamic depictions and Noh-Varr’s character, in and of itself in
addition to its interaction with the other characters, shows that Gillen
totally gets that.
That said, the plot also isn’t half-bad. I’m glad that Gillen is making us wait to get
to the bottom of Speed’s disappearance and a chase through the multiverse
brings the two plot lines that we've seen so far on this series together rather nicely. The addition of Prodigy’s deductive abilities
should keep Loki on his toes and I can’t wait to get to the bottom of this
mysterious (and seriously creepy) villain.
Great, great stuff.
No comments:
Post a Comment