Broken Frontier

The struggle against Kang the Conqueror continues, leaving the Young Avengers in a life or death situation.

It’s been a long time since I really enjoyed reading a Marvel comic this much. I was once a voracious Marvel reader, but in the last few years I’ve strayed away from the publisher looking for my fix elsewhere. It’s not that I deplore the work Marvel puts out, but I’ve had beefs with the continuous crossovers and restarts from scratch just in the sake of upping sales. But now after reading this latest issue of Young Avengers, my interest has been piqued once again. This is without a doubt the best new book Marvel has on the publishing schedule, and I’m not saying this in jest. This book rocks from beginning to end!

The opening moments of part five of the inaugural ‘sidekicks’ storyline picks right up where the last issue left off. The team is in the midst of a titanic struggle with Kang in a no holds barred fight-to-the-finish battle. Kang is bent on returning his younger self to the 30th century, and is reluctant to hurt the kids at first. He just wants to restore the imbalance in the time stream caused by the arrival of his younger self, but the kid Avengers refuse to concede to his wishes. Instead they decide to fight back, causing further aggravation for Kang and perhaps trouble for themselves in the long run. The battle heats up, but not before several surprises unfold that hint to a startling change in the future of both the team and Kang himself.

Now this may seem like another ‘action only issue’ so prevalent in modern comics, but let me tell you this story had a little something extra. The immediacy and emotional responses from this young group of super teens was heartfelt all the way, and a large part of this should be attributed to writer Alan Heinberg. He has a good handle on all the characters involved, and the quality of dialogue is believable, straightforward and crafted around a story I really like thus far. I am sure his background in television lends him great support and structure in a serialized format such as comics, and it definitely shows here. His story is also tremendously supported by artwork that has been consistently strong since the first issue. Jimmy Cheung is indeed the right guy for title, and he’s been able to match the high quality of writing with dynamic compositions on every single page. I don’t have any negatives with his work so far and I am hoping he sticks around for the long haul on the book. It would be a crying shame if he was to leave the title at this point, since I think his high energy style is an integral part of the book’s success.

Anyhow, if you’re a fan of quality writing and artwork, then consider adding this book to your pull list. I wasn’t sure if this title would work in the beginning, but after reading the first five issues it’s made a believer out of me. I hope the Young Avengers are here to stay!