Young Avengers #10

Writer: Kieron Gillen Artist: Jamie McKelvie

Introduction

Young Avengers broke the weird barrier a few issues ago. This barrier may sound strange and undefined, that because it is. Alternate realities and strange universes have been common terms in the vocabulary in this book. The characters have been steadily guided thus far with the lovely creative team of Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie. The two creators had a strong first arc on the book, and after they steered the direction into completely uncharted territory. A concerted effort was made to mesh the former team of Young Avengers with the newer incarnation. In these pages a slight crossover with the fallout of Age Of Ultron can be spotted. In addition, the lie that this team has been built on is also starting to unravel. While they are in some great hands with this British talent, this team is definitively in a time of transition. A character handled with a semblance of incredible grace that is starting to catch in other circles is the new Ms. America. Her strange new outfit and expansive personality has been a driving force to the comic at large.

Writing

This remains to be a wildly unique title with an interesting plot, that at this point will be hard to piece together. Gillen and McKelvie pull a fun trick on first page that shows them playing with the reality of the comic book page. When The story begins to jump in, many will be lost as the main narrative starts making some wild twists and turns. Towards the end of the issue in the letters column, the scribe talks about how this issue is an attempt at bringing some elements from the two writer’s previous work known as Phonogram together for this series. The description has never seemed more apt as it does in regards to this issue. There is some wild exposition and surreal imagery that is very interesting in the context of the larger Marvel universe. While this is enjoyable for the most part, it would be nice for the series to begin to come together in a more coherent pretty soon. The new Patriot has been looming in the background for several issues now, and it would be nice to see at least one resolved plot thread.

Art

Jamie McKelvie portrays realism in comics that few others can achieve. His draftsmanship is almost uncanny, as well as his sense of design that is rivaled by few others. I will intrinsically be interested in anything that the artist illustrates. His style add something new to modern superhero comics in the best sense. Design aspects of this book continue to speak for themselves. The cover alone is something bold and brash, that will definitely stand out among comic book shelves. Credits pages are an incredible way in which this fringe Marvel title has been standing amongst other issues. In every issue thus far the creative has figured out a way to push the boundaries of comics into uncharted territory. This issue continues that tradition in multiple instances. White backgrounds and the aforementioned design traits show what modern comic books are capable of.

Conclusion