Young Avengers #12

Writing Kieron Gillen Art Jamie McKelvie

Introduction

Readers were probably shocked to discover the surprise cancellation of Young Avengers. Marvel wisely decided to shut down the volume after the current creative team had decided to depart. Author Kieron Gillen posted in his blog that the teen heroes have always contained a hard emphasis on change, and never stayed stagnant in the same way that other books do. Still, the work being done here has been nothing short of amazing. Upon it’s inception artist Jamie McKelvie and the scribe grounded the story. Ever since then, they have really been going all out on the title transforming into one of the boldest superhero sagas on the stands. The plot is impossible to explain to the average person, yet the dynamic of all the heroes are so well fleshed out, that readers are fully engrossed in the experience. Miss America was the make it or break it character for the comic. She was not created by this team, but it was really her moment to shine in the title. The creators seemed to understand this when he launched the the title, as the female heroine has been incredibly well written since the first chapter.

Writing

The Lichtenstein painting in the beginning is a lovely ode to comics past, and an incredibly bold way to open up an issue. Upon reading this take since the beginning of the lifespan, this really does feel like we are approaching the natural endpoint to everything that the past few arcs have been building to for such a long amount of time. There is such a wonderfully vast amount of characters seen in this issue that will excite readers of teen Marvel franchises. Also, there is an immense amount of new costumes built from the ground up from McKelvie that are quite beautiful. This book is explosive in an interesting manner that likely nobody saw coming. In addition, there is a plot twist at the end that sets some gears in motion. It also raises a couple of questions that will hopefully be answered soon. The sense of finality really teases readers that a bombastic conclusion is being set-up for the imminent future in the pages of the comic.

Art

The art in Young Avengers continues to be an incredibly major selling point. There is a distinctive flirtation of the medium of comics itself being toyed with here. The opening splash page is another example of how beautifully the art in the tale will continue to subvert your expectations going into the series. The creatives work incredibly well together, a large amount of trust has to be placed within the artist in order to get a book like this that really looks a labor of love from everyone involved. The bottom line is that comic book art does not get much better than this. Not only does McKelvie has some of the most clear and distinctive artwork in modern superhero comics, he also attempts to break new ground with his work in each and every issue.

Conclusion

One of the most subversive comic books is approaching a deadly conclusion. Gillen and McKelvie have poured their hearts out in making of this stellar book.