After a few months of adventuring all over the place, the Young Avengers proved to be creatures of habit as they ran into former X-Man Prodigy at a diner that they frequented after battles. It was there that Wiccan, Hulkling, and Hawkeye learned that their former teammate Speed was blinked out of existence by some strange Patriot look alike. After doing some investigating, Miss America kicked her way into the multiverse to find the perpetrator waiting for them. But before the team could make a move, he escaped into a portal to another universe.
Now, in the latest issue of Kieron Gillen’s ‘Young Avengers’, we catch up with the gang after they’ve been universe hopping for a little while in search of their foe. So far, they’ve come up short every time, but Loki is on the trail and they’re getting closer with each new world that they visit.
So far in this series, Gillen has utilized new and interesting tactics to show a number of different actions, but most recently the one used to show how time has passed caught my eye. It’s really hard to top the Instagram page in the last issue, but to show that time passed again, Noh-Varr grew a beard in the time that they’ve been searching for Fake-triot. Now, it’s not as precise as the last method since there were timestamps to show when each picture was taken, but his beard is pretty full, so I’d estimate that they’ve been on the hunt for about a week. Regardless of how long it’s been, Noh-Varr looks really weird with a beard. He almost looks like Santa Claus’ handsome son. While I don’t really dig the look, I love the reason why he’s growing it. It’s proof yet again that country music does weird things to people.
Another cool thing that’s happening in this book is that the team’s past is starting to catch up with them in these alternate dimensions. In this issue, we see figures from both Noh-Varr and Loki’s pasts. While we don’t know exactly what’s in store for the God of Mischief, the former Marvel Boy shared that they encountered “the first reason he loved Earth”. His new girlfriend Kate Bishop might have something to say about that after this mission is over and I hope that we get to see it.
Finally, there were so many surprises in this issue. Almost every page turn was something new and exciting, but nothing tops the last page. My reaction was just, “Oh shit!” because I never, ever saw that coming. Though the team is split up by the end of the book, it’ll be interesting to see how that last page is explained when they’re all back together again.
Overall, the creative team continues to kill it with another awesome issue of ‘Young Avengers’. Things are starting to heat up, and not just because of the impending battles approaching. I can’t wait to find out what happens next.
Final Score:
YOUNG AVENGERS #8
Written by Kieron Gillen
Art by Jamie McKelvie, Mike Norton, & Matthew Wilson
