174. Young Avengers #1 to 6 ... Marvel ... Jim Cheung ...

[Jim Cheung is the artist and here his work is so perfect a fit unlike when he did Maverick]

Anyway as the title indicates, this is not your typical Avengers but once again, Marvel's attempts at assembling a new team of superheroes hoping to create more titles for us loyal readers to collect (hahahaha) and enticing newer readers (I hope). Was it a success?

Yes and no ... while it is a good read, unfortunately, trying to retain the title for writer Heinberg (initially) meant that after the first year's worth of issues were out ... there was a dearth on the market owing to the writer's schedules (or some such) ... so we see them as irregular guest stars and after a while some other limited series came out ...

For me, it kind of lost steam after that ... and I didn't bother with subsequent issues and what-not ... they could have done it like tv series with seasons 1 and 2 and whatever as they talked about ... but even tv series doesn't have an indefinite hiatus between one season and the next ... just marketing spin from Marvel I guess ... sad because I really enjoyed the first 12 issues here

Basically, this tale takes place after Bendis first stab at Avengers by destroying that team ... so young characters with ties to some of the old Avengers (not all direct ties) came across each other as they tried either solo or with mates to honor the memory of their fallen idols ... and naturally they decided to band together to "fight the good fight"

As the covers show, the members include Patriot (Captain America), Iron Lad (Iron Man obviously), Hulkling (Hulk - what else) who is actually a shape changer, Wiccan (Scarlet Witch), and a female Hawkeye

This first arc has as its core villain - Kang the conqueror and we know he is no pushover! In addition, to make matters worse, this Kang has a relationship with one of our heroes and definitely the arc will end with one of the young heroes not making it out alive

Its told with a lot of heart ... and even the back story is interesting reading ... I am glad they made the series in a readable arcs so that the first 12 issues were plainly awesome ... and I gladly forget the subsequent series and guest-series hahaha

Ratings: 9/10