Young Allies #1
Written by Sean McKeever
Art by David Baldeón
Why in the hell couldn’t Teen Titans have been like this? Seriously, what the hell McKeever? Do you only do your good work for Marvel? Because I wasn’t even going to read this! Seriously, his Teen Titans and Birds of Prey were so underwhelming that I had no buzz going into this, not to mention that the Nomad backups in Captain America have been a lot of….ehhhhhh to me. But I picked this up after the fact (and spur of the moment) after a friend of mine started buzzing about it. I was cautious, I mean, I had been burned before, but I relented and gave in.
And man, I’m glad I did. This book was fun! We’re given general introductions to the cast; with El Toro getting an origin to open the book, Nomad and Arana continuing their adventures from Captain America, Firestar a fulltime student, and Gravity…..has gotten a bit bitter. Anyway, this is your standard old school teen super team origin issue, with the team of unconnected teens coming together to face a threat to big for any one of them. But to top most books of the nature, McKeever created a new team of bad guys, seemingly all second generation supervillains that go by the name ‘The Bastards of Evil’, and I love it. If anything I’m amazed the name has never been used before.
Character wise, I have the same basic issue with Nomad and Arana that I have with them in the backups in Captain America; that McKeever is trying to write the two girls as best friends, but all I’m picking up is lesbian undertones, and I don’t think he’s intending that. They seem more like a couple then friends, and if he wants to go that route then all power to him, it’s just something that is worth noting. Then again, it’s quite possible that it’s just me and I want some lesbians in my book and I’m seeing things that aren’t there in order to have them.
The villains are easily the coolest part about this issue, and I really hope to see them spin out of this book after the initial arc. I’ve no idea who they would fight, save for maybe the Young Avengers, but I would totally love to see them elsewhere.
The art stands up with the tone of the book, and the characters definitely feel younger, which helps a lot since at least two of the main characters are high school students. It feels a bit cartoony at times, but not in a bad way, and it feels like a combination of Michael Ryan and Scott Kollins, but still completely unique.
But come the end of the issue, I definitely wanted more, which is something I’ve never said after a Sean McKeever book before, so that’s major kudos to him!
Overall?
7/10
