Young Avengers #14 – Review

By: Kieron Gillen (story), Jamie McKelvie, Emma Viceli, Christian Ward, Annie Wu (art), Matthew Wilson, Lee Loughridge, Jordie Bellaire (colors)

The Story: You can bet this evening will end with a rousing chorus of “We Are Young”.

The Review: So we’ve come to the conclusion of Young Avengers’ relatively short-lived run, and what a conflicted run it has been.  While it was certainly the It Girl series when it premiered, much of its hip luster has rubbed off since, revealing more of a mixed bag underneath.  As you can see from the activity on the Comic Book Resources forums, there’s a great deal of debate on whether Young Avengers has lived up to its ambitious promise.

I can cop out and simply cite some hard numbers, like the fact that last month’s issue sold only 23,790 copies to get a Comichron rank of 92.*  Diehard fans may protest that numbers don’t mean everything, and they’re right, but these dispiriting figures do indicate a disconnect between the story Gillen’s been telling and the wider readership.  Something along the way must have turned people off, to the tune of an almost 50,000 sales drop from the first issue.