Young Avengers #15 – Review

By: Kieron Gillen (story), Becky Cloonan, Ming Doyle, Joe Quinones, Jamie McKelvie (art), Jordie Bellaire, Maris Wicks, Matthew Wilson (colors)

The Story: Clearly, you’ve been through a real dry spell if you’re willing to kiss yourself.

The Review: I was a little puzzled at first why Gillen would choose to spread out his New Year’s finale over two issues, but then I realized that this is his last opportunity to do all the character building he neglected to do during the life of the series.  It’s a bit like realizing at the last minute during an essay exam that you forgot to mention a key point of your thesis and being forced to cram it into the conclusion.  It doesn’t belong there, but at least you got it in.

This “better late than never” quality permeates most of this issue, as Gillen tops off his series with fitting resolutions for the Young Avengers who didn’t get their time in the spotlight last month.  Of course, when you’re trying to make a point with time running out, it’s never going to come out as coherent as if you had started earlier, which is probably why our last moments with Noh-Varr and Prodigy feel unsatisfyingly incomplete.  Just like with Kate and America, Gillen needed to have put in more work earlier to really clinch these final moments.

FF #9 – Review

Matt Fraction (Writer), Joe Quinones (Artist), Laura Allred (Colorist)

The Story: Pool Party! That and also the meeting of Julius Caesar and the teachers.

The Review: This is a strange title. It is a curious way to start a review, but it also the truth. Let us consider exactly what we are reading: a bunch of superheroes teach a group of hyper-intelligent and very diverse group of children in order to form them for humanity’s future and betterment. In this group, we have a robot dragon, a bunch of children that comes from underground, with one of them having discovered his true gender a being much more feminine than what his masculine body would foretell, one being a head in a flying jar. I could go on with how bizarre all of these characters are but the point is this: this is a rather weird book.

While it may sound like a flaw of the book, let me reinstate this in the other way by pinpointing the fact that this is the strongest point of the title. Superhero books live by the fact that we can accept that some things aren’t here to make complete sense or to be completely logical, which this book accepts and even make it his biggest selling point. Where else could you get a book where all those students learn the joy of having a pool party, splashing around as their interaction provide the crucial entertainment we so crave?

As much as the teachers, the replacement FF are interesting and fully formed as characters, it is clearly the kids that are the stars of this book. The main reason is surprisingly simple: they actually behave as actual children, with their high and lows, their desires and their amazement toward some of their discovery. In making them so likable in their optimism, Matt Fraction managed to make it so incredibly gifted and talented kids can be so incredibly relatable as we see their actions. Who never splashed around when they were in a pool, trying to rush water toward the other to satisfy that primal urge of fun and action? These kids do in this issue and while it may sound as the most boring thing to describe in a comic, it is quite entertaining to read as these characters feel quite alive, as Bentley-23 tries to discover who the aquatic students, Vil and Wu are, while the other reacts differently to this whole basin of water that is there for their enjoyment.

Joker’s Asylum: Harley Quinn – Review

By James Patrick (writer), Joe Quinones (art), Alex Sinclair (colors), Patrick Brosseau (letters)

The Story: Joker settles in to tell us another tell, this one about Harley Quinn and her quest to break out of Arkham so that she can be with her Mr. J on the most specialist day of the year.

What’s Good: I’m a little leery of Harley Quinn as a character. Her backstory is very good, her interactions with Joker are entertainingly hilarious, and she acts as an excellent counterpoint to his often heavy-handed nature. In the wrong hands though, she can become nothing more than a pale imitation of the Joker—a female reflection of his psychosis with no motivations or desires of her own. Worse, she can be turned into an overly saccharine and annoying sidekick. Fortunately, Patrick avoids most of those traps here: since Joker is only introducing this story, the spotlight remains on Harley at all times and prevents her antics from competing with his, and at no time does she fall into the Zone of Irritation ™.

The story itself is absolutely the best part of this book. The whole concept of Harley being a cooperative inmate on every day except this one s pretty darn funny, and the offhanded and playful way she handles everything (except for the moments where she gets hilariously worked up over trivialities) gives it just the right tone. Batman’s cameo at the end, along with the rather inspired plan he concocts to try and catch her, was easily the highlight for me.