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.

Batman ’66 #3 – Review

By: Jeff Parker (story), Joe Quinones & Sandy Jarrell (art), Maris Wicks & Rico Renzi (colors)

The Story: Don’t let the Joker get into your head; he may decide to never get out.

The Review: I don’t know if Parker has learned some lessons from Li’l Gotham—I don’t know if anyone reads Li’l Gotham for anything other than to melt into a helpless puddle of adoration for the sheer cuteness of it all—but he’s surely taking care to avoid the missteps of its fellow digital-first series.  Entertainment and laughs are all well and good, but there’s no reason why you can’t have good character work and plotting, too.

Parker already hinted at a shift towards more serious stories last issue, with suggestions of a potentially long-term plotline.  Here he goes full throttle, setting aside his usual jokey antics for something that actually resembles a more traditional Batman mission.  True, you’re not genuinely in fear of anything too dire happening, but there’s still very much a dramatic tension moving the feature along.