Young Allies

[JustABill]

McKeever is bringing Nomad, Gravity, Firestar, Arana, and a new dude together to form a new squad of Young Allies.



http://comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=25147

[Tron Bonne]

Could be interesting. I like Nomad and Arana

[Johnny Drama]

Retarded...

[JustABill]

Says the one with the Lil Wayne avatar. Nuff said.

Save Arana, I'm willing to give this a shot. I can't stand her, the others are interesting or seem interesting.

[Johnny Drama]

This looks like a bad analgam of The New Warriors and The Young Avengers, only less appealing than either team.

And Firestar should by no means be considered young anymore, she should at least be in her late 20's. She has been around forever and characters after that debuted younger than her are now older than her...

[Johnny Drama]

Originally Posted by JustABill

Says the one with the Lil Wayne avatar. Nuff said.

I get it. You don't like Lil' Wayne. Great. Doesn't mean it negates any credibility I may have.

[TheCorpulent1]

Can't say I'm particularly impressed with the roster, but I'll give it a try. I like Nomad and Gravity.

[hippie_hunter]

Why does Arana have a tatoo

[JustABill]

Nomad, Gravity, and Firestar have me sold. All favorites or uprising favorites (Gravity) of mine.

[Dread]

Originally Posted by hippie_hunter

Why does Arana have a tatoo

It's a mystical tattoo that connects to "The Spider Totem" that empowers her. It is where her magical spider-armor comes out of.

Honestly, this is a bit of a bold choice for Marvel. McKeever and Baldeon's NOMAD: GIRL WITHOUT A WORLD mini series sold very poorly. I'd argue considering it's an obscure character few know about, who was last touched by Rob Lefield, priced at $3.99 a pop, Marvel should be lucky it even sold in the Top 150, but Marvel editorial is wacky sometimes. McKeever is/was himself an editor, so some of his ideas get to stick around.

Some could argue there are quite a lot of young Marvel teams lately. NEW WARRIORS, even if they were mostly former X-people, was only canceled a year and change ago. The YOUNG AVENGERS continue to float on the outskirts of limbo. Every year or other year a collection of teenage X-Men get some mini series or ongoing attempt (NEW MUTANTS has relaunched). We have AVENGERS ACADEMY coming. RUNAWAYS was just canceled after, what, 4-5 years? SECRET WARRIORS is still out, and is the only young team Marvel gives enough of a **** about to make important in events (because they're created and co-written by Bendis). So add into the mix this, YOUNG ALLIES.

On the plus side, I like Baldeon's art, I actually liked the NOMAD series, and I like Gravity. In fact I am thrilled that McKeever gets to return to the character he co-created with Mike Norton. I'm iffy on Arana but Firestar is usually cool. Part of me would rather see her in AVENGERS ACADEMY, but then again, she and Vance supposedly split for real, so let's give them some distance. Didn't MARVEL DIVAS claim Angelica has cancer, or will that be retconned?

I imagine this story will spring out of the NOMAD back up strip running in CAPTAIN AMERICA, which will at least have exposed some 45,000-65,000 readers to the concept and NOMAD (willingly or not). If this launched at $2.99 it might have a chance. At $3.99 it will crash and die, but what do I know? Apparently Marvel believes their readers, 1 out of 10 of which are likely unemployed, will be happy to throw $4 at comics about obscure, under promoted franchises like this or BROTHER VOODOO or SWORD. It's an easy strategy to make when you work for Marvel and haven't actually had to pay full price for a comic book in a real life store in, gosh, ten years (when comics were still $1.99 - $2.25).

Still, I have enough invested interest to read it. I just feel Marvel is seriously shooting themselves in the foot with $3.99 comics. It worked for 2009. But I think in 2010 it will backfire on them it they get too greedy.

Frankly, Firestar should be leading this team. She's been in comics for over 20 years and was actually an Avenger (for as long as Justice was, and he's done big stuff at AVENGERS: THE INITIATIVE). It does seem like a demotion that she's reduced to babysitting mostly inexperienced teen heroes here. But we'll see what comes of it. With Vance having "rebounded" with Ultra-Girl, will Angelica have a wandering eye for Gravity (who should be about a year younger than she is)?

Marvel has had a hard time launching new characters, but considering how many they have created in the last few years that have been allowed to tumble into limbo or be forgotten/mangled/killed, one perhaps cannot blame fans for having no patience for types like Gravity.

[JewishHobbit]

Originally Posted by Dread

SECRET WARRIORS is still out, and is the only young team Marvel gives enough of a **** about to make important in events (because they're created and co-written by Bendis).

We have to correct you on this every time Mr. Dread. Bendis has next to nothing to do with Secret Warriors. He created the team during Secret Invasion but just kinda helped come up with the plot of the first arc. He's admited himself that his name's just on the cover of the first 6 issues as a way to help sell copies. Secret Warriors is Hickman's baby through and through. Give the man the credit he deserves. He's doing an awesome job with it!

[JewishHobbit]

Oh, as for this book. Firestar and Gravity interest me, but not enough to buy the book likely. If it's on a slow week and by some shock is $3, I'll likely pick up the first issue, but otherwise I'm passing.

[Dread]

Originally Posted by JewishHobbit

We have to correct you on this every time Mr. Dread. Bendis has next to nothing to do with Secret Warriors. He created the team during Secret Invasion but just kinda helped come up with the plot of the first arc. He's admited himself that his name's just on the cover of the first 6 issues as a way to help sell copies. Secret Warriors is Hickman's baby through and through. Give the man the credit he deserves. He's doing an awesome job with it!

If you forget the premise that Nick Fury is the dumbest man at SHIELD, since they were a front for his worst enemies forever. Hickman's awesome on FF but I haven't bothered with SW.

I'll concede that Bendis doesn't really co-write if even he admits minimal involvement. Mark Millar, once upon a time, gained fame as Grant Morrison's funny sidekick, often ghost-writing scripts he couldn't be bothered with investing much effort with. Still, Bendis DID create the characters, and he DOES include them in heavy roles in his events, whether in SECRET INVASION or SIEGE (including build up issues in MIGHTY AVENGERS or NEW AVENGERS). Hence it is the only teen team book that sells within the Top 35. You'll never see, say, Gravity being the big hero of a line wide event and pumped in the books fans accept as "important".

The market that Marvel and DC have spent the past 5 years creating is a market in which they only want fans to pay attention to books that "matter", and the rest is really just bullocks or personal taste. Therefore, it doesn't matter that NEW AVENGERS is often hokum on stilts; Marvel brands it as their most important book, events follow suit, and fans respond. Lord knows that was why I kept buying it at least two years after I lost interest. The problem comes, though, that Marvel and DC want to sell more than one book, or one character, or one franchise. So they try sell the idea that "everything matters", but not only is that very hard to maintain for long, but fans and retailers usually figure things out. To quote THE INCREDIBLES, "Once everyone's super, no one will be". So both Marvel and DC are stuck selling lovely books that may be good or unique, but don't and won't sell no matter how much they push them, like AGENTS OF ATLAS, because the audience has been trained to only flock to "big" books or "proven" franchises.

Many new characters have come and gone over the years, but to play Devil's Advocate, what happens whenever a particular writer pushes a particular new character hard? Fans rarely flock and endorse it. They go, "they're pushing their pet character down our necks!" It call comes down to character and personal taste. For instance, I think Gravity has more to offer than X-23, but X-23 has far more to offer compared to Daken. On the other hand, Jeff Parker's obsession with putting the AGENTS OF ATLAS into everything he writes can at times become self-parody, even for those like me who love the Agents. I imagine Parker could write a short story for TV Guide and somehow put the Agents into it.

To be fair, Bendis has tried to push characters he has liked and make them "matter", whether they were new like Hood, or old like Luke Cage or Spider-Woman. While I like that idea, some of us didn't like the execution. Sadly, because Marvel has branded him as the only writer that matters on the only book that matters, Marvel can publish good material elsewhere and charge $2.99, $3.99, $99.99 per pop and have 100 articles about it at Newsarama and it won't move like it should or they intend. DC has that same problem with any franchise not written by Geoff Johns. I suppose there is a moral that it is never wise to put all eggs in one basket even if it results in short terms gains, but I'm sure industry know it alls know far more about long term consequences than a mere peon like me who is merely in the deep end of it. I mean, Wall Street Masters of the Universe knew it all, right? They were never wrong. Until they were. And then they cashed their chips and fled.

Marvel has to do a lot of work to try to tilt audience expectations back to 2000-2003 when sometimes chances were taken and there was more willingness to try something new. To not put all the eggs in one basket so that other franchises can flourish, rather than have one sell at 6 figures and all the rest barely make 60k or lower. And part of that is coming to the real world idea that if anyone is going to invest in a little known franchise like YOUNG ALLIES with mostly new or little known characters (Firestar's heyday from an NBC cartoon show only ended 25 years ago) starts by realizing that $3.99 is a tough investment now.

I'll buy it, but I would like to see some wise thinking at Marvel about the future, instead of tomorrow. Because the future comes before you know it, and then you're stuck holding the bag, like Greece.

[bored]

I agree that Firestar shouldn't be relegated to "young" teams anymore, but I'm glad she's being used.

[Colossal Spoons]

Gravity? I'm in. Maybe Machine Teen can join too

[Dread]

Originally Posted by Colossal Spoons

Gravity? I'm in. Maybe Machine Teen can join too

I doubt it. He hasn't popped up since HOUSE OF M.

I mean, why use him when you can make up a version of Counter Earth Toro?

[JewishHobbit]

Originally Posted by Dread

If you forget the premise that Nick Fury is the dumbest man at SHIELD, since they were a front for his worst enemies forever. Hickman's awesome on FF but I haven't bothered with SW.

I'll concede that Bendis doesn't really co-write if even he admits minimal involvement. Mark Millar, once upon a time, gained fame as Grant Morrison's funny sidekick, often ghost-writing scripts he couldn't be bothered with investing much effort with. Still, Bendis DID create the characters, and he DOES include them in heavy roles in his events, whether in SECRET INVASION or SIEGE (including build up issues in MIGHTY AVENGERS or NEW AVENGERS). Hence it is the only teen team book that sells within the Top 35. You'll never see, say, Gravity being the big hero of a line wide event and pumped in the books fans accept as "important".

The market that Marvel and DC have spent the past 5 years creating is a market in which they only want fans to pay attention to books that "matter", and the rest is really just bullocks or personal taste. Therefore, it doesn't matter that NEW AVENGERS is often hokum on stilts; Marvel brands it as their most important book, events follow suit, and fans respond. Lord knows that was why I kept buying it at least two years after I lost interest. The problem comes, though, that Marvel and DC want to sell more than one book, or one character, or one franchise. So they try sell the idea that "everything matters", but not only is that very hard to maintain for long, but fans and retailers usually figure things out. To quote THE INCREDIBLES, "Once everyone's super, no one will be". So both Marvel and DC are stuck selling lovely books that may be good or unique, but don't and won't sell no matter how much they push them, like AGENTS OF ATLAS, because the audience has been trained to only flock to "big" books or "proven" franchises.

Many new characters have come and gone over the years, but to play Devil's Advocate, what happens whenever a particular writer pushes a particular new character hard? Fans rarely flock and endorse it. They go, "they're pushing their pet character down our necks!" It call comes down to character and personal taste. For instance, I think Gravity has more to offer than X-23, but X-23 has far more to offer compared to Daken. On the other hand, Jeff Parker's obsession with putting the AGENTS OF ATLAS into everything he writes can at times become self-parody, even for those like me who love the Agents. I imagine Parker could write a short story for TV Guide and somehow put the Agents into it.

To be fair, Bendis has tried to push characters he has liked and make them "matter", whether they were new like Hood, or old like Luke Cage or Spider-Woman. While I like that idea, some of us didn't like the execution. Sadly, because Marvel has branded him as the only writer that matters on the only book that matters, Marvel can publish good material elsewhere and charge $2.99, $3.99, $99.99 per pop and have 100 articles about it at Newsarama and it won't move like it should or they intend. DC has that same problem with any franchise not written by Geoff Johns. I suppose there is a moral that it is never wise to put all eggs in one basket even if it results in short terms gains, but I'm sure industry know it alls know far more about long term consequences than a mere peon like me who is merely in the deep end of it. I mean, Wall Street Masters of the Universe knew it all, right? They were never wrong. Until they were. And then they cashed their chips and fled.

Marvel has to do a lot of work to try to tilt audience expectations back to 2000-2003 when sometimes chances were taken and there was more willingness to try something new. To not put all the eggs in one basket so that other franchises can flourish, rather than have one sell at 6 figures and all the rest barely make 60k or lower. And part of that is coming to the real world idea that if anyone is going to invest in a little known franchise like YOUNG ALLIES with mostly new or little known characters (Firestar's heyday from an NBC cartoon show only ended 25 years ago) starts by realizing that $3.99 is a tough investment now.

I'll buy it, but I would like to see some wise thinking at Marvel about the future, instead of tomorrow. Because the future comes before you know it, and then you're stuck holding the bag, like Greece.

So what you're saying is... in a round about way... you don't like Secret Warriors?


Though to be honest, while I was iffy on the Hydra reveal, and the first 4 issues or so were slow, it's become probably one of the best books coming out each month. You're missing a great read.

[Dread]

Originally Posted by JewishHobbit

So what you're saying is... in a round about way... you don't like Secret Warriors?


Though to be honest, while I was iffy on the Hydra reveal, and the first 4 issues or so were slow, it's become probably one of the best books coming out each month. You're missing a great read.

I see. Well, I certainly know Hickman has talent. I am enjoying his run on FANTASTIC FOUR.

I wasn't thrilled with the Secret Warriors when Bendis trucked them out. They seemed very stock. Plus, "Yo-Yo" has to be the worst name for any character in the history of fiction (especially a speedster).

[WolfCypher]

Gravity's back?

[JewishHobbit]

Originally Posted by Dread

I see. Well, I certainly know Hickman has talent. I am enjoying his run on FANTASTIC FOUR.

I wasn't thrilled with the Secret Warriors when Bendis trucked them out. They seemed very stock. Plus, "Yo-Yo" has to be the worst name for any character in the history of fiction (especially a speedster).

Yo Yo is kinda her code name but moreso her nickname. She's also been refered to as Slingshot.

But yeah, it was a dumb name. And Bendis just played out the cardstock characters. Hickman's slowly building them up as individuals. But in addition to them he's brought in Dum Dum, the Howling Commandos, fleshed out Hydra's leadership to make them an actual threat and not just cannon fodder, and more. The last two issues of the fist arc was really good and the second arc was great. The third has been good so far.

Issue 13 just came out and I've heard that Hickman has it planned as a 30 issue series.

[Dread]

Originally Posted by Venom.X

Gravity's back?

Technically, Gravity has been around here and there. He died in BEYOND!, he was reborn during McDuffie's run on FANTASTIC FOUR with his status quo roughly reset by the Watcher. He was then part of the 50 State Initiative drafted to the Las Vegas team before Osborn punted him to the Great Lakes Champions (and his home state).

Originally Posted by JewishHobbit

Yo Yo is kinda her code name but moreso her nickname. She's also been refered to as Slingshot.

But yeah, it was a dumb name. And Bendis just played out the cardstock characters. Hickman's slowly building them up as individuals. But in addition to them he's brought in Dum Dum, the Howling Commandos, fleshed out Hydra's leadership to make them an actual threat and not just cannon fodder, and more. The last two issues of the fist arc was really good and the second arc was great. The third has been good so far.

Issue 13 just came out and I've heard that Hickman has it planned as a 30 issue series.

I'm still not sold.

Y'know what IS a great name, though? The name of the teenage super villain team the Young Allies will face. Screw the "Young Masters" from Cornell. We have the B******s of Evil. As in rhymes with last tards of Evil. Now, THAT is a name.

[JewishHobbit]

I actually find the name rediculous and it's the thing that's turned me off of the book the most. I was iffy until I read that. Now I KNOW I won't be buying it.

[Chunin]

They really needed to feature Gravity more often and now this a shot in the right direction. I can take Arana or leave her but Gravity guarantees I'll buy this book.

[JewishHobbit]

Gravity's the only thing appealing. Typically I'd be excited for Firestar, but she just doesn't fit in here and deserves to be on better teams. I mean, the scipt might have good reason, but it just feels odd at this point.

[Harlekin]

Title appeals to me, but I'm on the fence.