Three for the price of one!

I didn't feel up to writing these all full-length, so here's three shorter reviews for the price of one. Sorry so many, but it's been a busy few days for reading. Coming in the next few days should be the first giant Exiles trade. but for now:

Title: Dark Reign: Young Avengers
Author: Paul Cornell
Publisher: Marvel
My take: The weakest of the Young Avengers series for me so far, but still an entertaining and well-written mini-series.

Title: Deadpool: Dark Reign
Author: Daniel Way
Publisher: Marvel
My take: A four-part crossover with the Thunderbolts was notably missing, but Way's writing of both Deadpool and Bullseye made this well worth the read

Title: Mini Marvels Ultimate Collection
Author: Various
Publisher: Marvel
My take: Simple but charmingly funny and more proof that all-ages books don't have to be stupid books

Spoilery synopsis of each available by clicking below!



Young Avengers: There isn't a lot of Young Avengers available at this point - I believe the title only has its initial run, mini-series crossovers for Civil War, Secret Invasion and Dark Reign and the Young Avengers Presents series of one shots. I highly recommend the original series, and decide from that if you're interested in more.

The team generally seems to do the two things I really like in superhero group stories - watch out absolutely for one another and have fun fighting crime, enjoying the work to the extent its realistic to do so. For me, that dynamic was exactly what made this the weakest of the bunch.

The central part of the story isn't so much the Young Avengers as it is a new group put together by a young woman called Coat of Arms which call themselves the Young Avengers. the group's a pretty mixed bag, with some of them being pretty nasty pieces of work - like the Executioner, who looks up to Punisher and decides to prove himself by blowing up his mother, or a neo-nazi woman who spends her evenings reprogramming - in more ways than one - the robotic memebr of their group to ignore what she thinks of os overly PC things and the rest of the world should think of as common decency. Also, there's Enchantress - a powerful sorceress - and The Melter, whose power is to melt things, exactly as his name implies.

The overall action of the book is about their attempts to be heroes, their differing ideas about what that means, and the many ways to get there. It was also apparently set up by Coat of Arms, whyo seems like a nice enough person, but is an artist with a broad definition of art who saw the whole thing as some sort of project. I'm not sure if I was supposed to like her, or dislike her, or even understand her. I just found her largely unintelligible.

As far as I was concerned, the best and strongest part of the story was the character study of The Melter. He was a guy who really wanted to be a hero, but he didn't really have any idea how to act like one. He knew he was supposed to save people, but he wasn't sure how to lead, how to even get the group to listen to him. And, as Coat of Arms says at one point, it's hard for him even more because his power is a villain's power in a lot of ways. He's killed people, including his own parents, when he lost control, lost his cool. And we're not talking raging anger sort of losing control, but just the more general raising your voice sort of thing. He's legitimately afraid of his own power, and presented an interesting dynamic against the backdrop of the Young Avengers, who have settled into their abilities.

All in all, it had its decent points and the writing was engaging, but its flaws outweighed its strengths and I wouldn't recommend it if you're not already a Young Avengers fan (or into really unusual art forms, I suppose).

Deadpool: Ahahahaha!!! It's not for the weak of stomach, but I absolutely love Deadpool. Especially the current main Deadpool title. The writing is so crisp, with the three distinct voices in his head, the great back-and-forth and the surprisingly tight plotting. The Dark Reign book starts out with someone having put out a hit on Deadpool. He traces it back to Norman Osborn, who sets Bullseye on his trail to eliminate him.

Bullseye may or may not be as crazy as Deadpool - it's debateable, though I personally believe few can be as crazy as he is - but the two of them build a quirky friendship based on... on... on trying to kill one another, somehow. Trust me, it makes sense. the battle turns into a sort of game of one-upmanship that involves a meat suit, daydreams about a destructive elementary school experience, suicide by bow and arrow (not really) and a rocket being fired through the open windows of a monster truck (which is #^&@ing awesome, by the by).

The missing four-parter was in both Thunderbolts and in Deadpool, and involved the whole Thunderbolts team trying to take him down. It's been a while since I read it, but I seem to recall Deadpool defeating Ant-Man with bug spray, so I tend to believe it was pretty awesome.

All in all, not much to say. It's good. It's very good. It's quirky and funny, and as long as a bit of gore doesn't bug you, I highly recommend it.

Mini Marvels: As was pointed out in the foreward pages of the book, the Mini Marvels series feels a bit like the peanuts - child superheroes battling the obstacles of their childhood in their own way, without aid of the adults. Spiderman and Venom have a race to determine who gets Norman Osborn on their paper route. Wolverine has a very eventful trip to the store for cereal. Hulk speaks his battle challenges in haiku. Iron Man makes metal suits for everyone. Hawkeye becomes a herald of Galactus. You know, the normal things.

This is a book where simple writing enhances the amusement - I don't think I've laughed this hard at a comic book in a long time, if ever. And it was rarely one really hilarious joke, but just a series of funny moments following on the heels of one another.

It's not one story from start to finish, but a series of smaller stories, some lasting a few dozen pages, some only lasting a single strip. It's an all-ages book, but highly entertaining