The Fictional Hangout: 12 Days of Christmas - Best SFF Characters of 2013

Friday, 3 January 2014

12 Days of Christmas - Best SFF Characters of 2013 - Day #9: The Young Avengers

From one Marvel creation to another, I turn my attention to the Young Avengers for my ninth day in the 12 Days of Christmas, and explain why they're just so great.

If I could only follow one mainstream superhero comic launched in 2013, it would have to be Kieron Gillen's Young Avengers. Why? Everything about this comic is just so awesome. I've loved every issue since the start and it's one of my all-time favourite mainstream comics. It's been the best thing to come out of Marvel Now! so far (with Hawkeye & Daredevil only excluded because they were launched pre-Marvel Now!) and features an awesome team dynamic brought to life by the wonderful writing skills of Kieron Gillen and the amazing artistic talents of Jamie McKelvie.

The Young Avengers are an incredible, wide and diverse cast. We have Hulkling, Miss America, Kid-Loki, Kate Bishop, Wiccan, Marvel Boy. All in their teenage form, each with their own flaws and weaknesses, each rootable characters that bring several interesting thing to the table. Over the course of the series the Young Avengers have been awesome from the end to the beginning, and the first issue was powerful enough to get me really invested in reading more of the characters stories and they did not disappoint. It's a great shame that the series wraps up on Wednesday, as I've loved every issue -but it's been a great read and I'd rather have this comic and have it end than not have this comic at all - because each issue has been consistently awesome and consistently fun.

I can't have more praise for this comic. It's been great. Like The Clone Club and the Crew of Serenity, each of these characters could have occupied any spot in the list on their own, but if I'd have had to only pick two of the Young Avengers it would be Kid-Loki and Kate Bishop with Miss America coming in a close third - Kid-Loki steals every panel that he's in, and Kate Bishop is kickass as the female Hawkeye who's risen over the past year to become one of my favourite female Marvel characters right up there with Rogue and Kitty Pryde who were there Pre-2013, otherwise they'd be on this list as well. So it's not just Gillen and McKelvie, but also Matt Fraction who has helped make this a great year for Hawkeye (both of them).