Wednesday, July 23, 2014

New Warriors v1: The Kids are Alright TPB

What a delightful first story arc. Don’t get me wrong, I’m certain the book is not long for this world. But for now, I’m going to read this with my daughters and love every minute.

The opening arc starts off right, with the High Evolutionary teaming up with Craig Kyle’s evolution-minded cavemen from his X-Men arc a few years ago. I’m a sucker for classic opponents like Herbert Wyndham, so seeing him rationalize his plan to wipe out all non-baseline humans? Right in line for the confused character.

But man, bringing in the Darkhold? The evil Cthullu-based book that anchored some great Avengers and Midnight Sons stories? (And yes, there were some great Midnight Sons stories, people!) Now I’m on board. And Yost cranks up the nostalgia even more by confusing the identity of his creation Water Snake. She says she’s a Lemurian sent to the surface to find heroes, but Justice and Speedball are absolutely convinced that she’s their old teammate Namorita. It’s hilarious reading Speedball dialogue as he needles her. He’s convinced she’ll come around, but he doesn’t seem too eager to force the issue. It is great seeing the two characters just accept the oddness of comic book amnesia.

And then the guest stars. Yost does a wonderful job with the guest-starring Avengers. Thor is a mix of imposing and fun. Cap is the just, but fair leader. Cap’s understanding response that Speedball and Justice are of course welcome to use the tower, but they have to give up the New Warriors name is reasonable, justified, and enraging. Yost does a great job playing the Avengers as the annoying authority figures.

The art by Marcus To and Nick Roche is consistent too. I’ve always like Roche’s Transformers work, but he impressed me with his great job with costumed superheroes. I can’t imagine he will need to wait to get more work from Marvel. To’s characters always skew a bit young for me, but there is no denying their flashy, dynamic appearances. My daughters both adore the look of the team in their costumes.


This is a GOOD comic, a pretty kid-friendly one. I had to skim over some Penance hints, but other than that? Fun for the whole family! 

1 comment:

T Vulture said...

Wow, I think you might be one of the few to say good things about New Warriors. I'm still really interested in reading it, if for no other reason than I really want to see what Yost does with Kaine and Aracely.

Also, nice to see I'm not the only one who reads with his kids. I'm keeping Superman Action Comics Vol 2 because it was the first TPB I read with my 9 Month-Old Son.