Young Allies #1

This feels more like what I expected from Sean McKeever on Teen Titans. We've got a nice mix of established and newish characters to make up the team. McKeever doesn't waste time in introducing a second new team, a group of 2nd generation villains very much in the vein of the Terror Titans. Of course, in this title they are the Bastards of Evil, but there is definitely a similarity.

McKeever has a great handle on Nomad and Arana, they are the most fun pair in this thing for sure. Gravity is McKeever's character, but he feels a bit like a generic hero in this first issue, there's not much to set him apart. Firestar is confident and seems like she's in full control of her powers. I hope she takes over this team, she has the experience to lead it and I'm not sure I've ever seen her in that role. Toro has a villain's origin, so I'm curious to see why and how he ends up joining the team as a good guy.

As for the Bastards, there are some fun ideas. I think the Grey Gargoyle's daughter might be my favorite, her sandy/mortar-y powers aren't common and her need to impress her Dad gives her a cool motivation.

This book has some great potential, and it will be fun seeing the actual team form up over the next few issues. If I were fantasy booking this team, I'd say the book needs a couple more heroes. Let's see... we've got two experienced energy blasters (Gravity, Firestar), two fairly new scrappers (Arana, Nomad), and a rookie brick (Toro). I think the team needs a big brain, and with Amadeus Cho free from his Avengers commitment, I can't help but wonder how well he'd fit in. My other suggestion would be a villain, I think Blizzard from Thunderbolts would be interesting. His powers are the opposite of Firestar's and his costume would fit in with the group nicely.

David Baldeon has a nice, clean style that works well for the subject matter. Firestar's costume actually looks good, and I like the Venom-style update to Arana's costume. There is too much black/dark blue on the team costumes, though. We need some red or green in there!

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