Faster than a DC Bullet: Jessica Jones, Part V: Young Avengers

Comic hardcover, n.pag.
Published 2008 (contents: 2005-06)
Borrowed from the library
Read April 2012

Young Avengers

Writer: Allan Heinberg

Pencilers: Jim Cheung, Andrea Divito

Inkers: John Dell, Mark Morales, Drew Geraci, Dave Miekis, Rob Stull, Dexter Vines, Livesay, Jay Leisten, Matt Ryan, Jaime Mendoza, Jim Cheung
Other Artists: Michael Gaydos, Neal Adams, Gene Ha, Jae Lee, Bill Sienkiewicz, Pasqual Ferry
Colorists: Jose Villarrubia, Justin Ponsor, Art Lyon, June Chung, Dave McCaig
Letterer: Cory Petit

My previous experience with the Young Avengers was Paul Cornell's Dark Reign tie-in. It was okay. I didn't pick up this volume for any of its intrinsic qualities, however; I picked it up because it includes Jessica Jones.  Now, I imagine she pops up in a lot of Marvel stories nowadays, but she's the viewpoint character for much of the story.  Even better: Michael Gaydos returns to do the art for some of her bits.

It's nice that Jessica Jones finally looks like Jessica Jones again; making the right kind of faces goes a long way to making her dialogue seem right. Allan Heinberg writes a pretty good Jessica Jones on the whole.  She spends more time palling around (and seems a little too familiar with) Captain America and Iron Man for my liking, but within the confines of how Bendis changed the character for The Pulse, it works.  Jim Cheung draws the majority of the book, and his Jessica is a little too smooth-faced and skinny and demure and just overall young-looking. It is neat to see her in her Jewel costume again, though.

As for the non-Jessica Jones components of the book: I was surprised by how much I liked them.  Heinberg and Cheung create an instantly-likeable group of teenage protagonists here, with good backstories and good banter.  The first arc especially kept me completely engrossed, and the story never stops moving. (From a narrative standpoint, anyone. From a physical one, they stand around a whole lot in the middle.) My favorite characters were probably the girls. Hawkeye has all the sass, and Stature has all the insecurity. Oh, and poor Iron Lad!  What a dilemma. But they're all good characters, and I already plan to someday do a readthrough of their adventures now.