Avengers: Children's Crusade #3

I’m a big Young Avengers fan. I have every issue of the original run by Allan Heinberg and Jim Cheung and I remember being floored when I first read the original series I was surprised at how well I was able to relate to the characters. When Young Avengers was first announced, I had a naggging worry that it would just be some horrible cash-in with throw-away characters that I didn’t care about, but I was pleasantly surprised when Heinberg proved me wrong. I didn’t really follow a lot of their adventures in mini-series, but I made sure to always keep an eye on them when I could because I was aware the potential that they had, Needless to say, I was extremely excited by the reuniting of the team with the announcement of Avengers: The Children’s Crusade and its follow-up of so many dangling plot threads. But could it ever live up to the expectations that I’ve had since the end of the first Young Avengers book?

    If you’re short on time, the answer is…sort of. Is Children’s Crusade as good as the first series? So far, no it’s not. But when your original story was so good, you have nowhere to go but down. To explain in more detail, Heinberg puts together a solid story that sets up some really great character moments, which are easily his strong suit. Don’t expect anything particularly original; this is standard teenage heroes running off brashly after a goal the experienced heroes don’t want them to. It’s nothing groundbreaking, but it’s the way that each character speaks and plays off each other that really makes the book shine. There have been gay couples in comic books before, but none that I bought as “real” so easily as Hulkling and Wiccan’s. Here are two teenage boys, who happen to have superpowers, that clearly have real life relationship problems but also deeply care about each other. They even talk like you would expect a teenager to, something many authors fail miserably at. There is very little action to speak of in this issue, but I can all but guarantee that you won’t miss it.

    As for the story itself, it is clear that Heinberg wants to tell a story that is truly rooted in Marvel Comics’ mythology. He is bringing nearly every character that has ever had anything to do with the Scarlet Witch into the story in ways that feel that feel fairly natural. For this month, Wonder Man is brought into the Avengers and I was actually quite pleased with his take on the whole situation and, for the first time in a very long time, am intrigued with what Wonder Man might do. Heinberg even managed to bring up some character past that I forgot even existed (I’m looking at you, Cap) so I have to give credit for that. Unfortunately, the ending of the issue fell flat for me. The last couple pages were meant to keep readers intrigued, but they are nothing that anyone who has read much of Dr. Doom in the past would be surprised by. Also, amnesia is entirely over-used at this point. There has to be a better way for authors to make characters oblivious of facts that they should know. The story is serviceable, but is really only there to provide moments for each character to interact each other and I’m, surprisingly, alright with that. I do wish that Heinberg has given some of the other Young Avengers some more time as this issue pretty much exclusively focuses on Wiccan. This makes sense, but one would expect that Speed would at least make an appearance. From this issue you’d almost think that the Young Avengers were only Hulkling and Wiccan. On a side note, does anyone actually think that Wonder Man actually has “Sentry-level strength?” I don’t.

    The other key player that I will always associate with the Young Avengers is Jim Cheung. Cheung is easily one of my favorite artists of all time. He is like the combination of the best parts of Olivier Coipel and Jim Lee and I mean every bit of that. Despite the huge lack of action in Children’s Crusade #3, there is an energy to every page that is just undeniable. The book looks good and that’s that. Cheung is a master at making the most of the space he has and can make even “talking heads” look exciting. There’s a regal majesty and power to his work that suit’s the book perfectly. Equal credit belongs to Justin Ponsor for his intensely dynamic colors as well. There’s amazing “pop” to every panel and his colors are vibrant and make the visuals fun to look at. If I had to give negatives to the art, it would be that all of Cheung’s face are basically the same. He has essentially one face for male characters and one for females and he just adds specific details when required. Not a big problem, but one I noticed a few times. Also, why are Wolverine’s claws suddenly only six inches long? This has bothered me since the first issue. Cheung draws one fantastic Wolverine, even nailing the height that so many others mess up horribly, but his claws are so small I could barely even call the threatening. That one small change makes Wolverine look so much less intimidating and really needs fixing.