A variable collection of stories by talented creators.
The Young Avengers arrived on the Marvel scene in 2005 with a bang; the original twelve-issue series by Allan Heinberg and Jim Cheung, published with increasing delays, ended midway through 2006. And then...the characters, at the threshold of real stardom, ended up in limbo. Over the succeeding two years, the Marvel Universe was roiled by numerous changes, most notably the superhero "Civil War", which the team was drawn into. Major changes to their status quo occured in this span, but there was no real space to tell their story. All the while, Marvel sat on its hands, waiting for Allan Heinberg to make time for the series (which he apparently has, as of this writing; stay tuned). Finally, in the beginning of 2008, Marvel commissioned this series, basically six one-shots done by several creative teams, to tell little stories about the team's current status quo.
Looking at the overall result, the format chosen is both a blessing and a curse. A blessing because it ensures that every character gets at least something to do, whereas single arcs tend to focus in on a smaller number of characters (both of the crossover miniseries published have been mainly about Hulkling and Wiccan). At the same time, there are severe constraints regarding what you can do in 22 pages of space; some writers succeed more than others. Finally, there is a consistent difference between those writers who are merely running in place and those who work in some plot movement (modest though it is).
The result is variable, and bears issue-by-issue commentary:
#1 - Patriot, by Ed Brubaker and Paco Medina. The writer of "Captain America" puts in a fairly enjoyable solo piece, guest-starring the Winter Soldier. It's basically a sequel to "Winter Soldier: Winter Kills", thouhg it doesn't approach that quality. Brubaker writes fun interaction between Eli and Kate, and, as expected, does a great job with the legacy of Captain America. I would rank this as the third-best installment.
#2 - Hulkling, by Brian Reed and Harvey Tolibao. This issue deals with one of the two major story developments that occurred after the end of the original series: the return of Hulkling's father, Captain Marvel. Given Reed's knowledge of later developments with that character, this issue walks a fine line, but it does a decent job of exploring Hulkling's feelings about his father.
#3 - Wiccan and Speed, by Robert Aguire-Sacasa and Alina Urusov. The clearest example of running in place, this story sees Wiccan and Speed set out in search of the Scarlet Witch; obviously they can't find her, since that's one of the plots Heinberg has in mind, so it was a mistake to go down this road. Or, if this had to be it, why not tell it from Speed's perspective, as his character has had little focus?
#4 - Vision, by Paul Cornell and Mark Brooks. Possibly my favourite issue, it sees our young robot pay a visit to his secret crush, Cassie Lang/Stature. Cornell actually gets to progress their fledgling relationship a bit here, to the issue's great benefit, and even assigns Vision a human name. I'm a big fan of Vision and Cassie, and Cornell writes them well. Regarding Cassie, he also takes a stab at explaining her position vis a vis the Civil War.
#5 - Stature, by Kevin Grievoux and Mitch Breitweiser. This is probably the greatest conceptual failure. Cassie's post-Civil War position is chock-a-block with dramatic potential (as Cornell showed), but Grievoux mostly ignores it or papers it over.
#6 - Hawkeye, by Matt Fraction and Alan Davis. The other contender for best issue, and, like Cornell's, it dives into developing the inter-team dynamics without stepping on Heinberg's toes. Fraction does a great job exploring Kate's potential relationships with Eli and Tommy, and the first real meeting between Kate and Clint Barton, the man whose legacy she took on thinking he was dead. A real winner.
As to assigning a star rating, issues #4 and 6 I would rank as five, #1 as 4, and the others as perhaps 2.5 each. That works out to an average of around 3.6, so I'll round up to four stars. It's an uneven collection, but if you're a fan of the characters, I'd recommend it.
