Young Avengers: Resolution (v2 #14-15)

Writers: Kieron Gillen, Jamie McKelvie and Emma Vieceli, Christian Ward and Annie Wu (#14); Becky Cloonan, Ming Doyle and Joe Quinones (#15)

Cover artist: Jamie McKelvie
From left to right: Rockslide, Miss America, Broo, Gravity, Spider-Girl, Hulkling, Wiccan,
Pixie, Troll, Marvel Boy, Hawkeye, Julie Power, Surge, Prodigy, Lucy in the Sky  

-        In previews and solicitations, this story is also known as The Afterparty.

-        A playlist for Resolution is available on Spotify.

-        Each issue is split into four sections, with a lead or closing story drawn by McKelvie, and three other vignettes per issue by different artists focusing on a particular character or character pairing.

Collected in:

• Young Avengers: Mic-Drop at the Edge of Time and Space (Marvel Comics, Apr 1 2014)
•  Young Avengers by Kieron Gillen & Jamie McKelvie Omnibus (Marvel Comics, Dec 16 2014)
•  #14-15 are available on Comixology.

#14

1.  Miss America/Kate Bishop
2.  Wiccan/Teddy
3.  Miss America
4.  Kate Bishop/Noh-Varr

Continuity Notes

-        This two issue arc explicitly occurs over New Year's Eve 2013/14, at a party multiple costumed heroes are attending. Teen heroes from throughout the Marvel Universe appear in cameos and as background characters throughout.

-        #14 focuses on New Year's Eve, whilst #15 focuses on New Year's Day itself (although New Year's Eve appears in flashback, taking up the Prodigy section.)

-        The third section gives us a flashback to Miss America a decade prior (2003), around the time superheroes began to appear. As discussed earlier, given that she would be older than 14 then (her age in the Vengeance limited series), she would now be at least 24.

-        Kate relates to Miss America her (terrible) "coming of age" birthday experience. As she mentioned "I'm so close to 21" in #11, this issue then occurs within a few weeks or months of that issue. Kate Bishop is a December baby, placing her birth in December 1992. Noh-Varr also asks "How was your birthday?", which makes it clear her birthday was very recent.

-        The splash page of the group dancing at the party is a visual allusion to the variant cover Bryan Lee O'Malley drew for the first issue.

O'Malley / McKelvie

-        David reconciles with Billy and Teddy, resolving the awkward triangle which has built throughout the series.

-        The artwork again depicts rather barren trees, indicating a Fall/Winter setting.

#15

1. Noh-Varr
2. David Alleyne/Loki
3. David Alleyne/Patriot
4. Young Avengers

Continuity Notes

-        Speed finally reappears in this issue, having embodied the form of Patriot. By the end of the issue, he rejoins the Young Avengers as they set off on new (possibly interdimensional) adventures. Whatever comes next is left ambiguous; all we know  is that the Young Avengers have reformed, stronger than ever.

-        Loki reappears briefly to speak to Prodigy, which forms the second section of the issue.

-        Kate comes to the realisation that she's the only "straight" member of the team. Wiccan and Hulkling are obviously both gay; Prodigy is bisexual; Miss America is gay, claiming Ultimate Nullifier was a "phase"; Noh-Varr implies that he has experimented with the same-sex; and Miss America jokes to Kate that she gives her glances. However, as Kieron Gillen notes on his Tumblr, sexuality is in flux and not all of this is fully set in stone, or fully 100% serious. Speed's reappearance obviously puts the idea of an "LGBT superhero team" off-balance. (Unless, of course, Gillen has anything to say about that...)

Pop Culture

-        Among the tracks played at the party are Daft Punk's 2013 song Get Lucky, and The Ronettes' Be My Baby, a callback to the first issue.

-        Loki pulls up an Instagram image on his phone, depicting the team from a few issues earlier, labelled: "Young Avengers (2013)", a fitting closure to the series.

Young Avengers: "Young Avengers" (v2 #12-13)

Writers: Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie

Cover artist: Jamie McKelvie

Collected in:

• Young Avengers: Mic-Drop at the Edge of Time and Space (Marvel Comics, Apr 1 2014)
•  Young Avengers by Kieron Gillen & Jamie McKelvie Omnibus (Marvel Comics, Dec 16 2014)
•  #12-13 are available on Comixology and as part of Marvel Unlimited.

#12

Continuity Notes

-        Several teenage heroes cameo in this story, including members of the X-Men, Avengers Academy, Future Foundation, former members of the Runaways, and Skaar, among others, hence the title "Young Avengers".

-        The artwork depicts defoliated trees, which places this issue in late autumn, around October/November.

Pop Culture

-        Loki compares Wiccan as the Demiurge to "Scott Pilgrim at the end of the film." (Or, his binary opposite, Nega-Scott.) Wiccan argues "The book was better." Scott Pilgrim is of course the title character of the manga series  of the same name by Bryan Lee O'Malley, which ran 6 volumes between 2004-2010. It was turned into a film, featuring Michael Cera as Scott, in 2010. O'Malley also provided a variant cover for #1.

#13

Continuity Notes

-        Wiccan and Hulkling get back together, after splitting temporarily in #9.

-        Loki leaves the Young Avengers by the end of this issue.

-        Wiccan travels over time and space in a two-page spread of multiple, unlettered pages from across the course of the series.

Young Avengers (v2) #11

"Stage Nervous Breakdown"

Writers: Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie

Cover artist: Jamie McKelvie

Collected in:

• Young Avengers: Mic-Drop at the Edge of Time and Space (Marvel Comics, Apr 1 2014)
•  Young Avengers by Kieron Gillen & Jamie McKelvie Omnibus (Marvel Comics, Dec 16 2014)
•  #11 is available on Comixology and as part of Marvel Unlimited.

Continuity Notes

Loki's reborn form

-        Loki, through the power of Wiccan, transforms into his 'Teen Loki' form, bearing somewhat of a resemblance to Tom Hiddleston. The exploits of this older Loki will be further explored in the series Loki: Agent of Asgard. Such a change isn't uncommon in Loki: obviously, there was the transformation into Kid Loki, but also during JMS' Thor run he appeared in a female form; Asgardians can even be known to transform into frogs, as we saw in Walt Simonson's run.! The original design sheet and some commentary can be found on McKelvie's blog.

-        Prodigy calls out for teen heroes (literally, using his cell phone), leading into next issue.

-        Marvel Boy shaves his beard, which he grew during Alternative Culture. (Finally.)

      A Question of Age

-        Hawkeye says "It's nearly my birthday. I'm so close to 21," indicating she is 20. Kate has been aged up in this issue - in New Avengers: The Reunion #1, Bucky refers to her as a "16-year-old girl with no training." Obviously, it's pretty unlikely she has aged over 4 years since that issue (The Reunion was published in 2009, actually 4 years before this issue itself.) Given that the age in this issue is coming from Kate herself, the ages given in this issue take precedence. In the case of the New Avengers issue, it's possible Bucky was being intentionally demeaning to her, or simply unaware of her actual age and guesstimated.

-        Kieron Gillen discussed his choices for the ages of the characters on the Young Avengers roster in response to an ask on Tumblr. Gillen states Teddy and Billy are "about 18," and that Kate "just felt older to Matt and I" in her portrayal. Gillen has repeatedly said that the first incarnation of Young Avengers was about "being 16," whilst the second volume is about "being 18," although not necessarily the age itself. By this logic, Kate would have been around 18 during the original run.

-        Marvel Boy states that he is 21. Miss America was placed at 14 in the Vengeance limited series, her initial appearance. Here in Young Avengers, a few years have passed for her. Gillen stated on Tumblr that "17-18 was my feeling. She's actually younger than a good chunk of the YA folk." Despite his youthful appearance, Loki doesn't really have an age as such, at least in human terms. All we know is he is several millenia old. Per the MCU films however, the opening scene in the Thor film shows us he was born around 965 AD.

F    For Prodigy, our source for this comes from the New X-Men series he featured in from 2004-2006. A computer display denotes his age as 17. As both Hulkling and Wiccan have aged two years since the original run, this means Prodigy would now be 19.