As I say - and as I said of Dark Reign: The List - X-Men - I didn't really feel like this was about the Young Avengers team members. It's really about a different team that mirrors their abilities and is being perceived as the Young Avengers without the real team's blessing or involvement. I don't necessarily mind the introduction of new characters but these seemed to come from nowhere and steal the show. This is turning into a theme with me and these big crossover events, I know - it's not just my gripe about DR: TL - X-Men, it's also one half of the heart of my complaints about Blackest Night.

That said, the team isn't entirely without things to do in this story, and it's a fascinating development in the nature of the Young Avengers team that they would have to confront the question of adding new members to their roster. Having fairly organically formed the bonds they enjoy, it's a very interesting challenge for them to consciously consider whether and how to increase their number. It's also a classic narrative twist and a fun role reversal to put the Young Avengers in the position of being the established group having to deal with a bunch of messy upstarts - much as the Avengers had to deal with them.

However, it all seems kind of... random. I don't want to say contrived because, well, my disbelief is already pretty thoroughly suspended, but none of the new team were characters I had ever heard of and to be honest I had difficulty figuring out what they were about or why they would be doing the things they did. I love a good origins story and I love to watch the social dynamics of a new group forming but I never had a sense of what drew the new team together in the first place. Osborn's organization of the Dark Avengers is deliberate and explicable but how these kids got together and their copycat nature seemed like something one was expected to take for granted.

There was a lot to like about this series, though, even if it wasn't basically just page after page of Wiccan-on-Hulkling action (my personal highest hope for a future Young Avengers book). Most especially, several members of the new team aren't quite sure whether they want to be heroes or simply to be powerful, which is usually the path to villainy, and that is fun. Whereas with Young Avengers we see heroes still in development, this book features young people with powers in their most unspecialized state. Any one of them could grow up to be heroes or villains and some of them struggle openly and sympathetically with that question of purpose and intent. They know they will one day be thought of as good or evil and some are afraid of the implications of both. That's perfectly analogous to most young people in the real world, too, uncertain as they are whether they'll be forces for good or ill, creation or destruction, hope or cynicism, and bouncing between all of them from one day to another. That's the kind of metaphor for which comics were made.

Also, let's be honest: it's always fun to see someone take on their equal. The last issue in particular makes some great uses of counterpart characters producing the same line of dialogue, illustrating their mirror natures. It's a gimmick, but it's a gimmick that works.

Ultimately, too, this book involves the Young Avengers accomplishing something with real impact. That they manage to shake up the biggest of the baddies in the current Marvel metaplot and that they make a real difference in the overall struggle against H.A.M.M.E.R. is extremely gratifying. Even if most of the book feels like it's about the new kids trying to figure out who and what they are, the last issue rewards fans with the real Young Avengers doing their jobs and doing them well. Seriously, I got goosebumps when Patriot gave the classic cry of "Avengers assemble!" I loved it.

And was it just me, or was there a little shout-out to Obamaphiles when Patriot came back at Osborn with the iconic words, "Yes we can"? Tasty.

So, overall, not the best Young Avengers I've read, but it has its moments and a lot of its content is compelling. I recommend you flip through the trade when it makes its inevitable arrival a few months from now if you haven't read it already.