Recent Marvel series about teenage hero groups are kind of my thing.
Runaways (bks 1-7 are the ones to get) is about a group of kids who strike out on their own when they discover that their Totally Normal Parents are actually a secret evil supervillain cult. Great teenage characters with interesting powers and written (for the Brian K Vaughan run) with a great blend of action, drama, and wit.
Young Avengers are another teenage hero group that gets on the nerves of the grown-up Avengers. They, like Runaways, have both male and female characters that I really really like. It also has Billy & Teddy who are dating, because sometimes Marvel is cool like that. It has 2 main volumes (Sidekicks and Family Matters) that form their main plotline. Those have great art and really enjoyable writing They also have a single-volume Civil War crossover with the Runaways which is decent (Civil War was Marvel's huge summer cross-series event of 2006). "Young Avengers Presents" is a little floppy book that is pretty bad and not very well made, so it's skippable. There is a new series (Avengers: Children's Crusade) that just started in singles and I am super excited about it. But you can't buy that yet.
Although various people have various feelings about it, I actually recommend the whole Civil War series. There are individual books for a whole bunch of groups and heroes--basically it is about superheroes falling into two bitterly opposed camps, between those for and against a law requiring all superpowered people to register with the government. It paints Tony Stark (Ironman) as pretty much a total centipede, but anyone who can get over that will probably find it interesting. A lot of it is written by J. Michael Straczynski of Babylon 5, and whatever else notwithstanding, the guy is very good at political upheaval on a personal level.
The other thing I mentioned up above, Avengers: The Initiative, is actually a series about mostly-teenage superpowers at this boot camp for supers, after the Registration Act from Civil War goes through. I would recommend it because I like it a lot, but it's a lot more violent than Young Avengers or Runaways. So. I probably wouldn't.
Howevever, it have a pale-faced emo boy called TRAUMA in it. TRAUMA! His introductory panel made me laugh for several minutes:
He turns into people's nightmares. AND THEN HE HONES HIS SKILL AND BECOMES A COUNSELOR. This makes me experience laughter, joy, and a sort of ironical feeling in my ribs. But it's pretty nasty for a middle school library.
I've read vol 1 of Runaways, and bought several more volumes for the library. That was another series that had reviews that mystified me--it's recommended for older teens but I couldn't see anything wrong with it for younger teens, too. I'll make a point of taking a look at Young Avengers and Civil War. Thanks for the recs!
Runaways (bks 1-7 are the ones to get) is about a group of kids who strike out on their own when they discover that their Totally Normal Parents are actually a secret evil supervillain cult. Great teenage characters with interesting powers and written (for the Brian K Vaughan run) with a great blend of action, drama, and wit.
Young Avengers are another teenage hero group that gets on the nerves of the grown-up Avengers. They, like Runaways, have both male and female characters that I really really like. It also has Billy & Teddy who are dating, because sometimes Marvel is cool like that. It has 2 main volumes (Sidekicks and Family Matters) that form their main plotline. Those have great art and really enjoyable writing They also have a single-volume Civil War crossover with the Runaways which is decent (Civil War was Marvel's huge summer cross-series event of 2006). "Young Avengers Presents" is a little floppy book that is pretty bad and not very well made, so it's skippable. There is a new series (Avengers: Children's Crusade) that just started in singles and I am super excited about it. But you can't buy that yet.
Although various people have various feelings about it, I actually recommend the whole Civil War series. There are individual books for a whole bunch of groups and heroes--basically it is about superheroes falling into two bitterly opposed camps, between those for and against a law requiring all superpowered people to register with the government. It paints Tony Stark (Ironman) as pretty much a total centipede, but anyone who can get over that will probably find it interesting. A lot of it is written by J. Michael Straczynski of Babylon 5, and whatever else notwithstanding, the guy is very good at political upheaval on a personal level.
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Howevever, it have a pale-faced emo boy called TRAUMA in it. TRAUMA! His introductory panel made me laugh for several minutes:
http://www.comicbookmovie.com/images/users/uploads/11962/200px-Trauma_%28Initiative%29.jpg
He turns into people's nightmares. AND THEN HE HONES HIS SKILL AND BECOMES A COUNSELOR. This makes me experience laughter, joy, and a sort of ironical feeling in my ribs. But it's pretty nasty for a middle school library.
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