copperbadge:

Young Avengers has a kind of rocky publication history. A lot of times they’ve only existed as tie-ins to events, so we’re missing a lot of backstory for the characters (as far as I know we still don’t know how Billy and Teddy met, for example, which was actually a plot point in the last run). There are a couple of sketchy plotlines too, and I’m still annoyed that Eli was written off the team — we were told at the time that it was for a very good and specific reason, but since then, that reason has appeared to be “we wanted to replace him with a white dude”. 

That all said, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed what I’ve read of Young Avengers. I’d give the Young Avengers And Runaways titles a miss, there’s way too many twee youths to keep them all straight (I am perhaps biased in that I think the Runaways are grindingly boring as comics, even though I like Victor and Molly). But the original Young Avengers run and the most recent one are both pretty awesome. Children’s Crusade is part of a larger story that may not be a hundred percent comprehensible in terms of plot, but it still has a lot of fun content, like Tommy having a race with Pietro and the “Clint fucked a doombot” scene.

But yeah, I think it’s worth finding the original run at least, and if you like that, you’ll enjoy the rest.

With the greatest respect, I’m going to have to disagree with you on Young Avengers, as someone who recently read it for the first time in order and loved it.

I think if you read the run without reading things like the Children’s Crusade and the crossovers with the Runaways in Civil War and Secret Invasion, you miss out on a lot. I found Children’s Crusade contained enough and was self explanatory enough that I didn’t need to have read any House of M to understand it. It’s really important origin stuff for Tommy and Billy – Billy especially, as it shows you what he’s capable of and adds weight to his storyline in Volume 2 (McKelvie/Gillen’s run). It also gives you grounding information for Prodigy’s depowered state when he arrives in vol. 2. (It also explains what happens to Cassie Lang, who otherwise would disappear without explanation.)

Likewise, the Runaways crossovers are vital for Teddy’s backstory and origins, and the Civil War run in particular gives Noh-Varr (another Vol. 2 character) his origin. I also just plain loved seeing the group interact with another group of powered kids under extraordinary circumstances. Given that Vol. 1 only has them interacting with adults and villains, that was really important to do, I think. The only run I’d say is unneccessary to read is the tie-in for Dark Reign. I actually actively disliked that. It was gratuitously violent, filled with all kinds of bigotry, and mainly focussed on a bunch of villain YA-wannabes and barely showed the actual YA team at all. Plus, when you haven’t read the major Dark Reign run, Osbourn’s team are SUPER-CONFUSING in terms of brand confusion. I wondered why Hawkeye and Iron Man were suddenly being such douchecanoes. You can probably skip the tie-in one-shot for Siege, too, since it’s tiny and just a fragment of a larger story. It doesn’t really add anything.

I’d read:
Young Avengers volume 1 #1-#8, Annual, #9-#12
Young Avengers/Runaways Civil War #1-#4
Young Avengers Presents #1-#6
Young Avengers/Runaways Secret Invasion #1-#3
Young Avengers Children’s Crusade #1-#9 + OneShot
Young Avengers Vol. 2 #1-#15

You and I also have different feelings on Eli Bradley. I wouldn’t go so far as to say I actively hate him, but there’s little love lost there, for me. The only think I liked about him was his backstory – basically, all the stuff about his grandfather and the history of racism in the super soldier program. I did like the way he called Cap onto the mat over that. Otherwise? He’s misogynistic. He’s a bully. He’s someone who wanted so hard to be superpowered he was willing to take backstreet drugs to do it, which is played for the sadness and pathos angle, but then, magically, he gets to be superpowered anyway. I see very little to like in him, very little that’s a positive portrayal for kids or POC, and very little that hasn’t been done before with other characters. He’s meant to be a strong black teen, but when it boils down to it, he’s all about his own manpain. Also, when he tries to date Kate Bishop? He spends an entire issue whining about being friendzoned. (Seriously, reread Young Avengers Presents #6.) Kate Bishop has VERY good reasons for being reluctant to progress into a sexual/romantic relationship with a man (see Young Avengers Annual from Vol 1.), and given the readership KNOWS this and the writers would have known this, it left a nasty taste in my mouth that we were meant to care more about Eli not getting his dick wet than to care about Kate’s healing process. I like David Alleyne (Prodigy) much better. He’s got an interesting (former) mutation, his relationships with the rest of the YA are positive, and he’s another queer character in the mix.