Nebula, World Fantasy, and Locus-award winner Alyssa Wong and fan-favorite artist Stephen Byrne reunite the Young Avengers in a story guaranteed to please fans new and old! Byrne will also depict the team in one of the issue’s variant covers.
“YOUNG AVENGERS is one of my cornerstone comics: fun, romantic, hilarious, ambitious, queer, and utterly buck wild. ‘All My Exes In the Nexus’ is a love letter to the queer chaos, camaraderie, and joy that the Young Avengers embody. (And it’s a Loki story, because of course it is),” Wong teased.
“I couldn’t be more excited to work on the Young Avengers story for MARVEL’S VOICES: PRIDE. The Gillen/McKelvie run was one of my earliest encounters with queer representation in comics and it is an exciting honor to be drawing them now,” Byrne added.
IF YOU THINK TEDDY (KAPLAN-)ALTMAN IS BI, GET OFF MY PAGE AND UNFOLLOW ME!
Some characters, even ones you might consider attractive, are gay. Stop changing them! Teddy and Billy are gay, just as much as Tommy and David are bi, or how America is lesbian. I‘m tired of works and discourses where people try to actively change/fight characters‘ sexual identities.
This is still homophobia. These are minority characters that mean the world to people around the world belonging to that minority. Invalidating a minority character is invalidating the minority in real life. TEDDY AND BILLY ARE GAY.
Not me having ‘Agatha All Along’ as my most played song this year, just to find out in Hulkling & Wiccan: Infinity that she’s a homophobic and racist hag!
This issue had the perfect setup to show us why Billy missed New York so freaking much. He even asks to watch a movie and it‘s shut down.
Eidolon‘s existential crisis is fine. He‘s a derivative, but cool concept at least. I dig his design and story, but there‘s not much else there. Why would I care that he‘s afraid he‘s non-existent. He‘s standing between something the audience wants. They could have just let him disappear there, so he wouldn’t take up panels that should be spend resolving the most important problem…And let me explain why that‘s such a problem to me: Now, when we see them in the main-continuity next time, we know that they are unhappy with the way things are, because a few pages in one issue can‘t save that. So everytime we see them now, we know they have unresolved problems standing between them. And that can, potentially, take years to fix. Wiccan & Hulkling: Last Annihilation only fixed Teddy‘s ‘I fell in love with a superhero’-line from Vol.2 this year. In comparison to the current problem, that insults the basis of their relationship with pseudo-cheating and expectancies about how their lives should go. Them kissing won’t resolve that. It destroys the healthy basis of their relationship and what always meant so much to me.
I also DO NOT like, and that‘s what I said from the beginning, that Billy did not want to see Teddy in the second issue. Billy should have realised that his life in New York does not magically make everything good and only them he should see Teddy and realize that he‘d give up what he has to return to his husband.
Teddy also is hung up on the fact that the empire is running well this time. What does it mean? Was ist bad because Billy didn‘t care? What is different? That is what SHOULD HAVE BEEN EXPLORED. Next week is the last issue, though, and none of their problems have been solved. They‘re going to stop exactly where it began!
I am happy that they’re coming back together at least. What I will take out of this one that Billy‘s love for Teddy is stronger than any spell and he will always know that something is missing without him.
What I will praise, though, is the artstyle. Billy casting as spell in front of the illuminated statue of the Greek goddess Hecate was gorgeous. All characters look consistently beautiful and Billy hasn‘t looked this good since Empyre. I was actually somewhat sad to see Billy return to his regular suit.
As you all know, I am very unhappy with the direction they‘ve gone with for Billy‘s and Teddy‘s first solo run.
But let‘s say I was on board with it, I still can’t help but feel very disappointed. There is so much potential wasted here. The premise was rocky at best, but even if we accepted that they are somewhat dissatisfied with their relationship, they do nothing to flash out that concept.
The potential lovers are just low-effort. The space pirate‘s name is literally ‘Goebig.’ If you split Billy and Teddy, at least make it meaningful. The initial concept of Billy missing their old life is not even explored at all! They don’t care about the new people because they are still hung up on each other. At least let Billy meet his family and friends so we can see why he is so hung up on his life in New York in the first place! Only then we can understand how and why he ultimately makes the decision to return to Teddy. Same with Teddy: If you show his dream coming true, you have to show why it‘s ultimately not his wish. He has to see that even though he and his partner care for the empire 24/7, the empire will still struggle and it‘s okay to take time for Billy and him.
Moreover, I have a huge problem with the fact that Teddy has been kissed the second time without being able to freely decide to do it. He had no choice with David and cannot judge the situation with ‘Goebig’. Teddy has been unnecessarily been pressed into two pseudo-cheating plotlines that do not add to the plots in any way.
I like their new outfits though. Billy looks great in his armor. And I like the name Eidolon. If my rusty old Greek does not deceive me it means something like Illusion, which I actually dig.
