You know, comics have changed a lot in the 18 or so years I’ve been reading them, and I think for the most part, that has been for the better. But every once in a while, you get something that hits that nostalgia button in just the right way. This is that comic.

There’s just something so charming with taking the main characters of this book, as well as the Young Allies and many Initiative graduates, and giving them a prom. While it’s a bit sappy of a setup, it works remarkably in letting a lot of character growth and drama boil to the surface. Maybe not everything is resolved in a neat little bow by the end of the issue, but it does feel like they had one good night, and that’s kind of important when you got a group of kids who might either be the next group of superheroes or the next team of villians.

We really don’t get too many stories nowadays where we can have guest appearances where they are just allowed to hang out and be part of the story but not have some epic threat to fight against. These are a bunch of kids of more or less the same age at a dance. We occasionally got an X-Men story like this where the team would just play a game of baseball, but that has become increasingly rare. Hence the nostalgia button.

Good issue and I look forward to more from Christos Gage.