Young Avengers #8 is my first in the series since #3, and I really wish that I’d read the issues in-between. It’s fun, awesome, really strong – and a high contender for Pick of the Week. Luckily, I wasn’t too lost – Gillen provides a helpful and amusing ‘yamblr’ recap at the beginning of this issue, allowing the readers not to feel completely out of their depths, also providing a handy list of the cast – with a new member named Prodigy, who is at least new to me, putting him alongside Hawkeye (not the Hawkguy) Kate Bishop, Hulkling, Kid Loki, Marvel Boy, Miss America and Wiccan. It’s certainly an interesting team dynamic and this series has already become my favourite ongoing Avengers book, mainly due to its awesome charm.

The art is pretty strong as well, with McKelvie, Norton and Wilson really impressing. The Cover art is fantastic too, and with all three elements combined Young Avengers #8 is one of the strongest contenders for Pick of the Week from this week’s batch of comics, with the cheaper price really helping things along as well.

Like all Young Avengers issues that I’ve read so far, this one did not disappoint. Fun, entertaining – with some genuine laugh-out-loud moments, Gillen really excels on this book, delivering the reader an experience to remember, with some awesome narrative. The final page teases some great moments to come – and the issue itself remains very strong on its own, with a great panel midway through the book of an alternate-dimension New York.

This has leapt to my Top 5 Marvel books right now, and I can’t wait for #9. Young Avengers and Hawkeye prove that Marvel’s light and not always serious approach to storylines is sometimes the best – unlike the constant grimdarkness that fills DC’s Universe. I really think that everybody should be reading this book now – #8 is awesome and I can’t wait for #9, the journey through the multiverse being very entertaining to read – the multiple worlds that Gillen takes the team to are pretty varied, and awesome indeed, and makes me really wish that Gillen’s Iron Man ongoing could have been as fun as this – but #1 really didn’t provide a strong enough hook to draw me into reading more.

VERDICT: 5/5