Another teen team book is needed

[BrotherUnitNo_4]

I read it.

I never thought Runaways was built for a really long run. Reminded me more of a Manga like FMA or Death Note keep it nice and finite and it works great but its not something that should be stretched.

I've been saying this for years now. It's a limited premise. Sure you can use the characters still but it can't continue without being reworked.

[Majin Gojira]

Either that or they needed a new Over-Figure of Authority to serve as a long term big bad.

But if it was treated more like a FMA sort of "This has an end" going from rebelling against parents (Vol. 1) to "living on the streets" (vol. 2 in part) to "Accepting Responsibility to each other and the world at large/Growing up" (what vol. 3 should have been), then it'd be gold. As it is, Vol. 1 is still gold, but the other two are silver and lead.

[1derer]

Actually, that's not quite the case. Sales wise, Joss had the highests run, and the start of Vol. 3 was as strong as ever (little less than BKV's start), but it dipped dramatically affter a derivative starting arc and by the time it began picking up steam again under Kathryne Immonen, it was too late.

I sometimes wonder if Joss' run is what killed that book, because it sure was an awful thing that many people read.

As to A-List Teens, that's the Young Avengers, by like a country mile. Though Sales Wise, New X-Men is possibly tied for them. It's just that the X-Writers don't appear to like them that much. The next most popular ones (Runaways, Academy, etc) are best described as cult favorites.

The Young Avengers have a key benefit that many teen heroes don't: They don't hate the establishment.
Teen groups generally tend to try and differentiate themselves from other heroic groups, which makes it difficult to work them into important events and other things that make people take notice. The New X-Men were the exception to this, but like many Mutant books, it tended to focus more survival or "self-discovery" and didn't really delve into the group's ambitions (although that was an occasional storyline).

Fundamentally, the Young Avengers were conceived as a group of teens with ambition. They didn't want to be "separate" from the old-guard, but to take up their legacy. They're consistent present at major Marvel events is easy to explain... it's because they're the type of people that aspire to be at Major Marvel Events. As such, they've been able to maintain a consistent profile for a lot of readers.

Also: Having "Avengers" in your name helps.

[Whip Whirlwind]

I agree with others who state that WaTXM isn't really a teen book.

I don't want to see young mutants getting into school shenanigans. I want to see X-Men. You really can't tell me there's not a story to be told about a bunch of mutants (any of the utopia kids) who trained and studied to be X-men only to have their leaders and teachers declared terrorists, their school closed down, and are now told that they can't be X-men.

[BrotherUnitNo_4]

Either that or they needed a new Over-Figure of Authority to serve as a long term big bad.

But if it was treated more like a FMA sort of "This has an end" going from rebelling against parents (Vol. 1) to "living on the streets" (vol. 2 in part) to "Accepting Responsibility to each other and the world at large/Growing up" (what vol. 3 should have been), then it'd be gold. As it is, Vol. 1 is still gold, but the other two are silver and lead.

I think that's my biggest problem. They never arrived at the growing up stage.

[IndigoMX9]

While I do think Young Avengers will be a fun teen book, and want nothing to do with either Avengers Arena or any book with Wolverine on the title, I truly do think there are way too many cool teen and young heroes left around the MU not to be used. Just take a peek at the later volumes of Avengers Academy of at the Youth in Revolt TPB. I, for one, would love to see them bring back Night Thrasher (the real one, not stupid Donyell) and have him put together a hard hitting new New Warriors team. There are so many choices.

Peace

I had all the original New Warriors back in the day; I miss Dwayne Taylor as Night Thrasher. I loved New Mutants back in the day but Bill Sienkiewicz ruined it for me.

@ CannonballX, you should pick up the graphic novels of Young Avengers, it was awesome!

[Zen-aku]

Can I have my New X-men Book back now....

[Songbird/Diamondback]

Can I have my New X-men Book back now....

You can't now that Jason Aaron put Wolverine in the title of a book with his new kids.

[Zen-aku]

You can't now that Jason Aaron put Wolverine in the title of a book with his new kids.

Iam Fine with WATXM it just can't decide who its gonna be about, But there is room for a straight up NXM book, I need a monthly dose of Rockslide in my life

[PupsOfWar]

Kieron Gillen says it is the Hogwarts book of the teen books, but I really don't agree with that. It just doesn't balance that much for me.

If they wanted a real "Hogwarts" book for teen superheroes, what they should've done is have the FF student roster populated by some existing but underutilized teen heroes rather than sticking with what Jonathan Hickman did in filling that roster with new characters with whom nothing has been done.

Wolverine and the X-Men will always be primarily about Wolverine, secondarily about Kitty and the rest, tertiarily about the students.

Granted, FF might not be around in a couple of years, while there will probably always be a book that features the X-school to some degree, with certain lessons having been learned.

[Zen-aku]

Wolverine and the X-Men will always be primarily about Wolverine,

Really because outside of one or 2 issues it has never been about Wolverine

[Whip Whirlwind]

Iam Fine with WATXM it just can't decide who its gonna be about, But there is room for a straight up NXM book, I need a monthly dose of Rockslide in my life

Yeah, somebody needs to take those newly formed Young Avengers down a peg.

In all seriousness, I'd love if the first arc of a NXM book was essentially an AvX parody.

[infernohara]

Iam Fine with WATXM it just can't decide who its gonna be about, But there is room for a straight up NXM book, I need a monthly dose of Rockslide in my life

Soooo Agree. I really need some more Rockslide. Hell, give me Hellion as well. A new X-men book is sorely needed Now!

[Shellhead]

Unless one or two big changes take place, there actually is no need for another teen team book from Marvel, ever again.

I would change my mind if:
1. Prices come down enough on digital comics that young readers get into comics in meaningful numbers.
2. Marvel ditches the sliding time scale and allows their characters to get older.

Without younger readers, who would read these teen books? Not many, unless said titles were really great. And with the ongoing sliding time scale, new teen characters will be stuck as teenagers for an obnoxiously long time. Part of the whole point of teen heroes is that they are learning a lot about life while handling the responsibilities of being heroes. But if they are stuck as teenagers, then they aren't really learning anything in the long run, and their young mistakes will eventually make them seem annoying and incompetent. Another problem with the sliding time scale is that even the adult heroes eventually seem stagnant. Most aren't allowed to settle down in lasting relationships and start families, or ever show any sign of aging. No more birthdays, and they can't have kids without sticking writers with another Franklin Richards problem.

[Shinglepants]

I don't think I'm particularly for or against more Teen books. If a writer has a passion for certain characters and wants to tell a story then thats cool but I don't think Marvel is really crying out for a new teen book.

However, I do wish they would use their teens a little more. I can't really talk about the X-Men side of things (maybe Magik? X-23?) but in terms of the Avengers, when was the last time someone went from being a Young Avenger or Initiate to become a proper Avenger? Y'know, just because a character starts out in a teen team shouldn't mean they cannot evolve beyond it.

Reptil on the Avengers, Cloud 9 on the Thunderbolts, that kinda thing.