I don’t like the new marvel teen heroes for some reason. Which is weird since I’m normally a sucker for teen hero characters.
I thought the Young Avengers were good. And even with them they are still unique despite appearing to be derivative of the Avengers. For example you get Hulkling who at first glance appears to be a hulk but in reality he’s a skrull. So despite appearing to be derivative there’s more to them than meets the eye.
The Runaways were good, especially the early volumes. It felt real the way they talked and had to deal with being on their own. There are some dated early 2000′s references but I was a kid during that time so I don’t mind it as much and get the references.
I never cared for Avengers Academy.
For some of the newer characters they made I like Blindspot and Robbie Reyes as Ghost Rider. Blindspot is a cool character with his own look and isn’t derivative of Daredevil despite being his sidekick. He has his own personality and is impatient and wants to prove himself. Robbie Reyes is cool for the first volume he shows up in. I like his relationship with his brother and the beef he has against his uncle. It’s when he joins the Avengers I felt like Marvel didn’t know what to do with him and they squandered him. Why is it that I don’t care for the other ones they have made? Some of them feel kind of derivative in my opinion.
You get some characters that Marvel acts like they’re new when they’re not. Like Amadeus Cho, Miles Morales and America Chavez. Miles Morales came into existence a bit over 10 years ago. And honestly, I felt Miles only came into his own as a character when that Spiderverse movie came out. In Amadeus’ case he came into existence even earlier like the early 2000′s. From what I’ve seen of Amdadeus he seems ok even before they made him a Hulk which felt like an odd choice but not infuriating either.
Then we have America Chavez. I never liked America Chavez that much. Her backstory is convoluted and constantly changing. Is she latina or a space alien? I don’t know? I don’t think even Marvel can seem to decide.
Kamala Khan is meh to me as a character despite being popular. I feel like she has potential but that potential is never fully utilized. My impression of her comes from her earlier comics and civil war 2. She seems relatable but whenever a challenge is thrown at her it just gets resolved in the next issue. It never felt like there were any lasting consequences for her as a character until Civil War 2 where she denounces Carol and her friend Bruno gets his hand blown up. I’m not saying you have to make her series dark and grim but just give her a curveball or something that is not easy for her to deal with. Basically, Kamala Khan can be summarized by this picture.
Then we get the new wasp. Why does she exist? Janet Van Dyne is still alive and kicking. It just seems pointless. That and her early comics are not so good.
I guess part of my dislike for these new Marvel teen heroes is due to taste, wasted potential and how derivative some of them are. And even when they are derivative I can forgive it if there’s more to them than meets the eye like the Young Avengers. But for the new ones it doesn’t seem to be the case.
For DC teen heroes I like Static shock, Sideways, and Jaimie Reyes as the Blue Beetle. Sideways is interesting to me since he’s a more recent teen hero yet I find him more relatable than the some of the Marvel ones. When he first gets his powers he tries to become a youtube celebrity and winds up breaking his arm in the process. It’s relatable because I can see some kid actually doing that. His friend who makes his costume and cosplay outfits is cool. His series starts off from this street level stuff to dealing with cosmic level threats and other universes. Yet it’s done so naturally and is well thought out as a story.
Hell even some of the Teen Titans characters from Rebirth seemed ok the last time I read them. Crush seems like a character with potential and depth as this Czarnian who is supposed to be related to Lobo but probably isn’t. I liked her as a character. And the derivativeness isn’t even a problem with her for me. I guess I don’t mind it with DC since they have a history of sidekick culture so it’s not as obvious when compared to Marvel which didn’t really have that.
I guess what my problem is with the new Marvel teen heroes from the All New All Different era is that what potential they had got squandered and many of them were derivative of the big name heroes.
