Credits

• Writer: Allen Heinberg
• Art: Jim Cheung

Side Kicks, part 5

Iron Lad has killed his adult self, Kang, the Conqueror; however, in doing so he creates an even bigger mess of the time stream. The Avengers are now all dead and those who would become Avengers never did. Cassie Lang sees this as an opportunity to see her father one last time. Patriot lashes out at Iron Lad telling him he has to go back; while the young Kang does not want this to happen, Asgardian decides to use his magic powers to make Kang do it... However, as he gets half way into his spells he soon disappears, angering Hulkling who then attacks Iron Lad - only to vanish himself.

With his friends erased from history, Kang finally understands that that he must became his war-driven future self. Reactivating the Vision in his armor so that he can travel back to before his adult self plucked him from the time stream, he waves farewell to his teammates and gives a good-bye kiss to Cassie. As the Vision sends Kang back to the future he tells them he enjoyed being a Young Avenger and that time being a tricky thing they would meet again some day.

With that, history resets itself; Asgardian, Hulkling, Captain America, Iron Man and Jessica Jones all reappear. Although things may have been corrected, they take away the Young Avengers' uniforms (though Cap lets Eli keep his grandfather's shield). The heroes then tell the teens that they have proven themselves but unless they tell their parents about them their days as heroes are over.

A few weeks pass, and Kate Bishop and Cassie greet their teammates in Central Park. They tell them that they are going to come clean with their parents and restart the Young Avengers. After a bit of discussion they all agree. Kate leads them to their new base of operation at the old Bishop Publishing building and their new uniforms and code names. Cassie becomes Stature, Asgardian becomes Wiccan. They then emerge ready to take on the world and their parents.

Despite being a month late Allan Heinberg wraps up the first story arc really well. The resolution to the Kang situation is easily handled; but it is a heart-breaking scene that says just how far the characters have come since day one. Jim Cheung does a great job on the art, although I liked Patriot's original costume better. I love the moments when Iron Lad heads back to his own time and the action scenes; they say a lot about the writer's story-telling ability. We are finally at the halfway point for the series in its first year and, despite some delays, Young Avengers is definately a hit. I can't wait to see where the characters are going to go next!

--Ryan Read