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| Did Loki break his hand on Miss America's thigh? Boy, you don't play punch-buggy with Chavez. |
Deep breaths, fandom. Deep, deep breaths. You're only spurring Gillen on with those screams.
What happened:
The Young Avengers have set out to the multiverse to rescue Tommy which has been very traumatic and Noh-Varr grew a beard. The beard was in this issue's preview, when artist Jamie McKelvie mentioned it on Twitter, there were mixed reactions. I didn't mind, because I thought, "Haha, in one of the dimensions there's an older alterna-Noh-Varr who has a beard." But no. Our Noh-Varr. Our Noh-Varr has a beard. No. Kate, make him stop. You can't be dating a buff Santa Claus.
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| Cash would also hate your beard, Noh-Varr. Everyone does. |
Moving on, there's a nice little callback in the opening pages, as the team is having Korean in the same New York restaurant where America threw Loki through a wall, only in an alternate universe New York where the cars fly (America's still not allowed in the restaurant though). After dinner, they continue the search for fake-Patriot, landing in a hellscape with Noh-Varr's ex and then a world with cute little Pokemon-type aliens who seem to think Billy is their god. For some unspoken reason, Loki and America are not okay with this, and then they move on to...the Mother Parasite's dimension! Loki has rescued Teddy and Billy from there before, and as then, it's a meta comics-world of white panels. Oh my God. It's Aha's "Take On Me" video. Isn't it, Gillen???
America gets almost everyone out except for David and Teddy, meaning Teddy and Billy are TRAGICALLY SEPARATED. But who's this in the dimension most of the Young Avengers are in? It's LEAH! I was hoping for her when Gillen said that issue #8 would make Journey Into Mystery fans "scream," and I'm both excited and wary about her return. "Who is Leah?" you might ask if you didn't read JIM. She is Loki's mythological daughter's severed hand. But she and Loki aren't related by blood, which is good, since she and Kid Loki were in the very buds of young love. Also, there are kinda two versions of her. And...stuff happened. Bad stuff. It's complicated. Anyways, her presence is rather ominous, but I'm hoping that she's not just a few-issues villain, because she's an awesome character, she and Loki were great together, and I think she and America could be sharp-tongued, Loki-dominating BFFs.
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| I <3 you, gurl, please don't kill everyone. |
Meanwhile, in the Mother Parasite universe, David and Teddy decide to fight the Mother Parasite to the death, and then...DAVID KISSES TEDDY. Is it part of a master plan? Was David just really hot for Teddy? Will Leah kill everyone? If so can she please shave Noh-Varr's face first so he doesn't die as Buff Santa Claus?
Random Notes:
-Kudos, as always, to McKelvie for his art. This visually lush issue must have been especially challenging, and the cover is an instant classic.
-Where is Kate keeping her journal?
-Loki cries in the universe where it appears he conquered Asgard and then he and his family died. Crocodile tears, or is sorta-Kid-Loki still in there?
-Kree: the British of the multiverse.
-Loki has an ROUS moment.
-Loki is also the king of distractions.
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| Disappointed we don't get Teddy and Billy's expressions here. |
-Nice touch with Kate playfully pushing Loki's crown (Or is it a tiara? Is tiara gender-neutral?) askew in the first pages and Loki's crown flying off when he jumps back in surprise upon seeing Leah near the end.
-I don't know what David's up to, but, Teddy, he's pretty smooth. And hasn't made dramaface once yet. Just sayin'.
What's next:
After being spoiled this month with bi-weekly issues, we have to wait a whole month for Young Avengers #9 to come out on August 28. It is about Teddy being sad on a chaise lounge.
And farther in the future...the fact that Loki isn't on the promotional art for the end of this "season" of Young Avengers worries me. His crest is on the club's sign, though, so maybe he buys the place from Mary Jane and is boozing it up inside.