Skottie Young has been wowing fans for years with his delightfully quirky art style! Whether it be The New Warriors, his seminal work on Marvel’s Oz, his ongoing run on Rocket Raccoon or his ruthless parody of the fairy tale genre in his most recent work – I Hate Fairyland, he has garnered quite the rep. But it was in 2012 when Marvel were relaunching their titles under the Marvel Now imprint that his work reached an even bigger audience. Tying into his Avengers vs. X-Men parody one-shot – A-Babies vs. X-Babies – the first issues of the new series that were part of the relaunch all had a variant cover featuring baby versions of Marvel heroes in various amusing escapades. Quickly becoming popular amongst fans and collectors alike, Young’s variants became a fixture for all new Marvel titles extending beyond the Marvel Now imprint and are still being released today. So when the Marvel Universe was split into a series of Warzones called Battleworld during the events of Secret Wars, it was only fitting that one of them should be based around Young’s baby versions of Marvel’s greatest heroes.
In the Battleworld zone known as Marville, playtime is serious business – and Marville’s pint-sized heroes are working overtime to prove to their new neighbours which crew is toughest! With super-powered dodgeball, high-tech hideouts and eye-puns a plenty, Marvel’s most adorable heroes aren’t pulling any punches in this larger-than-life, fun-size adventure.
Continuing the themes from his A-Babies vs. X-Babies one-shot (which is also included in this collection), Young puts together one of the funniest comic experiences you’ll ever read. Rather than feuding over the correct usage of the Phoenix Force, these versions of the X-Men and the Avengers are rival gangs of kids from the neighbouring streets of Avengers Street and X-Men Way who feud over who has a better treehouse and selling street food on opposite sides of the same road. And when two twins named Zachary and Zoe move to their town, both groups are eager to impress and induct them to their ranks. There are too many funny moments to list but standout moments include a brutal game of dodgeball, an explanation of why a Fast Ball Special is actually not fun, Wolverine being called out on his need to be on every team, Bishop and Cable taking fighting a little far and a great appearance by The Guardians of the Galaxy and The Inhumans. My personal favourite though is a panel with Spider-Man and Daredevil which may be one of my favourite comic gags in recent memory (find it!).
But what really brings the whole thing together is Young’s fantastic art which is always funny, never depicts anything close to a dull moment and packs plenty of detail into every page. If you have ever been a fan of Skottie Young, this is the perfect showcase of his artistic ability (and his clear talent for writing funny books). After the intense events of Secret Wars and the other books set in Battleworld, this is an ideal cool down.
Giant-Size Little Marvels: AVX is published 18 February by Marvel
Post by Leo Sutherland
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