Young Avengers #9: I Drink Your Milkshake

Let's see...Jotun Loki, Fascist Kate, Pirate Noh-Varr, and...AHHH CREEPY SKIN MASK LOKI
FROM LIKE GODDAMN SANDMAN OR SOMETHING MCKELVIE WHY???

Young Avengers #9 came out today. And, if you need to catch up, the trade, Young Avengers: Style > Substance, did as well!

What happened:

David explains his Teddy-kiss. He's bi, because of, like, the powers he absorbed or something, and he is crushing on Teddy even though Teddy, like Loki, refuses to wash his damn face. David also joins Loki in the "meddling in Teddy and Billy's relationship" club. Leah and Loki explain why she's in some volcanic hellscape - Loki sent her there to save her from himself - and the rest of the gang is pretty much okay with it. They then round up a bunch of different multiverse versions of themselves to save Teddy and David, and then go back to their own universe and get ramen. Loki and America clearly know more about this whole "Billy is a multiverse god" thing than they're letting on, though America seems pretty peeved about it. Teddy and Billy break up with more Lichtenstein tears. Then later we find Teddy in Texas, where he's commiserating with...Leah! Oh, and the Mother parasite is still out there. And they still haven't rescued Tommy.

Billy and Teddy: incapable of having a fight without creating pop art.

Random Notes: 

-Ok, so they already don't trust Loki that much, and then when he's like, "Oh, yeah, this is my sorta-ex I sent to this barren wasteland to protect her from myself, you know, me, the person with you," everyone's like, "whatevs"?

-Sorta-Kid-Loki's still antagonizing Loki-Loki. I'm rooting for you, kid.

-Bravo to Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie for being all "no1curr" to the homophobic reactions this book has seen. Yeah, some people are upset because they saw gay people on paper. Christina Weir and Nunzio DeFilippis also had this great response to David's kiss with Teddy.

Right on, Billy.

-If eldest Young Avenger Kate becomes an adult while Mother's spell is still intact, she'll be under Mother's control too. Sort of like Codename: Kids Next Door!

-America's pretty pressed about this "Billy is a god" thing. We don't know much about her past. Did he unknowingly usurp her or something? Is she a staunch atheist? Does it have something to do with the death of her parents? Looking forward to more being revealed.

Yeah, and close your mouth.

-Are Kate and Noh-Varr in a rough patch? It's probably because of your beard, stupid.

-Another mystery to be revealed: who is Fake Patriot? I almost forgot that's why they were running around beautifully detailed set pieces.

-Leah's (still) back! And she still loves milkshakes, the irresistible beverage Loki introduced her to! What's she doing back in the American southwest? What is this support group she and Teddy are talking about? A group for people accidentally screwed over by their magical boyfriends?

I love Leah's puffed-sleeve dresses. Eat your heart out,
Anne of Green Gables. 

-Along with the milkshake, Leah's closing line, "We all get to write our own happy ending," echoes back to the storytelling themes of Gillen's run on Journey Into Mystery.

What's next:

Looks like Mother's back in Young Avengers #10, out September 25. In this Young Avengers #12 preview, it looks like Leah's stuck around, but the cover is Lokiless! And that's after Young Avengers #11, which looks...ominous. Ugh, Gillen's such a tease. But seriously, if they off Loki just for so they can lol at fans' angst, I'll stop reading (even though I already said that after Journey Into Mystery). Come on, Gillen. Just let the poor kids buy a milkshake night club and have small business owner battles with Mary Jane.

Leah, Loki, and a milkshake in Journey Into Mystery #639