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Young Avengers #6: Review

Jun 2013
Kieron Gillen, Kate Brown

Story Name:

The toll

Review & Comments

Rating:
4 stars

Young Avengers #6 Review by (April 1, 2022)
The relevant parts of Prodigy's history are covered in this issue. I'll just mention that after House Of M he actually lost his existing knowledge and skills as well as his mutant ability to gain more. But the Stepford Cuckoos returned those skills and memories in New X-Men (2004) #43.

His last previous app was in Avengers Academy #29-31 during Avengers vs X-Men.

Speed's last app was the Avengers: Children's Crusade limited series.

Prodigy will go to the new Young Avengers next issue to tell them what happened to Speed. He'll stay with them but they won't get Tommy Shepherd back until #15. The mysterious Patriot will be involved in most of the intervening issues.





 

Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Young Avengers #6 Synopsis by Rob Johnson
The 1st 5 issues saw a story which assembled a new team of Young Avengers:- Hawkeye (Kate Bishop), Hulkling and Wiccan from the original team plus newbies America Chavez, Kid Loki and Marvel Boy. This issue abandons them to follow Speed from the old guard (who was mentioned in #1 as off on his own) as he teams up with ex-X-Man Prodigy.

David Alleyne is sitting alone in a call centre room answering a series of calls on a help line. It's a strange kind of Tech Support where he tells someone how to defuse a Skrull bomb, and advises a bunch of ninjas on how to face Elektra (they ignore his options of run away or attack her en masse in favour of the traditional 1 at a time method). And he gets no appreciation from his boss.

Tommy Shepherd grabs him to go for noodles 1 day on the grounds that he looks the least boring of the employees. David recognises him as Speed as Tommy says he's got to do his job 1st which won't take long. He assembles a whole load of a new tech device in a few minutes, with several breaks to slurp down coffee, and then leaves them for the normal shift to quality control them. David comments that it's an easy way to make money but Tommy replies that to him it seemed like a week between each coffee. But it makes him enough in a few weeks that he can then take a few months travelling the world, with a bit of superheroing thrown in.

Over noodles he mentions (as we learned in #1) that Speed spent some time living with his brother Wiccan and Hulkling with Wiccan's parents but he left because they were so boring and non-superheroey. Besides that the law was after him for various reasons. In return David explains how come he's so smart. He used to be a mutant called Prodigy who absorbed knowledge and skill from everyone he met. But he lost his absorbing power on M-Day but he retained all the knowledge and skills he'd accumulated.

Tommy goes clubbing but David needs his sleep. They agree to meet for coffee before work next day. Back home David has a text chat with Laurie Tromette (Transonic) begging him to come back to the X-school. It doesn't matter that he's not a mutant. But that's not the reason he stays away.

Next morning Tommy is hyper and demanding to know why super-genius David is working in this crappy job. David explains that he was head of the youth division of Cyclops' side of the X-Men (after Schism) who are generally considered terrorists, which is not a good CV. And he's disillusioned with the X-Men in general because he now believes both sides were just using their young recruits for their own aims. Now like Tommy he's here because it pays him well, but his plan is more long term - to make enough to permanently retire.

When they get into work the police are there investigating an overnight break-in. CCTV shows the culprit in a uniform Speed recognises. He immediately contacts Mrs Bradley and learns that her son Elijah (ex-Young Avenger Patriot) is home sick in bed and has been for a while so it wasn't him. He asks the boss if he and David can stake the place out tonight to see if the imposter returns. David's not to keen but Tommy won't take no for an answer.

That night they do see the villain who shambles strangely like a bad string-puppet. Speed speeds to the attack but the foe is able to stop him and then make him disappear. The figure asks David if he wants his friend back. Then he pulls a glove off, revealing there appears to be nothing inside the costume, and offers it to David. David refuses to accept it and the figure vanishes.



Kate Brown
Kate Brown
Kate Brown
Jamie McKelvie (Cover Penciler)
Jamie McKelvie (Cover Inker)
Michael Del Mundo (Cover Colorist)
Letterer: Clayton Cowles.
Editor: Lauren Sankovitch. Editor-in-chief: Axel Alonso.

Characters

Listed in Alphabetical Order.


Prodigy (David Alleyne), Speed (Tommy Shepherd), Young Avengers.

> Young Avengers: Book info and issue index

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