Young Avengers Modern Era Epic Collection: The Children’s Crusade

The Young Avengers return in an epic saga by series creators Allan Heinberg and Jim Cheung!

When Billy Kaplan’s reality-altering powers begin to rival those of the Scarlet Witch, the young hero sets out on a quest to find her that spans the Marvel Universe and pits Wiccan against both the Avengers and the Young Avengers. But will Wiccan’s desire to solve the mystery of his parentage be his salvation or his undoing? With three words, the Scarlet Witch changed the world forever -- and with her return, nothing will ever be the same for the Marvel Universe! This self-contained event reintroduced and redefined the Young Avengers and the Scarlet Witch for the Heroic Age and is essential reading for fans of Marvel Studios’ WANDAVISION and AGATHA ALL ALONG!

COLLECTING: Avengers: The Children’s Crusade (2010) #1-9, Avengers: The Children’s Crusade - Young Avengers (2011) #1, material from Uncanny X-Men (1981) #526

Growing up in Tulsa, Oklahoma, writer Allan Heinberg spent his childhood watching such super-hero staples as TV’s Superfriends and the ’60s Batman. As an adult, his writing career took him to Los Angeles, where he got his break writing for the Tea Leoni sitcom The Naked Truth on NBC. His success on the show led to work on a number of top-rated series -- including Party of Five, Sex and the City and Gilmore Girls. He wrote and produced The O.C., a blockbuster dramatic series that showcased Heinberg’s interest in comic books and his admiration for many contemporary comics creators through the show’s main character. Heinberg’s love of the Marvel Universe as evidenced on The O.C. attracted the attention of Marvel Comics’ then-Editor in Chief Joe Quesada, who invited the TV writer to develop his first Marvel project, Young Avengers. The series was an unexpected critical and commercial hit that was nominated for Best New Series in both the Eisner and Harvey awards, in addition to earning an Eisner nomination for Heinberg as Best Writer. Young Avengers also won a GLAAD Media Award for its intelligent and thoughtful handling of gay characters on an ongoing basis. Heinberg has also written a relaunch of DC’s Wonder Woman and a JLA story arc with Geoff Johns, and served as screenwriter for the 2017 Wonder Woman movie. On TV, he has served as writer, executive producer, co-executive producer, consulting producer and creative consultant on Grey’s Anatomy.

Artist Jim Cheung began his association with Marvel Comics in the 1990s, drawing titles such as Black Knight, Force Works, Iron Man, Maverick and an extensive run on X-Force. He also did popular work on the CrossGen series Scion. In 2005, Cheung launched the critically acclaimed Young Avengers with writer Allan Heinberg. He went on to illustrate New Avengers: Illuminati with writer Brian Michael Bendis, and reunited with Heinberg and their signature Young Avengers characters in Avengers: The Children’s Crusade. Cheung’s modern-yet-classic style has made him highly sought-after for covers and event series, including contributions to Infinity, Avengers & X-Men: Axis and Civil War II.

Artist Olivier Coipel caught the eyes of Avengers fans with his work in a series of startlingly fresh and exciting stories in 2004, then delivered a star turn on the 2005 blockbuster limited series House of M. Proving his mettle with the grand splendor and huge cast of a Marvel epic, he earned the plum assignment of restoring the hallowed halls of Asgard to grandeur in J. Michael Straczynski’s Thor. Again called on to illustrate a Marvel mega-event, Coipel reunited with House of M writer Brian Michael Bendis on Siege. His subsequent credits include returns to the world of the Thunder God, as well as contributions to Amazing Spider-Man, X-Men and Avengers vs. X-Men.