Avengers vs. X-Men #2 hits the stands with not one lets-team-up-and-be-friends-again plot twist to be found! That’s a win in my book. This issue actually does a good job setting up all the smaller conflicts that reverberate out from the battle into the personal lives of the heroes, which is pretty helpful in the grand scheme of things. It’s also a good sign, as many of these summer event books focus on the battle at hand without any real character development. Instead, this book gives us little twinges of flavor between Storm and Black Panther and Quicksilver and Magneto. That being said, Is It Good?
Avengers vs. X-Men #2 (Marvel)
Right out of the gate it appears the X-Men are the first to attack, although the Avengers do send out attack jets prior to Colossus demolishing the S.H.I.E.L.D. aircraft carrier. I suppose you could say it’s a tie as far as who’s to blame. Then again those jets might not be attacking at all, but analyzing the Greenhouse effect around Utopia. Yeah I bet not.
Are the jets for show or are they actually planning on blowing up Utopia?
Having Colossus put a hole in their ship is probably not a good way to get the Avengers to go away. Those Avengers who can’t fly are supposed to swim to San Francisco? I suppose it’s not that far, but still, Cyclops appears to be attacking with very little plan. Based on a few battles in the book, Cyclops does seem to have a plan on who should fight who, but for a guy who’s supposed to be a master strategist things are much too sloppy.
Do we really need a WW2 reference? Also, shouldn’t Wolverine take the X-Men badge off?
Brian Michael Bendis wrote the first issue and Jason Aaron scripts this issue and it’s pretty obvious if you’re familiar with these writers. Instead of a lot of pointless banter, the banter is a little more character-driven and seemingly important. That’s a good thing. There are panels where characters don’t actually speak, for instance in the panels below, where Quicksilver uses an opportunity to punch his dad in the face.
Magneto doesn’t have super strong skin right? Cuz a Mach 5 punch most likely would explode your face.
Not to diss Brian Michael Bendis, but the pages seem to breathe a little more under Jason Aaron. Knowing more than one writer is scripting this series is also exciting because we can get something new each issue that we may not have been expecting. God knows I was getting pretty sick of Bendis by the end of Secret Invasion back in 2008. Plus, when the series is over we can find a winner; who is the best writer?!
Does she write “Wanda’s Dream Journal” on every page? Now that’s dumb.
John Romita Jr. is really clicking here as well. I can’t get enough of his style and so far the quality hasn’t dropped due to the workload.
Zing!
The pacing is also spot on. Not once did I get bored of the fighting, nor sick of backstage chit chat. I was very much afraid this would be akin to a common Marvel vs. DC affair where we saw hero vs. hero for the water cooler chit chatter in the comic shop. “No way Colossus could take out Hulk, ::sucks in air:: if you know anything about gamma rays you’d…” That isn’t to say this is a perfect series so far. Quite frankly I think these teams are pretty dumb to be fighting over the issue at hand. Unless Cyclops really is going on a suicide mission to save mutants, they’re both basically fighting because one side wants to be the boss.
This is the second time Cyclops has been hit in the face. The first time we were told he got a concussion. If anything, this series will make Cyclops braindead.
Also notice in the above image that Warpath is trying to stab Daredevil to death. So far that’s the first instance of actual murder being attempted. I’m not sure what intentions either side have; either it’s to kill or simply push back, but this Warpath image is a tad frightening.
Oh yah, burn Wolverine, the only character that could live through such an attack.
It’s too early to say, but the final pages give the impression these teams will team up and fight the Phoenix. My money is on a character dying and everyone fighting over that down the stretch instead. Considering the subtitle below, however, I might be wrong:
We’ve lost hope.
Luckily the book isn’t overly serious…yet. The characters still lay down the quips, and nobody is really treating this like life or death (except for you Warpath, you naughty boy). I do hope Cyclops has a master plan, or he’ll be playing against his character in this series.
Why would you invent that Tony? Or is this a chauvinistic weapon against nagging wives?
Expect this to be in our budget in ComiX Weekly later today. I enjoyed the book, and we get 22 pages for the $3.99 price tag. Other issues give you 20 for the same price. Not a bargain, but worth the cash.
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