Avengers vs. X-Men - PNP Review

Writer(s): Jason Aaron, Brian Michael Bendis, Ed Brubaker, Jonathan Hickman, Matt Fraction

Set after the events of House of M, the Phoenix Force is coming back to Earth to consume a young mutant named Hope Summers. The Avengers want to take her for safekeeping given the destructive power of the Phoenix Force while the X-Men leader Cyclops wants to use her to kickstart mutants again as they’re an endangered species.

Writing:

Having recently read The Dark Phoenix Saga I was very curious as to how well a follow-up would be. One of the strongest points of the story is how absolute power can corrupt even the most well-intentioned individual or twist the perception of the desperate and the damaged. The story does start off pretty slow, but the buildup allows both sides of the argument to be heard and to be understood. It’s a good story but it feels simplistic and contained compared to The Dark Phoenix Saga. The Phoenix itself is a cosmic entity and the story would’ve benefited from more intergalactic intervention such as the Shi’ar Empire. This could’ve potentially added more complexity than just seeing these two teams go back and forth. There are Vs issues to help expand on the growing conflict, but they aren’t necessary to read to understand the main story.

The “main” character is Hope, a girl destined to become the next Phoenix host. I like Hope. At first, I thought she was a Mary Sue but as the story progressed, she becomes less of the “I can handle the Phoenix Force” to “Should I handle it” and that train of thought actually shows the character to be more rounded. One of the biggest issues with big events like this are the large cast of characters and giving each of them enough of the spotlight to make them feel relevant. And there’s varying degrees of success here. A lot of characters have a voice and have a strong role but considering how big both teams are a lot of characters aren’t given the chance to express their thoughts and motivations. The standouts are Hope, Captain America, Wolverine, Cyclops, and Scarlet Witch.

Especially with the X-Men. Hell, there was a scene where Gambit pops up in a fight and I was like “Shit, Gambit’s in the story”? Another scene Rogue popped up and I was like “Wait, Rogue’s in here too”? Once the Phoenix 5 are created most of the X-Men characters are benched except for perhaps Xavier and Magneto. Hell on the Avengers side, Daredevil, Luke Cage, Red Hulk, Hawkeye; I’d be surprised if they had three lines of dialogue. Emma Frost is one of the biggest disappointments. Not that she’s a bad character but because she’s got a strong role but isn’t utilized properly. If this was DC’s Injustice: Gods Among Us, Frost would be the equivalent of Wonder Woman and Scott would be Superman. But she doesn’t feel fleshed out enough despite getting so much of the spotlight.

Cyclops is still dealing with the loss of his love Jean from the first Phoenix confrontation and to twist the knife, mutant kind is on the verge of extinction due to the events of House of M. This feeds into the Cyclops and Wolverine rivalry that takes center stage. There’s the tension the situation brings to some of the relationships between the characters, one of the most prominent being T’Challa (Black Panther) and Ororo (Storm), Cyclops and Xavier. I do believe there’s a missed opportunity with exploring more of the relationships such as how Beast is with the Avengers but his original ties to the X-Men. Hell, Hulk shows up in the end and he’s given nothing to do. The comic does suffer from the overabundance of them, but it does a good job with those it does flesh out. There are some great talents behind this major event including Brian Michael Bendis, (All New X-Men), Jason Aaron (Thor: God of Thunder), Matt Fraction (Hawkeye), Jeph Loeb (X-Sanction) and Jonathan Hickman (Avengers). The writing quality isn’t the best but that’s not to say that there aren’t good things about it. It isn’t as seamless as it seems especially upon a re-read and it definitely feels like five different writers wrote it. A lot of what goes on isn’t bad but feels more like a missed opportunity in favor of just seeing heroes clash. There are too many fights. The story would’ve benefited had the dozen fights actually been narrowed down to about four or five massive fights.

And this brings me to something that pisses me off with these big events. I’m tired of seeing these massive battles between heroes and nobody dies. It’s stupid, it’s lazy, it shows that there are no stakes. There’s one moment where Hawkeye takes a blast from one of the Phoenix 5, and he almost dies but they revive him. Why? Hawkeye sacrificed himself to save someone else. Why not let his death create emotional tension? Several times Captain America states that they’ve taken a severe ass whooping and have lost members of the team to the Phoenix 5. Why not have some of the characters die? It would show the emotional damages the heroes are suffering and possibly the regret the Phoenix 5 for killing them. Plus, it would show that the Phoenix is taking over and could’ve had the 5 fighting to keep their humanity (well, except for Namor). So far, the only deaths are Xavier and a bunch of civilians.

There are some really good moments here. There’s a conversation between Spider-Man and Hope that I thought was really insightful and empowering, and even led to Spider-Man having a really good moment. Moments like that are meaningful and help give the story depth. The relationship between T’Challa and Ororo was another good point that gave the story depth. Of course, with all the fights, there’s a shit ton of violence. The writing quality isn’t bad but because of the number of writer’s it doesn’t flow as well as it should.

Rating: 3 out of 5

Art Style:

I think that the art style is pretty solid with some major talent backing it. John Romita Jr. (World War Hulk), Oliver Coipel (Avengers), and Adam Kubert (The Incredible Hulk) give some really good illustrations. The brilliance of the character designs and epic battles are to be commended. The pages and panels are good and keep the story at a decent pace while focusing on character expression and interactions.

I’m not familiar with Coipel or Kubert but I did like Romita’s artwork in the World War Hulk series (though Hulk made some of the funniest faces). I will say the battles are cool, but I can’t think of a single one because there were so many, they never really set on one long enough to be memorable. One of the best fights they did have was the fight between Wolverine and Captain America. I like the strong stances between the two characters and how down and dirty the fight is.

Rating: 3 out of 5

The Verdict:

In the end, Avengers vs. X-Men is a decent read. There are a lot of problems with this comic. The quality of writer can be inconsistent, there are plot holes, too many characters, and an overly simplistic story. However, there’s a crap ton of action and if you want to see heroes’ brawl issue after issue this is the story. There are some pretty memorable moments and great characters such as Wolverine, Hope, and Scott (although he’s an asshole). Avengers vs. X-Men gets 3 out of 5.

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