Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Illustrated by John Romita Jr– It’s No Longer Coming–It’s Here!
– Does The Return Of The Phoenix To Earth Signal The Rebirth Of The Mutant Species? That’s What The X-Men Believe!
– Unfortunately, The Avengers Are Convinced That Its Coming Will Mean The End Of All Life On Earth!
– The Stage Is Set For The Ultimate Marvel Showdown In This Oversized First Issue!
Well, today’s the day: Marvel’s huge Architect designed event “Avengers vs. X-Men” begin and all hell is about to break in the Marvel universe.
But you don’t care about this intro paragraph, do you? You just care about the meat and potatoes of all this.
Check behind the cut for some spoiler-free thoughts on the first issue of Marvel’s big blockbuster event.
Events are a funny thing. They all come inherently with a promise on the cover: “if you buy this book, big things will happen! Everything you thought you knew will change! All will not be well!” That’s why people buy event books; it’s somewhat hinged on our acceptance of a secondary realities historical sequence. You may be reading Marvel comics and enjoying books like Jeff Parker’s “Hulk” or Dan Slott’s “Amazing Spider-Man,” but just like when it happens in real life on the news it’s hard to really ignore “history” as it happens. We just basically hope that wrapped up in this universe-altering changes there’s a good story to be had.
Whether the events can deliver on that promise is the key, and more often than not in recent memory that doesn’t seem to be the case (both “Flashpoint” and “Fear Itself” make good examples here). The term ‘event fatigue’ has entered into the geek lexicon fairly adamantly lately as essentially an excuse to write off these types of books as little more than a stunt — which is, ostensibly, true. Event books are two-fold like that: they’re created first and foremost to be a commercial success that brings new readers into the shops and/or introduces old readers to different titles while simultaneously/perhaps secondarily attempting to create an individual thing of value, despite what anyone might be willing to admit in public forums.
So the event really has to please two groups of people: the people handling sales behind the scenes at Marvel, and the fans fueling those sales. You just have to cross your fingers that both parties end up happy.
That was the heavy exorcism of the cynical remarks, though. The potatoes sans gravy, if you will. Now on to the meat – “Avengers vs X-Men” #1:
By now, if you have a connection to the internet and a pulse, you assuredly know what “AvX” is about: the Phoenix is returning. The Avengers say, “Hey! This is bad! We should probably do something to protect the world.” The X-Men say, “Hey! This is bad, but it’s our bad which could actually maybe make it good!” Cyclops and Captain America have a movie-esque scene of posturing fueled in part by hubris and in part by selfish “my group is better at world saving than your group” attitudes all wrapped in these muscley bodies full of machismo and the inability to back down and, if we can operate under the assumption that every hero is inherently vain, this is the point where the levee breaks; where people stop being polite and start getting real.
The ship is being piloted by five people (Jason Aaron, Brian Michael Bendis, Ed Brubaker, Matt Fraction and Jonathan Hickman – alphabetical order there), but right now Bendis is at the helm with his trusty co-pilot John Romita Jr. The book is largely on par with the work Bendis and Romita Jr did in “Avengers”, for better or for worse depending on your persuasion. The goal of their “Avengers” stories was basically to be big all of the time always, jamming as much into tight spaces as they could possibly fit to push the Avengers fast and furious through some stories to match up with Event A and Event B, and the results were mixed; some of it was fun, some of it less so, but the final statement the book gave is that Bendis and Romita Jr honestly work quite well together. Regardless of anyone’s taste in writing or art, from a purely objective stance Bendis knows exactly how to make Romita’s work flow, and Romita is great at bringing Bendis’ crazy machinations to life.
Continued belowSo in terms of “AvX”, we’re given a very similar experience. It’s actually quite nice to see Bendis back at the helm of an event book considering that outside of that one massively popular book (“Civil War”), Bendis has been the writer for almost every major event since the Avengers broke up (which was his doing, again). Bendis certainly has a strong grasp on how to write events at this point, and he certainly knows how to kick them off in a specific style. The first issue reads a bit like the first issue of “House of M”, “Secret Invasion” or “Siege”: while the issue is mostly just talking heads until the inciting incident, the gauntlet is certainly thrown by the end of it. It’s a bit hard to admit because we all like to pretend everything we read has to have “meaning” or “integrity”, but it’s hard not to get a little bit excited at the prospect of just seeing everybody punch each other for a while. It’s also a bit hard to get excited at what feels like a formulaic retread of what worked in the past, but hey, comme ci, comme ca.
In terms of the illustrated side of it all, Romita Jr brings to the table what Romita Jr has always brought to the table. Romita is quite a good artist when given the right vessel (and by that I mean ‘work in “Amazing Spider-Man”‘), and if his time on “Avengers” was any indication, large-scale books are both his thing and not his thing. Romita is fantastic at grandiose sequences and these bombastic Hollywood/Michael Bay-moments; when it comes to zooming out and watching the world from afar for the biggest dramatic hit, he can nail it. What Romita can’t nail as well is the quieter moments, of which there are a lot in the book, partially due to the character’s emotions ineffectively being portrayed. While the writing certainly adds to it, at most you get just from looking at Cyclops is “angry, jaded jerk” and the most you get from looking at Captain America is “calm, un-diplomatic jerk”, with the general assumption that both men have sticks up their rear ends. Obviously both men are supposed to be shown as unmoving pillars in a larger conflict, but given that the two had been friends at one point, to see the tiniest smidge of emotion would’ve been a good place to start.
Additionally, it’s rather hard to “pick a side” one Cyclops is being portrayed as such a colossal idiot, but that’s probably another article within itself.
So with “AvX”, a lot of this comes down to personal taste: there are those who hate “Bendis speak” (and, truthfully, the speech bubble containing “What’s going on? Never mind. Don’t Care.” is pretty weak), there are those who hate Romita Jr’s artistic style, and there are those that just don’t care for events. Yet, speaking purely circumstantially, the best part of an event is the beginning, before all the “crazy stuff” happens. The first issue can inform opinions for the rest of the book positively or negatively, but the burden is always placed on said issue to convince you to read further — and as is usually the case, the book doesn’t punch you in the gut with excitement, but it does result in the want for further perusal, for better or for worse.
Then again, next issue is the first big “fight” issue, so it stands to reason that that could easily be much more of a make or break issue than this one.
The biggest disappointment/least surprising element overall, though, is the “AvX” #1 is largely a trailer. If you’re reading the book, you want to see Avengers fighting X-Men; that is the selling point. With this issue offering at most a setting of the stage (as was mentioned earlier, with comparisons to previous Bendis-helmed events), you’re given the equivalent of a 35 page book that is supposed to get you excited for everything to come. It’s supposed to whet your appetite, offering a hefty appetizer before the first part of your meal comes in two weeks. It’s a little annoying that this wasn’t the “zero” issue, but at the same time it’s no great shock either.
Continued belowTo make a long story short: everything you could conceivably expect from “AvX” is exactly what you get, both the good and the bad. “AvX” #1 is a comic that promises Avengers fighting X-Men due to the advent of the Phoenix’s return, and you know what? That’s what you get. It does exactly what it says it’ll do on the box! None of this makes it bad, though, and given that the solicit for the very book reads “the stage is set … in this oversized issue,” then that theoretically only bodes well: the issue takes the time to get the talking head stuff out of the way, pushes everyone towards the inevitable conflict right off the bat, and from here we can only assume the interesting stuff will start happening.
To get into the “Avengers vs X-Men” mindset, you have to essentially ask yourself one big question: assuming you are a discerning reader, are you willing to put your thought process on the back burner and just enjoy where the ride takes you? If you over-analyze the book and search for meaning where there is one, you’re gonna have a bad time. “AvX” isn’t here to be the Citizen Kane of comics, nor does it pretend to be. It’s an event, and it contains within its first issue alone the best and the worst that any event has ever offered. If you’re into that, give it a go — you’ll get exactly what you pay for. And if you’re not? Same result.
Final Verdict: 7.0 – Call me an optimist, but I’m willing to take this crazy ride again
Personally, I refuse to be a cynic if I don’t have to be, but Marvel et al have two issues maximum to make me invested and that’s it; my own gauntlet is thrown. The best of luck to you and yours, dear reader.
Oh, and for the record: Team Avengers. Cyclops is being a bit of a d-bag here.
