Written by Jeph Loeb
Illustrated by Ed McGuinness and Dexter VinesThe time-traveling mutant known as Cable, has returned from the future with 24 hours to save the world… by destroying the Avengers?! What makes Earth’s Mightiest Heroes such a threat to a better tomorrow? Cable’s on a mission to prevent the tragedies that lead to the events of Avengers VS X-Men… and every move he makes irrevocably changes the direction of the Marvel Universe!
The beginning of the beginning of the 2012 Marvel Event begins here. Begin reading after the jump. Mild spoilers ahead, though, but I mean, look at that cover — it’s not really a symbolic image of any sort.
Every now and then you need to sit down and ask yourself: What’s the point? Please note that this isn’t an existential question. It’s a very specific one, relating to the process of purchasing and reading Jeph Loeb and Ed McGuinness’s Avengers: X-Sanction #1. In a climate — no, an industry where storytelling often boils down to “things happen because of stuff,” sometimes it’s good to lean back and try to catch a glimpse of the big picture.
A more cynical reader would read the above paragraph, stroke the neckbeard hanging under his smooth see-through chin, and begin composing a forum post about how it’s clear that I just wrote that because X-Sanction does not, strictly speaking, have much narrative content to speak of. My response to that would be to be thrilled, because we don’t have a forum at Multiversity and it would mean people talking about my stuff elsewhere. My other response would be to shrug and cop to it a bit. Avengers: X-Sanction #1 blasts through what it has to say fairly quickly, and most of what it has to say is “dudes fighting.”
Put that aside, though. What X-Sanction is, more than anything else, is a primer. Now that Avengers vs. X-Men has been announced for 2012, the necessity (in the sense of “imaginary necessity”) of pitting Cable — time-traveling X-Men associate — against the Avengers makes sense. In the manner of a modern crossover, we have four issues to set up the stakes of the conflict and push everyone into positions that they need to be in. Whether X-Sanction #2, 3, and 4 will actually do this is anyone’s guess, but #1 at least leans toward “useful prologue” (where the other extreme is “X-Men: Prelude to Schism“).
Here’s what happens: A group of mostly big-name, recognizable Avengers (all identified by name on the first page) takes down the Lethal Legion. In the process, a mysterious assailant shoots and kidnaps the Falcon. Captain America tracks the sniper down, and then the stuff on the cover happens, and blah blah blah next issue true believers. Throughout, we get narration and flashbacks (to the flashfuture, no less) by Cable, who was thought dead at the end of X-Men: Second Coming a couple years ago, and who discovers that the future is a horrible place thanks to the Avengers. The Avengers’ responsibility ties in somehow to Cable’s daughter, Hope, who may or may not be the reincarnation of the Phoenix Force, a destructive cosmic entity that…
Actually, you know what? I’m glad Jeph Loeb didn’t go into all that shit. I really am. The obsessive-compulsive continuity tangles of the X-Men are their least enticing feature (aside from any story involving the Shi’ar), and Loeb breaks it down thusly: Cable finds out that the Avengers did something to his daughter in the past, and even though the techno-organic components of his body are rapidly killing him, he goes back to smash the Avengers. Giving Cable the motivation of “dying man wanting to save his kid” is much more effective — and inviting to the fabled, mythical New Reader who we’re all constantly pissing ourselves about — than explaining a ton of nonsense. The downside of the issue is that beyond that, the story just kind of… happens. The opening Avengers scene is good. The flashbackforwards are all right. Cable versus Cap, the issue’s centerpiece, re-uses a gag we saw two months ago in Cap’s own book and generally fails to show us how these men are supposed to be tactical geniuses.
Part of that is down to Ed McGuinness. While his art remains as dynamic and powerful as ever — and Dexter Vines remains the perfect inker for him — the huge panels and single-image double-splashes mean that the comic gallops along with big shots of big punches. It’s better than slowing the narrative down, but it also means that after what feels like a handful of pretty pictures and people shouting their motivations, it’s over. It feels like more of a shame than it really is because if there’s any one reason to read this book, it’s McGuinness’s art, and his striking, distintegrating renditions of Cable. Past that, well — you’ve got Jeph Loeb doing his thing, which is easy to read but ankle deep at the best times, and you’ve got buildup to an X-Men / Avengers crossover that you’re going to spend the next year being sick of anyway. I know what I consider the point of opening this comic was — others will likely find their own.
Final Verdict: 6.5 – If you must, or if you like looking at things that look good to things like your eyes
