Captain America and Cyclops team up to repel a Skrull invasion, and Black Widow helps Emma Frost track down an embarrassing video in dull and downright silly issue of “A+X”.
Written by Gary Duggan and Howard Chaykin
Illustrated by David Yardin and Howard ChaykinA+X= something altogether different starting this month! Half of this issue kicks off a 6-part story by GERRY DUGGAN (DEADPOOL) and DAVID YARDIN (ASTONISHING X-MEN, Injustice: Gods Among Us) bringing A and X to a collision course with Captain America and Cyclops running in A+X #13-18! The other half of the issue sees industry legend HOWARD CHAYKIN writing and drawing the sexiest story in A+X history with Emma Frost and Black Widow!
One of the main conceits of the fictional shared universe that comic books inhabit is that even though all the characters exist together, they don’t hang out together all the time, even when they live in the same cities. It’s why the Human Torch doesn’t show up every time Spider-Man fights the Lizard. The Marvel Universe presents a particular logistical challenge as the mutant population continues to grow and expand, numbering in the thousands at one point, and the other superheroes seem rather unconcerned. The X-Men and the Avengers-aligned heroes mostly exist in their own worlds, dealing with their own problems, until the “AvX” event pitted the two communities against one another. The aftermath saw a concerted effort on Marvel’s part to bring the Avengers and X-Men worlds closer together, case and point being the “A+X” series, featuring two team-ups of various characters from either community per issue.
This issue breaks the formula of the series somewhat by introducing a multi-part story, while all the other issues stuck to the one and done format. The ongoing arc pairs Avengers defacto leader Captain America and Mutant revolutionary Cyclops, the chief opponents of the previous “AvX” event, as they must stop a group of super-powered Skrulls from wreaking havoc on earth. The second story featured in the issue finds Emma Frost seeking out the help of superspy Natasha Romanoff aka Black Widow. An unknown person has found a *ahem* private video of Emma, and is threatening to release it. Emma’s telepathic powers are a fraction what they once were due to recent events (long story), so she needs the assistance of the non-powered Romanoff, a master of finding people who don’t want to be found.
The multi-part Cyclops and Captain America arc is scripted by current “Deadpool” scribe Gerry Duggan, a newer edition to the Marvel stable of writers. On his main series, Duggan gets to write the character known as “merc with a mouth”, and the author’s more word-y tendencies are on full display in “A+X”. While this suits Deadpool, who espouses constant meta-commentary and never ending wise cracks, when dealing with Captain and Cyclops, two leaders known to be stoic at best and uptight at worst, it just doesn’t work. The brevity of the story forces the characters to speak in overlapping soliloquies filled with big blanket statements. And that’s not even taking in to account the exposition Skrull that shows up and literally forces the two of them to stand immobilized as he describes the entire plot to them. It’s tedious and downright boring, and the short fight scene at end doesn’t even start to make up for the preceding dozen pages of endless telling-not-showing.
The Emma Frost/Black Widow team-up is scripted by industry veteran Howard Chaykin, famous for his work with smaller publishers, some controversial for violent and sexual content, mixed in with time at DC and Marvel. In an era of great writers like Gail Simone, Kelly Sue DuConnick, Brian Wood, and J. H. Williams crafting books with fully rounded female characters, the characters in this story just feel silly. They are supposed to be confident, and in charge of their sexuality, but this does not equal out to meta references to skimpy costumes and female charms. The whole story feels dated, like a 90’s version of empowered female superheroes. Chaykin’s long career obviously attests to his many talents as a writer, and no one questions his ability to deliver quality work, this story was just a miss.
Continued belowThe art for the Captain + Cyclops team-up is handled by regular “X-Factor” artist David Yardin, and despite the fact that he clearly has plenty of experience with the superheroes, the resulting issue is surprisingly dull. Cyclops and Captain America look fine enough, although they are frozen for 80% of the story, but everything else around them is just uninteresting to look at. The backgrounds are lifeless and monochrome, especially the scene on the spaceship, which features a Skrull droning on and on in front of endless black shadows and blurry walls. Even the action scene amounts to little more than Cyclops and Captain America making their signature fight poses. And after the first panel, the Captain has the exact same expression on his face for the rest of the book. Yardin is a talented artist, the issue just feels rushed and the end result is just boring.
Howard Chaykin does double duty on the Frost/Romanoff team-up, completing the art as well as scripting the story. This second half of this issue of “A+X” is much more visually interesting than the first. The story jumps around from location to location, from a bar, to an office, to a S.H.E.I.L.D. headquarters, before ending in a seedy computer lab. It’s a lot of ground to cover in a dozen pages, but Chaykin makes each location detailed and realistic, like these are actual places. The two main characters, however, seem to have identical faces, when they don’t look oddly squished as the angle changes. The art isn’t terrible, but not good enough to overlook the trivial story.
“A+X” #13 features a super soldier, a mutant who shoots lasers from his eyes, and a master spy, and a telepath who can turn her skin into diamonds, and still manages to be dull and uninteresting. The Captain America/Cyclops story, meant to break away from the one-shot model of the rest of the series, is bogged down by endless talking and exposition, with a tiny fight scene crammed into the final pages. And they even keep talking as they fight. The Black Widow/Emma Frost story feels dated in the way it uses its female characters, and just ends up being silly. Not every comic needs to be grim and gritty, far from it, and Marvel has a number of series (“Daredevil”, “Hawkeye”) which know the difference between being fun and being silly.
Final Verdict: Final Verdict: 2.0 – Avoid this one. Not worth your time or your money.
