Avengers Vs. X-Men -- Speculation, Spoilers, and Discussion

[Allyn Gibson]

Turtletrekker wrote:

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Does anyone out there have have AvX #1 yet? If so, please spoiler code any early reviews.

Yes, I do. But I'm not planning on saying anything about it until next Wednesday.

[ReadyAndWilling]

Mr Light wrote:

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Well, nothing really happened in #0... it was basically an introduction to the characters for someone unfamiliar with them.

why are wolverine and spiderman on the side of the avengers? wolverine has always been the flag bearer of the x-men behind cyclops and the professor.

[ReadyAndWilling]

do we have a list of who'll be on each side? i can see the juggernaut on one of the pictures.

[Allyn Gibson]

ReadyAndWilling wrote:

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why are wolverine and spiderman on the side of the avengers? wolverine has always been the flag bearer of the x-men behind cyclops and the professor.

I will say this about issue #1. There's a roll call page that shows who is on which side, Avengers or X-Men, and on that page they have Wolverine and Beast straddling the line between the two.

As for Wolverine and Cyclops, they don't see eye to eye and they've gone in different directions.

[Nerys Myk]

ReadyAndWilling wrote:

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do we have a list of who'll be on each side? i can see the juggernaut on one of the pictures.

IIRC, that's Colossus in Juggernaut's helmet. Not sure of the details on why.

[Admiral_Young]

Wikipedia article...it contains spoilers...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avenger...en#Main_series

[Mr Light]

Spider-Man and Wolverine have been on the Avengers since 2005.

Beast is on the Wolverine X-Men team and also on the Secret Avengers.

Colossus became the new Juggernaut in the "Fear Itself" crossover and is fighting to contain the impulse to destruction within him. I forget what happened to Cain Marko...

[Admiral_Young]

I finished reading both Avengers Point One and Avengers Vs X-Men #0. First of all, I can't wait until Hickman takes over after act one, gotta agree about the "Bendisspeak". The point one issue was the better issue, the zero issue was simply set up. Vision has returned pissed off, frustrated, and sad which is to be expected. He might be the wild card in this arc. I echo Tony's sentiments as well with regard to Vision and Wanda, I liked them together as well. Not off to the blaring start I thought but then like I said, this was mere set up.

[Allyn Gibson]

Going on sale tonight at select stores and in wide release tomorrow, Avengers Vs. X-Men #1:

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!

I've admitted that I'm not a Marvel reader. The last Avengers comic I picked up would have been Avengers/JLA #4. The last X-Men comic I picked up would have been Star Trek: The Next Generation/X-Men: Second Contact. However, I'm a little bit more versed on what's happening with the X-Men than I am with the Avengers; at work, I often have to write about the X-Men, and I've become rather good at faking it.

Some thoughts on AVX #1. Non-spoilery ones first.

This is the second Brian Michael Bendis comic I've ever read; the first was AVX #0 last week. The pace of it surprised me. This was like the Geoff Johns/Jim Lee Justice League; lots of big panels, lots of showy artwork, and not much in the way of plot movement. Oh, don't get me wrong, stuff happens, but it feels stretched out. This could have fit a 22-page comic easily.

This first issue is weighted a little more towards the Avengers than the X-Men; we don't reach Utopia until near the staple in the middle, and even then we have more Avengers moments.

I particularly liked a scene between Captain America and Wolverine. It's quiet, and Romita's artwork conveys the emotion well.

Now, spoilers.

The book is not devoid of problems.

This doesn't line up very well with Jason Aaron's half of AVX #0. Aaron's Hope and Bendis' Hope might as well be two entirely different people. They behave differently, they know different things. No consistency, not a good sign.

The issue is very X-Men light. There are more X-Men on the cover than there are in the book. It's painfully obvious on page two, which is wasted with a roll call of both teams. (There are a number of wasted pages in this.) This is basically an Avengers story that happens to take Captain America to the mutant refuge of Utopia at the end, and it's paced out for the scene you know is coming at the very end -- Cyclops getting pissed off and blasting Cap.

And that brings up a related point. Cyclops seriously overreacts to the situation as presented for no discernible reason. The only thing I can figure is that the visor he's worn all these years has cut off the circulation to his head.

Now, the expectations game.

It's hard to judge where a 12-part story is going to go based on a single issue. But, based on the way stories like this are told, I'll take a stab.

In stories like this, heroes meet, heroes have misunderstanding, heroes fight, heroes set aside their differences and discover they were both right and fight off the common enemy together.

The Avengers think that the Phoenix Force is going to wipe out life on Earth. They're justified in thinking this, since the issue opens with the Phoenix Force wiping out a planet.

The X-Men think that the Phoenix Force is going to usher in a new age of mutantdom. I'm not sure that they're justified in thinking this; if they are, Bendis doesn't lay any groundwork for that.

Now, it's possible that the Avengers and the X-Men will join forces in issue #11 and they lay the smack down on the Phoenix Force in issue #12.

However, I think it's also possible that Avengers Vs. X-Men will show that the Avengers and the X-Men are both right. The Phoenix Force will wipe out all life on Earth, and from the ashes of the charred Earth new life will be reborn. In short, I think this could be a Flashpoint-like reboot point for the Marvel Universe. Not a total reboot, just enough of a reboot to clean up some problems here and there.

I think my overall feeling was of "Meh." It's not objectively bad. It just moves slowly, and it assumes that the audience knows the backstory. When I said last week that this issue makes a better start for AVX than last week's issue #0, I really meant that.

[Admiral_Young]

The X-Men are hopefull that Hope is the mutant messiah and Scott specifically is expecting that the Phoenix's arrival will bring some kind of positive change for the mutant race despite previous encounters with it would indicate otherwise. Death and destruction usually are left in it's wake.

It isn't surprising Bendis writing with the X-Men characters is inconsistent because frankly, Bendis doesn't write those characters. It is intriguing to me the writing arc break down Marvel has chosen with who is writing what arc of this book. Starting with Bendis seems logical since I'm assuming we're going to be dealing with the Avengers characters early on which of course he is intimately familiar with. Jonathan Hickman takes over I believe the next arc, with Aaron writing the finale arc in the fall (the latter two are the far superior writers in my opinion right now, Bendis has lost his touch). I'm forgetting where Brubaker and Fraction will be slotted in the arcs.

@Allyn yeah Bendis is known and loathed by a lot of fans for his "writing for trade" pace so it isn't surprising that you picked on that. It is what he is currently being maligned for on his "Avengers" run which has become stagnant and uninteresting IMO...yet I still continue to read. He will be concluding his long run with the Age of Ultron which is supposed to happen in-conjunction or after AVX. Not sure. I was thinking Age of Ultron or aka The Ultron War arc was going to happen prior to Avengers Vs X-Men. It also might be a summer arc.

EDIT: I just read Rich's review on Bleeding Cool...sigh...I knew I wasn't going to like Bendis's arc on this book. Still getting this tomorrow though.

[Allyn Gibson]

I've read Rich Johnston's review of issue #1 twice now.

I can't really disagree with it.

And I was aware of Bendis' reputation for decompressed/writing-for-the-trade storytelling. It's well known that he took six issues of Ultimate Spider-Man to do what Stan Lee and Steve Ditko did in fifteen pages in Amazing Fantasy #15.

[Admiral_Young]

^ My apologies...wasn't sure what you knew or didn't about his rep, I have been a fan of Bendis and like what he is doing with Ultimate Spider-Man right now, you can tell he has a passion for Miles Morales, but in the 616 Universe I feel like he's almost "phoning it in" or lost his interest right now. I don't disagree with Rich's take for once either. Can't wait for Hickman and the other writers arcs to start lol.

[Admiral_Young]

Read the issue today and my issue was mainly Bendis' writing. I agree with the issues that both Allyn and Rich brought up in their reviews of the issue. I still remain excited about the book, but am really looking forward to the other writers on the issue. Bendis can not write 616 Spidey without having be immature and nothing more than comedic fodder. There is almost no point on having Peter on the team any more.

[Praetor_Shinzon]

Admiral_Young wrote:

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Read the issue today and my issue was mainly Bendis' writing. I agree with the issues that both Allyn and Rich brought up in their reviews of the issue. I still remain excited about the book, but am really looking forward to the other writers on the issue. Bendis can not write 616 Spidey without having be immature and nothing more than comedic fodder. There is almost no point on having Peter on the team any more.

i completely agree with you about Spidey. compare Spidey in AvX or X-Sanction to Spidey in the current Amazing arc. almost like two different characters.

[Admiral_Young]

Yep. Slott and Hickman both have written Spider-Man differently, Slott though has started improve and evolved since taking over the book. Hickman has written Peter with the respect he deserves and hasn't forgotten that while he is a funny character, he's also a brilliant scientist that Tony Stark once made his protege, and that Reed Richards has been impressed with. Bendis writes 616 Peter as almost a caricature. As a huge Spidey fan I find this really irritating. I hope this isn't how he writes 616 Spidey in the upcoming "Spider-Men" because if so, I'm going to be really disappointed. 616 Spidey is not Ultimate Peter.