Since I've been away from reviewing Marvel has kickstarted their big crossover story of the year, Avengers vs X-Men. To properly review this book I will need to give you a quick synopsis of what's happened.
Years ago Jean Grey was killed by a mutant who thought he was Magneto at the time (until Wolverine beheaded him) and the Phoenix force disappeared. No the Avengers have discovered that it's out in outer space and headed for earth at blinding speeds. They have also discovered that it is headed for young Hope Summers, the "Mutant Messiah" that Cyclops is sheltering on his mutant island, Utopia. They fear for the safety of earth, given the destructive nature of the Phoenix, and plan to take Hope into protective custody for the sake of Earth. Cyclops and the X-Men also know about the Phoenix coming back, but hope that it signifies a rebirth for the mutant race that has had only one new birth (Hope Summers) since M Day years ago, the day that a crazed Scarlet Witch depowered most of the mutant population. Needless to say that when Captain America showed up on Utopia looking to take Hope with him Cyclops was not inclined to acquiesce to his request (thank you Barbossa) and answered him with an optic blast to the shield. The helicarrier then comes through the clouds with 2 dozen Avengers pouring out ready for battle and the story begins.
In AvX Marvel is doing something that's half genius, half douchey. In the main AvX book individual fights are shown starting, described with a word box about how incredible the fight is, then the story moves along without showing the fight. To see the fight you have to buy this series, AvX Versus. See what I mean? It's cool that they are expanding the fights that fans want to see, but at the same time they're practically MAKING you buy a tie-in book. Whatever...I think it's fun.
Each AvX Versus book features 2 fights, each drawn and written by a different creative team. In issue 1 we get to see Iron Man versus Magneto written by Jason Aaron and drawn by Adam Kubert and Thing versus Namor written by Kathryn Immonen and drawn by (husband?) Stuart Immonen. I'm not in the "know" on these writers, but these artists are the real deal. That's a good thing because the story in this book is very minimal. This is ALL about the fight and both artists do a great job. The only thing I didn't like about this book was how both fights ended. Things were going along great and then both fights end very abruptly and without much impact, almost like there was time limit or something! SPOILERS AHEAD!!! The Avengers win both of these fights, but again, I'm not sure why. Both fights are neck and neck and then...over? Magneto gets disheartened when he feels the oncoming presence of the Phoenix out in outerspace and Iron Man just flies off claiming that he won? Underwater Namor and Thing are duking it out back and forth when Thing rips the tusks from an underwater monster and uses them to pin Namor to the ocean floor and...fight over?!? He just walks out of the water the winner and you can clearly see Namor in the background flying out of the water already free. How is either of these a win? Neither of the Xmen fighters are out of the overall war! Plus, it's not like Namor to get embarassed in an underwater fight and just let it go!
The story was pretty week the more I think about it, but the brawls were so fun and the art so good, I'm going to forgive quite a lot.
The Might Thor #13
In my last post before I disappeared for half a year I told you how Thor died inexplicably at the end of last years' mega-event, Fear Itself. That's when things got weird. Sorry, but this is going to take some explaining...
After Fear Itself, Odin picked up his dead brother and disappeared leaving the 9 realms without King. His wife, Frigga, teamed up with 2 other goddess-types that I can't be bothered to remember to become the triad known as the All-Mother and announced their plan to unite the 9 realms under one kingdom called Asgardia. All seemed to be going well with the rebuild of fallen Asgard and the Mighty Tanarus continued to protect both Asgard and Earth...wait...WHAT? Who the junk is Tanarus?!? He's Odin's son, Asgard's Champion, and founding member of the Avengers of course! Confused? So was I. It turns out that Agard's enemies used Thor's death as an opening and replaced him in the hearts and minds of the world with an imposter, Tanarus. No one even remembered Thor. Everything they knew about Thor got transferred to Tanarus, who didn't even look like Thor or carry a hammer. In fact, Tanarus ends up being the Thor villain, Ulik the Troll in disguise! Back to the story...the only one who seems weirded out is Loki who can't remember Thor but knows that something is up. With the help of the now-grounded Silver Surfer they go about trying to bring Thor back. In the meantime the soul of Thor finds himself on a floating viking ship in limbo with other dead gods awaiting their turn to be eaten by Demigorge the god eater. He's weak and doesn't remember who he is until Loki manages to turn Dr. Blake's stick into Mjolnir. When that happens Thor regains his memory and power (and hammer) and leads the dead gods into a battle with the Demigorge. Both stories came to a head at the same time. Evil Tanarus betrays Asgard and attempts to kill the All Mother as his troll army attacks the city. Meanwhile, Thor destroys the Demigorge and returns to Asgard just in time to turn Tanarus into a smear on the pavement and save the day.
This brings us to issue 13. Thor's a little mopey about having died and been resurrected (again) but gets over it when he's asked to open up a part of Asgard that Odin sealed eons ago. Thor says that Odin's gone so who cares and busts in. He finds a ruined tunnel and follows it to a hord of awakening stone monsters. He tears through them with ease, but eventually gets overwhelmed by their sheer numbers. Back at the entrance, the Asgardia architect who asked Thor to clear the area enters the room to find Thor laying on the ground muttering with a weird tentacle monster/dog thing sitting on his chest and exclaims, "We've freed the Mares!" Turns out all that fighting was done in Thor's head, instigated by this weird monster thing. I'm curious to see where this goes.
Back in Broxton, Oklahoma, Don Blake is whining to some blond lady about how he has no memories before med school and how he was just an empty shell for Thor to inhabit. In the end he says he's sick of this weird half-life and if he can't have his own memories he wants to be Thor again. The blond lady is revealed to be the Enchantress and Blake is offering her his soul to become a God again. Wow...this could get interesting.
Decent story with plenty of promise, topped of by some very nice artwork.
Extra Review
Saga #1 & 2
This book by Brian K. Vaughan came out since I've been away from reviewing, but it's worth mentioning here because I will be raving about it in upcoming reviews.
Quick backstory:
This story is Romeo & Juliet in outer space. There are two rival species who have been warring for centuries across the cosmos. Unfortunately for our two main characters, they are in love and on opposite sides of the battle. These two former soldiers have rejected the war of their forefathers and in the first issue welcome a baby girl, Hazel, into the world. No sooner has the mother (Alana) given birth than they are on the run from soldiers who would kill them both for treason. The father (Marko) has renounced violence so they run.
In issue 2 they are lost in a supposedly haunted forest trying to get away from their pursuers. Both sides of the war have sent bounty hunters out after the couple, afraid that their story would demoralize the other soldiers and inspire more rebellion. One of the most feared bounty hunters in the galazy, "The Stalk" finds them first. She's a creepy half woman/half spider and she takes out Marko before he even knows what's going on (stabs him through the shoulder with her tongue!). As Alana, Hazel, and The Stalk have a showdown, red eyes appear all around them and the bounty hunter runs away. Alana turns around to see the ghosts of murdered children asking if she needs a hand.
One of the best parts though? The book is narrated by a now grown-up Hazel. She's telling the story of her birth and the trials her parents went through to protect her. Very nice, unique point of view.
Let me just say, this book is fantastic. It's not for all ages though. There's boobs. There's robot sex. There's rough language. That doesn't change the fact that this book is great. It's fresh. It's original. The artwork is great. I can't wait to follow this book! Plus, it's nice to read something outside the superhero genre every now and then. I can't recommend this book enough (to those mature enough to handle it).
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