Advanced Review: Avengers vs. X-Men #3

Editorial Note: Slight Spoilers Ahoy!

Well, it didn’t take long for this series to start to unravel, now did it?

Like all the big events Marvel has produced in the past few years, it begins with a bang and then slowly petters out to a whimper. This issue is the turning point to that feeble end!

It begins with Logan recouping and then running out to see what has happened since Hope took him out of the battle. What he sees is nothing – absolutely nothing – as both sides stand complacent with Cyclops’ surrender. What? Surrender? The last issue ended with battles galore sprouting up all over Utopia! Ah, yes, the Marvel engine must have made a stop in Storytelling 101 in another book or maybe decided to think we would all just except this story change like good little doggies. Regardless, all isn’t as it seems and the Avengers must now chase the merry mutants around the globe in order to find the missing Hope. But as divisions in Wolverine’s ranks are revealed, one more change in the status quo emerges — Cap vs. Wolverine!

This book had glimpses of grandeur but the characterization that has been happening in this story since issue one, has been overbearing at best and atrocious at its worst! The first two issues portrayed Cyclops as some religious zealot that couldn’t see what his decisions were doing to those around him! This issue has Captain America coming off as a tyrannical overlord that would rather destroy alliances than see disobedience! Since this issue was scripted by Ed Brubaker, I was surprised by this total disregard for character. Even in the worst situations, Cap wouldn’t do what he does to Wolverine at the end of this tale. I was expecting him to scream, “Die mutie scum!” as he threw his personal choice for Avenger membership out the proverbial door!

If this is what the “architects” can build when they all come together, I’m not too sure I want to stand anywhere near the construction site! It seems as though the eventual outcome of this tale is all that was focused on regardless as to how they get us there. Forcibly directing a story just to placate to a set in stone ending, makes for a shoddy tale overall! Readers hunger for a tale that will leave them satisfied, a well rounded course that is more than just a light show and dessert. I will gladly pay you for the flash of satisfaction I had reading this book, but I want a refund for the other twenty pages of mediocrity! The way I see it, Marvel owes me $2.99! Now, if I could only figure out where I could spend three bucks on a good comic. Anyone have any ideas?