Review: AVX: Vs. #1 (of 6)

This is it, the “battle within the battle” book that extends all the individual fights from The Avengers Vs. The X-Men series! A rip roarious, smash mouth style book that pits two X-Men against two Avengers in two separate stories by two creative teams! That’s a lot of twos, folks! 

Let me begin by saying I am highly impressed that Marvel is pushing this series for exactly what it is. They are not trying to mask it as anything besides a good ‘ol slugfest because that is all you will get! There is no extension of plot or development of character in this series but at least they are up front about it. As a matter of fact, this is what the opening page says, verbatim: “This book is about AWESOME BRAWLING! You want plot? LOOK ELSEWHERE, CHUM. You want a KNOCK-DOWN, DRAG-OUT WHUPPIN‘? WE GOT YOU COVERED.” And believe me, they deliver!

Match 1 is Iron Man vs. Magneto! Now, we all knew Tony Stark wouldn’t bring a tin can to a magnet party, so this one isn’t in the bag for Magneto! Jason Aaron has some great ideas up his sleeve as to how this one goes down and you won’t believe the damage these two warriors inflict on each other. It is brutal, exciting and over way too quickly for my taste, this fight needed to last the entire book! The ending was questionable, as one of the warriors just gives up, lost in the grand scope of what is to come. It left me feeling slightly cheated, but the prior build-up was great!

Match 2 is Thing vs. Namor! This one has been hashed out before, but never completely underwater! Again, it is an in your face smashfest that gets the adrenaline pumping faster than a locomotive! Decades worth of anger is let out in a fury of fists, leaving the ocean floor a complete warzone! This one was a more satisfying read as there is a true winner, or is there?

Both Adam Kubert and Stuart Immonen do an outstanding job on art chores, creating some amazing feats of fury infused destruction! These have been some of the best fight scenes Marvel has produced in a long time — every fan will be salivating over them! Jason Aaron and Kathryn Immonen do great jobs themselves, trying to create a background in all the chaos. Aaron’s tale is more cerebral but it is Immonen’s witty banter that truly steals the show here! 

Slugfest, brawl, “The Thrilla‘ in Manila” – call it what you will – this book has been downright fun to read! Yeah, I don’t agree with the way things always pan out, but I still get to see some of my childhood daydreams come to fruition! Worth four bucks? Well…no, but I will still be around for round two!