Comics: Avengers Vs X-men

The end of a storyline that has been occurring in X-men comics for at least seven years; AvX sees the Avengers fight the X-men when the Phoenix returns to Earth. Cyclops and his team believe the Phoenix will possess Hope, a young mutant girl who was possibly created by the Phoenix, bringing forth a new age for mutants. The Avengers on the other hand, believe it will be no different to when Jean Grey was taken over by the Phoenix; with it having attempted to destroy the world. The Avengers actions lead to the Phoenix being split in to five parts and possessing the X-men, creating the Phoenix Five. Will they use their power for good or evil?

At first the event appears to have a lot of momentum but it quickly loses its way. After you have seen most of the Avengers vs X-men mash-ups it just begins to get a bit repetitive. They also felt the need to pad a rather uninteresting tie-in with additional battles they couldn't display in the main event; providing no story and just combat.

The series suffers from quite a few problems which stop it from being a classic story. The biggest issue is that the series has several different writers (at least five) and artists (even more so); causing it to be very inconsistent with many of the creators not pulling their weight. The issues written by Brian Michael Bendis and Jason Aaron are the best with most of the other writers being mediocre. Most of the artwork is fantastic but several issues, particularly issue 10 are a bit poorly drawn, with characters going off model quite frequently. The event also feels overlong, the 12 issues it takes up being far too much. It would have greatly benefitted from having a much tighter, leaner focus. The middle issues are definitely where the series starts to drag, and it seems to forget the originally intended plot.

Despite the dragged out effect, the writers quite often seem to lose track of what should be most important; the characters. People shift in and out of the spotlight, Hope at times being the main character, at others being a wallflower. Wolverine starts off as a key player but is similarly abandoned. Professor Xavier shows up in the last few issues as the voice of reason on the X-men side but very clearly there was one purpose for his involvement in the event. It's strange to think that someone who was once at the head of the X-men brand is now reduced to basically cameos. Also unfortunately ignored is Magneto, appearing to remind Cyclops that the path he's going down is turning him in to the new Magneto. Often you need to go to the tie-ins to really understand the characters motives, particularly in the last few issues when Uncanny X-men gives you insight in to Cyclops' thoughts during the big battles. The Wolverine & The X-men tie-ins are really quite good (except for issue 16 which should just be avoided); not surprising as the series very rarely falters, seriously just go read it.

There are many big battles in the series but one of the most visually stunning occurs in issue 8; where Namor uses his Phoenix powers and his Atlantean army to obliterate a country (I'm not saying which one). Featuring scenes of sweeping tidal waves wiping out buildings and people it is definitely one of the most interesting fights of the series as a whole; making up for the muddling middle part of the series.

One of the best issues of the event is issue 9, which chooses to focus on a relatively ignored character up to that point, Spider-man. Having the whole story revolving around him and something Captain America told him years ago, that sooner or later every Avenger has his big hero moment, gives it a much tighter focus than the ones preceding or following it. I may be slightly biased because Spider-man has always been a favourite of mine, but honestly who doesn't love him?

The Phoenix Five

The writers seem to go back and forth on how evil the Phoenix Five should be; at first they seem to be bringing about world peace but then are all about exterminating the Avengers; although no Avengers actually die in this event (sorry spoilers). Captain America basically forgets how corrupting the Phoenix can be, choosing to blame the X-men possessed for all their actions. They also forget that it's Iron Man's fault that the Phoenix was split in the first place and that they didn't exactly ask the Phoenix to take them over.

The final issue attempts to wrap up the mess of an event into a cohesive whole with varying degrees of success. The final battle boils down to Everyone Vs Cyclops and provides many great scenes of combat; with the good guys fighting Dark Phoenix Cyclops all over the world and getting their arses royally kicked. It's then decided to return Hope to the spotlight, after having treated Professor Xavier as the saviour of the mutant race. She works with the Scarlet Witch, who is so ignored throughout that it barely is worth mentioning; to mimic her hex powers. In the end they essentially change the whole goal of the Phoenix Five to suggest that they wanted to create new mutants and revive the race at all costs; rather than bring about world peace or later kill the Avengers (a goal they were pretty bad at anyway). The writers also decide to place all the blame on Cyclops' head, something he happily takes and make Captain America seem a bit of a dick in the process.

The series does lead quite well in to the future of Marvel comics suggesting a very changed world. Captain America is forming a new team of Avengers made up of several X-men with the aim of preserving Xavier's dream; which Scott has been ignoring for years in favour of Mutant supremacy. It also sets up a new status quo for Scott's former team, with him in jail and them branded as terrorists who are on the run.

While the series has its moments and sets up the future of the Avengers and X-men it has far too many problems and is such an incoherent mess that it should only really be read by the biggest fans; and probably only when they discover it in the bargain bucket.