Now we’re cooking.

This should have been issue 2 and all the narrative from 1-5 could have been condensed into one over sized issue. And, in my opinion, Copiel is head and shoulders above Romita.

Now we see the central conflict and its reminiscent of Kingdom Lost or Red Son. Super-powered individuals that have the power to remake the world or society as they see fit. Cyclops is a great character here because we understand his motivations very clearly and we can relate to his wanting to change things. The Avengers come across as wary and waiting for the other show to drop and overly pessimistic. Knowing the power of the Phoenix and the instability it brings out in its hosts makes us understand their point better but who wants to argue that when the Phoenix Five are ending hunger, war and saving mutants?

Hickman has delved better into the characterizations here than in any of the previous issues and we finally have a conflict that makes sense. The Xmen represent the benevolent dictator that makes the trains run on time but demands obedience. The Avengers represent free will and choice even if it’s messy and uneven. I’m looking forward to this conflict far more than superheroes punching each other over custody of a teenage girl.

I read this digitally so I also got the Digital Infinite comic. It was great and in a totally different way than the Nova one that preceded AvX. This one is all about Cyclops and his relationship with the Phoenix. I really liked the Nova issue as it made great use of the motion-like ability of digital comics. I was apprehensive that it was only useful for big action type stories, but the cuts here and the pacing work just as well on a quieter more reflective story. If this is the future of digital comics, I’m really excited for it.