I am not a fan of Rick Remender. Everyone probably knows this by now but I should state this for the review. I can’t honestly say why I don’t like his work but it never has. He has great ideas but they aren’t executed in a way where I can really say I enjoyed reading an issue. That’s all on my hands cause it is my opinion and I am not saying Remender is a bad writer. So hearing him do a new series for Marvel involving Avengers and X-Men would make you believe I would avoid it. Well if you went this far into the review without figuring it out but no, I did in fact try this series out.

And get ready to get your socks blown off because I actually liked this.

I should say that I LIKE it but not love it. There are some things I didn’t enjoy about this first issue but I did like a lot of it. First off, I loved how this issue was more on the secondary teammates (well they aren’t a team yet but you know what I mean) and not a Captain America/Thor love fest. They’re in this issue but Remender doesn’t over bear us with them even with the minor fight involved. This issue is more about Havok, Scarlet Witch, and Rogue and I really appreciated that from Remender. He’s got a nice handle on Havok and Wanda but I am a bit torn with his Rogue. He doesn’t make the Southern drawl over the top but it is a bit too noticeable and it bugged me a bit. But the scenes involving the Summers brothers and the villain’s monologue was more then enough for me to not be too annoyed by it.

Another factor with this new series is that John Cassaday is artist. Now if this was the ‘Astonishing X-Men’ days then this would be HUGE for me. But we all know Cassaday’s work has been…..well he’s been shit lately let’s face it. But there was more to like in this issue then hate coming from him lately. Again, these aren’t pencils you’d see from him years ago and he has definitely lost a step. Faces are a bit of an issue with me and they don’t match with the tone of the dialogue. Plus some of the panels do look a bit stiff when they should be a bit more dynamic. But again, there are a lot of improvements with his panels then what we’ve seen lately. The sequences involving several lobotomy’s was pretty chilling and it all works thanks to his (and his inker and colorist) work.

Do I want to read this series full time? As of right now probably not. But I tell you what: this makes me wanna read the next issue. There are some flaws here with some of the dialogue and the panels can be stiff at times. But from what I’ve read and seen of Remender and Cassaday’s lately I gotta say this is a huge improvement from them. I don’t think this is the best thing I’ve ever read this year but it is one of the biggest surprises for me cause I never thought I would have enjoyed it. So congrats Marvel you win the first round with this relaunch.