AVX: VS #1 (OF 6)
What did the
iFanboy
community think?
Pulls
Art by Adam Kubert, Stuart Immonen, & Wade Von Grawbadger
Colors by Morry Hollowell & Jim Charalampidis
Letters by Joe Caramagna
Cover by Adam Kubert & Stuart Immonen
Size: 0 pages
Price: 3.99
(This week, bored of just reviewing single issues, Akamuu will be pairing comics comparing and contrasting them, and posting them under both titles..he was drunk neither when he conceived of this, nor when he was writing, but wishes he was for both occasions. He also does not promote or condone alcoholism mainly because alcohol sells itself.)
“I feel the fillings rattle in my teeth and I know it’s on.” “This one is arrogant and reckless. Even for a human. But in my experience, he is no fool. Surely he would not dare attack me, of all people, in a simple suit of iron. If he has, this will be a very short battle indeed.”
What I hated about Avengers Vs. X-Men #2 is exactly what I think works about Vs. #1. Chrison Claaronmont’s ridiculous narration boxes were in contrast to Bendis’s repartee from Avengers Vs. X-Men #1, so they didn’t work for me. I felt they also detracted greatly from the plot . But in Vs., the plot is not the point, the fights are the point. So Mr. Bombastic’s boxes help accentuate that nothing in this book is to be taken seriously. Unless, of course, they are to be taken VERY seriously.
“All I have is this tarnished old helmet and an old man’s heart. One forged in the fires of the Warsaw ghetto. For many years now, it has been enough to get me by.”
The dialog and the “fun facts” that Claaronmont has strewn through these issues are so far in the stratosphere, they can barely see the top with a telescope. I picture him writing this one of two ways: huddled over his desk after months without sleeping occasionally grunting “Yes. Yes this is genius.” Or, much more likely, sitting in a room with Bendis, Hickman, Fraction, and Brubaker, nearly pissing himself with laughter. “And then Magneto calls Iron Man a Nazi!”
The Immonen Thing Vs. Namor story is not as funny, intentionally or otherwise. Though I did have a bit of a giggle as Namor yells “Imperius Rex!” and The Thing tries to yell out “It’s clobberin time!” but is, alas, underwater. The rest of the jokes tried a bit too hard.
To balance this giant EVENT book from Marvel, I decided to find an indi book. One of my favorites: The Goon. This issue being Death Of Goon, the 1st 39th issue! which, as advertised on the cover includes his new origin as a “gay Republican, Puerto Rican transvestite Socialist for Jesus from space”.
For those unfamiliar with The Goon, he has previously been a brute zombie fighter from the Prohibition era. He kept his politics and his sexual orientation to himself (likely due to the way that dame treated him in Chinatown).
Much like Vs., Goon is filled with helpful narration boxes taken directly from “Rules & Regulations Of Writing Superheroes written by Someone Who Writes Superhero Comics…Poorly.” Whereas Vs. lets you know how much braces cost, and how much the tower structures weigh on Utopia, Goon informs you of its “immaculately detailed backgrounds traced from vector graphics software”, and “gratuitous unnecessary ass shots also sell really well on Ebay!”
Neither of these books is likely to be my Pick Of The Week (though I had high hopes for The Goon) but both provided a mirthful beginning to my comic filled evening.
(The bottom score is purely for AvX: Vs #1, and in no way represents my feelings for The Death Of The Goon.)
Art: 4 - Very Good
Find us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
Subscribe to our RSS Feed
Some rights reserved.
Fun review. I’m no longer buying the Avengers vs. X-Men in issue because I wasn’t that taken with #2. Thought it was average overall with touches of bad.
However, I will be reading this for at least one issue cuz it is in my pull box and if I have my shop pull, I buy no matter what.
Glad to hear the tone of AvX #2 works better in this issue than it did in the main series.
Thanks for the review.
I don’t blame you, at all. Were my hard earned money going toward issues, I wouldn’t be reading this title anymore, either. I appreciate you honoring your shop pull, despite trepidations. If you didn’t like AvX #2, I’m not sure you’ll like it. I’m not sure I liked it. It’s bad in exactly the same ways Avengers Vs. X-Men was, it just made more sense as part of its own series.
Your review was right on and it was definitely more enjoyable than the main series issue #2.
All conversations with Magneto eventually degenerate under the force of Godwin’s Law.
That’s a terrifying truth. Magneto, the original internet troll.
Except, Magneto knew real Nazis, so does that give his use more force, or is it that much more in poor taste for him to say it? Same rules apply to Captain America or anyone who speaks to him.
Personally, I think it’s more in poor taste. I can’t think of anything to even compare this to, but a person who actually suffered at the hands of the Nazis stooping to calling people Nazis purely because they disagree with them, is exactly the kind of nutcase that needs to be shipped off into space. Of course, then he might build an asteroid and train a cult to take on Charles Xavier, who would be forced to shut his mind down, and…well the whole thing just gets silly at that point.
Has Cap called anyone a Nazi recently? I mean, apart from Red Skull and his Nazis, which is a perfectly apt description.
Hope the rest of this series is a little more interesting.
If the series doesn’t culminate with Hulkling vs. Anole, I’m dropping it.
I still don’t understand why this series even exists. All these fights could be showcased in the ongoing titles, since it looks like they are currently being used as filler -just look at Avengers and New Avengers #25. The art was nice, though; I particularly liked Adam Kubert’s. Other than that, this is a waste of money.
Please check my mini-review of VS #1 here:
http://bit.ly/IALjYd
Comments and feedback are always welcome!
Cutting and pasting the same comment on everyone else’s review of the comic in order to spamvertise your blog is incredibly obnoxious. If you want the feedback and comments of the iFanboy community, why not simply post your reviews here like the rest of us?