Artist: John Romita Jr.
The clash of super powers for the fate of Hope Summers officially starts with three words: "Magnetic Fastball Special." The narrative in this issue comes from an outside party; a Watcher? the Phoenix? just the writer? This faceless witness walks readers through the initial blows of the scuffle, without taking sides, being just a voice in the middle of the chaos. The Avengers (in Utopia and space) are represented by their biggest and most familiar faces, whereas the X-Men are but a shadow of their past glorious rosters. Who cares about Dr. Nemesis, Madison Jeffries, Loa, or Transonic? (Do people even know who they are?) This would be a different fight if the "Classic X-Men" -as Dazzler would say- were present, or not reduced to the background. Romita Jr's pencils take a turn in the wrong direction with rushed and out of proportion traces. Not his best work.
Avengers: 3 X-Men: 0
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The issue was a bloody mess. From the art to the pacing, it was just off. This isnt what I was looking forward to, it didnt make any sense, down to the last panel. The best part for me was Black Panther and Storm's interaction and that got corny really fast. The fight match ups were strange, the strategy was non existent and having Captain America and Cyclops involved for it to reduce to that? A slug fest on the beach? The only using their powers was Cyclops and Namor, who was strangely getting jumped under water by two guys whom I didnt know had water-breathing abilities (Cage and The Thing... they dont btw). For "block buster" Marvel Event, this was really weak and almost makes me not care how it ends up. Grade: C- All pomp, no pulp
ReplyDeleteYou nailed it right in the head, DonPriceTag. This looked more like a bar fight than an epic battle. Daredevil vs. Magik? Black Widow vs. Jubilee? And I love Hepzibah, but I have no idea what she was doing there. Thing is the event is so diluted with the development happening in the Tie-ins and the fights in the upcoming "vs" companion series, that not really much happens in the main title.
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