What If: AVX #1
Despite the rather lackluster turn of events that had occurred throughout last summer’s event of AVX, Marvel’s now giving us a What If mini-series that might just turn out better than its original.
Writer: Jimmy Palmiotti | Artists: Jorge Molina, Norman Lee, & Rachelle Rosenberg
Cover: Molina | Publisher: Marvel
Naturally throughout this review, I assume a reader had read the AVX event, or at the very least the understanding of what had happened.
Admittedly if going by this first issue, What If: AVX is likely to be my guilty pleasure of the summer and I’m incredibly biased towards everything that has happened so far. What makes it fun is that it not only brings back characters from the original event but also teams that have been brought into the spotlight with the Marvel Now! launch. So instead of starting with Nova bringing the news of the Phoenix Force, it comes to the Guardians of the Galaxy. Despite being based on an event pre-Marvel Now!, this AVX title has a very Marvel Now! feel to it, which is fun and still keeps it feeling somewhat relevant towards other titles we may currently be reading.
Of course the big “what if” comes from how the events would differ if it were Magneto training Hope as opposed to Cyclops. The difference in tone is instantaneously noticeable on how it differs from the original. While it makes sense on why Scott would want to train Hope, it makes more sense on how it’s necessary that Erik needs to train her. Magneto has years of experience of teaching, training, and having to push oneself to their limits, he has that push that Hope needs. (Also take note their battling with their powers, not hand to hand combat /cough). Magneto’s the exact character one would take that attitude from and it works well (plus he actually does praise her when she does well), and it looks like it pays off.
So far everything starts off EXACTLY the way one would expect it to be. Magneto teaching children to fight as he lectures about inferior humans and while he’s terrifying, he’s not totally wrong either (neither is he totally right but you get my point). The Avengers interfere in their noble attempt to save the world, Wolverine’s ready to kill as necessity calls for it But there’s also this attempt at civil discussion before fists are flying everywhere and from an X-Men fan’s point of view, everything character wise makes sense (Magneto calls upon Storm and Namor to come with him to talk with Captain America, seeing as they do hold a dignified air about them—they’re royalty!, and still makes the smart call of having Storm talk because they all know Mags and Namor are far too hot headed), and it reads really well to have characters that we’re used to and understand their motivations and that’s when they throw in the major plot twist! and thus that’s how the events of Avengers vs X-Men begin.
When picking up AVX last year I was expecting something along the lines of civil war but having it pit X-Men against Avengers, instead we get Marvel vs five mutants controlled by the phoenix force (oh no we’ve never seen that). But this time war has been declared and feels precisely how I feel AVX should have originally felt.
Writer: Jimmy Palmiotti | Artists: Jorge Molina, Norman Lee, & Rachelle Rosenberg
Cover: Molina | Publisher: Marvel
Naturally throughout this review, I assume a reader had read the AVX event, or at the very least the understanding of what had happened.
Admittedly if going by this first issue, What If: AVX is likely to be my guilty pleasure of the summer and I’m incredibly biased towards everything that has happened so far. What makes it fun is that it not only brings back characters from the original event but also teams that have been brought into the spotlight with the Marvel Now! launch. So instead of starting with Nova bringing the news of the Phoenix Force, it comes to the Guardians of the Galaxy. Despite being based on an event pre-Marvel Now!, this AVX title has a very Marvel Now! feel to it, which is fun and still keeps it feeling somewhat relevant towards other titles we may currently be reading.
Of course the big “what if” comes from how the events would differ if it were Magneto training Hope as opposed to Cyclops. The difference in tone is instantaneously noticeable on how it differs from the original. While it makes sense on why Scott would want to train Hope, it makes more sense on how it’s necessary that Erik needs to train her. Magneto has years of experience of teaching, training, and having to push oneself to their limits, he has that push that Hope needs. (Also take note their battling with their powers, not hand to hand combat /cough). Magneto’s the exact character one would take that attitude from and it works well (plus he actually does praise her when she does well), and it looks like it pays off.
So far everything starts off EXACTLY the way one would expect it to be. Magneto teaching children to fight as he lectures about inferior humans and while he’s terrifying, he’s not totally wrong either (neither is he totally right but you get my point). The Avengers interfere in their noble attempt to save the world, Wolverine’s ready to kill as necessity calls for it But there’s also this attempt at civil discussion before fists are flying everywhere and from an X-Men fan’s point of view, everything character wise makes sense (Magneto calls upon Storm and Namor to come with him to talk with Captain America, seeing as they do hold a dignified air about them—they’re royalty!, and still makes the smart call of having Storm talk because they all know Mags and Namor are far too hot headed), and it reads really well to have characters that we’re used to and understand their motivations and that’s when they throw in the major plot twist! and thus that’s how the events of Avengers vs X-Men begin.
When picking up AVX last year I was expecting something along the lines of civil war but having it pit X-Men against Avengers, instead we get Marvel vs five mutants controlled by the phoenix force (oh no we’ve never seen that). But this time war has been declared and feels precisely how I feel AVX should have originally felt.
A Look Inside
