Avengers VS X-Men #1 by (mainly) Brian Michael Bendis and John Romita Jr

Marvel's annual 'big summer event' is like that ex boy/girlfriend that you always keep going back to, knowing full well that nothing will change and it will be a waste of time for everyone involved. But you still go back, time after time.....

look at it, so seductive...but i know you will break my heart

I spoke, at length, before here about Marvel's previous successes and failures in the big summer crossover blockbuster department. After last years great on paper but in reality a bt dull Fear Itself event I felt let down. So it was with apprehension I purchased the first issue of Avengers VS X-Men (from here on; AVX). I read it, I read it again. I liked what I read.

Much has been made of AVX as a 'great jumping on point' for new readers, hoping to cash in on the release of the upcoming Avengers movie this month. Marvel say this a lot, mainly to sell comics, but this time they have at least successful created an issue with minimal backstory that, in theory at least, anyone could pick up and genuinely enjoy. 

The kernel of the story is thus: The Phoenix Force is carving a bloody path toward earth, devouring any planet in its path. It is searching for a host and has selected young mutant Hope Summers. The Avengers decide to take Hope into custody to prevent planet-wide destruction, the X-Men object and a fight ensues. Its hardly Watchmen, it's basically an excuse for some fighting.

that is one angry, destructive cosmic entity...

Big dumb plot, all locked and loaded and ready to go right there!

AVX is written by, deep breath, Jason Aaron, Brian Michael Bendis, Ed Brubaker, Jonathan Hickman and Matt Fraction and is illustrated by John Romita Jr, Olivier Copiel and Adam Kubert. There is some seriously hefty talent involved in this. I am a huge fan of all the writers non-Marvel work (Powers, Fatale, Casanova etc). Each writer will be scripting a three issue 'act' of the twelve issue series and pencils will be handled by a different artist on each act.

This issue starts as I hope the rest of the series will will go on. Within the first few pages a member of the cosmic gaurdians, The Nova Force crash lands in NYC, taking out a plane and a skyscraper in the process. The Avengers a forced into action, showcasing why the are 'The Earths Mightiest Heroes'. They are also The Worlds Wittiest Heroes, Bendis knows his way around dialogue and has been writing the Avengers for the last decade. The dialogue in the wholes Nova crashing to earth scene in textbook Bendis, Spider-man is jokey, Cap is super serious, Iron Man is arrogant and jovial....But far from feeling phoned in the writing in this scene and the whole issue is terse but deft, progressing the story at a snappy pace.

could be Obama...

The Avengers are very much 'the good guys' in this scrap. Captain America and Iron Man are seen briefing the President of the USA on the arrival of the Phoenix Force and are working alongside the Government to protect the planet. The X-Men, however, are painted as the kinda bad guys in the first issue (only really because of Cyclops' attitude but i'll get to that in a bit). As a species, the mutants have not had much luck of late. With their numbers reduced to a couple of hundred due to a cataclysm that depowered 85% of the mutant population the remaining mutants moved to their island home, Utopia and then suffered a schism which divided the X camp down the middle. Wolverine decided to open a school for mutants, Cyclops decided to stay on Utopia and go all weird and a bit crazy...

...cos, you know, he  IS a dick..

Cyclops believes the Phoenix Force can bring 'rebirth' to the mutant species and is not willing to let The Avengers compromise his species salvation.

The X-Men half of this comic should be called 'What's Eating Scott Summers?' The last few years have been tough on Cyclops and it's nice to have a ringside seat in his nervous breakdown, dude zaps Captain America so best believe he is crazy with a capital MENTAL! 

My friend Tom said that this comic is like 'the locker room script to a wrestling match'...it SO is...and it is brilliant!

where's Jake 'The Snake' Roberts when you need him?...

The art in this comics is just stunning, I'm really excited to see Romita drawing the X-Men again, he makes every character so unique. Cyclops is tall and thin, I swear he is looking more and more like Black Bolt these days....which is kinda appropriate if you think about it.

there is not a lots else to say really....its a big, dumb, cool fight comic written and drawn by some amazing talent. I really, really hope Marvel don't fuck it up.....

Guest Post Recommendation: Girls by the Luna Brothers

OK, so as with most books, I'm a little late to the party. Girls was published monthly by Image between 2005 and 2007, and is probably on a great deal of people's radars already. Nonetheless, having read all 24 issues cover to cover in only a couple of sittings - it's that good - I feel compelled to share my thoughts with you, readers of this here blog. Once again, Andrew has kindly allowed me to do so.

The interesting thing about Girls, for me, is that I was spellbound from the art from the very first second I saw the trade covers out of the corner of my eye. There is something incredible about the way the Luna Brothers' Girls are drawn and coloured; simple, beautiful nude figures surrounded by minimal backgrounds. Each single issue cover, too, pictures one of the Girls in a slightly different framing, a variation on a theme, compelling and interesting... that's what you want your book to do though right? To leap out? Interestingly, overheard a conversation in my local store the other day where a guy and girl were discussing this very thing and pointed out the cover of Fatale #4 as leaping out of the rack with a startling, simple image - I wholeheartedly agreed - and that's what the art in Girls is like.


Luckily, there is a story to match the art, which expands upon its simple concept over 24 issues masterfully, growing from a seed of a story to a multi-layered set of separate conflicts. The structure of the story mirrors the plot itself, which begins with our main protagonist Ethan ostracising himself from the remainder of his 63-strong community of Pennystown by denouncing women in a bar while on a drinking bender. I have to admit, this put me off the book at first, as I was worried it might border on the misogynist, which it doesn't really. Ethan does get a pretty hard time during the remainder of the book for the crap he says. (Again - interesting aside - Joshua Luna's recent Whispers has a pretty unlikeable protagonist but judging by last week's issue 2 that story will expand and flesh him out too. Give it a read).

Following Ethan's outburst, he's driving home when he sees a beautiful nekkid chick walking along the roadside. Naturally he picks her up with the intention of taking care of her, but being a weak man who thinks with his junk, he ends up banging her later that night. Questionable morality is all over this book! Especially given the girl doesn't say anything very much apart from mimic others' words, making Ethan's decision to do the wild thing with her a little more iffy. But Ethan's opened a bigger can of worms than you might think, as when he wakes in the morning, his new girlfriend has laid a load of motherfucking eggs in his bathroom!

Instinctively he goes to get help from Sherriff Wes (bit of a dick in Ethan's eyes) and his old flame Taylor (who's spending an awful lot of time with Wes...) who accompany Ethan back to his bathroom, whereupon they discover the eggs have hatched... and instead of just one new girlfriend, Ethan has five! Original girl has given birth to four clones, and they seem angry. Pretty soon, the whole town knows of their existence, and from there, things just get weirder - and the girls get more violent...

Before long, we have some amazing set pieces and well-mapped splash pages, a giant sperm monster that swallows dead women, an impenetrable invisible wall that surrounds the town, but juxtaposed with incredibly well-written interplay between the town's array of characters. The interactions between the charcters are a backdop for an exploration of gender roles and dynamics. Each character is remarkably well developed, from the hapless men who know the dangers of their situation but can't keep it in their pants for a second, to the female characters who range from the level-headed Taylor to the mercenary Nancy. The groups in the town splinter and realign, from a male/female divide to more complex allegiances and rivalries, all while confronted by the murderous Girls.

Reading as a complete collection (I have the full 24-issue volume rather than the 4 6-issue trades), Girls plays like one long horror movie. The style and the feel reminds me of Stephen King novels from the '80s which I used to read as a teenager. The small-town setting serves as a perfect microcosm and the central premise is a perfect way of exploring relationships and gender roles. I'll be certain to pick up The Sword, also by the Luna Brothers, and continue to keep an eye on Whispers, currently being published monthly by Image. I'm also expecting someone to buy up the film rights for Girls sometime soon...