Avengers vs. X-Men #2: "As soon as we get a messiah of our own, they want to swoop in and take her away." WTF? What the hell does Scott mean? "A messiah of our own?" Did the Avengers ever have a messiah? Does Scott not remember that the X-Men already had this messiah and that she ate a few planets before she had to kill herself? Does he not remember that said messiah was his wife? I don't understand how we're even remotely supposed to take the X-Men's side. I laid out most of my complaints about the lack of logic in Scott's position in my review of "Avengers vs. X-Men" #1, so I'll try not to repeat them here. Suffice it to say that the only way I can approach Scott at this point is to assume that Marvel basically wants us to believe that he has totally and completely lost his mind. I would like, at some point, for them to explain why he lost his mind, be it Hope manipulating him or him cracking under the pressure of leadership. But, if you at least approach his actions in the context of him having lost his mind, then his belief that a 16-year-old girl will be able to control a destructive universal force despite the fact that his wife was unable to do so and that said girl will use said force to resurrect the mutant race might actually make sense. Maybe.
Outside Scott, the rest of the X-Men seem to behave the way I would expect them to behave, taking their years of resentment for being treated, in Scott's words, as "ugly step-children" and venting it on the Avengers. The problem, of course, is that you figure at some point someone is going to start to question how wise it is to be fighting the Avengers on Hope's behalf, particularly, as we see this issue, when she's perfectly willing to hurt her own people to start using some of the Phoenix's power. I'd like to think that some of the X-Men, when they stop personalizing the battle and focus on actual events, may begin to realize that the Avengers might've had a point that giving a 16-year-old girl with anger issues the power of a destructive universal force might not have been the greatest idea. But, Aaron does a good job in showing that we're not quite at the "cooler heads prevailing" point of the fight and allows us to just enjoy the slugfest. And, what a slugfest it was! Colossunaut vs. Rulk, Captain America vs. Cyclops, Luke Cage vs. Namor vs. Thing, Emma Frost vs. Iron Man vs. Magneto: Aaron and Romita really deliver. I was skeptical about this event from the start, but, between Aaron selling me on the X-Men acting from years of repressed anger at being considered the ugly step-children of the superhero community (and not just blind faith in Scott) and Romita showing the awesomeness of the various battles, I'm game.
Avengers #25: Despite being branded with the "Avengers vs. X-Men banner," this issue mostly serves to wrap up Bendis' "H.A.M.M.E.R. War," with the Avengers taking down A.I.M. and recovering the genetic secrets of the superhero community. It wasn't a particularly enthralling issue, but, for Bendis, it was a pretty straight-forward "smash-and-grab" type of story, so at least I understood most of it (a definite plus when it comes to a Bendis story). Bendis also adds in a psychological element, showing that this win helps to relieve some of the pressure Captain America has been feeling to get a win after a string of losses.
The problem, of course, is that Bendis keeps telling us about these losses, but we haven't really seen them. Osborn mentions the Red Skull and the Skrulls, but Cap was, um, dead for the Red Skull saga (assuming Bendis is referring to "Captain America" #25-#42 and #49-#50 and "Captain America: Reborn" #1-#6) and Iron Man was head of national security for "Secret Invasion." In fact, since Cap took over the nation's security, the Avengers have been involved in the time-travel and Infinity Gauntlet sagas and the New Avengers faced down Agamotto and Superia. None of these stories really affected anyone outside the superhero community, particularly not to the point that people would be protesting on the Avengers' lawn about them. The only Avenger/New Avenger story that has affected people outside the superhero community is "Fear Itself," but Marvel has apparently put that story in the memory hole, given that none of the talking heads even mentioned it. (In fact, when Thor returns, even he and Cap don't discuss it, despite it, you know, being the reason why Thor was gone in the first place.) All these reasons are why the whole "Occupy Avengers Mansion" protest has seemed so utterly bizarre, because the Avengers haven't really had a loss under Steve's shepherding. They saved the future and our dimension, took down the Hood and Superia, and defeated the Serpent. I could see someone making an argument about the civilian casualties during "Fear Itself," but no one actually does. So, what, they have to go all the way to "Secret Invasion?" Again, this argument made no sense when Bendis was pushing it during the "H.A.M.M.E.R. War" and it still makes no sense now that he's trying to use it as a referendum on Cap's leadership. (Also, as I mentioned in "Fear Itself," why don't Cap and the other members of the Illuminati just pull out the Infinity Gems to defeat Phoenix? Seems to me like the potential destruction of the universe would be a good reason to do so.)
[Sigh.]
At any rate, despite this ongoing problem, it's not a terrible issue, for Bendis, and we learn, in the end, that the Protector (who tracked down A.I.M. in the first place) is really a mole for the Kree Supreme Intelligence and has directed him to trap the Phoenix, regardless of the cost. If we never have to discuss the "H.A.M.M.E.R. War" again, I'm a happy camper.
Wolverine and the X-Men #9: "Think of Utopia as a compound full of heavily armed religious fanatics. And you're the feds butting in, telling them what to believe and how to live. It won't go well." Thank you, Wolverine, for making realize that Scott Summers = David Koresh. I'm glad to at least someone acknowledge that Cyclops has lost his mind (although, as I will continue to note for as long as it bothers me, which will likely be throughout this event, I still would like someone to explain why Cyclops lost his mind and believes that a 16-year-old girl imbued with the Phoenix Force isn't going to destroy the universe). Aaron does a good job of sketching out why Logan believes that he must take the Avengers side, since he views Hope as a 16-year-old threat, not messiah. This issue has some other stuff, like Cannonball raising the issue that his sister's powers aren't on the fritz, but it's Wolverine's decision to support the Avengers that makes it notable.
No comments:
Post a Comment