Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews
Avengers Vs X-Men #6 of 12
Marvel Comics
Hickman, Coipel, Morales & Martin
This issue of Avengers vs X-Men continues with a massive leap forward in plot development. To those reading the host of tie-in titles you probably aren't going to see the same gap I felt exists by only reading this series and the VS mini-series. The book has a tremendous amount of flaws, but I believe this is the most interesting issue in this series to date. The book is a dense read that comes in at 35+ pages. Hickman's writing makes the book entertaining but doesn't sell the conflict at all. This all adds up to an average comic book.
Basically, some amount of time has passed since the previous issue. The X-Men are using the Phoenix Force to bring peace and prosperity to the world. In the process, they are feeding the hungry, disarming nations and cleaning up the environment. The Avengers and the President of the United States takes this as an act of aggression and decide the go after Hope. Hope? It sounds ludicrous because it is.
Hickman does his best to poke holes at all of this for the reader, but never makes his way around to explaining any of it in a meaningful way. The topic comes up enough with many characters but I will highlight one interaction in particular.
Xavier pays a visit to the X-Men. He brings up that the world being as is should be shouldn't come with no cost. I'm don't quite understand this when any number of armed conflicts cost lives, civilians and armed forces. Is that not a cost? Cyclops doesn't help this interaction by stating he is looking at the world with a singular vision in mind. Wouldn't a singular vision be a common goal among everyone? Or is he suggesting the singular vision is his own, and if it is then why wouldn't there be more dissent among his own peers?
It feels like Hickman is trying to brush aside the plot holes with witty dialogue but it just doesn't add up. And, where does Xavier go when the conversation ends? As is the case with many Hickman books, conversations just abruptly end and we are to wait for subsequent issues to resolve the plot threads. This is a mini-series that doesn't have the luxury of patience at this point.
Hickman delivers a good ending, helping to make this book a decent read. However, for an event like this, there are simply too few decent or average books in the bunch. Maybe it will pick up from here on out.
The art is very good. I can't really say it quite saves the book, but it does a good deal of the storytelling for Hickman. Cyclops may not be a villain but at least he looks like one and that certainly helps matters. The President doesn't sound like he's right about casting the X-Men as bad guys, but he looks convincing. This helps push the story into more believable territory.
This event is a strange one. Hope is the centerpiece and at this point it doesn't seem to fit anymore. I wouldn't have guessed that the Phoenix Force would be on Earth for more than half of the mini-series, but that's the case. I certainly wonder where this is all going and that is one of the high points to the event: I haven't been able to predict what will happen next on any level.
3 out of 5 Geek Goggles
