Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews
AvX: VS #3 of 6
Marvel Comics
Yost, Dodson, Dodson, Guru, eFX, Loeb, McGuinness Vines & Hollowell
The comic book that is billed as all fighting turns in a solid effort this time around. The matchups aren't terribly creative as The Thing takes on Colossus and Magik battles the Black Widow. Some of these characters have already seen action in this series, which is a little disappointing, but I rather liked that three of the four characters are Russian. The battles take place on the moon and are fairly exciting considering there isn't much on the moon to use as an impromptu weapon. Overall, this was a decent read for what it is.
Loeb and McGuinness do what they do best, which is show us a lot of action. The Thing actually doesn't start off as the chief opponent in the issue against Colossus. Colossus is fighting Red Hulk and the Hulk passes Colossus over to The Thing because Hulk seems bored. It's nice to see Loeb give a nod to the character he helped introduce and shape in the Marvel Universe. The fighting is good and contains some interesting surprises. Sure, the fight is mostly slugging, but it was entertaining and McGuinness holds back on simply using splash pages to tell his story. This was exactly what the issue should be about.
Yost, the Dodsons and Guru provide the all-Russian bout between Black Widow and Magik. This was a great fight because they make use of Magik's powers and they end up fighting in limbo. The part of this battle that I didn't like was how easily the Black Widow drew even with Magik. It seems a reach that the fight would be fair because Magik is legitimately powerful. The artwork is terrific as it is comic book fighting at its very best.
The nice part about this issue is that Marvel editorial woke up and provided information that the reader might need to know. For example, I believe this is the first issue that explains what the AR insignia means. However, editorial flaws back two places by providing dialogue in Russia, but pointing you to the Marvel phone app for a translation even after explaining on the very first page how you don't need the app to get the full story. Even if the dialogue was gibberish it annoyed me that I needed a phone and the app just to find out the gibberish. This is a huge failure as far as I am concerned.
Two decent fights that make the best of the odd matchups and venue. The book could have easily been raised to a higher level without the ridiculous translation stunt. The Loeb story is the better of the two but both rate among the best in the series so far. This is a good, old fashioned, comic book fight and its tremendous fun.
3 out of 5 Geek Goggles
