Friday, March 18, 2016

Avengers Vs X-Men by Brian Michael Bendis and Others

The only real reason anyone should read Avengers vs X-Men is because of the fact that the 'repercussions of the storyline resulted in the new status quo of the Marvel Universe presented in the company's Marvel NOW! relaunch initiative'. It birthed a new line-up of X-titles based on the aftermath of said major event. Heck, I'm currently reading one now (Uncanny Avengers) which is shitty, by the way, and almost rivals X-Men Volume IV which I quit halfway through. I'm quitting Rick Remeder's UA sooner rather than later as well. Sorry, Rick. It seems like not everything you write can be like your new ongoing series Low (which I like, so stick with that instead). ANYWAY, back to AVX.

This mammoth collection clocked close to nine hundred pages (my soft copy has at least 798, and the one I use for updates in Goodreads has eight-hundred-something). Regardless, this volume contains the centerpiece tale divided in three winding acts (with twelve or more issues, I honestly did not count) like a play, which ran for at least four hundred pages. The rest were just tie-ins concerning the varied fights among Avengers and X-Men which basically played out like cheesy pro-wrestling matches--even the writers themselves admit there was no plot--just a bunch of decent, noble superheroes tearing each other new assholes. I did not bother reading that part of this collection because FUCK...THAT. 

If I want to watch pro-wrestling, I'll watch pro-wrestling and not read it, for chrissake. That sort of choreographed fighting matches are best experienced in the live-action medium, thanks very much. With that said, my review will focus on the centerpiece narrative minus tie-ins, and so my rating will solely be based from that.


Written by Brian Michael Bendis, Matt Fraction, Jason Aaron, Ed Brubaker , and illustrated by Jonathan Hickman, John Romita, Jr., and Olivier Coipel Adam Kubert, the colossal clusterfuck extravaganza deemed Avengers vs. X-Men had three major conflicts at its very core. With the exception of the stupid tie-ins, it's actually riveting examination of character arcs concerning a pair of men and women respectively--Captain America and Cyclops; Scarlet Witch and Hope Summers. 

As for the central conflicts themselves, I enumerated and summarized them as the following below:

  • The Coming of the Phoenix Force and its ramifications
  • Hope's failure to be its receptacle and her journey to reclaim it
  • Cyclops and Captain America's clash of leadership and objectives


The rest are either interrelated or consequential of these big three, in my opinion. As a concept, it's pretty interesting and definitely an enjoyable thing to watch unfold. The Avengers--world's heralded group of the mightiest heroes--and the X-Men--world's persecuted group of the most outcast misfits--finally reach a grand breaking point. For a time, these separate superhero factions have managed to live and serve in mutual co-existence, albeit the underlying tension and personal politics that define their working relationships. But since mutant and Avenger member Wanda Maximoff (Scarlet Witch) decimated mutant population, the X-Men became more marginalized than ever, just when you thought it was not possible. A chain of events followed where readers get to see Scott Summers, formerly known as the Golden Boy and favored son of Charles Xavier, be pushed to his limits until he was committing small atrocities in the name of the survival of mutantkind. 

Raised in the beliefs of a mentor who preached pacifist ways as oppose to violence, Cyclops unfortunately started leaning more on Magneto's philosophy until he was marching into a crusade that spits in the face of the values he was supposed to uphold as an X-Man. It was a gritty character development that no one saw coming until it was already walking that tight rope. With his desperation to save mutantkind, Scott Summers nearly destroys everything that wasn't a part of his beloved race.



Some would say his war against the Avengers was an overreaction; others would say it was perfectly justified. Captain America--in spite of it being unintentional--had neglected to take account mutantkind in his American dream of truth, equality and justice. He had cast them out as a separate race who seem secondary to the humans. In Scott's eyes, it was an unforgivable act of both ignorance and arrogance. The Avengers have played as unaware enablers, shielding humanity from the worst of mutantkind instead of helping the X-Men educate humans to the best of their race. They worked together as teams multiple times, but it was out of tolerance than real camaraderie and friendship. And Scott finally has had enough of Captain America's self-righteousness and condescension. It was time for extreme measures. 

Can we really blame Scott for the steps he took to secure liberty and guarantee mutantkind's survival? After all, this was the same boy who was chosen and tasked by Professor X himself to lead his kind, one who is crippled by survivor's guilt at a tender age and who always felt the need to restrain his powers as oppose to fully embracing them. This boy grew up to be a man who lost his first love to an absolute power beyond anyone's comprehension; a man who had to hold together a fractured race of confused, terrified and powerful misfits whom human society continued to hunt down and kill; a man whom several circumstances with stakes against his favor kept pushing to a corner to until he finally pushed back. Avengers vs X-Men tells the story of Scott Summer's fall from grace, that horrific moment in his life when he was determined to accept the coming of the Phoenix Force to Earth, and the role that mutant messiah Hope had to play in all this, as the miracle he had been wishing for since the decimation. This was a man who had everything he believed in tested, broken down and twisted into something even he himself could no longer recognize. And so he was ready to bet it all and let the rebirth power of the Phoenix take course.


The twist, however, came when the Phoenix refused Hope. The mutant messiah who was born and trained for greatness has flinched at the last second when she was supposed to receive the Phoenix, and in return the Phoenix claimed Scott Summers, Emma Frost, Namor, Colossus and Illyana Rasputin. The Phoenix Five began fixing the world's problems using their powers but they are ticking bombs that could explode any moment and so the Avengers have to put a stop to all this madness. 

One by one, the Phoenix Five are defeated until only Scott and Emma were left. As it turns out, the more their numbers decrease, the residual power of the Phoenix gets absorbed by the ones left, making the two lovers the most powerful beings in the universe. The only two people who can dissuade them are Hope and Wanda; the former was the rightful receptor of the Phoenix while the latter is the mutant who destroyed her own kind. It would seem even the Phoenix recognizes Wanda's powers as a destroyer, which was why Scott and Emma were wary of her.



Meanwhile, Scott continues to justify his actions to his mentor and surrogate father: 


And even to himself, and the ghost of his beloved late Jean:


The climactic moment took place when Charles Xavier tried one last time to get through Scott who had taken Emma out of the equation and absorbed the Phoenix for himself--turning him into the Dark Phoenix second incarnate. All is fucked when Scott killed the man in a symbolic gesture that was just as intimate and devastating:



After the commotion settles, Hope stepped in and claimed the Phoenix as her own. As soon as she was possessed by it, she began repairing all the global damage the Phoenix Five previously inflicted due to their fights with the Avengers. Hours ago, she and Captain America had a heartfelt conversation where she asked him to trust her because she vowed she will do things differently. He did, but now that she had the Phoenix burning inside her, filling her with the glow of creation, Hope refused to let it go. She was meant to be the mutant messiah after all. She had to become the Phoenix for good and never relinquish its hold.



But then Wanda the Scarlet Witch convinced her otherwise; this was a woman who had the power to bend and re-create realities at will, and she had used it to fracture mutantkind just to punish her father Magneto. She will now have to forever live with that atrocity for the rest of her life. She cautioned the young Hope to not commit the same mistake, assuring her that if Hope was strong enough to let that kind of monstrous power in, then she is strong enough to let it go. 


Across the world, thousands of mutants were being born again. It was the final gift of the Phoenix Force as Wanda and Hope relinquish it back to the cosmos where it belonged. Lives and relationships were never the same again. Captain America knew he had to establish a real working relationship between Avengers and the X-Men; Scott Summers was imprisoned and labeled a terrorist but was fine with it because his wish was granted; Wolverine and the rest of the X-Men bury Xavier together and mourn his passing, as he decided to open a new mutant school named after Jean Grey; and a new line-up of X-titles were born.


This was a story meant to be read for posterity. It was unevenly paced, often alternating between being rushed or dragging, but had enough moments of great character conflicts to still be a riveting read for an X-Men fan who enjoys exploring the complicated interplay among its heroes and villains. Taking out the tie-ins out of consideration, Avengers vs. X-Men is an important work in itself in spite of its glaring flaws and a few plot holes here and there.

RECOMMENDED: 7/10

Wednesday, March 9, 2016

Uncanny Avengers Vol. 1 by Rick Remender

For this March, I decided to read only two X-Men titles since I have just wrapped up my 2015 X-Men comics diet and I have other comics and manga I want to get into this year. So I chose to read and review Rick Remeder's Uncanny Avengers by volume, and also tackle my long overdue thoughts concerning Avengers vs. X-Men, a heavy motherfucker of seven-hundred or so pages. It's interesting to read them side-by-side, considering Remender's UX is post-AVX (much like the other MARVEL NOW! titles). I think this is the last series from that line-up that I haven't read yet, and I'm glad I saved it for the last because this particular title is BONKERS. 

Granted, Bendis' All-New X-Men has the the most bonkers premise of them all, and the easily forgettable X-Men IV which really should have been renamed X-Women is a depressing parade of nonsensical bonkers hence my inability to finish it--but Remender's Uncanny Avengers seriously takes the cake for a series that has little coherent sense narrative-wise AND YET manages to be entertaining nevertheless. But hey, it's only been the first volume. I'd like to be a positive Patty and believe that things will only get better from here but based solely from my experience last year on at least 40% of the X-titles I encountered, it'd be best to expect that the worst is still to come. So let's all curb our enthusiasm, shall we?

How bonkers is this series so far? Well, for one thing it's a combination of two superhero team names: X-Men and The Avengers. With the aftermath of the AVX, everyone's favorite boy-scout Captain America (whether in an ironic context or not) assigned Alex Summers (a. k. a Havoc), brother to former golden boy Scott Summers (Cyclops, who lost his shit and killed Xavier while possessed by the Phoenix Force) to be the face of the new collaborative heroic efforts of the newly minted 'Uncanny Avengers'. 

It's gimmicky--it's blatant publicity--it's a desperate measure of compromise to appease the general public regarding the mutant threat. It's everything experimental that would make me anxious for the most justifiable of reasons. It only took him decades, but hey, at least Captain America was now willing to stand up for the mutants and include them in his agenda for social change and upholding the American values. Look, I've been a fan of Kapitan in the movies, but based on the ways he was characterized here in Remender's title and the AVX issues--I'm not sure I buy his brand of noble superhero. For one thing--did it really have to take him this long to take a stance promoting mutant rights? But should is still surprise me at this point? No race and minority has been oppressed this much in comics than the X-Men. It's essentially the encompassing themes of all their stories.


GENERAL IMPRESSIONS on UNCANNY AVENGERS VOLUME #1, "The Red Shadow"


I like it. I really did. It's has a Zooey Deschanel sort of quirky charm to it at times that has a surprisingly believable dark twist. Illustrated by John Cassaday and comprised of the first five issues of the series, The Red Shadow was able to hold my interest enough for me to look forward to the next volume. There are cool passages of prose and I'm certainly happy to see my childhood favorite Rogue again and her conflict with Scarlet Witch unfold. Sad-Logan is also a bonus because I miss him from his version in Jason Aaron's Wolverine and the X-Men. It's always great to see his vulnerability.



PROS
  • Claremont-esque prose in a lot of the narrative panels. Remender seems to be doing a conscious tribute to the man's style of writing and I didn't mind it. It was nostalgic since I am a fan of the good Claremont era.
  • Rogue and Scarlet Witch's interesting conflict. Rogue blames her for the chain of events since Wanda cast that decimation thing about the mutant race that everyone doesn't want to talk about anymore because, you know, awkward and sad and stuff...I could only hope Rogue and Scarlet Witch interact more now that they're on the same team. I can roll with Rogue's animosity for her and Scarlet Witch's road to redemption after her shitty action in House of M.
  • Alex Summers finally taking on a leadership role and butting heads with Kapitan. His speech about distancing himself from the label 'mutant' was intriguing and Bendis in All-New X-Men was given a chance to respond to it through Kitty Pryde's insight. Comparing their opinions about the subject matter was genius. I like how they both have valid reasons for their convictions; Alex wanting to be treated as more than just his identification as mutant; and Kitty claiming that distancing yourself from your race only contributes to the discrimination and prejudice itself. On some days, I'd lean on Kitty because it seems more realistic to think of the world in terms like that and to fight against any form of oppression by stating that "I am _____ and proud of it". But, on other days, I think I also aspire to live in a world that Alex is preaching where divisions of race, gender, sexual orientation don't ultimately matter.

CONS

  • Claremont-esque prose in a lot of the narrative panels. I'm a fan of the good Claremont era, yes, but the man has a tendency to 'tell' rather than 'show' action scenes at times that it would come off lazy and pretentious.
  • FUCKING RED SKULL AS THE VILLAIN OF THIS ARC. I FUCKING HATE THAT BASTARD. I WISH THERE IS A FIERY PIT I COULD PUSH HIM INTO. He's such an awful piece of shit and he didn't even get the punishment he so deserved.
  • Stupid stuff like Red Skull being able to absorb late Xavier's telepathy via--I dunno--lobotomy? He basically scooped his brain out of his skull and---ate it? WHO THE FUCK KNOWS?? And then he starts controlling everyone, having mobs beat up on innocent mutants on the street. The worst offender of them all is him being able to corrupt Thor AND THAT THOR COULD STILL WIELD THE HAMMER EVEN WHEN HE WAS TURNED EVIL. Is my lore about the hammer wrong? Isn't it a big deal that only someone who is worthy of the hammer can wield its power? Evil Thor never should have been able to wield it then. Motherfucking plot holes, man.

FAVORITE MOMENTS




RECOMMENDED: 7/10