Avengers Vs. X-Men #1: Review

Marvel’s epic, six-month event began at midnight with the release of Avengers vs. X-Men #1 and Avengers vs. X-Men #1: Infinite. The latter, designed to be viewed digitally and released only as such, will be reviewed tomorrow morning but a midnight trip to the ComiXology store bears a seat-of-our-pants review of Avengers Vs. X-Men #1, which Marvel claims has already sold 300,000 copies in the direct market and will defeat all comers as the top-selling superhero comic of the year.It’s certainly not a book that will win over the many readers critical of Bendis’ decompressed storytelling or his tendency for characters to stand around talking. If The Avengers movie has this many static two-shots and this much dialogue, Whedon will be strung up in the town square–possibly at Disney’s Main Street–for slowing down what should be an action movie. That said, the whole premise of this event is to turn the Marvel Universe into a big punch-’em-up action movie for half a year and inasmuch as that’s kind of appealing to the lowest common denominator, I would argue that having a first issue that’s a lot of politics may not be all bad. That said, a lot of the dialogue is ham-fisted and a lot of the characters’ motivations or actions make little sense.Cyclops and Hope’s dynamic is radically different from last week’s #0 to this week’s issue, with Hope wandering through this issue somewhat shell-shocked after giving her trainer a bit of comeuppance last week. Cyclops, meanwhile, seems to be unraveling. Like Rick Grimes at the end of the season finale of The Walking Dead, he more or less tells the other mutants that if they aren’t with him, they’re against him and that Hope’s destiny is no longer her own to control. Apparently, “The Avengers just don’t understand these complex issues” has been replaced in Cyke’s mind by “Only I understand these complex issues.”Cyclops’ “Where were you when we needed you?” to Captain America is bound to become a catalyzing question for the series and will surely spark a lot of fan discussion–but it seems to me just another glib, sanctimonious jab not entirely unlike “the last time you inspired anyone was when you were dead,” or any of the other half-dozen we’ve seen since then. I’m glad Cap didn’t take the bait and let it sway him, becuase maybe we can symbolically end the Civil War/Grounded era of storytelling simply by virtue of someone ignoring those moronic challenges to their morality.