Avengers vs X-Men

by Brian Michael Bendis, Jason Aaron, Ed Brubaker, Matt Fraction, Jonathan Hickman, Jeph Loeb, John Romita Jr, Olivier Coipel, Adam Kubert, John Dell (i), Mark Morales (i) Chris Eliopoulos (l)
collects Avengers vs X-Men #1-12

AvX is one of the big Marvel events I missed, one of several I’m reading through to fill in some gaps. I’m glad I read it purely as a Marvel fan, and that’s about it.

The story is easy enough to pick up – bonus points if you’ve already read Dark Phoenix Saga, House of M, and Messiah Complex (I haven’t read the last one). In a nutshell, the Phoenix is returning to Earth. Wanda in House of M made mutants an endangered species, and Scott Summers (Cyclops) believes that if Phoenix inhabits Hope, the first mutant born since Wanda’s declaration and a kind of messiah, the Phoenix will restore homo superior. But Cap and the Avengers see the Phoenix as a threat – and the confrontation begins.

AvX features a powerhouse of Marvel’s top writers in 2012, but because they divided writing duties by issue, it was disjointed and the changes in tone didn’t make a cohesive story. And while it might not surprise us that they’re all men, this is absolutely a story about men (Steve and the descent of Scott, especially), masquerading as a story about Hope and Wanda.

Hope might be at the center of the story, but it isn’t her story – not even close. It’s clear just from the fact that she’s often called “the girl” (even though her age fluctuates about 10 years or so), and the story is barely concerned with her growth as a character. Neither Hope, Wanda nor Emma Frost have any meaningful story arc that shows any kind of growth or change at the end. Emma remains an evil seductress, Hope is the rebellious teen with untapped power, and Wanda’s role in mutants’ disappearance gives her the biggest case for a redemption arc. But they drift in and out of the issues – Wanda really only appears halfway through after issue #0 – and are never given the importance in the story they deserve, especially considering both the beginning that centers Wanda’s regret and grief, and her and Hope’s role in the ending. Instead, pages are dedicated to Scott’s slow corruption and those who try to save him. And it’s telling that Steve, Scott and Namor can spend whole issues punching out their problems, but as soon as Wanda and Hope go at it, Steve (and the writers) shut them down.

Let me be clear: having male writers doesn’t automatically mean their stories will only center male characters. Chris Claremont is a perfect counterexample with his stories about Kitty and the first Dark Phoenix, Jean. It’s just far more likely that it will happen, along with the inevitable argument that certain characters are more popular with (and are the same as) certain demographics who will buy comics.

And for twelve issues, the other character work was pretty dismal. Is Scott actually evil or did he just fall victim to the Dark Phoenix? When Steve says he realizes he should have done more for mutants (shocker), showing us when and how he realized that might give us some sense of growth. Why is barely any attention paid to Wolverine and Beast, as they navigate being both Avengers and X-Men? And while it’s great to see Iron Fist featured in this story, his role is quickly diminished and never develops any kind of mentoring relationship with Hope. Most of the superheroes pop up for an issue or two and then completely disappear. There’s a MAJOR character death that I won’t spoil but it felt entirely thrown in.

I understand that these massive events are tied into the rest of Marvel’s ongoing titles, which provide additional stories and background. But a main event should also be a standalone story, especially if you’re recruiting the top-dollar writers for it. A tighter focus on Hope and Wanda, and emotional anchors in characters like Wolverine and Iron Fist, would have made AvX far more compelling and would have encouraged me to read the surrounding material, whereas I couldn’t wait to be done with these twelve issues.

The art was also a mixed bag. I’m not a fan of Romita Jr’s art and so the book really got off on the wrong foot for me. Not to be cruel, but his art was simplistic, lacked drama, had lots of unfinished panels, and Magneto had a squished face and who does that to Magneto? Later issues do become progressively better, first (Coipel and Morales) and then Adam Kubert who was the best. As far as I could tell, the only woman with a consistent presence on the creative team was Laura Miller on colors.

Basically, I would recommend only for fans of Scott Summers (in which case, you have other things to sort out), and maybe Namor (his extremely low rise pants were probably the best part of the whole thing), or, if you’re like me and want to cover the bigger Marvel events as a fan. Otherwise, read the cliffnotes and happily skip it.

Kill or Be Killed 2 [DNF]

by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips
Collects Kill or Be Killed #5-10
(volumes 1 | 2 )

This is one of very few trades – and maybe my first review for one – that I didn’t finish (DNF). Nope. Because I have a lot of great comics waiting on my shelf and who knows if I’m going to die tomorrow. By an extremely boring dude with a terrible haircut and for some dumb reason, a shotgun.

Brubaker and Phillips take Dylan’s once-a-month killing spree to the next logical level – a detective has found obvious similarities between Dylan’s killings and is on his tail. But Detective Lily (one of two flower-named women we meet, who knows, maybe there were more to come!) is ignored by THE PATRIARCHY and must investigate on her own! Maybe it would seem more feminist if Dylan literally didn’t mansplain her entire backstory and motivation for existing like some weird omniscient narrator! Way to take all the fun out of learning who Lily is in the most mansplainy way possible.

Dylan continues to mansplain his way through his killing decisions – an interesting philosophical problem on his hands, for sure, but it would be more interesting if said ethical conundrums came about within the story than being expositioned to death with literal walls of text. The demon character has basically retreated to the background – and understandably sometimes in fantasy, the actual trope is meant as a backdrop for human stories (like Thor, or Walking Dead when it isn’t sexist), but instead the most interesting character is gone. Instead Dylan finds a similarly shallow rebound named Daisy, whose expressions were drawn so bizarrely, and Kira not only changes her hair color Donna in the last season of That 70’s show style, but also explains her backstory to us, in the most boring way possible, you guessed it. Expo-zzz-ition.

If the series really turns around and it is an absolute can’t miss dream of a story, please, leave me a comment and convince me. Otherwise, I have far better things to read. Brubaker and Phillips books will still be in the queue, mind you, sometime. Just not this one.

Kill or Be Killed 1

by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips
collects Kill or Be Killed #1-4

This is my first Brubaker/Phillips story and while the story concept is very compelling, there are a few things that held me back from fully enjoying it.

Basically grad student Dylan tries to take his own life, and the Devil comes to visit. As repayment for the life he tried to take, Dylan has to kill someone every month who deserves to die – or he does. The origin story is told in reverse order so we start with a bang (pun intended) and then work out how Dylan got there.

It’s an interesting and gritty concept: typical person is forced into vigilantism but also must decide which strangers deserves to die, or lose their own life – that is interesting, compelling psychological stuff. Unfortunately Dylan oh so conveniently remembers a guy from his past who did something so heinous, and the guy oh so conveniently lives near him, and Dylan gets a weapon – you get it. The second month Dylan has to make a kill presents more issues (otherwise it’d be a boring book) but he also proves to be quite the idiot.

This is where the story kind of lost it for me. Dylan’s personality is comparable to a wet sock. He constantly makes himself the victim and all he does is complain. His extensive stream of consciousness is an opportunity to potentially go into mental illness (a la Moon Knight), loneliness or any other number of things but it’s not there. Dylan is a grad student but his life seems rather aimless and empty, what he’s studying is still a mystery and doesn’t support his character – a professor reminds him about an essay on Cervantes, so is it Spanish or literature? Neither really make sense with his personality. A protagonist doesn’t have to be likable but Dylan could be far less annoying.

Also, his best friend and roommate’s girlfriend Kira (who he happens to be sleeping with) is just terrible. She basically has one melancholy line in the whole thing that isn’t related to her sleeping with both her roommate and best friend. It doesn’t help much that Dylan thinks that he must have Kira in order to live, like she’s an object and having her only thing that validates him as a person. Kira is probably aware and it’s why she’s stringing him along; her upbringing and how sex played into it (below) could justify her actions but it certainly doesn’t make her a sympathetic or engaging character.

Phillips’ art is a good match, which makes sense because the two have collaborated on a lot of stories together. He’s great at tense violent scenes, and I really like how he drew the devil. But I don’t like his art much personally, especially how he draws faces, at times the expressions seemed weird and in a few panels Dylan looked 10 years younger or older. Dylan looks like white cis “everyman” to the point of forgettable hilarity and Kira is every redhead comic book love interest ever. Breitweiser’s colors are moody with the occasional burst of red – Dylan’s mask, Kira’s hair, and of course blood.

Iiiit’s time for your favorite segment, ANGRY FEMINIST RANT!

So around issue 3 the book became ridiculously gratuitous. Boobs everywhere. Now look I’m not a prude (I love Sex Criminals), and nudity and sex is absolutely okay when it adds to the story. And the book has a strong sex theme. Dylan’s dad drew porn, which Dylan and his friends ogled at as kids;  Kira’s mom didn’t hide her active sex life from her daughter growing up (yet it’s still only female bodies we see). Dylan’s first target sexually abused children, and his next target is associated with a strip club.

But Dylan doesn’t connect the two in his mind that way, and book doesn’t seem to have a cohesive commentary about sex, not yet anyway, at this point it’s just an excuse to draw lots of naked women. The fact that Kira becomes one of those women – and Phillips decides she also likes to go commando – doesn’t help matters. By the final page it felt like Brubaker and Phillips are shouting in the face of all readers who aren’t attracted to women, “THIS COMIC IS NOT FOR YOU.”

There are more volumes of Kill or Be Killed – four in all, I believe – but I have plenty of other things on my list that I want to read more.