Here we go again.
With Marvel ramping up AvX this week with the biggest week of tie-ins released thus far, and DC launching a full scale invasion of the bat family with Night of the Owls it’s safe to say that event season is officially underway. Really it has been for at least a month but with DC launching their own volley it really feels like it now.
Due to this fact, this week’s Buy This is going “All Avengers VS X-Men”. Partially this is due to the fact that AvX has been really quite enjoyable so far and partially it is because… well AvX has me anxious to see what happens next. Who knows, depending on how some of the first slew of Night of the Owls releases fare maybe I’ll do a special column for the bat titles next week.
So far the AvX tie ins have been… well, barely “tied in”. Last week’s Avengers featured the trade dress for the event but served as more of a wrap-up to the recently completed Norman Obsorne story. It had some lively Walt Simonson art that elevated it to the “take it” level for me but I hope the next issue is more involved in the event itself. On the other hand, issue #9 of Wolverine and the X-Men was a don’t-miss in terms of it’s involvement. The behind the scenes moment featuring Beast and Wolverine dealing with their feelings on the whole situation alone makes this vital to the over arching story. The only other tie in I’ve picked up was New Avengers which seemed far more like a Jessica Drew vs Luke Cage event than anything else.
We’ll see how this week’s titles fare…
AvX: VS #1
This is the “fight book”. As anyone who has been reading the interviews with Marvel writers and staff will be aware this has been billed as the “non-essential” tie in that you won’t want to miss. If not for the creative teams involved I’d be skipping it. This issue features stories written by Jason Aaron and Kathryn Immonen as well as art by Adam Kubert and (fresh off his own Marvel event) Stuart Immonen. I can’t see this contributing too much to the main book but as a series of cool fight scenes written and drawn by some of the biggest names in comics I’m guessing it’ll be a rousing success.
New Avengers #25
As I stated before, the previous New Avengers “tie in” was ancillary at best. This issue looks to be contributing quite a bit more than the last one, however, with Iron Fist discovering a connection he apparently has to the Phoenix Force. Is this a previously established bit of continuity I’m just completely unaware of? Anyone? Oh well, either way I’ll be picking this up. It’s written by AvX figurehead Brian Bendis and drawn by the oft-derided Mike Deodato.
Secret Avengers #26
This is the first issue of the Secret Avengers crossover with AvX and it seems as if it might play into the event fairly heavily. This issue focuses on the space-bound team of heroes last glimpsed facing down the oncoming Phoenix Force in the final pages of AvX #2. Many of these characters are not, in fact, Secret Avengers but a couple of them are so I guess that’s how this book got pulled in… Well, and the fact that it has the word “Avengers” in the title didn’t hurt, I’m sure. This is written by regular writer, Rick Remender but drawn by Renato Guedes. Hopefully this doesn’t mean Gabriel Hardman has left the book for good…
Uncanny X-Men #11
I tried to climb aboard the Uncanny train when it relaunched last year but just couldn’t get into it. Gillen’s writing on the book struck me as surprisingly goofy and the story didn’t grab me. However, it’s the X-Men’s premier book and I’m assuming this will tie in heavily to the larger event. Having said that, it is drawn by Greg Land so it will already have one strike against it when I open it on my iPad come Wednesday.
That does it for AvX tie ins this week.
If you’re not following the event then I apologize for the high jacking of the column in its favor. Next week should see a return to normal.
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