AvX Vs #3

Wow, Colossus is really racking up the wins, isn’t he? I do find it interesting that we’re only on issue three, but Colossus and Thing are already making their second appearance in this title. I wonder why we didn’t get Colossus vs. Red Hulk? I don’t figure these wins even count for Piotr since he’s amped by Juggernaut’s powers. There’s a ready made excuse anyway, so why not pit him against Red Hulk? This first chapter is written by Jeph Loeb, I would have though he’d want more than two pages with Rulk.

Jeph Loeb does a great job with Thing’s dialogue, the constant alternating between smack-talk and concern is amusing. Colossus doesn’t say much during the battle, and his overriding thought seems to be concern at his Cyttorak-related powers. Makes sense, I suppose, but it’s hard not to root for the Thing when the fight is set up like this.

Ed McGuinness does a fantastic job with the fight. This is his arena, huge dudes beating the crap out of each other. The fight has some classic punches and the smaller panels are full of detailed battling too. This truly looks like a comic book brawl, so I loved it.

The second match features an odd pairing. Black Widow vs. Magik. Chris Yost has worked on both the Avengers and the X-Men, but I really would have thought that Black Widow would run away with the fight. It is a neat coincidence that they are both Russian. There’s not time to really play on that history with anything more than dialogue, but Yost at least touches on it.

Power-wise, Magik is an easy win, but popularity and fame clearly go to the Widow these days. Widow holds her own, but Magik must be getting some kind of push from the X-office. First she’s one of the Phoenix Five, now this. Interesting.

Terry Dodson draws great ladies, so of course the pencils here are wonderful. I like his Black Widow a bit more than Magik, but that might be due to my own character preference. Widow’s face is particularly great in that soul-sword scene (the dialogue is pretty amusing too).

Good