Monday, November 10, 2014

Avengers & X-Men: Axis #4

So I’m a tad surprised by this one… I had understood that Rick Remender’s (through Red Skull) “inversion” of Marvel’s main characters would be a twist on their personalities, not a total alignment shift. It’s interesting. Some folks, like Iron Man, seem to definitely be off, but the core of the character seems unchanged.

The X-Men, as another example, seem to be shoring up as an army. Storm has bought in with Cyclops (who hasn’t changed that I’ve seen) and the newly powered-up Apocalypse (formerly known as Genesis). I am thrilled to see the X-Men back under one roof as a big, powerful team again; too bad it probably can’t last.

Then we’ve got the Avengers. I have no idea what is up with them. Captain America, Thor, Scarlet Witch, Wasp, they all just seem to be bad guys (some worse than others). Luke Cage seems to be greedier than evil, while Thor is cowardly AND evil. I’m just having a hard time.

Don’t even get me started on how Kluh works, exactly. The sadder Kluh gets the stronger he gets, and he seems irredeemably evil. Just full on bad guy. So that means that Hulk is normally… good? Carnage is a hero too. He’s not killing, he’s cracking jokes, and he’s rescuing hostages. So the opposite of Carnage is… Spider-Man? I’m not totally sure.

Since Jarvis, Spider-Man, Daredevil, and the SHIELD agents seem to be their normal selves, it seems only those characters actually present in Genosha have been inverted. At least, that makes sense to me and explains why the whole world hasn’t turned upside down.

I’m enjoying the overall feel of the event book so far, it does seem like a huge shake-up. That said, I hope later chapters give us some sort of explanation of what exactly happened here. Right now, it still seems a bit random.

Leinil Francis Yu’s art is always a treat. He gives the heroes and villains godlike bodies that really show off how they tower above normal humans. The difference in personality manifests nicely in the posture of some of the heroes too, especially Iron Man, Thor, and Medusa.


So I’m giving this a cautious GOOD. I like the concept, the art is great, and the stakes are high. This is much more my cup of tea than Original Sin. But I do hope Remender explains exactly how this inversion works soon. 

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