Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews

Avengers And X-Men Axis #4Avengers X-Men Axis #4 of 9
Marvel Comics
Remender, Yu, Alanguilan & Delgado

Axis is an event that has all the makings of something really cool, but is just not hitting the right notes. At least, not yet. Some of the things that this event has going for it are that you don't need to pick up a lot of other books to get the full story. This nine-part story appears to be all that you need. The book involves nearly everyone. Your favorite A-list character is most likely in this book. However, the book's downfall is that it struggles to focus on a character. This means once the turn comes for the characters they feel totally out of the blue. This comic book is a struggle to get through at times with a promise of something great down the road.

Red Skull is captive and the Avengers kick around what to do about him. This premise is a good one. The idea that they have this killer in the possession, but he also seems to hold Xavier's mind is a terrific dilemma. However, the characters, heroes mind you, seem to take a drastic view about what to do about Skull with no lead up to it. One or two of the characters just decide that an instant death would be the best thing for everyone. Obviously this is a plot twist but Remender does nothing to sell this. The characters are acting out of character from some fallout in the previous issue and it's kind of annoying that we just aren't told why rather than teasing a half attempt to show the heroes acting in a bad way.

Another interesting plot is that of the X-Men. They don't seem too concerned with Xavier's brain anymore. Instead they have a pep rally where they basically call to arms the X-Men. This is a chilling sequence that doesn't hide the fact that they are acting like a military state. This plot has great potential and it seems to be made more complex because the Avengers seem to have forgotten how angry the X-Men are with them. The fallout among the Avengers when they learn of this is odd.

The comic has a good flow. Switching scenes and watching the good guys taking a bad turn help makes the comic book a real page turner and that is a good thing. The book doesn't contain much action, but that doesn't slow things down at all. The parts with the Hulk and Iron Man are the most interesting in the book.

Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle ReviewsThe artwork is good and that helps the book. This comic seems to be more detailed than the previous ones and that is also a help. The book doesn't have the event billing for an event of this size but the art is pulling its weight and that helps to tell a fluid story.

Axis is reaching its mid-point and there are plenty of problems with the book. However, the ideas presented in this issue are good and could help to save this event. Unfortunately this issue is just another average issue. There isn't anything in here that is too memorable and there isn't anything in here that will make you cringe at the execution. It's mostly set-up for what's to come. This is an okay read but not worthy of the billing for this event.

3 out of 5 Geek Goggles