Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews
Avengers X-Men: Axis #6 of 9
Marvel Comics
Remender, Dodson, Dodson & Delgado
Axis is a tough event to sit back and enjoy. With an issue of momentum or progression we get an issue where it falls backwards. We are six issues in and this is the final issue of the act and is constructed of scenes of random characters acting out of character. Based on how issue three wrapped up the first act with a bang it is reasonable to expect something similar with the final issue of act two. I'm not sure where this has gone wrong but this issue is a great example of what is wrong with this series. We don't really get much of anything except the reveal of a gene bomb to kill off the humans, which occurs on the second page. This is not a very good comic book unfortunately.
This issue provides a couple of pages of various character acting in ways that you don't expect. Iron Man is drinking again and is confronted by Daredevil (a character that hasn't appeared at all in this series). Doctor Doom seems to want to make amends with his people but is confronted by the Scarlet Witch. Mystique is confronted by Rogue and Nightcrawler. And so on. The scenes don't have any connection other than that some of them end up together to help the remaining "heroes" right the ship. This is a filler issue that seems to reference other tie-in issues. Marvel should have added the editorial notes to point us to those comics if interested rather than the advertisement in the back listing off the dozen or so tie in issues to the event without any context to the bigger story. Again, outside of the gene bomb nothing else really happens in this issue.
The artwork is bad. Not average, but bad. Crushing creators that work hard on their craft is not something I take lightly and I look for ways to avoid it. This issue is not detailed all the way through. Backgrounds are absent, inks are missing and the flow doesn't work in too many cases. Let's look at the Daredevil-Iron Man sequence. Stark is in a bathing suit and is confronted on the balcony by Daredevil. They are standing about ten feet away from each other. Randomly, a silver Iron Man knocks Daredevil up. Or is it that Daredevil jumps? There is no background, floor, ceiling or anything. Is he in a freefall off the building? We are left to believe that Stark got on his suit and flew behind Daredevil and knocked him off the building. The next panels show Stark, suit less, battling Daredevil. After a couple of panels we see they are on the balcony still. You get the idea. Then, in the back we have two of the worst pages in the book when it comes to Thor and Loki. These pages look unfinished when you consider the bright and detailed pages that come towards the back when the villains as heroes are unveiled. The comic doesn't make visual sense and is a huge disappointment. This entire series seems to have been patched together to meet the deadlines. I've never seen a Marvel event done so thrown together artistically before.
Axis is an event with excellent ideas and creators. The story has had some ups and downs but always seemed to get where it needed to go, albeit painfully. This issue is a downer. The art doesn't help a story that is nothing more than a collection of character interactions. No mention of Red Skull's body. No mention of the missing heroes. Apocalypse barely appears. This would have been a great teaser issue for the event, given away as a freebie back in October. This is a poor comic book with little redeeming qualities.
2 out of 5 Geek Goggles
