Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews

Avengers Vs X-Men #8Avengers vs X-Men #8 of 12
Marvel Comics
Bendis, Kubert, Dell & Martin

The latest issue of Avengers versus X-Men is basically Namor against the Avengers. The book is actually a fairly decent comic book. It might be the most straightforward of the eight so far. This isn't to say the book doesn't have some problems, particularly in the area of connecting the dots from this issue to others, but overall it's an entertaining read.

Namor invades the Avengers' hideout and a lot of the Avengers attempt to battle Namor. With part of the Phoenix power, they can't do much to hurt him. He is after blood. The Avengers naturally rush Hope to some secret place where she will be trained to fight the Phoenix.

The oddities here, of course, surround Hope. Hope was training as a soldier, for years, under Cable. She is now being repurposed in this story to get prepped to handle the Phoenix….for an issue or two. Now she is getting trained to fight it instead. However, Wanda is already able to fight off the Phoenix, so what do they need Hope for exactly?

There's another problem with the cohesiveness with the story: Wanda. Wanda stands up to Namor basically on her own, but the issue bemoans that it took all of the Avengers to take him on. If you look closely, none of the other Avengers lasts even two panels with Namor, but Wanda stands toe to toe with him. The Avengers' dire situation just doesn't make sense if Wanda is the Phoenix's equal.

The issue moves along at a great pace and has a lot of great scenes of fighting in it. The Avengers definitely play defense throughout the issue so there is a consistent pattern here that Namor is attacking prematurely while the Avengers' objective is to retreat.

Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle ReviewsThe artwork has its high points and it has its low points. For the most part the issue flows nicely and has a lot of buildings being destroyed and bodies flung through the air. However, there are a lot of details missing, such as red Hulk's arm being twisted and broken in one panel and whole and flexed in the next. The book just has an inconsistency to it but when it's "on" it all works to tell a terrific visual story.

This issue may be the one I have enjoyed the most in the main series. The whole premise of the event has many flaws, in terms of story and continuity, but when an issue hits that is mostly just fun I find entertainment value. This issue is one of the fun ones. I think picking this one up is a good idea.

3 out of 5 Geek Goggles