Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews
AvX #2 of 6
Marvel Comics
Gillen, Larroca, Charalampidis, McNiven, Dell & Hollowell
The fights in this issue take place while the fourth issue of the main series occurs. I found the two fights to be vastly different. One was a good fight, but with a rushed ending and the other fight seemed to completely end in a draw without ever really getting started. This issue isn't that bad but it isn't that great. There are a couple of editorial moves in here that don't make any sense with how this mini-series is presented. This issue should be 100% fun but it falls short of that.
McNiven writes and draws Captain America against Gambit. This battle is very good as it showcases Gambit's powers very well. This fight also illustrates Cap's toughness but also highlights the fact that he's a one trick pony in a fight basically. I was not thrilled with how abruptly and uninspiring the ending was based on how good the rest of the fight was. The oddity here is that Cap is talking through a headset with Tony Start and unless you have read the main series' fourth issue prior to this you will have no idea what is happening or even why he is talking to Tony. You may not care but surely there should be a footnote about the conversation and where it actually takes place?
Gillen and Larroca present Spider-Man fighting Colossus (who looks an awful lot like Juggernaut, though not really explained). This should be a lot of banter and should be a lot of fun and it is to a small degree but the fighting is really short. In fact, it ends like a bad wrestling match. The fight is not very detailed in the art department. At one point Spider-Man appears to sore off into the sunset on a web attached to absolutely nothing because the panel is absent a background. I found this fight to be very unsatisfying as a whole, though it got off to a promising start. However, Gillen does present a couple of good one-liners from Spidey.
This issue is slightly less interesting than the first issue, which was very average as well. Perhaps if you like the characters you might like this. I'm not even sure this issue stands on its own without reading the main series. McNiven's art is very high quality which is a plus and McNiven knows how to showcase Gambit very well, and Gillen provides some decent Spidey dialogue, but the rest of the issue isn't too inspiring on any level. This issue is not essential reading.
2.5 out of 5 Geek Goggles
