Kathryn ImmonenRecensioni

Enjoyed this a lot, but more for the fact that the characters began resembling the ones I remembered from the 1980's. They even gave a nod to the fact that five or more X-Men have seemingly died and come back to life at least once if not moreso; having not even known that Kurt Wagner died, it's a non-issue for me, as he and Kitty Pryde have always been among my favorites.

My biggest gripe was the idiotic change in Talisman's costume that served only to over-sexualize her rather than show her as the strong character I remembered.

A half-decent to completely nonsensical storyline that unfortunately is half drawn by John Romita, Jr, so it's even worse than it would otherwise be. I tend to like Olivier Coipel's work but unfortunately he has some... pretty bad moments in here. Or maybe it's just some of his worst quirks on display. Characters who talk with their mouths closed (when not using telepathy or just thinking). Nipple clothes. Wonky legs. Lots of boob shots. Weird faces that largely lack expression. The other artists aren't worth comment.

I found this whole series SUPER frustrating as we were supposed to empathise with Cap and the Avengers and then think "Yay! They won!!" at the end. But the whole time I could only think "Wow, the Avengers are huge jerks. They are the embodiment of the "other is bad" "progress is bad" "screw your empirical evidence, my GUT tells me you're wrong" mentality that is slowly destroying civilisation." Oh well. It was still kinda fun.

I love this story concept so much. Although Kyle and Yost are RUBBISH at proper characterisations of Alpha Flight. Which was super obnoxious to read. But ignoring that, what's not to love about all Canadians becoming Wendigo because of hamburgers tainted with human flesh?!? CANNIBALISM!

I really enjoyed this collection, but to call them Captain America stories is rather disingenuous. He's tangential AT BEST to the stories of these one-shots. But that's probably why I enjoyed them because I don't really like Cap stories - they're boring and overly patriotic for a country I couldn't care less about.

So, yeah, great stories, but not Cap stories, so go into it with that in mind.

Just a waste of plot if you ask me. No resolution, no real story to tell and no ending at all. Such a shame it went into hiatus for so long after this volume but I am looking forward to what the new run brings with it!

2.5 stars
Bummer that this volume marked the end of the series for a while, since it left so many loose ends. I liked the art, but I wasn’t thrilled with the story. To be fair, there was probably a plan for wrapping it up better, and the series must have gotten canceled without enough notice to carry it out.
The Young Avengers issue at the end of the book didn’t do it for me either. It was pretty over-the-top with villainy.

This story arc was an event that re-shaped the landscape of the Marvel Universe in many ways. When these issues were first landing on shelves, I recall being generally not interested, as it seemed to be a lot of fanboy match-ups and was running at a time when Marvel seemed to have lost all of its editorial direction and I was reading almost exclusively DC. To be fair, it is fanboy match-ups in the beginning. Who wins if Red Hulk and Colossus spar? Cyclops and Captain America? Those are the first couple of issues, and I thought that would be fun to read in a collected edition, but this is Bendis writing, so I should have known that it would go deeper.

The primary characters grow and change dramatically through the course of this arc as Bendis deftly handles life-altering events of a cosmic scale. The sorts of themes that have always underpinned the X-Men are a driving force here. I was surprised, especially given that this occurs after Civil War chronologically, at how easy it was to immediately mark the Avengers as the "good guys." While Bendis and the other writers certainly unpack the motivation of the X-Men, and we walk away (mostly) understanding why they do what they do, I expected something less black and white. The way that certain X-Men cross the line into overtly villainous actions also surprised me, as it happened quickly and with what felt like little preceding actions. Basically, the pacing was off.

My other complaint is that many characters appeared as background extras and felt as though they had no place in the story (Gambit, Daredevil), or were brought in quickly and didn't have their contribution realized (Iron Fist). I think that these were perhaps explored more in depth in the tie-in books that aren't included in this collection. There are moments of beauty in the dialogue with our main characters. There are also questions left un-answered in the end.

If you read any of the Marvel Universe from this time frame, this is an important collection to spend time with, as it explains a lot of the broader universe. Still, I think that it didn't fully live up to its potential.

This was a chore to read. Nothing redeeming about this besides the art. Also the uncanny issue 5 was so dated. At least this was only $5.

Avengers vs. X-Men, simply put, was one of the better Marvel events I have ever read. The story is told at a quick pace from the get go, and it is told in a quick, concise manner that doesn't waste your time with melodrama.

The art is brilliant, too; in fact, there were moments when I'd simply stop and just admire the great artwork. The fight scenes are cut from the main issues, but they are available in AVX VS, which is a "fight book" that I enjoyed a lot.

I am currently following AVX: Consequences, which is turning out to be even more interesting than the actual story line itself.

If you're looking for a quick read and like the Avengers and the X-Men, you will not go wrong with this. As stated before, this is one of the better Marvel events in recent history.

This was a pretty good event, I was a little disappointed that the art in the core series was pretty poor for at least half of the issues. Seems like big events should get a bigger budget. I think the thing that really worked with this event was that Cyclops got to be the bad guy. He's the good guy that everybody loves to hate and this gave everyone a reason to hate him even more. Also a big event, the "death" or Professor X. Wonder how long he'll stay dead.

An interesting story, for me, moderately over the top.

So, I had to jump on the crossover madness, and even though I've often been a fan of Bendis, there was just too much going on for me to care.

I was slightly interested in the phoenix storyline because I've never read any of the previous incarnations, but it was such a mess that I wondered what I was doing in this little sidequest of a comic. I could have been reading Hulk or more Wolverine-Prof-X, both of which I was really getting into. Call this a learning experience. Move on.

My exposure to the awesome Peggy Carter comes solely from the movies and TV show, so this was a new foray into the original, blonde comics!Peg. I don't think I really liked it, or at least, it couldn't compare to Atwell et al. I knew going in that despite the cover, this wasn't the MCU/Atwell Peggy, and I was trying to modulate my expectations throughout, but I don't think I was successful.

This Peggy does know how to kick ass, though apparently she's officially (as in "on paper") out of the game, as opposed to working for the SSR or heading up SHIELD. She didn't seem quite as clever as the Atwell Peggy, though, and then the way the plot went... I don't know. Weird. She kinda takes a backseat ultimately while Howard does science at the end.

The plot can be boiled down to "Howard has a homing beacon for an alien ship in Siberia, and there's an alien among the gulag'd Soviet scientists who are actually being worked by Hydra." Relatively straightforward when you put it that way, right? But other stuff happened that was forgotten about, and there was a werebear for some reason...? I think he and the other female protagonist go the way of the Winter Soldier, though.

Anyway, it just wasn't working for me, and I can't put my finger on exactly what was wrong. The weak plot? The flat-ish characters? (There were certainly moments of 'aha, that's totally a Peggy or Howard moment!' but few and far between, and the kind of on-screen banter we see just didn't carry through the written dialog here.) Peggy being blond and American? The not-that-appealing-to-me art? (Loved the chapter page illustrations, though.)

There's also a short story at the end showing a snip of Peggy's and Captain America's relationship during the war (again, this is blond French Resistance-Peggy). They were both assholes (especially Cap, who felt like a Captain of the bad aspects of 'murica) and I found no charm in this depiction.

This was a big change of pace from most of the graphic novels/comic books I've read so far. Its art style is simple yet captivating. The dialogue is snappy and complex. I don't know just yet what to make of it all, but my reading experience was generally good.

a ridiculously epic cartoonish story. but then again, its the avengers versus the x-men. what should i have expected :) the phoenix makes for very beautiful art pieces!

I liked this series more then the previous ones, but perhaps that is because i'm a fan of the Xmen in general.
This series starts off with the phoenix force coming back to Earth. Since the last time this happened the world was almost destroyed, the Avengers are a little freaked out. They decide that to stop this destruction from coming to earth, they will take a girl named Hope Summers and hide her somewhere hoping that the Phoenix will just leave. This leads to a confrontation between the Xmen who want to keep Summers there and hope she can revive mutant-kind from the events in the series House of M and the Avengers who want to take her and somehow stop the Phoenix.

Personal thoughts.. The Avengers plan was pure crap, and Cyclops was technically right but a total dick about it. I don't know what gave Captain America the idea that he could just abduct someone who has done nothing wrong against their will. Cyclops should not have thrown the first punch.

Overall, the series was good and would recommend it to anyone who would like to read any of the current X-men comics as it sets up a lot of info that is vital to the plot lines.

I quite enjoyed AvX - it was decently epic, and I didn't think they failed at Phoenix, as some have though. AvX: Versus, on the other hand, was absolutely horrible, save for a few small moments.

At one point in this series, Spider Man asks, "Who isn't an Avenger?" That's about right in this case: the Marvel folks threw a bunch of characters in a blender and pressed SPIN. But the results are a pretty good daiquiri: the plot makes sense, it kept me turning the pages, and the artwork is always good and sometimes arresting. And I never did like that Scott Summers.

Sif is an Asgardian, like Thor. She dreams of becoming the ultimate warrior. Her wish is granted by a witch and she becomes a berserker, fiercer than Thor, more rage-filled. Her brother Heimdall exiles her to a realm of monsters, inhabited by former berserk warriors. I was pleasantly surprised by this book. The writing was very good and the illustration nothing to sneeze at. Sif is an angry woman and not squeamish about killing, but she gradually realises that being the strongest isn't enough for her.

S.H.I.E.L.D. 50th Anniversary Edition: Agent Carter Also had her own television show for two seasons. Loved it. Her characters has always been awesome but the interaction with Lady Sif just put me over. Makes my little feminist heart flutter.

Loved the covers and even the crappy interior art fit because it was set in the 50's. The story was fun, but the end left me a little lost with the fate of some of the characters.

Yes, I read this. I couldn't help it. It was staring at me ;P It was not the best thing I've ever read. It was interesting for sure, but... um... vampire!Jubilee... yeah, it was a little much. Not bad, just a little much :P

Enjoyed this a lot, but more for the fact that the characters began resembling the ones I remembered from the 1980's. They even gave a nod to the fact that five or more X-Men have seemingly died and come back to life at least once if not moreso; having not even known that Kurt Wagner died, it's a non-issue for me, as he and Kitty Pryde have always been among my favorites.

My biggest gripe was the idiotic change in Talisman's costume that served only to over-sexualize her rather than show her as the strong character I remembered.

Another great find from the used trades section of my local comic book shop. It was a good week for Marvel series focusing on their television counterparts, apparently.

This time, it was Agent Peggy Carter as she was originally written in the comics canon. Once again dragged into adventure by Howard Stark, Peggy finds herself on the way to Russia to fight off aliens with Woodrow McCord, an important figure in the Original Sin storyline, of which this book is a tie-in tale. Along the way they meet some future familiar faces to comic readers, and save the world from HYDRA once again.

Included here is a one-off tale of Peggy and Cap in their WWII heyday. It's so beautifully done, written from Peggy's perspective and involving an important exchange of vital information. Interesting to see how Peggy and Cap differ in style, but still love each other so much, although she's never seen his face under the mask.

Some truly enjoyable Agent Carter fun in this set.