The ongoing slugfest in the pages of ‘AvX: Versus’ has come to end, but in a big way. Instead of the regular two battles, they’ve upped the stakes with nine Avengers vs. X-Men matches.
The main event, which takes place during ‘Avengers Vs. X-Men’ #12, pits the Scarlet Witch against Hope Summers. Kieron Gillen and Jim Cheung certainly delivered with this epic battle. Everything about this story was wonderful. Gillen’s script was funny and action-packed. The line “No more nose,” immediately comes to mind when I think of how much I enjoyed this fight. In terms of art, I don’t think it’s any surprise that I love Jim Cheung’s work. I’ve been raving about him since ‘Children’s Crusade’, and his art remained excellent throughout AvX. There’s just something about the way he draws that makes me instantly love the characters that he’s drawing. I mean, the two-page splash in the middle looks gorgeous. And the final page was hilarious. Very well played battle from two of the top stars in all of comics today.
As for the rest of the battles, they’re mostly really playful and cutesy, especially Cyclops vs. Captain America by Brian Michael Bendis and Jim Mahfood and Toad vs. Jarvis by Christopher Hastings and Jacob Chabot, but Iron Fist vs. Ice Man was a legitimately great match. It might actually be one of my top three favorite matchups from this title. Jason Aaron, Ramon K. Perez, and Jordie Bellaire managed to condense awesomeness in two words: blizzard fist. It’s a move that you don’t want to miss.
Also, I did enjoy Spider-Woman vs. X-Women a little. I mean, I am a guy, ya know? It’s hard not to enjoy it just a bit, just as Clint Barton did.
Finally, the last battle between Squirrel Girl and Pixie was adorably delightful. I love it when Marvel pokes fun at itself. Dan Slott and Katie Cook even called out the Iron Man/Magneto battle that some fans called bullshit on. But the best part was the Thing. Ben Grimm should be drawn like that more often.
This issue was a nice way to wrap up this series. I hope ‘A+X’, where we see Avengers and X-Men teaming up for battles, matches up to ‘AvX: Versus’.
Final Score:
AVX: VERSUS #6
Written by KIERON GILLEN
Art by JIM CHEUNG, MARK ROSLAN, MARK MORALES, and DAVID CURIEL
