In the third installment of the book that brings you the battles too big for ‘Avengers Vs. X-Men’, we get even more one on one hero against hero action. Here, we see Colossus vs. the Thing, which spills out of Colossus’ fight with Red Hulk, and Black Widow vs. Magik.
Being a writer, I’m a sucker for character development and getting to know characters. If I don’t care about a character, I don’t care about their story. So, even though I’m rooting for the Avengers, I was really enthralled by the first matchup of Colossus vs. Thing. This story by Jeph Loeb with pencils by Ed McGuinness explored Peter Rasputin’s new form a bit more. Since I didn’t read what happened to him in ‘Fear Itself’, I am quite curious about his new powers and how he feels about them. This story gave some insight into both, so on top of some great artwork, I liked the mini-story provided here.
Widow vs. Magik, on the other hand, was pretty boring. My biggest gripe was the language used. Now, don’t get me wrong: I love different languages. The way people communicate interests me greatly, but when I’m reading my American comic books, I’d like some translations, please. I’ve read some comics where the words in the bubbles were in a foreign language, but then there was a little note from the editor box at the bottom of the panel saying what the characters said. That’s what was missing here from this story. I know that it’s not really about the dialogue, but the translations would have helped. I wanted to know what these Russian femme fatales had to say to each other!
Overall, this wasn’t the best issue of the book. If anything, the first fight would be good to read, but I wouldn’t rush out to buy the book just for that.
Verdict: Borrow
AVX: VERSUS #3
Written by JEPH LOEB AND CHRISTOPHER YOST
Art by ED MCGUINNESS, DEXTER VINES, TERRY DODSON, & RACHEL DODSON
