The Avengers and the X-Men are no longer at each other’s throats. In fact, most of them are even teaming up, as seen in ‘Uncanny Avengers’. But since this new found peace has left ‘AvX: Versus’ obsolete, this new book titled ‘A+X’ has taken it’s place. Instead of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes going to battle with the Children of the Atom, this new title focuses on members of the two groups teaming up to take on evils that they can’t handle alone.
Just like ‘AvX: Versus’ before it, ‘A+X’ features two stories of super team ups that require no prior knowledge of current storylines or continuity. The first story pairs up the Sentinel of Liberty, Captain America, and his sidekick, Bucky, with the time-traveling mutant Cable to stop the latest Nazi weapon from wreaking havoc. The second story features the Hulk and Wolverine facing probably the last two people they ever thought they’d be facing again.
The first story from Dan Slott is a nice slice of life tale. I especially liked the fact that Bucky wasn’t just second fiddle to Cap. He played an integral part of taking down the threat instead of Cap taking all the glory. There were also some awesome comedic moments as well. Slott has a lot of experience with that sort of thing after writing Spider-Man, so it’s very much in his wheelhouse.
As for the second story, there were a lot of things that I liked about Jeph Loeb’s Hulk and Wolvie tale, but there was one big thing that I had trouble with. The whole idea behind this book is to give isolated stories that fans can jump into and out of without continuity. These stories are supposed to be badass one-shots with heroes beating down villains. However, Loeb didn’t wrap up his tale in the pages allotted. That defeats the purpose of this series. It’s funny that Loeb was the one who wanted isolated episodes without an over-arching story in ‘Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes’, and then he comes in and messes with the formula behind ‘A+X’. What a flip-flopper!
Besides that, I liked the story that he presented in this inaugural issue of ‘A+X’. I’m a big fan of time travel stories and this is a unique take on a battle we’ve seen a bunch of times before. The only complaint that I had story-wise was a missed opportunity for a fastball special, which is a terrible thing to waste.
Overall, just like ‘AvX: Versus’, these are nice little stories that are easy to digest amidst the sea of continuity that can sometimes get overwhelming.
Final Score:
A+X #1
Written by DAN SLOTT & JEPH LOEB
Art by RON GARNEY, DANNY MIKI, CAM SMITH, MARK MORALES, & DALE KEOWN
