The latest issue of ‘Avengers & X-Men: Axis’ is here and once again our attention spans are given a rest as we jump from one story to the next with still no real focus on the villains who are now heroes. We’re given a huge focus on The Avengers, The X-Men, and a little bit on why some of our heroes are acting different while some are not. Only, this thread seems to unravel if you mix in this week’s tie-in issues. Great. So how does this issue actually stack up? Lets take a look.

Rick Remender has some clear hits in this issue with the latter half of Spider-man and Nova’s interactions and some clear misses with, well, just about everything else. The heroes turned villains, aside from Tony, seem generic. Even though they are supposed to be acting out of character the entire dialogue feels forced as if they were really just trying too hard, for the heroes that weren’t hit by the Inversion spell, it feels even worse!

For the art, when Terry Dodson is on point it looks amazing, when he’s not, as in some instances of Spidey’s costume and the X-Men later in the book, it’s really a let down. The fight sequences are for the most part well done but I just wasn’t a fan of the overall look and continuity of visuals in the book.

There is some Spider-Man and Nova dialogue at the beginning, some Avengers action that takes quite a few of the characters off the board for probably most of the near future, a look at a different set of Avengers who are working to save the day, a great look at the X-Men gone bad which, if we could see more of a focus on this, would be a high point of the book.

Too much going on in what appears to be uncontrolled chaos with not enough focus on the juicy parts. I’m still waiting for this event to get as good as it could be, even with the overdone hero battling hero trope being so prominent. It’s just frustrating at this point.

So I’m going to nitpick for a moment and talk about the Inversion spell. It claims to have only changed those who were on Genosha when it went off. So that makes you have to wonder, why exactly did the new Captain America decide that some of those hit by it should be locked up? Why in this week’s ‘All-New Captain America’ #1 does a villain say he’s had a change of heart that clearly wouldn’t have been on the island? Also why does it appear that this week’s ‘Superior Iron Man’ #1 seem to take place at the same time as this yet it introduces the book referring to the events in AXIS that for the characters, “While most were eventually restored, a more sinister Tony Stark evaded changing back..”

I think we’re still in the event in a way that has too many inconsistencies and the combination plot problems and changes in artist each issue just aren’t helping things along. Every issue I keep hoping for a focus on the villains who should now be heroes and each issue I am again disappointed. Maybe, Marvel needs to just step back and take a break from these massive events for a year.

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Avengers & X-Men: Axis #5
Writer: Rick Remender
Artist: Terry Dodson