Avengers vs. X-Men could be the biggest event in Marvel history. The roots of this story reach back to House of M and Messiah Complex. The event taking place in April 2012 was announced Tuesday with a press conference Wednesday afternoon to give further information on the series itself. The team writing this event is Brian Michael Bendis, Ed Brubaker, Jonathan Hickman, Ed Brubaker, and Jason Aaron. The artists are John Romita Jr on Act 1, Oliver Coipel on Act 2, and Adam Kubert on Act 3. It will be a 12 issue series with a special #0 issue drawn by Frank Cho.
The story itself remains to be seen outside of that it involves Phoenix, Hope, and The Scarlet Witch in one way shape or form. The Avengers X-Sanction miniseries by Jeph Loeb and Ed McGuiness featuring the return of Cable will give us the first hints of what leads to the Avengers vs. X-Men event. Everything has lead up to this point and from what I’ve been reading so far they say that the Avengers vs.X-Men crossover won’t crossover into all of the Marvel titles. The series will crossover into all X-titles and Avengers titles except for the upcoming, “Avengers Assesembled,” series which is meant to be a stand alone series .
So far that’s the extent of the information that’s out about this series thus far. In all the information that’s come out from the press conference and in interviews this is the most solid information. Now what does this mean for the coming months of Marvel Comics? It means that April is going to be a huge month for Marvel Comics. The scope of Avengers vs. X-Men could go either way in my own opinion. It could either be the best series or it could be a huge letdown. The possibility is there for either since the hype machine is going to be in full force in the months to come.
The fact that also it will cross into practically everything X-Men and Avengers could be daunting for many event fatigued and cash strapped fans. Hopefully Marvel will stay in the direction of keeping the Avengers vs. X-Men event contained to the main title, if you want to venture into the other books and learn more then that’s up to you. That would be the smart move in my opinion. We’ll be finding out more in the months to come just how user friendly this event will end up being. I’m keeping on the cautiously optimistic phase that it could be better than expected. The cynical side of me is steering towards this could be a mess in the making. Both sides seem to be in play online at this point or with some fans greeting Avengers vs. X-Men with a distant attitude of not really caring one way or the other.
Next week begins our march towards April 2012 with Avengers X-Sanction and yes my friends I will be with you every step of the way. I will cover as much of the Avengers vs. X-Men crossover as possible, I do reserve the right to run screaming if this turns out to be just one ugly mess of a story. By nature comic fans and usually fans in general can be a reactionary group towards events of this nature. Usually because certain ones we look at with a certain amount of dread. I steer towards the opinion that until I see it before my eyes and know more about it I can’t judge it and I want to see this unfold for myself. Until April 2012 or whenever the #0 issue is released, keep an open mind, keep an open heart and let’s see what Marvel Comics has in store for us with Avengers vs. X-Men.
Good initial review. Although the Marvel line about the story being self contained is B.S. the shear number of X and Avengers books means the tie-ins will be Aplenty and another way too raid pockets.
Even I’m a bit nervous on the self contained. Fear Itself became a nightmare of crossover hell, and sadly Spider-Island got a little crossover heavy there.
as much as i love Frank Cho, seriously! i love the Cho!!!! i don’t feel excited for this Marvel release. someone needs to pop the Marvel bubble and get back to some good stories instead of decent/struggling stories with decent art from big name characters.