Thursday, October 4, 2012

Avengers vs. X-Men #12 (of 12)

Ah, the crucial final issue of a maxi-series, loaded with potential - and questions.

Will the ending satisfy? Can they tie up all the loose ends? Who will live, and who will die? Does it set up future story lines? And stuff like that.

So, let's run down the questions at hand.

Q: Will the ending satisfy?

A: Well,it is an ending. But I doubt it will satisfy completely. It doesn't come out of left field - it was basically set up at the beginning of the series, which I appreciate - but it also takes the easiest solution to the problem at hand. Grade: B-

Q: Can they tie up all the loose ends?

A: This effort mostly succeeds - most of the things left unresolved can spin off into future adventures (including the fate of Marvel Boy / Protector / whatever he's called now and a surprise appearance in this issue who's quickly offered membership in the Avengers). Grade: A-

Q: Who will live, and who will die?

A: That would be telling, but as is traditional with these things, there's one major death to contend with.

Q: Does it set up future story lines?

A: There it does succeed, setting up a cross-pollination between the Avenger and X-Men titles, which promises to be fun - or at least interesting. Grade: A

Q: And stuff like that.

A: Let's see: the issue features a sharp script by Jason Aaron and excellent art by Adam Kubert. It feels like a good attempt and tying the story back to the House of M mini-series that (sorta kinda) kicked off the modern era of event comics.

But it feels like the writing team hesitated to take this story to the limit. It was a good opportunity to bring back some long-missing characters and correct some long-standing mistakes.

But, the series provided some great action sequences, some good twists and turns, and provided a new angle for the X-books to spin off from.

So, a solid series, with exceptional art and a good (if not quite exceptional) story. Well worth checking out.

Grade: A-

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