Animal Man #8
I'm not shocked by much in comics but this book really had some crazy shit in it. (SPOILER ALERT) I was genuinely freaked out when Maxine is ripped to pieces four pages in and then returns as a hybrid fox-human. I honestly never saw THAT coming. This book continues to take the reader further down the strange path Jeff Lemire has laid out.
I have successfully made the transition to Steve Pugh's art. This book features some pretty gruesome shit and he handle's it all with ease. If you still aren't reading Animal Man you are really missing out on a great book.
Avengers vs X-Men #1
Now this is more like it. After last weeks Avengers vs X-Men #0 I was less then enthusiastic about Marvel's summer crossover event. Thankful this first installment answered all my nagging questions in quick fashion.
Intergalactic police officer Nova comes to Earth, badly wounded, to warn The Avengers that a cosmic shit storm is on it's way. After running some tests Iron Man discovers that said shit storm is the Phoenix Force. Captain America and the gang head over to Jean Grey's School for Higher Learning to see if Wolverine can lend a hand. Back in Utopia it appears that Hope Summers is beginning to exhibit some of the Phoenix's trademark powers. Cyclops takes this as a sign that the mutant race will now be able to rise from the ashes like... well you get the point. When Cap and the Avengers show-up to take Hope with them the situation gets uncomfortable very.
I love the premise that The Phoenix could be either the salvation of the mutants or the destruction of the humans. Both camps will have their reasons to fight and it looks like Wolverine as well as his students will have to pick a side. I even like that this could include those goofballs from Marvel's space related books. Maybe if more writers included them in standard Marvel U stories I would feel like they were actual part of this universe and not some weird IDW comics.
John Romita Jr. tears it up this time out. I can't get enough of the characters he draws. He handles smaller emotional moments just as well as the bombastic large ones. This is a great start to what could be a solid summer crossover.
This book is also the first to feature Marvel's new Augmented Reality technology. You can download the free Marvel AR app from iTunes or Marvel.com to any device that has a camera. Activate the app and hold your device over the comic as if you were taking a photo. Each page that features the AR logo will spring to life with a video or fun fact about the making of the book. There is a clip with EIC Axel Alonso where he walks onto the page and gives a brief rundown about AVX. Brian Bendis is in a clip talking about the creative process that went into this story. A few pages show how this comic was build from pencils all the way to the finished product. There is also a trailer at the end of the book. This is new technology so there are some bumps to work out, and it was difficult to use with my iPad but I'm certainly excited to see what Marvel can do in the coming year with this app -$
Panel of the Week: When your grand daughter has the power of The Phoenix it would be wise to answer her question.
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