Comic Review: Avengers vs X-Men #3

By Marcus Doidge / May 2, 2012

Book: Avengers vs X-Men #3Written By: Jason Aaron, Brian Michael bendis, Ed Brubaker, Jonathan Kickman and Matt FractionPencils By: John Romita Jr.Publisher: Marvel ComicsRelease Date: OUT NOW IN STORES & DIGITAL DOWNLOAD (VIA COMIXOLOGY)Rating: Well comic book fans, with the Avengers movie proving to be a fun summer blockbuster, Marvel are in my good graces for this week's Avengers vs X-men #3 so I promise I won't continue to whine on about 'Hero vs Hero' and the zero amount of drama it generates in this big crossover event. It's mainly because I've think I have to put that gripe to one side and trust the mighty leaders of Marvel will conjur up more out of this story as it develops and secondly it's because this issue actually has a fight between Captain America and Wolverine that actually feels worth it and fairly substantial.

Essentially this issue is about how the playing field has been left after the first big head to head between the two teams and it focuses on those in the middle of this disagreement. For starters we enter the story via Wolverine in his charred state and seemingly Cyclops and Captain America have sorted out their differences and are now working together. Of course there's a twist in that ceasefire because let's face it, if everyone was getting along the 'versus' in this title would be pretty redundant. Next up we catch up with Rachel Summers and discover a more divided X-men that we original thought and once the Avengers have been split into teams to search for Hope all over the place we come down to the big draw of the issue, Wolverine vs Captain America. Now in such a confined space Cap doesn't stand much of a chance so the fight is a brutal one with both sides seemingly wanting to take down the other. This really is a fight worth checking out and even though the underhand nature of the 'win' doesn't see the fight through to conclusion we are presented with a darker side to this whole Phoneix affair and for the first time in a while we get to see a Wolverine that feels very reminiscent of classic Logan as opposed to friendly school headmaster Wolvy. In fact the last page has Wolverine looking and sounding like that outsider we love him for. The one who gets the job done while the costumes around him stick to the rules and that prospect moving forward through this event is very promising. As he has from the start Romita Jr presents the scale of this thing with ease and handles the action scenes perfectly. The wide shot of the Avengers line up has some odd designs here and there and towards the end of the Cap vs Wolvy fight Captain America's eyes have a funny five minutes but generally this issue struck a fine balance between picking up the pace with the drama and adding a few more layers to the simple premise of Team A vs Team . Granted nothing much really happens here but this issue felt like the best out of the three issues released so far to me, so I'm seeing it as a positive move for this event, which is better than a shield in the face, right Wolvy?