AvX, Marvel's "event of the year" that had Avengers and X-men fighting face to face AND side by side, ended recently. And for the first time in a while, I felt Marvel's big event started strong and ended just as strong. I'm not saying it was the best event in recent years, I'm just saying it didn't let me down in the end (which is more than I can say about recent events like Siege and Civil War).
Spoiler Alert from here on out.
What I liked: Dialog was tight enough.This should be a given for tentpole events, but so often it's not. I also liked that the writers knew their characters - no one seemed to act out of sync for the sake of the story. I'm happy that mutants are back! I was sure Marvel would have pulled this trick sooner, but I'm glad they didn't. There is some great potential for stories here - I can't wait to see how/if this changes the current level of anti-mutant sentiment.
Finally, the thing that probably has me most excited (especially after reading "AvX: Consequences"), is Cyclops' character arc. Where does he go from here? Will he become what Magneto once was? And if he's to be accepted into the hero community again...how can he make ammends? And how bad will it twist him that he's at least partially responsible for his mentor's death?
What I didn't like: I just didn't have an emotional connection to this story. It was obvious who the good guys and bad guys were, but I was far from leaping out of my seat in hopes of the good overcoming the odds. And the death of Professor X left me saying "meh". I mean - they killed him at the end of Messiah Complex too - that had much more of an impact. I didn't shed a tear - I just shrugged. That should not be my reaction to a major death in a major event.
Overall rating: B+.
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