Review: AVENGERS VS. X-MEN #3

AVENGERS VS. X-MEN #3
Written by Ed Brubaker
Art by John Romita Jr
Release Date: May 2, 2012

Oh, how the plot thickens. With the release of AVX: VS #1 last week the creative team of Ed Brubaker and John Romita Jr. have seemingly been given the green light to reduce the amount of “Avengers and X-Men pounding on each other” content in the main book of this event and the series has become even stronger for it. Don’t get me wrong, this book still has action and one of the best fight sequences of the entire series so far, but it also drives the story forward more than both of the past two issues, combined. On all sides, composure is beginning to fail and actions are becoming more and more frantic with the search for Hope kicking into high gear. With the increased panic the battle lines are blurring even more than they have in the past two issues and the constant drama of “who is siding with who” is getting more and more interesting as this series goes. I was impressed with the number of surprising moments in this issue. Without dropping any spoilers, this book is filled with curve ball after curve ball and is a riot to read for that reason alone.

Ed Brubaker’s script is extremely tight: there is no wasted time in this book, every page is forward motion and increasing tension. Cap has been “Brubaker property” for the past few years and it is no surprise that he takes a starring role in this issue. Brubaker writes Cap extremely well, conveying a tension and increasing panic that we are not used to seeing in the super soldier. There are some fantastic moments between Steve Rogers and several characters in this book and I want to send a high five to Brubaker for tying some Marvel history into this book. This conflict has been a long time coming and it was nice to see past events tied into this series.

John Romita Jr.’s art was a LOT better in this book. If you’ve read my previous reviews you’ll know I’m not a big JRJR fan and haven’t been impressed by his work on the series so far, but with the heavily reduced cast of characters in issue #3 I felt the pencils were a lot more solid. The tension and fury in Wolverine leaps off of the page and the brawl he is in is a fantastic set of pages. This is some of JRJR’s best work on this series by far and I hope the quality continues to increase for his next issue.

If you’ve enjoyed the past two issues, Avengers Vs. X-Men #3 is a lock for you to read. It has the same high-octane feel of the past two issues and launches the story in unexpected and fun directions.

Verdict: 9.0/10

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