ACT I: THE RED SUPREMACY
The Red Skull has exploited the gifts of the world’s greatest telepath to broadcast pure hatred across the globe. Now, born of the murder of Charles Xavier, World War Hate has begun.
Tony Stark discovers a secret truth that will upend not only his life, but also the lives of everyone he cares for.
Can The Avengers and X-Men finally unite? Would their combined strength be enough to hold back the darkness of the Red Onslaught?
Magneto murdered the wrong man, releasing the greatest evil the Marvel Universe has ever known. Now Rogue and Scarlet Witch are all that stand in its way.
The Good
Cover-Finally Axis #1 is here in my hands! The very first cover has “Red Onslaught” at the bottom in all his awesome glory while the alliance of the X-men and Avengers with Iron Man in the foreground spring into action. The axis logo is splashed across the middle of cover, neatly separating it into equal North and South hemispheres.
Iron Man- Tony having a contingency plan to deal with his teammates was very Batman-esque though believable enough not to pull you out of this otherwise action heavy tale.
Recap– This issue begins with a splash page which serves as a bridge between Avengers Vs X-men, the Uncanny Avengers and Magneto titles etc which lead to Axis. It is much needed because I have not been following any of those books so a recap was just what the doctor ordered.
Interior Art-For this issue e have art from Adam Kubert who was the man who was the artist on the X-men line back when Onslaught made his first appearance. If my memory is correct he was also the artist on the one shot Onslaught: X-men where the X-men finally learned that Onslaught and Xavier were one.
Black Heroes– making appearance in this opening arc are the New Captain America/Samuel Wilson/Falcon, Storm/Ororo Munroe and Luke Cage. None of them did anything particularly worthwhile or noteworthy but they did show up. Of the three, New Captain America makes the biggest impact as his role is called into questions by Thor but holds his ground.
Reconciliation– It was heart warming to watch the long estranged Summers brothers Cyclops/Scott and Havok/Alex both battle and finally come back together after years of being apart especially the most recent death of Xavier.
Action– Like the original onslaught saga this one was heavy on the action though it lacked any real epic moments.
Rogue and Scarlet Witch– These two women from the life of Magneto have a 90’s style wolverine and Cyclops chemistry that pops of the page
Interest– One thing that this issue does very well is make me want to buy back issues of Uncanny Avengers, All new Captain America, Thor and Magneto. That’s quite a few Marvel comics not on my pull list that just got ordered and backlogged. Havok and Wasp’s daughter, superhero children, I simply must dig deeper. Good move marvel!
Story- A band of Avengers encounters a wave of hate which is neutralized by Iron Man. In Genosha at a re-education camp Rogue Magneto and the Scarlet Witch try their best to stop Red Onslaught. They are eventually joined by the Summers brothers. The avengers squad from earlier descend on the scene as do the X-men and later a combination of rag tag heroes from both sides shows up. As the tension mounts Red Onslaught reveals two adamantium sentinels crafted by Tony Stark/Iron man as a contingency in case the Avengers ever went rogue.
The Bad
Reality-I was excited at the thought of Falcon becoming Captain America but I must say having now seen it, I’m not totally sold. He seems very out of character to be barking orders or even to have others following those orders. This is gonna be a bumpy ride!
Chaotic– As great as I found the action no doubt some will find it way too chaotic because Kubert packs allot into each and every panel. Some may say too much
Power– Just like the original onslaught saga back in 1996 the villain despite the power at his disposal seems way off in terms of execution. For the sake of the story their is an assumption that Onslaught has increased telepathic and mental powers. But he was a combination of both Xavier’s and Magneto’s psyches and powers. At no point does he display his magnetic or telekinetic powers which were big parts of the character back when he debuted. With the power at his .
PIS (Plot Induced Shit)– Xavier had years worth of experience along with gargantuan telepathic powers. He could never just grab hold of others minds by blinking his eyes. Skull has his powers but none of his experience. How he is just taking control of the minds of just about everyone so casually? If it was done in a more subtle manner it could be accepted but this is jarring. I don’t buy it!
Event– Raise your hand if your all event-ed out by this point because I know more than a few of you must be.
The Ugly
Avengers and X-men: Axis #1 is a nostalgia filled modern day action fest. If you’ve been reading X-men comics since 1996 then you owe it to yourself to see onslaught not only reborn nut unleashed once more! It’s not the best character driven story ever written and it doesn’t even try to be. We give Avengers and X-men: Axis #1- 4/5 stars 