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Posted January 28, 2013 by Mikael Angelo Francisco in Comics
 
 

COMIC BOOK REVIEW: A+X #4

Writers: Kaare Andrews, Jason Latour
Artists: Kaare Andrews, David Lopez

One of the few good things to come out of the recently-concluded AvX event is the monthly ongoing that takes the concept of AvX (pit one X-Man and one Avenger, put said pair in the hands of a biased writer, and watch as one character completely wipes the floor with the other, regardless of actual power ranking) and adjusts it in order to make it friendlier, more pleasant, and generally closer to Marvel’s roots. A+X is pretty much Marvel Team-Up, except with the additional condition that it HAS to  be a team-up between one X-character and one character from the Avengers family. Four issues in, the run has been solid for the most part, with particularly noteworthy team-ups between Hawkeye and Gambit, Storm and Black Panther, and Captain America and Cable.

The most recent two-in-one team-up fest features a lead story throwing Spider-Man and Beast into a world of zombies and beast-men in the far future, and a back-up story wherein an old soldier (Captain America) teaches a punk kid (Quentin Quire) a thing or two about respect. The Spider-Man/Beast team-up was initially solicited for issue #2, but was for some reason knocked down to issue #4 in favor of a story featuring Rogue and Black Widow.

Kaare Andrews serves as both writer and artist for the Spidey/Beast team-up, and his work here shines. This is Kaare at his best. He is no stranger to both Spider-Man and dystopian futures (having written and illustrated the unofficial “The End” story for Spider-Man, Spider-Man: Reign), yet here he manages to infuse something new and different into the story that makes it read like a completely different experience. The idea of seeing these two men of science working together amuses me to no end, and I always enjoy Spidey team-ups, especially when it’s with other eggheads. Kaare’s energetic pseudo-retro art style really pops at you, and when combined with his smart and funny writing, this story manages to make the entire comic worth the cover price in the span of half its page count.

The Cap and Kid Omega story is nothing to scoff at, either. What initially seems like a disinteresting, oddball team-up (seriously, Quire?) quickly becomes a fun, interesting oddball team-up. It’s youthful rebellion against the granddaddy and gold standard of pretty much every superhero in the Marvel universe, and Jason Latour and David Lopez make it fresh and fast-paced. The good thing about this story is that it explores the perception of younger mutants about the Captain in the light of the whole Phoenix Five debacle, in a manner that isn’t an in-your-face kind of deal. I especially like how they showed that despite being on the opposite side AND from an entirely different generation, Cap manages to find a way to achieve both his and Quire’s ends with a resolution that shows how well he empathizes with the younger crowd (and how well he understands the way they think).

This definitely stands out as the best issue of A+X so far.

VERDICT: 5/5

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Mikael Angelo Francisco