Avengers & X-Men: Axis #6 Review

If you were hoping for Avengers & X-Men: Axis to suddenly get better, then keep hoping. Between the creators and the concept, there was certainly a lot of potential in this event, but it has not lived up to it. Red Skull obtaining the power of a god, Apocalypse returning, the Avengers and X-Men going crazy evil, and Marvel’s villains going crazy good -- it could have been an intriguing exploration of the concept of good and evil focused around the years-spanning story of young Evan/Genesis. Yet we’re left with a story that jumps around to different characters behaving cartoonishly opposite of who they truly are without a strong narrative to make it all gel together.

More than anything, Axis feels like it exists to set up stories in other tie-in comics. That’s been a longstanding complaint about event comics, namely because it makes the core series a hollow outline that can only be filled in by purchasing a slew of tie-in comics. A nine-part event is expensive enough without all that business.

Issue #6 is full of scenarios that could have been interesting, but ultimately fell flat. Rogue and Nightcrawler greeting Mystique; Daredevil confronting jerk Iron Man; Scarlet Witch finally attacking Dr. Doom for wrecking her life; Loki reaching a helping hand out to Thor; Sabretooth acting like Wolverine. These are cool interactions that any Marvel fan would be eager to see -- except Asgardian one, because what about Thor makes gambling his most evil desire? -- yet they wind up having little meat on the bone. Really, those scenes just serve to round everyone up for that final group shot -- a group shot that should have been cool except for the fact that half the characters haven’t played much of a role, if any, in Axis. Remember when Iron Man and company assembled the Thunderbolts in Civil War? Now that was a group shot.

The Verdict
Avengers & X-Men: Axis succumbs to the flaws of event comics, leaving us with a hollow story that never gets to dig in to deliver the good stuff. The quality of the artwork is solid overall, but there are a few noticeable issues. Axis is bittersweet in that It’s a story that longtime Marvel readers have been dying for yet will find hard to be satisfied by.

Get the full review from IGN here

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