Avengers & X-Men: Axis #4 Review

With the uneven Act I out of the way, Avengers & X-Men: Axis begins Act II: Inversion, and it’s actually pretty good. You get the sense that the true Axis event starts here -- this is the concept that writer Rick Remender really wanted to sink his teeth into, and he sure has. The spell used to take down the Red Skull seems to have had the extra effect of inverting everyone’s personalities: Carnage is now saving people while Captain Falcon and the Avengers are suddenly pro death penalty. Issue #4 was tense, fun, and intriguing, which has us happy to report that Axis is back on track.
By keeping the narrative tightly focused on a few different characters making off-color decisions, Remender lets the unsettling nature of the inversion slowly reveal itself -- like a disease beginning to show on the skin. He visits an array of characters, and by the time he comes back around to the Avengers, things have escalated to insane levels. It’s quite a bit of fun to watch the chaos unfold.

This isn’t the first time that heroes have been manipulated into turning evil, but it’s proving to be interesting nonetheless. The Carnage, Iron Man, and X-Men threads are all showing great potential -- especially where Apocalypse is concerned -- but the Avengers part feels a tad overdone. Whether Remender can capitalize on the seeds he has planted will determine if Axis continues the level of quality it’s currently enjoying.

THE VERDICT

Act II starts off strong as Remender sinks his teeth into the concept of heroes and villains having their personalities inverted. There’s a sense of dread that builds over the course of the issue, and despite things getting worse and worse for the heroes, it’s undeniably fun to watch the chaos unfold. With Yu’s artwork doing great service to the story, Axis has all it needs to get itself back on track.

Get the full review from IGN here.