Review: Avengers vs. X-Men #8

Another issue of Avengers vs. X-Men, another dollar. Nothing new to report, just remember that I’ve disabled the comment section temporally so no one accidentally spoilers future issues for me. For the previous reviews click the following: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.

This time Brian Michael Bendis is on writing duty while a new art team of Adam Kubert on pencils, John Dell on inks and Laura Martin with Larry Molinar on colors. So let’s get on with Avengers vs. X-Men #8.

Full review after the jump.

So much for Wakanda being the best place on Earth...

Namor, having been led on by Emma Frost, has declared war on Wakanda in order to destroy the Avengers once and for all, and he brings with him the full fury of the oceans and the entire might of his Atlantean army. Backed into a corner and purposely shut off from their safe-haven of K’un Lun Captain America, Black Panther and Iron Fist have to stall the god-like mutant long enough for reinforcements to arrive.

I LOVE the imagery of Namor ridding a giant wave into Wakanda (which both closed out the last issue and opens up this one). One look of that and pretty much the only thing you can say “Shit, they’re f**ked.” And it’s that frantic sense of urgency that takes control of this issue. For the most part it’s one giant fight between Namor and the all of the Avengers and it mostly is totally worth it. It’s a pretty damn epic fight and actually gets shockingly brutal at times. It felt like it went kind of fast but I suspect that’s more because this was one part of a multi-part story rather than a climatic fight to the finish (though if this is a preview to how this comic will end I’m all for it).

There’s not too much story for most of this issue, rather Namor punching everyone on the Avengers, so there’s not much to comment on that regard. I will say that the speech Professor Xavier gives to Cyclops at the end comic’s climax really bugged me. Basically he’s all like “You’ve disappointed me Scott, and now I must stop your madness.” What the hell is he talking about? What exactly has Cyclops done that’s so morally repugnant? Emma Frost nearly killed Hawkeye and Namor tried to destroy a country of innocent people; neither of those things were Cyclops fault and Professor X damn well knows this (because he’s psychic). Everything Cyclops has done since gaining these powers has been to make the world better. His only sin is that he is a god-like being that is still thinking like a mortal and thus not using a shred of subtlety in his actions (had he and his allies worked below the average human’s noticed and worked on fixing Earth in a long term situation no one would be saying anything because they’d have no idea). 

Anytime the Red Hulk gets his ass kicked = Great Comic

My real problem with this is that, more so than anything else in the comic, this is Marvel saying “The X-Men are the wrong side of this conflict” (though to be fair they haven’t exactly been calling this down the middle since day one). If we have to suffer through watching heroes fight heroes yet again can we at least not turn one side into villains? Can’t there be some right and wrong to go on both sides? This was the major problem with Civil War from a few years back; despite both sides having good points it was pretty clear that Iron Man’s side were mustache twirling villains due to several unforgivable acts during the story (I actually agree with the idea of registration but I don’t agree with Iron Man basically hiring the Masters of Evil to enforce it). It’s like Marvel is incapable of seeing things in shades of grey and there must always be a clear “hero” and a clear “villain”. It bothers me that I’m being forced to root against my favorite superhero team. 

Bit of rant there, but the bottom line is that this issue is pretty good I liked the fight between Namor and the Avengers and I’m still digging the progression of the story. So far the second half of this book has been a thousand times better than the first half (and better overall than Schism) but we’ll see if they can keep this up during the last four issues). 

Black Panther can't be stopped!

I give Avengers vs. X-Men #8 gets 3 out of 5 Adorable Pandas.

Pros 

-Great fight scene 

-The art worked for me better than last time 

Cons 

-The X-Men are the villains, which bugs me