Avengers & X-Men: AXIS #4

Writer – Rick Remender
Artist – Leinil Francis Yu
Inker – Gerry Alanguilan, Leinil Francis Yu
Colours – Edgar Delgado

The second act of AXIS starts with part one of Inversion and it finds our heroes and villains all mixed up.  Carnage believes himself to be a good guy for one, Tony Stark is drinking again, Doc Green has reverted to his more savage Hulk-like state and the Avengers are all out for themselves now, quite selfish and not at all into the whole preservation-of-life thing.  Looks like Remender has turned everything topsy-turvy with this latest issue of AXIS and it makes for some interesting situations.  While it is neat to see the seeds of the Avengers versus S.H.I.E.L.D. here, it is even more intriguing to see the evolution of Evan into Apocalypse and how the X-Men are now all rallying beneath his banner.  All of this is evidently because of Wanda’s inversion spell that was cast in the previous issue and it looks to have only affected those that were in the vicinity of it at the time.  Jarvis is still the same man he has always been and Spider-Man also seems to be his normal self, but those like Thor, Captain America, Havok, Storm and the rest have all had their personalities rewritten.  One of the more extreme makeovers has got to be what Remender has done to the Hulk, giving the creature his own Hulk named Kluh, a monster that is reminiscent of his Fear Itself incarnation, Nul.  What is a shame about the book is that the Fantastic Four are nowhere present, that more than likely due to Marvel’s sidelining of the characters.  Other than that, the book sets the new story-arc up well with some confrontations sure to take place next issue.

4 out of 5

Batman Eternal #31

Writer – Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, Tim Seeley, Kyle Higgins, Ray Fawkes
Artist – Fernando Pasarin
Inker – Matt Ryan
Colours – Blond

The aftermath of Arkham’s collapse starts here with the escapees making their way to the surface.  Mr. Freeze leads the way with Clayface and Zsasz following as well, killing police and firemen with Batman coming in to save the day.  Deep down, underneath the rubble, Bane rescues Alfred for personal reasons, but soon finds that Alfred is a little wilier than he would have thought.  There is a whole lot of action going on in Batman Eternal this week and our creative team pulls out all the stops to deliver a very solid issue.  The best segment of the book of course, is the moments between Band and Alfred.  Most people tend to forget that Alfred used to be a soldier, and a very good one at that, so to see him in action here, which is a rare occasion in itself, was great to see.  Surprisingly, Bane was not as psychotic as he usually is, perhaps because his self-preservation was kicking in and he knew he needed Alfred, at least for a little.  Everyone also knows that Batman is a master tactician, and the writers put that aspect of Batman front and center as he deals with the escaped inmates as well as the GCPD.  The book also sports a little Hush and a little Spoiler which combined with our costumed crime-fighter, should make for a fun little meet-up next issue.  Great stuff and a huge win with this week’s issue.

4.5 out of 5