A+X #2

The Black Widow is enjoying her day off in a beauty parlor until suddenly the place is under attack by a Sentinel. She battles the robot with little success until she receives help from Rogue, whom is now an Avenger just like her. Why is the Sentinel there wreaking havoc? This is something Widow wants to find out. -summary

I have no trouble admitting that Avengers Vs. X-Men (AVX) wasn't really a good story at all, in fact, it was the crossovers that were actually entertaining and for me even saved the storyline. The event jump started Marvel's new Marvel NOW! line with a few brand new series, some new #1's, plus continued some already running series with an updated status quo. One of those new series is A+X which stands for Avengers + X-Men. The idea is to partner up an Avenger with a X-Man for some superhero fun. Right now the stories are looking like a bunch of one shots. Although there's potential here for some good and even fresh storytelling, the execution is just beyond bad. It's sad too, because the possibilities of first time team-ups are endless, and at least one of these stories did have an interesting moment, but they're too damn short and bite-sized to really grab my attention on top of just being boring. This second volume is worse than the first. This book is written by Chris Bachalo and Peter David across 32 pages.

My biggest problem with these stories is Marvel cramming in way too much. They are trying to tell two unrelated stories taking place out of nowhere with two different partners, and this is just a mistake. The first story following Black Widow and Rogue is nothing but boring mindless action. I can't remember ever being this bored reading a Sentinel battle. There's an attempt at some form of comedy, unfortunately Bachalo's writing just comes off flat and he even tosses in a girl on girl tap kiss for the flimsiest reason. Bachalo also handles the visuals with his rushed, overly dark, bland-ass artwork that does nothing for the action panels. It brings back heinous memories of the X-Men storyline End of Greys that he illustrated. Bachalo wants to be a Japanese manga artist so bad I'm sure it's killing him. You can see the influence in the supposed comedy in regards to facial designs and gestures. I just can't stand it.

The second story isn't quite as bad yet that's not saying much at all. Tony Stark aka Iron Man, contacts Kitty Pryde aka Shadow Cat, with intentions on hiring her to work at his company. This leads to a confrontation with a faction of the Brood, an alien race that has mainly battled the X-Men over the years. Peter David shows a bit more range with his creative storytelling than Bachalo, but it can feel quite stupid even for a comic book. Mike Del Mundo is behind the artwork for this story, and his illustrations are just as pathetic as Bachalo's. The backgrounds are lazily done, and the character designs are way too skinny and even bizarre looking at times. If Marvel is hoping for this series to catch on, they have to do a lot better than this. The first issue is slightly better because it at least provides stellar artwork to mask the thin as needles story and rushed plot. Here, the problems in the narrative are on full blast, since there are no pretty pictures to hide behind.

I'm not quite sure how this series is doing at the moment, but I can probably bet it's not doing that great. I'm not feeling this series at all; I don't see myself continuing any further, and this also includes avoiding the TPB. If you were heavily disappointed in AVX and you decided to do away with everything under that creative umbrella. Well, I certainly recommend skipping this, but Uncanny Avengers is looking really good at least. This series is just terrible and it's by far Marvel NOW!'s lowest point from what I read so far. Skip this one or try to read it free.

Pros: I think I can get away with saying none

Cons: Very poor execution with horrendous artwork