We're still basically in .1 mode
Here we have it, the biggest thing ever to happen to comics ever...since Fear Itself. It's the Avengers vs. X-Men. Or maybe calling it that is premature considering by the end of this issue after a whole other prologue issue, a prologue tie-in over in Avengers, a prologue months earlier and a whole miniseries that was referred to as a prologue of sorts we're still basically in .1 mode.
Now, onto the writing... this one was obviously Brian Bendis writing and most his problems still shone through what is seen as a collaborative effort between the "Marvel architects". In the little character moments we get they still all sound the same. We have Tony Stark and Noh-Varr bickering like little kids fighting over lego bricks and then everything that isn't meant to be "funny" is exposition. On one hand I do want to pat Bendis on the back for FINALLY giving Noh-Varr quite a lot to do and making him actually feel like part of the team but on the other hand I want to just slap Bendis and tell him he's far too obviously setting Noh-Varr up as one of the casualties of this event. Noh-Varr has been neglected in Avengers since he joined and when he suddenly steps up and joins the "A-Team" alongside Iron Man, Thor and Ms. Marvel it just screams "Star Trek redshirt". It's also worth noting that despite the title, this definitely isn't Avengers vs. X-Men. This is just Avengers. Avengers with a small cameo from 5 of the big name X-Men.
Onto the art, Romita seems to get a lot of intense hatred these days which I've never entirely understood. As an artist for the "top-tier biggest book ever" that this professes to be I won't hesitate a moment to say he's out of his depth. Marvel have some tremendous talent, both treasured and overlooked, and Romita is neither. I've found his work to largely be inoffensive, sometimes a piece is bloody hideous, but as a whole I can take it or leave it. As I said I've never truly got the intense hatred considering I see his art as just "average". Despite him being a big name "legacy" artist, he certainly doesn't belong on Marvel's "biggest book ever". But then again, I'd say the same about Bendis but I'm sure some kids would debate otherwise.
So as a whole, this is just an Avengers issue. There's barely any X-Men and there's only one page of "vs." (Cyclops attacks Cap who predictably instantly shields against the optic blasts in a traditional Bendis DOUBLE PAGE SPLASH). It ends with one of those "damn, it's about to go down" cliffhangers which is also the cliffhanger they've left us on in every single one of the prologues and Bendis leaves us on in every book he's ever written. It's a misleading and disappointing start to an event that I think even the best of us are having trouble not feeling cynicism towards.
