The Good
Interesting issue as we find out where more character's loyalties lie within this event. The issue mainly revolves around Wolverine helping out the Avengers, even though he is also an X-Man, the whole Schism story line caused a huge rift in the X-Men, and it seems Wolverine is more comfortable on the Avengers, so I like that past story lines are still a factor in the lives of characters, since too many times, a major event will happen and be forgotten about in future plots.
SPOILERS: Obviously, there's some punching going on in this book, and in issue three of Avengers vs. X-Men, we get a pretty awesome battle between Wolverine and Captain America.
Amazing cover by Jim Cheung and Laura Martin! I really wish the rest of the comic could be drawn by Cheung. It's fantastic! That cover depicts the battle I really wanted to see, but didn't get a chance to.
I'm incredibly thankful that this story isn't just people punching each other for 6 issues. I had a weird feeling it was going to be that. I'm glad to see that AvX is taking a break from the fistacuffs to develop more of a story.
The Bad
A little quick for Cap to throw a punch. MORE SPOILERS: Wolvie alludes to the fact that whoever hosts the Phoenix Force should be killed. Cap thinks it's a bad idea, and then hits him. It didn't seem like it should have been at that point yet.
Another thing that bugged me is that Cap punches Wolverine in the face numerous times, yet his hand is fine. I always get a little confused when someone hits a man with an adamantium skull, and is perfectly fine afterwords. A fist hitting the hardest metal on the planet (aside from Vibranium), and it doesn't hurt?
Normally, I don't mind JR Jr's art, but it bugged me a bit in this issue. I liked how he drew the fight scene between Wolvie and Cap, but aside from that, everyone seemed to have a dumb expression on their face. His art doesn't mesh well with Brubaker's writing.
The Verdict
Kind of a bummer of an issue. I REALLY wanted to like this book. I enjoyed the first issue a lot, but not so much the second issue, so I was hoping this would be a dynamite issue. Issue 3 of AvX just glides by. It's not bad, and it's not great.
I do like the idea of Wolverine being a key part of this story, since not only has he dealt with the Phoenix Force before, but he's on both the X-Men and Avengers, even though there was a lot of X-Men fallout during Schism. This leads to a cool fight between Cap and Wolvie. The cover art is fantastic, and I'm very glad this series isn't going to be a punch-fest.
On the not-so-great side of things, the fight seemed forced, and it always bugs me that someone can hit an adamantium skull full force and not hurt their hand. Also, while I liked JR Jr's art during the fight, I didn't during the rest of the issue.
Overall, AvX gets a very mild recommendation. If you're into giant events, you'll probably stay on course, but for the rest of us, Marvel's major events have really lost their luster.