Why didn’t Jimmy Palmiotti write the “actual” Avengers vs. X-Men? Only one issue deep and we have a death take place!? I love it! This is what would REALLY happen if these two went head to head. Even with multiple changes and additions to teams, people who weren’t really relevant during the Avengers vs. X-Men have been added into the sequences and team pictures, the series is gonna hold it’s own. The best part about the series? We have no idea what happens in this version, whereas with the the actual Avengers vs. X-Men we all knew it was going to be disappointing and unoriginal. Jimmy Palmiotti is going to show us what actually happens when two self righteous teams fight for what they believe. This is Avengers vs. X-Men:The Better Version a.k.a The Version That Isn’t Shit.
First if you have been lucky enough to not read Avengers vs. X-Men, consider yourself lucky. You can skip it and just go ahead and read the What If version. Marvel has always had very intriguing What If stories, things that couldn’t be told in any other manner. These days Marvel is so quick to throw us though time/another dimension/glimpses of the future/blah blah blah. My point is, Marvel has finally brought back a What If comic and they couldn’t have picked a better story. In the original version there is a very tension filled discussion between Scott Summers and Captain America. It ends with Scott Summers standing his ground and blasting Captain America, this is the start of Avengers vs. X-Men. In this version Scott Summers doesn’t even let himself get involved and Magneto, Storm, and Hope attempt to do the talking. Also Magneto is training Hope rather than Summers. These seem like very lame things to change, but Magneto isn’t exactly “beloved” by the Avengers, they have not forgotten all the death and terrorist acts he has committed. As talk goes from mild to tense, Storm is killed during the cross fire by none other than one of her closest friends, Wolverine. This causes Magneto to go ballistic and thus we have the introduction to Avengers vs. X-Men and that is twenty times better than what actually happens. This What If comic is going to make the real comic event look like an Archie Comic.
What happens next is pretty much anyone’s guess. All we know is Magneto is the one who is preparing Hope to be the savior of mutant kind. Not Cyclops. Magneto, the man who has committed genocide and killed millions! No one has forgotten his crimes. No one has trusts him, he is not exactly the best person to negotiate with the Avengers, but regardless I like it! I like the purposeful friction Jimmy has set up, even with Jorge Molina’s 7 year old drawing ability the issue holds water. One thing I can promise you, Storm will not be the only X-Man to fall. I wouldn’t be surprised if next issue we lose our first Avenger. And that is what should have happened the first time they tried this. This is Avengers vs. X-Men for the fate of survival. These are two teams that would do anything to stop a threat. Death is not option number one, but if there is no other option, they won’t lose sleep over it. There will be bloodshed. There will be death. But more than anything, there is opportunity to write a really great story.
I enjoyed it. I read that Palmiotti took at times a more "classic" take on some of the characters and I could actually see that. I am really looking forward to the rest of this series and, yes, it was more fun than the actual event. Maybe they should do it for other events too… That would be ideal.
Didn't read the actual event, but this sounds much more exciting. That artwork on the interior wasn't the greatest, but hey, what do you expect? It's a What If? comic.