Review: Avengers vs. X-Men #5

A quick disclaimer before we start : It’s a little difficult to talk about this issue without dealing with the big elephant in the room spoiler regarding the identity of the new host of The Phoenix. He/she/they/it/I won’t be named here, but it’s safe to call this one a total game changer and a twist worthy of the first act of this massive story.

Writer Matt Fraction takes charge here to ramp up the intensity and uses up plenty of the build-up from the preceding four issues to give us an all-out brawl between the two warring factions, while telling the story squarely from Hope Summers’ point of view and revealing all her insecurities between the punches and optic blasts. Fraction’s singular achievement here is drawing out the main players’ motivations as both righteous and conflicted at the same time. More so than maybe even Civil War, this feels like a conflict of ideologies rather than the simple black-and-white superhero slug-fest many felt it would. The one problem with the story is that the final twist is a just a little out of the blue and adding a little bit of explanation to the last few pages, rather than in the tie-ins, could have helped quite a bit.

John Romita Jr. has run into some criticism lately for inconsistent art over the course of the series, with certain action sequences in particular looking rushed. Here however, Romita does probably the finest work he has in the last couple of years, with bright colouring mixing nicely with the much more detailed penciling exhibited in the issue. There is still some issue with the general boxy shapes, especially with the anti-phoenix Iron Man armour, but that’s just how Romita rolls and it’s a small grouse in the midst of all the gorgeousness.

This issue signals the end of Act I and represents a big shift in power, with the hunted (and feared and hated) becoming the hunter. While the details of what is to come are still vague, the architects are yet to completely disappoint us with any issue, and with Oliver Coipel handling art from the next issue, things are expected to get even better in Act II.

As with the issues preceding it, this chapter has its flaws and never really manages to completely exploit the writer’s unique talents – but it gets the job done, and in style.

Score : 8.4/10