train kept a-rollin' 004: what if? avx #4

by Chad Nevett

What If? AvX #4 (Marvel)

by Jimmy Palmiotti, Jorge Molina, Gerardo Sandoval, Norman Lee, Carlos Lobos Cuevas, Rachelle Rosenberg

'What If? AvX' is probably the most cohesive companion 'What If...?' story to ever come out. It presents a story that bears little resemblance to the events of 'Avengers vs. X-Men' yet stems entirely from the event in such a way as to reinforce one of the dominant messages of the event. Namely, Captain America is always right.

'What If? AvX' is the worst case scenario that the Avengers try to prevent in 'Avengers vs. X-Men' when they go to Utopia and ask Cyclops to hand over Hope so they can take her away from Earth as the Phoenix approaches. They fear that she is unprepared and that the Phoenix possessing her will result in the destruction of the planet. While the planet is not destroyed in the final issue of 'What If? AvX', the entire population of the world is killed*. Hope is made the host of the Phoenix, she is unable to control it, not mature enough to wield its awesome power, is corrupted, and helps set into motion a chain of events where Magneto is made the new host and, in his dying moments, kills everyone else in a final act of spite.

(* It doesn't fit into my piece here, but the ending of this story is the one place where ambiguity exists enough that it’s almost interesting. Wolverine kills Magneto while he’s the Phoenix and, as he dies, he explodes in blinding white light. Wolverine is saved by Jean Grey who has returned and they become the Adam and Eve of Earth as they look to rebuild humanity, hopefully better this time around. What’s not explicit is whether this is what happens or whether this is all in Wolverine’s head. Did only he die and this is the afterlife? We don’t know. I like that one more because of what it says about that character. It’s more personal and less cheesy if it’s all in his head or stems from his desires. If it’s what really happened, then it’s pretty laughable.)

'What If...?' stories providing “worst case” scenarios is not a new concept. However, rarely (if ever) have they existed almost for the sole purpose of justifying the morality of characters that, honestly, wound up looking like the bad guys by the end of the story. No matter how many times characters throw the death of Xavier in Cyclops’s face, it doesn't change that he was right and that Captain America made a bad situation worse by refusing to trust in his friends. In 'Avengers vs. X-Men', Cyclops went from a crazy cult leader to the man who brought about the salvation of his race, all the while being vilified by a man who thought it best to continue trying to hit beings with the power of a god instead of working with them as they used their powers to make the world a measurably better place. So, here, we have the evidence: had Hope gotten the Phoenix immediately, the world was fucked.

Captain America was right.

Captain America was right.

Captain America was right.

This was an idea that I kept circling when writing about 'Avengers vs. X-Men'. “Captain America was right.” It wasn't my contention, of course. I always said “Cyclops was right.” But, what I wanted to say was “Captain America was wrong.” Fuck who was right just so long as that character was wrong. Part of it is my natural chaffing against unimpeachable authority figures who have authority because they have authority because they have authority, a trait that always seemed to sum up Captain America to a large degree. He’s right because he’s right because he’s right. It’s one of the laws of the Marvel Universe. It’s lazy bullshit. It allows for simplistic writing that ignores the reality it’s creating simply by saying it isn't true. Why was Cyclops a villain? Because Captain America was in opposition to him. No wonder people thought I was stupid for reading all of those comics...

There’s something both rewarding and incredibly grating about reading a four-issue alternate reality story that seems to exist to justify the original story’s core message. Four issues that could basically be a briefing by Captain America to the president on what he believes will happen should the Phoenix be allowed to possess Hope. As I said before, it fits nicely into 'Avengers vs. X-Men' in a thematic, conceptual way. It will sit there as a quick reminder that, while Cyclops seemed like he knew what he was talking about, Captain America was really right to intervene and delay Hope’s encounter with the Phoenix, so there. It supports the original story in a surprising and completely unsubtle way. It also feels cheap. This was the implied depiction of events should the Avengers fail. Why in the world did it need to be given four issues? This story already existed within 'Avengers vs. X-Men' and just needed a reader with a slight imagination to bring it forth. What happened to 'What If...?' stories that actually challenged readers and delivered something far outside their expectations? Because this wasn't that. This wasn't Spider-Man can’t shake the Symbiote loose, so it uses him all up and winds up possessing Thor and the Hulk until Black Bolt kills it, ending with Peter Parker as an old broken man (I really liked that one). This wasn't even the by rote Wolverine is the king of the vampires or “What if the Age of Apocalypse had not ended?” (turns out, it didn't...). It was “Here’s the story that was heavily implied, so give me 16 bucks, asshole.”

I always come back to that story in 'What If? Civil War' where Captain America and Iron Man stop fighting, talk things out, find a compromise that works for everyone, and the story ends with them overseeing the superhuman community together, happy that they made it okay. Civil War was one long “Captain America is right” story (where he had an actual point, I’ll admit) and that story was a big “fuck you” to the original story, undercutting its central premise, while pointing out that both sides were wrong. I don’t know why, but I really like that. I guess I’d rather read a story that tells me the official version was crap than it was for the best. It seems less like hype and advertising that way. 'What If? AvX' is an ad for why 'Avengers vs. X-Men' was better than you thought and it makes you pay for the privilege of reading it.

Captain America was right.

I’m a fucking idiot.

And the gravy train keeps a-rollin’ on and on... 

train kept a-rollin' 003: what if? avx #3

by Chad Nevett

What If? AvX #3 (Marvel)

by Jimmy Palmiotti, Gerardo Sandoval, Jordi Tarragona, Rachelle Rosenberg

The creator names on the cover of 'What If? AvX' #3 are incorrect. They’re a carryover from the second issue where Jorge Molina penciled the issue, Norman Lee and Rick Magyar inked it, and Rachelle Rosenberg colored it. The third issue still lists those four names under Jimmy Palmiotti on the cover, but the art team is actually Gerardo Sandoval handling the penciling and some inking, Jordi Tarragona doing the rest of the inks, and Rachelle Rosenberg coloring (and acting as the only artistic link to the first two issues). It’s the same sort of... well, I don’t want to call it laziness, because that brings some horrible connotations, but, maybe, incompetence? It’s the same sort of incompetence that also leads to three dead characters (see last column) showing up as part of the cast on the recap page. Is this comic maybe a low priority? Again, see last column. Editorial blunders, while amusing, are not what I want to discuss.

The change in pencillers with this issue is appropriate. Normally, I’m with everyone else and hate to see the art shift mid-project (unless purposefully designed that way or the new artist being a vast improvement over the original) and my reason for not thinking that this time is one of those instances where I imagine people will understand my reasoning while still thinking that my approach is a little askew. 'Avengers vs. X-Men' was not an artistically cohesive event. Few are once you factor in tie-ins, but 'Avengers vs. X-Men' featured three pencillers through its 12-issue run (John Romita, Jr., Olivier Coipel, and Adam Kubert) with another penciller (Frank Cho) drawing issue 0. Basically, the first half of the event was done by Romita with Coipel and Kubert switching off on the second half. The result is a nice looking series that has zero visual or artistic cohesion, and it works to a degree because the series was also written by five writers. It was a hodgepodge mess of large-scale collaboration where consistency and unity were not invited. So, it’s only appropriate that 'What If? AvX' should shift artist teams in its third issue (if only they had numerous writers as well...), offering no sense of cohesion and visual consistency.

Because, obviously, Gerardo Sandoval’s art looks very little like that of Jorge Molina. Molina’s art is clean and blocky, aimed mostly at clarity and communicating exactly what is happening. There’s a little bit of roughness that creeps in around the edges that hints at something more stylistically interesting and makes me a little sad, because I would have loved to see more of that style. The way that he draws Magneto and Hope sparring in the first issue hints at something a little more lean, a little darker and messier that sits in contrast to the more open, clean-lined work he does elsewhere. His page layouts do not adhere to a set grid structure, but he rarely breaks from direct square or rectangular panels, again in the service of clarity and ease of reading. Panels are usually structured along three- or four-panel tiers with a somewhat steady pace that slows and speeds up depending on the moment. The rare moments where he breaks from these conventions are cases of ‘big’ moments where a double-page spread is required or, late in issue two, where Thor flies at the Phoenix and Molina uses a two-page layout, giving three-quarters of the room to that shot with two panels (one at the bottom of each page) that closes in and showcases Thor and the Phoenix. The first issue was looser with this, having more instances of characters breaking the panel borders, possibly because of the deadline crunch of the second issue. The second issue offers only one real moment of formalist play early on where the Black Panther is in a spaceship, communicating with Captain America. It’s a fifth-tier panel at the bottom of the page on a page where every tier is a single panel taking up the entire length of the page. The Black Panther’s back is three-quarters to us and we can see the ship’s screen in front of us along with his teammates in space and the Phoenix. The panel has an inset, though: a circular shot of the Panther’s head that is drawn like a word balloon coming from the other Panther figure. It’s not anything remarkable, but does show a willingness or ability to break from the layouts that we see in the first issues of 'What If? AvX'. Stylistically and structurally, his art is aimed at clarity and directness. It’s very difficult to be confused or thrown by anything Molina presents in the first two issues.

Gerardo Sandoval follows that example to a degree, but seems far less interested in clarity and ease of reading. His page is an awkward layout of the Vision, Ms. Marvel, and Nova descending upon Magneto, Emma Frost, and the Phoenix-possessed Hope on the Moon. The perspective is from above the three mutants, albeit from an angle, with the three Avengers at the top of the panel, in front of the reader, almost like our perspective is meant to be as some non-existent fourth Avenger descending onto the Moon. It’s clunky in the way that characters are positioned on the page and looks somewhat cluttered. Stylistically, Sandoval’s art is not something I particularly like. There’s a manga influence in it that results in lots of hair spikes and youthful faces. A horrible artistic crime, I know; it’s simply not something that I find visually appealing. The characters look like less than what they usually are, if that makes sense. Magneto is a youthful, attractive man until he becomes ‘more evil,’ and, suddenly, gains scars and a face that shows his age to a larger degree. There’s very little naturalism or realism, but also not a strong enough dynamism to warrant the contorted poses meant to convey movement and action. Too bland to be weird, too weird to be bland. As it were. He has a tough time balancing the demands of the art and the demands of the writing in places. One page, where Iron Man pulls Wolverine from the ocean and they regroup with the Avengers is a cluttered mess of character shoved into whatever space is available given the number of panels and tonnage of word balloons. Then again, maybe the page didn't need such a large shot of Wolverine vomiting sea water? (A sentence I never thought that I would write...)

Despite my clear dislike of Sandoval’s work, there is that connection to 'Avengers vs. X-Men'’s artistic changes that allows me to move past it, intellectually. Even the choice of starting with John Romita Jr. then shifting to Olivier Coipel and Adam Kubert seems to be the pattern here. Romita, while more distinctive stylistically than Molina, is an artist that places a premium on clarity, while Coipel and Kubert are more willing to sacrifice clarity for style. That shift is reflected in 'What If? AvX', just not to the same degree. It’s a faint shadow of the original, like a lot of 'What If...?' stories of the modern Marvel.

The one area where there is almost parity is in the reproduction of one cohesive element in 'Avengers vs. X-Men'’s art: the coloring. The entire event (save the 0 issue) was colored by Laura Martin and, in 'What If? AvX', Rachelle Rosenberg has colored all three issues (and I assume will color the fourth issue). At first, when looking at issue three, I had thought that Rosenberg had taken a different approach to coloring Sandoval’s pencils from what she had done for Molina’s, but, looking at some side-by-side comparisons, it’s not as strong a difference as I had thought. It’s a little surprising to learn that, to a degree, how I view the pencil art influences how I perceive the color art. If I don’t like the pencil art, I seem to think that the coloring is weaker somehow. That is an effect that I hadn't given much thought before. Rosenberg’s coloring seems best suited to Molina’s pencils, honestly. She, like Molina, seems to be going for a clean, easy to comprehend style. She doesn't overpower the art with a lot of effects, but does help with mood and storytelling. I particularly like the way she depicts the confrontation in issue two as happening at dusk, something that the pencil art doesn't seem to call for, but adds an emotional tone to the scenes of destruction and death that wouldn't be there if she colored the scene as taking place in the middle of a sunny day. It also allows for a clear passage of time over the course of the series: Magneto and Hope spar during the day; the confrontation with the Avengers happens as dusk begins; the Avengers regroup as we shift to night; Magneto and Phoenix Hope arrive once night has fallen, leading, most likely, to a final issue that takes place at night. She provides a sense of time that tells us when events are happening that another colorist wouldn't necessarily include. I like that.

Next issue, I imagine Jorge Molina will return, but I almost hope that we get another new penciller to finish things. A Kubert to Sandoval’s Coipel after Molina was Romita with Rosenberg acting as the series’ Martin. It will be almost like a true alternate version of 'Avengers vs. X-Men' then.

train kept a-rollin' 002: what if? avx #2

by Chad Nevett

What If? AvX #2 (Marvel)

by Jimmy Palmiotti, Jorge Molina, Norman Lee, Rick Magyar, Rachelle Rosenberg

So utterly dull and uneventful a comic was 'What If? AvX' #2 that the only way to amuse myself at this point is to imagine the parallel universe that goes along with this comic where this is the actual 'Avengers vs. X-Men' event done on fast forward and we have just hit the follow-up issue to Wolverine killing Storm where Magneto, by blowing up the Avengers’ big aircraft, kills Falcon and Colleen Wing. Can you imagine? A Marvel event where the first three deaths are a black woman, a black man, and an Asian woman... and all are there for the sole purpose of shock value? Hoo boy... I would not want to be alternate reality Jimmy Palmiotti.

Thankfully, for the Jimmy Palmiotti that actually exists, this is Real World 616 and no one gives a fuck. But, should they? After all, what is the difference between the senseless deaths of these characters here and in the real 'Avengers vs. X-Men' besides some concept that one story “counts” and the other doesn't? These are all fictional constructs that live and die on a writer’s whim (or editor’s or editorial team’s or... you get the idea). Hell, they’re the same characters, really, with only a somewhat absurd conceptual caveat dividing the outraged from the apathetic (or unknowing). If those characters get killed in the exact same fashion in 'Avengers vs. X-Men' #1 and 2, then people lose their minds, but, they get killed in 'What If? AvX' #1 and 2 and nothing? I both understand and don’t understand, if that makes sense. And it seems a little strange that I actually understand this to a degree.

Really, I’m not trying to criticize the online writers who usually write about deaths like these, they simply present a convenient example in the dynamics of superhero comic readers on a larger scale. Last year, 'Avengers vs. X-Men' #1 was the biggest selling comic of the year to that point and, this year, how many people even know 'What If? AvX' is coming out at all? Part of that is down to hype and marketing. Part of that is the lack of big name creators. But, mostly, it’s that 'What If? AvX' “doesn't count,” so people are inclined to skip it. Having read the first two issues, that seems like the safe bet to keep eight bucks in your pocket, except the decision of those readers to not care was not made after seeing the issues released so far. It wasn't even made when the project was first announced. It was made long ago when they decided to not care at all about 'What If...?' and other comics like it. There’s one group that “counts” and another that doesn't, and the latter isn't limited to extra imaginary stories like 'What If...?', it’s any comics that don’t drive forward the main thrust of the shared universe it inhabits. Quality has nothing to do with it. Content only does in the most superficial sense. And none of this is news to any of you...

So, why does 'What If? AvX' exist? Why is the gravy train still a-rollin’ one year later? The AvX brand is barely remembered, the creative team is C-list at best, and the total cost of this futile exercise is $16 when few would probably shell out one quarter of the cost for a more compact version of the exact same story... No one cares.

They should, though. Because there is no difference between Storm, the Falcon, and Colleen Wing dying as they did here or in any other comic. There isn't. It’s still a comic where those deaths happened in a meaningless manner meant to rack up a tiny body count and create the illusion that the stakes are high all of a sudden. Who cares if it “counts?” These are fictional characters where any story can suddenly “count” or be forgotten and cut out of the history books, by the publisher, by a writer, by an editor, or by the fans. There’s no such thing as “counts.” Go to my old blog and take a look at my 'Avengers vs. X-Men' Reader Order where I put the entire event into a logical, readable order, and scroll right to the bottom where the last two entries are: 'A-Babies vs. X-Babies' and 'What If? AvX'. If they’re part of the reading order, they count. For me, at least. To skip anything on that list is to skip part of the entire 'Avengers vs. X-Men' story. It’s not like there weren't massive, glaring contradictions before having to reconcile the original event with its alternate reality version. Who cares? Is it so hard to hold contradictions in your head, see them there, recognize them, and, yet, not have any invalidated? If 'What If? AvX' was a better story than 'Avengers vs. X-Men', would I seem strange if I preferred to think of it as the “real” story that “counts?” I have said many, many times that I absolutely love the second story in that 'What If? Civil War' one-shot that Marvel published where Tony and Steve talk things out and no one dies. That feels more like the characters that I have read all my life than the actual Marvel event. It feels more “real.” So, in my mind, it is.

Except when it isn't, because it doesn't count.

Fuck.

train kept a-rollin' 001 - what if? avx #1

by Chad Nevett

What If? AvX #1 (Marvel)

by Jimmy Palmiotti, Jorge Molina, Norman Lee, Rachelle Rosenberg

I didn't already know all of this. The biggest Marvel press promotion ever with the biggest event of last year and what did they deliver? A comic that reworks some of the things that the massive amount of comics released last year showed us. I'm almost at a loss over what I can possibly say about this comic. The Phoenix is coming, the Avengers think it's coming for Hope, they want to stop that, Magneto has gone all crazy Mutant zealot, and... fight! But, seriously, I knew most of that going in. That's basically the same premise. The first issue tells me the premise. Again. In a slightly altered form. And guess what? It's not significantly better that way. It's not such a vast improvement over 'Avengers vs. X-Men'.

It's not even that 'What If? AvX' #1 is a bad comic. It’s not a good 'What If...?' comic for one thing. It lacks that central bit of information that drove almost all issues of 'What If...?' throughout its various incarnations: a simple question and answer. “What if Spider-Man joined the Fantastic Four?” “What if Captain America was never unfrozen?” “What if Wolverine was king of the vampires?” “What if Captain America and Iron Man learned to just fucking talk to one another instead of hitting?” I don’t know what the question here is. “What if Avengers vs. X-Men happened differently for no good reason?” There’s no clear point of diversion from what happened in 'Avengers vs. X-Men' #1 last year. There are differences, sure, but that’s just rewriting. 'What If...?' was also rewriting, sure, but in a specific way, with a specific point and a clear purpose. This... this is change for the sake of change. That is not necessarily a bad thing.

I don’t particularly care for this issue. I guess the name 'What If...?' raises certain expectations and this does not meet them. I’m not sure what this actually is. In the same way that DC’s Elseworlds line of books was different from Marvel’s 'What If...?', this issue seems like a third thing, one that we’re used to: the remix. Warren Ellis called his work on Marvel’s Ultimate line of books a remix. Taking a story you already know and changing it around for the purpose of doing something quasi-new. Except, instead of having the distance that the Ultimate books have or even the distance that Brian Michael Bendis writing a new story about Ultron has from previous Ultron stories, this is another version of 'Avengers vs. X-Men' #1 except with random changes that don’t seem any more or less logical. The only function they seem to have is pointing out how artificial and random these stories are.

Why were the “Space Avengers” in 'Avengers vs. X-Men' those specific characters? Because someone decided that those characters should be the ones sent into space. Here, Jimmy Palmiotti decides to send a different roster into space to confront the Phoenix. Why? Because. Why was Cyclops sparring with Hope in 'Avengers vs. X-Men' #1? Because that’s what Brian Michael Bendis wrote. Why is Magneto sparring with Hope in 'What If? AvX '#1? Because that’s what Jimmy Palmiotti wrote. Why does the Phoenix kill the Guardians of the Galaxy? Why does Magneto confront Captain America when he comes for Hope? Why...?

Because.

Because this isn't really 'What If? AvX' #1. Oh no. It’s 'Avengers vs. X-Men' within the world of “What if Magneto was the leader of Utopia?” It’s only hinted at, only suggested, but it’s clear that what’s missing is a previous story where Magneto led the Mutant race coming out of 'House of M', not Cyclops. Where Magneto spearheaded their move to independence on Utopia in response to Trask and Osborn. Where Magneto leads the Extinction Team. He is the face of mutant-kind, the teacher of Hope, and the man that says no to Captain America when he comes to take his people’s messiah. If you thought Cyclops was a crazy motherfucker...

Within that context, this issue begins to make sense, except for one thing: why in the world would Captain America go to Utopia to reason with Magneto? (I know, I know: because that’s what Jimmy Palmiotti wrote! Aw... fuck you.) That’s the moment that does not totally ring true. If anything, Magneto leading the X-Men seems like it would mean a swifter move to violence. A calculated strike on Utopia with a shoot first, ask questions later. A comic where the Avengers are the crazy zealots of a cause to save the planet. That would have been a nice inversion, don’t you think?

(But, look at me, talking about what the comic is not, what the comic is. Gotta work the rust off somehow, I suppose.)

Right now, 'What If? AvX' #1 is a simple alternate to 'Avengers vs. X-Men' #1 where Black Panther goes into space, the Guardians of the Galaxy get blown up, and Wolverine stabs Storm accidentally. That is to say: it’s not that much different from a comic I read last year.

“Buy the ticket, take the ride.”