A+X #2 Review

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By: Chris Bachalo, Peter David (Writer), Chris Bachalo, Mike Del Mundo (Artist), Tim Townsend (Inker), Chris Bachalo (Colorist), Clayton Cowles (Letterer)

The Review: It may come as a surprise that this series – which could so easily have been treated as a last ditch cash grab trading off any residual Avengers vs. X-Men hype – is actually proving pretty indispensable. It’s not so much that the stories contained within will have any lasting ramifications for the heroes they feature, but more that they offer some high-grade levity amidst a stack of comics otherwise geared towards the long game. Don’t get me wrong, I fell in love with FF #1 this week and was once again left utterly impressed by Thor: God of Thunder, but it’s also nice to have something stand-alone to read that asks for nothing more than the opportunity to brighten up my afternoon. I might have gone in not expecting much, but instead I’ve come up against creative teams that have other ideas. They want to ‘wow’ me for 10 minutes; to get in, drop some popping candy in my brain, and get out. And I’m always open to that.

Anyhoo, y’all know the score by now – let’s break it down:

Black Widow + Rogue: Truth be told, in much the same way I fell for the first issue’s honey trap (i.e. Ron Garney drawing Captain America) my decision to pick up #2 was largely based on Chris Bachalo’s involvement. I knew I’d dig the art, but I was also curious to see how well he could script; as far as I’m aware this is something of a first on that front.

Bachalo’s worked with some top flight writing talent over the years and it definitely appears to have made an impression. Ostensibly this story is a team-up between Rogue and Black Widow against a “Suitcase Sentinel,” and while the easy option would have been to block out 10 pages with frenetic gunplay and roundhouse kicks, instead we get genuinely witty banter, a real sense of danger and a clever combination of its primaries’ power/skill sets. I mean yeah, you do get some awesome ass-kicking thrown in too, but it’s the masterfully paced blend of all these different elements that really impresses.

With a story so short (though it reads longer than you’d expect) I’d prefer to leave the details for you to happily stumble across yourself, though the highlights are many. Black Widow shows what happens when you interrupt her day off by unloading a couple of clips into the Sentinel’s face and Rogue (literally) drops in when things take a turn for the worse, buzzing after a throwback/temporary power boost from Captain Marvel.  The two spark off each other like a super-hot Odd Couple and the twist use of Rogue’s mutation at the end? Bound to get a few fanboys hot under the colour.

Visually the book’s fantastic with edgy cool and sultry sexiness to spare, but there’s no one thing I can attribute the story’s success to; it is, quite simply, a consummately professional team-up adventure that you’ll likely find yourself reading more than once. Bravo, Mr Bachalo.

Iron Man + Kitty Pryde: Hands up, I admit that I missed the whole ‘Kitty Pryde is a genius’ memo. I’m not sure how long that’s been the case but Peter David utilises her intellect as a perfect excuse to match her up with the Avengers’ biggest brain, Tony Stark.

Tony being Tony he collects only the best and brightest things, and next on his wish list is Kitty Pryde working at Stark Resilient. In an attempt to entice her, he arranges for Pepper Potts to get Kitty to take a tour around his labs in the hopes of wooing her away from the Jean Grey School of Higher Learning. I think we could all guess that Tony was unlikely to meet with much success in this endeavour but his loss is definitely Peter David’s gain.

The script is wall-to-wall funny, but not in some crude, slapstick way – David has too much class for that. Instead there’s sly verbal sparring, subtle sight gags and smart jokes deserving of their super-smart characters. It’s really charming stuff, twinned with art that chimes perfectly with its light and airy tone.

I’m not too familiar with Mike Del Mundo’s work but really appreciate his involvement here. His art has an ethereal nature, boldly stylised to the point where it enhances the wit and whimsy of Kitty and Tony’s wisecracking exchanges, but malleable enough to just as easily lend a devilish sense of horror to the Broods’ appearance. He also pencils a terrific Lockheed that threatens to steal every panel he appears in.

Again, this is a great self-contained yarn that makes this book 2 for 2, and it exceeded my expectations of what I considered quite an odd pairing of heroes. Let’s hope that David and Del Mundo can find a reason to work together again in the near future.

Conclusion: When your daily allocation of free time feels like it’s ever-dwindling, praise be for comics like this. Stand-alone in nature, small in page count but big on talent, filled with riotous fun from cover to cover – a more enjoyable use of 10 minutes I think I’d be hard pressed to find.  I’ve previously made sure to check the creators headlining each issue before putting down my $3.99, but no more. No-one’s phoning in their A+X performances, and as such this is one team-up book that I’ll be sure to always make time for.

Grade: A

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.