Avengers vs X-Men #12 - Jason Aaron (Writer) and Adam Kubert (Artist)Avengers vs X-Men #12, like the event as a whole, ends up being a series of powerful images broken up by far weaker interludes. Watching the Dark Pheonix ravage the world; Cyclops having a moment of clarity in his madness; Hope becoming the White Pheonix; Cyclops in a ruby quartz cell a la Magneto in the X-Men movies; hell, even the new Nova attacking Cyclops are all excellent scenes, filled with both action and deeper emotional impact. The moments in between however, are far less effective. The conversations between Hope and Wanda at the beginning and Scott and Steve at the end both feel rushed, and the emotions the characters experience in them come out of nowhere. The few panels in which Cyclops taunts the new Nova in particular come across as a cheap advertisement for his Marvel NOW! book, and the actual resolution of the conflict is likewise left to be done in Uncanny Avengers, leaving the event with an end rather than a conclusion. On the art front, Adam Kubert delivers on the action sequences, but falls somewhat short on the more intimate character scenes, where the emotions the characters display with their bodies and faces don't match up with what Aaron would have us believe they are feeling. Ultimately, Avengers vs X-Men #12 isn't going to change anyone's mind about the event; it doesn't deliver a twist ending, and isn't strong enough to erase the faults of earlier issues, or even its own problems. The wide open ending hurts the book, but it does deliver enough action to provide a satisfying ending to those who have been enjoying the event.
As Dan Slott goes about wrapping up hanging plot threads from his Amazing Spider-Man run ahead of Spidey's Marvel NOW! relaunch, issue 695 sees him start in on his early work with the Hobgoblin. This arc promises to be the payoff of events that have been building since the first issues of Big Time, with Phil Urich and Peter headed for a final showdown, the Kingpin making a move against Spider-Man and the city from his Shadowland base, and Norah Winters seems poised to do something for the first time in awhile. As enticing as all these plot threads are, they are only made more so by the sudden re-appearance of Roderick Kingsley. Slott has a lot of moving pieces in this arc, but juggles them well here. He makes an odd choice, however, by deciding to make Madame Web a major character in this arc. Its possible that her story will tie in to the events surrounding Peter later on, but here it comes off as a needless side story with so many more interesting characters begging for attention. Slott continues to write his cast of characters well, and supercharging Peter's Spider-Sense makes for a few fun panels as he becomes aware of mundane risks ("Paper cut!"). It harkens back to earlier Big Time issues that had Parker losing his Spider-Sense, and makes a fascinating comparison as Slott demonstrates that having too much of something can be worse than not having it at all. Overall, Amazing Spider-Man #695 is a solid opening to what looks to be a great penultimate arc for the series.
There's a lot of different ways that one could go about making a death of a hero story, and Brian Michael Bendis makes an unusual choice by going for a mystery story. This approach is looking to work surprisingly well; by having Ben Urich investigate the mysterious circumstances around Murdock's death, Bendis gives himself the opportunity to have his lead investigate the impact that Daredevil's death has on a variety of people, as well as examine the hero's legacy. That legacy will likely be different from the one that Mark Waid's Daredevil would have crafted, as this one seems to have diverged at some point during Bendis' run with the characters, ousting Wilson Fisk as the Kingpin and later murdering him before disappearing. These plot points add some poignancy to Ben Urich's investigations, making it more that just a simple murder mystery, as do Daredevil's mysterious last word (a la Rosebud, a comparison that the book has some fun with) and the mysterious horn headed figure seen on the last page. Choosing to set the book after Daredevils death, rather than making a Death of Superman-esque story that builds up to that event, serves the book well, as it becomes more of an examination of what Daredevil stands for, and what impact he has had, rather than delivering a straight action story that ends with the heroes death. It also allows Bendis to do more work examining and developing Ben Urich, which is always a good thing. End of Days is shaping up to be just as great as the current ongoing Daredevil, and things are shaping up well for all things horned in the immediate future.
Earth 2 finally delivers on the promise of the title, as the future Justice Society are given definite voices and roles on the team and we get characters to inhabit the fascinating world James Robinson crafted in the first 4 issues. The characterization isn't the focus of the issue, and occurs only as Green Lantern is able to gain the haphazardly formed team a small breather. All the characters fit into basic archetypes - Alan Scott as the leader, Jay Garrick as the naive newcommer, Hawkgirl as a sceptic, and the Atom as the soldier, but its enough to prove that this book does, indeed, has a promising future. Robinson devotes most of this issue to showing off his Atom's powers - a wise choice, as they are very different from the more familiar Ray Palmer's Atom - and introducing a General Khan who works for the world army. Through Khan, Robinson explores how the world government works, and takes some rather obvious cues from Joss Whedon's council in The Avengers (Khan even stands in pretty well for Samuel J. Jackson's Nick Fury). The conflict with Grundy and the rot continues to be more compelling than the generic alien invasion of last years Justice League, but much like in that title the first battle has stretched on a bit too long. Next issues promises to wrap that element up, however, and this issues leaves much to look forward to as Robinson continues to explore Earth 2.
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