I've been indifferent about Avengers vs X-Men ever since I've heard about it, just because Marvel is going crazy with their events and the fact that Fear Itself ended badly along with Avengers vs X-Men #0 being weak. After reading the first issue of Avengers vs X-Men my thoughts on the event might have to be rethought.
The Phoenix is returning and Hope is the vessel in which it will be going into, every mutant knows this, but not everyone else, not until Nova (unknown if it is Richard Rider or not at the moment) comes crashing to Earth and warns the Avengers that "it is coming". Captain America heads over to Utopia after a flare of Phoenix Force energy surfaces from Hope and demands that Scott hands her over to The Avengers. Scott thinking that the Phoenix is coming back for the rebirth of the mutant race instead of coming to destroy everything and everyone on Earth, he says no to Cap and proceeds to direct a concussive beam towards Cap which then assembles the Avengers to take Hope by force.
Brian Michael Bendis is a hit and miss for me when he writes the Avengers and it's usually easy to distinguish his work, so I was surprised that I was reading something he wrote; there was no "Bendis Speak" or anything else he's known for doing, it was straight forward writing with well done characters.
People have been wondering where does Wolverine stand and I'm liking how he is siding with the Avengers for now. The Phoenix killed Jean Grey, the girl he loved, so of course he's not going to be thrilled with the fact that it's returning and he if he is forced to needing to kill Hope in order to stop the Phoenix, then he will do it, hence why he's never had much contact with her; he doesn't want to become friends with Hope and eventually having to need to kill her.
The art is better than I thought it was going to be, I have never been too fond of John Romita Jr.'s art style; his shading technique makes people look like the have whiskers at time. Also the way he draws faces are weird, especially with face shapes and noses. Knowing that Romita was doing the art I was extremely put down, but after starting to read this issue, I was surprised as well as I was surprised with Bendis, it wasn't as bad as I thought.
All in all Avengers vs. X-Men #1 was a good start off, but it still lacks the excitement factor. The issue was too predictable; that's the problem with this event, I feel like everything is going to be easily predictable and that there isn't going to be something that's going to make me drop my jaw. I think I'm more excited for the fact that Nova is back, sure there's a chance it might not be Rider due to the fact that this Nova looks younger, but I really want to see what they do with him.
Avengers vs X-men #1 - 8/10
