New Avengers (Vol. 2) #30

Background

It's Avengers versus X-Men. A few one shot tie ins with the AvX event from the New Avengers’ point of view.

(This story is set after AvX #11.)

Story 'Avengers vs X-Men crossover'

Daredevil and Luke Cage are discussing the latter’s family life whilst escorting a prisoner back to Avengers headquarters. (The prisoner is Emma Frost, who no longer has the Phoenix force and is wearing a power dampening device.) They think the Avengers’ life is just too dangerous in which to raise a child and something’s gotta give. Suddenly the convoy is attacked by the Purifiers (mutant haters who seem to love speaking in scripture quoting preacher-like talk). The team, which also includes Mockingbird and the Thing, successfully defeat their assailants whilst keeping Emma Frost safe and under arrest. The battle was too much for Luke though; he rings his wife and tells her he’s coming home – for good. Luke Cage just quit the Avengers.

General Comments

An alright story: a standard battle with Luke Cage’s conflict between his super hero life and his family life being told alongside. I think it uses the AvX event well – as the event is coming to the end, the two sides are in a weakened state and so the Purifiers take this chance to take out Emma Frost. Sensible timing on their behalf and similar to the plan of Mr Negative in Avengers (Vol. 4) #30, catching your enemies at the weakest and/or when they are not expecting it. Cage points out the irony of the fight; how for so long the Avengers have been fighting against Frost and now here they are defending her. A week ago they may have welcomed the Purifiers attack, maybe even teamed with them! I did find it funny to see Emma Frost in her normal costume. I haven’t read AvX #11, so maybe when she lost the Phoenix force to Cyclops, her costume reverted to the normal one. If not, would the Avengers have let her change outfits before taking her away? I think not – unless it was an orange jumpsuit they were going to put her in. I suppose the artist using her costume makes her recognisable to the reader at once so I’ll forgive him! Talking of the art, it's nice throughout the issue capturing the frantic motion of the fight and the explosions well. My only nitpick is the cover as, apart from a cameo in a flashback, Iron Fist does not feature and as anyone who has read my reviews before knows, I don’t like misleading covers! Seriously though, why couldn’t it have been Thing or Mockingbird on the cover?

The other story point to review is that of Luke quitting the team. I think this was well done and I liked the interaction between Cage and Daredevil with Frost looking on. At the start of the AvX event he decided to stay and help his friends, but during this he realised that whilst the enemies may change, the fighting will never really end and he can’t do it and be with his family at the same time. My only query will be how long Luke will stay on the sidelines. What event is it going to take for him to have/want/need to leave his family again? With the extended timeline Marvel uses, it’s going to take a fair while for little Danielle to grow up (at least without time travel, abnormal genes or a super power interfering) so if/when he does come back I hope they explain it well. It’s something writers don’t seem to be too good at. Who remembers Avengers (Vol. 4) #14, which ended with Red Hulk being smashed into orbit by a possessed Thing? Never to return according to Jarvis – only for him to return in Avengers (Vol. 4) #18 without a word said! I hope they can find some middle ground should Luke return as Pete and MJ had to lose their child, whilst Curt Connors killed his son – can we please have something nice this time?!

So AvX is over and I must say as a New Avengers reader I’m glad it is. Hopefully this comic can finish on a high note whilst telling its own story.

Overall Rating

Helped wrap things up. Nothing bad, nothing amazing.