Customer Reviews

X-Men vs. Avengers (Marvel Premiere Classic)

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is another Marvel Premiere Classic volume. It reprints the X-Men vs Avengers mini series #1-4 from 1987 and X-Men #9 from 1965. Extras include the cover and article about the mini series from Marvel Age #48 and Roger Stern's original story write up. Marvel has no doubt been hearing criticism about the relatively high cover price for only a four issue mini series in previous volumes so has tried to sweeten the deal by including the first X-Men/Avengers crossover from the Silver Age. I am less than impressed since I have the issue collected in the relevant X-Men masterworks volume. I suspect that will be the case for many readers of this book. I deduct a star for the low bang for the buck this volume offers.

The story itself however is not much to write home about. Marvel has tied themselves up in knots over the years with the "humans are prejudiced against mutants" theme. This might be a compelling theme if not consistently undermined by story after story showing that humans have every reason to be afraid of mutants. In the present story it gets even more confusing as the X-Men sell out completely. They are no longer concerned about what an individual does; all that matters is if that individual is a mutant. Mutants never need answer to humans. In fairness Stern's original script worked *much* better; deFalco's rewrite is a disaster.

In short this story doesn't work for me because Marvel has never completely grasped the moral issues involved. I think perhaps today (2010) Marvel realizes at some level that this story just doesn't work which is why they included Stern's notes. It would be interesting to know what Stern thought of deFalco's rewrite.