Avengers and X-Men: Axis Issue #1 Review

Welcome to The Pull Bag. Join us as we dig out

our latest comics and discuss them with a rotating

panel of the GCRN crew. So sit back and enjoy

this week's Pull Bag. I, ladies and gentlemen,

I have no idea what the hell happened. No clue

what the hell has happened. I have pretty much

lost control of this podcast of my, it's of my

own personal problems with my numbering scheme

and having to, uh, you know, get stuff done on

time. As of this moment, and I said this in the

last podcast, um, as of this moment, I have,

for the fifth week in October, I have about six

episodes coming out. I'm not going to do that,

but Punisher Month may have to, um, not happen

this year. I'm not really sure how I'm going

to do that or... I don't even think I can get

Daring December done, but I think what I'm going

to have to end up doing is just making Punisher

Month back issue classics. That way it won't

interfere with my numbering scheme, and that's

probably going to be the best way. But I am here,

of course, and this time around Jeremy Fine is

back. Hello, sir. Hello, good sir. How are you?

You don't even want to know. Don't let the list

my last name fool you all out there Just leave

it at that He is feigning to be fine ladies and

gentlemen To quote To quote John Bridger freaked

out insecure neurotic and emotional. That's what

fine Or in your case freaked out emotional insecure

and neurotic My Jewish genes, yeah And ladies

and gentlemen, I am about to break your brain,

okay break the entire listening audience's brain

because in episode 89 of this is episode 89,

right? Yes episode 89 of the podcast I am jumping

ship over to Marvel because Avengers and X -Men

Access just released. Jeremy and I are going

to be talking about the first issue. I had my

buddy JT from Saskatoon, who you all have heard

many times on this show, give me a five minute

lesson on pretty much anything I needed to know

up to this point because all I really knew was

that this all stems out of... Avengers vs. X

-Men which was the last big Avengers X -Men event

that Marvel did and we're only the only reason

I'll be upfront with you ladies and gentlemen

the only reason why I have any interest in this

is because in the first issue solicitation I

believe I'm trying to think in the first issue

solicitation for For superior Iron Man it says

Let's see your solicitation spirit Iron Man number

one be superior How much would you pay for perfection

beauty and mortality Tony Stark knows and he

is ready to give it to you and superior Iron

Man number one But at a terrible price spinning

out of Avengers and x -men access the old Tony

Stark is back Only this time he is superior.

That line, spinning out of Avengers and X -Men

Access, is the only reason why we are covering

this title. This is a nine -issue mini -series,

I guess you could call it, nine -issue mini -series.

We're gonna be doing these two a month from here

on out. I probably should, we actually probably

should friggin' wait until... Wow, you know,

I didn't think of that. God damn it. I just wasted

all of our time right now. Mm -hmm We should

have waited till after Wednesday because the

15th issue 2 comes out I believe Well, we could

I guess fuck I guess we could waste a ton Well,

I guess we could do like a preview anyway for

one Knock that out at least Yeah Yeah, cuz we

cuz you know used to do previews anyway for pixels

in the animation and tune cast for episodes I

guess we could kind of do like a you know, what

appetite for this like a pilot for the mini -series.

Yeah. Yeah Yeah, it's that'll work. I just As

you know, there's so much shit going on in my

offline life that I am just so not Just so not

ready to be talking about comics at this point.

You know what comics are? Comics are my escape

because They are yeah, I mean again if it wasn't

for me podcasting in comics. I probably go Joker

right now and Yeah, which speaking of which for

my podcast. We're gonna be telling Joker stories

for honey Queen We're doing some actually some

Joker stories that I don't think people remember

Some good ones too. Besides laughing fish, five

-way revenge, which kind of brings Joker back

after Silver Age. He becomes old -school Joker.

Interesting. Alright. Yeah, man who laughs. But

anyway, let's get back to this. So we've got

Avengers and X -Men access issue number one.

It is written by Rick Remender, which I believe

this is the first thing I've ever read by him.

Ladies and gentlemen, I've only been reading

comics for two years now, so forgive me. The

art is done by Adam Kubert, and the cover is

done by Jim Chung. Looking at Remender's other

stuff... Yeah, this is probably the only thing

I've read by him. And guess who the chief creative

officer is. Quesadilla? Yes. Oh, yeah, I mean

Quesadilla has been the CEO since God knows how

long. I just want to give this man a hug. Why?

Well, you know, half the Marvel universe wants

to punch him in the face, and I just want to

shake the man's hand for several reasons. And

you know what? I love that certain issue that

we dare not talk about, but you know, one day

I will. But in the meantime, yeah, remember he

does not sound familiar But I've heard his name

many many times before but I don't I He's done

a lot of stuff. He's done a lot of stuff for

Marvel. He's Out of just reading this one issue.

He's a damn good writer And I've heard his name

many many many times before but this is the first

thing that I've ever read by him Yeah, here's

the thing. I actually came across this issue

because somebody at work is a bigger comic book

nerd than me, apparently, because we were talking

about Days of Future Past over the summer. And

I said it was a damn good X -Men movie compared

to what I felt, you know, in the beginning. I

mean, one was okay. I thought two. Two, I can't

shut up about. Three, of course, I think we're

all disappointed with. And then I love First

Class. And Days of Future Past, but then it was

like people were coming out of the woodwork and

saying, no, you didn't read the comics then if

you loved the movie. And it was like, yes, no,

yes, no. And then finally, you know, my coworker

came up to me and said, you really want to read

a good X -Men comic. This is the one that's,

you know, being talked around the water cooler.

So, yeah, I mean, this is a big deal because

you've got not only the Avengers, but X -Men.

You've got humans and mutants fighting side by

side, which for a while, as far as I knew with

the continuity, it's not like Wolverine didn't

fight with Spider -Man, which technically, you

know, Spider -Man is an Avenger and, you know,

we'll cage and we can go on and on. But this

became a bigger deal for me, I think, because...

One, you're taking a villain, Red Skull, who

I've never really been a fan of, other than the

fact, okay, he's got a red skull, and it was

during World War II, but now you have him as

onslaughts, or the red onslaughts. And I feel

that, you know, you're taking a character that,

for me anyway, was an F character, and you've

cranked him up to 11. You're taking somebody

you're rebooting him and I think for me It's

smarter than just you know throwing Magneto into

the frame or apocalypse because you know in a

couple years. He'll be back So this was actually

because I saw the Captain America movie, and

I've read the comics again Didn't see him as

anything, but you know as I said here at least

now it's I don't know, he's kind of got powers

of a demigod. So, it's workable. Yeah, I mean,

it's... Why don't I equate this to this nine

-issue mini -series here? That's gonna be...

Because, as we said, the first issue just came

out, so it's gonna be going on. And actually,

what I found out by looking at the solicitations

is... They're going to be putting out Three issues

of this in the next three months. So October

will have Issues one two and three November will

have four through six and then December will

have seven and nine, which is perfect Yeah So

we have the opening and we have a previously

thing and that for me was really invaluable a

previously page in a Marvel book here because

I hadn't read a lot of the other stuff and it

sets it up very well for someone like me who

is fresh and new and and Not read a lot of more,

you know current Marvel that really kind of set

me on the path where I felt like I could be okay

Reading this first issue and the rest of this

miniseries. I am NOT and we will not Be covering

any of the tie -ins for this because as we all

know when comic book companies start a Whether

it's five six seven eight nine ten issue eleven

issue twelve issue miniseries They always run

it around to the other books that the main characters

for each of those books are in They always have

plenty of time. I'm not dealing with tie -ins

I want the main story and that's it. Yeah, it's

gonna take too long for all the tie -ins and

I've tried to go back Yeah, too long for all

the tie -ins and honestly too much goddamn money

that I don't even have so we open up with Los

Angeles and the Avengers are fighting each other

because the whole point behind this story is

uh... the red onslaught slot you know red skull

slash onslaught the red onslaught he is created

world war hate all is i can think of first thing

soon as i read this issue first thing i thought

i was like orgies Who the hell got a hold of

Jessica Swalford and her husband and her boyfriend

and her father and who the hell brought the hate

plague back from that son and tried to infect

Optimus? The only thing I can think of is friggin'

Transformers episode, the return of Optimus Prime

two -parter from Generation One. Because that,

to me, is exactly what this is. As far as the

overall general concept of what the red onslaught's

plan is, World War Hate. Is that not the same

goddamn thing as what happened in that episode?

It was an accident! Right. Here's what I felt.

I don't think people are trying to be unoriginal.

I don't think somebody said, hey, remember that

Transformers episode in the 80s? Let's just take

it and end. On a legality issue, we can't cut,

copy, and paste. I mean, I was having this conversation...

off -subject Annabelle, like, was that copying

Rosemary's baby? Yeah. But they changed it around

a little so they don't make it the same. Here's

the thing, though. The argument is, is that the

red skull comes from World War II. He's taken,

you know, the mutant haven, Ganesha, and turned

it into... you know, a concentration camp for

mutants. He's taking the hate plague and twisting

it around a little bit now where it's not just

having people, you know, against people like

they did in the hate plague for Transformers.

He's trying to go back to, you know, a perfect

world Adolf Hitler, which was different from

the hate plague because that was just the virus

that came and anybody who touched it was, you

know, and also they were trying to revive Optimus

Prime. So. Right, no no no, I understand that,

I'm just saying that yes, this is giving, this

is showing you that this is all stemming out

of World War II and I understand that and I'm

fine with that, I'm just saying the whole thing

with the fact that it's... a red character, whether

it's Red Skull or whether it's Onslaught, a red

character creating a hate plague. Oh yeah, definitely.

It's the first thing I jumped to was Transformers

Generation 1, because that's what I know. Yeah.

So, we've got... in this first page and this

is why i love comixology if you look at it in

page view in just a single page view it shows

you these for the first page it shows you these

little strips if you look at it in guided view

technology it shows you uh... each strip as its

own kind of page uh... and we've got tony stark

we've got uh... okay so we get tony stark captain

america the vision Who is that guy at the bottom

on that first pant on the first Crap the one

that says even and even kale The hell is that

yeah, I'm trying to look at the cast Yeah, it's

not I know it's not there's stores on the next

page. Is it is it the Black Captain America?

No, no, it's a no. That's a white guy He's flying

down. He's behind the jet Cuz Tony cap and a

vision are above it. Yeah, I and then and then

Thor's on the jet So I don't know who that character

is. Yeah, I'm looking at it, too. I see them

on the jet. I Might be Falcon. I'm trying to

look here No, it's they can't be Falcon Falcons

black that guy's on fire Hmm, whatever. Anyway,

yeah, it probably yeah, it's on fire. Yeah, it's

on fire. Okay So we've got that and we've got

all this stuff going back and forth and and this

really like when I when I started reading this

issue I'm like, you know the first page Man,

they've really let LA go Permitting one's lawn

to get this overgrown and a man -eating vegetation

is really breaking a social contract I hear Robert

Downey Jr I really hear him in my head. I don't

care. I really, really do. I love how these characters

interact here, even though some of them I don't

know. I mean, I know of Vision, but I don't know

much about him. Obviously, with Iron Man, Cap,

and Thor, I know them from cartoons and the movies

and all that stuff and everything else. But this

is the first time I've seen anything because

as I said before ladies and gentlemen, I haven't

read Marvel Comics in a long The last Marvel

comic I read it was some time in Okay, not counting

the Iron Man 3 preludes and the spider -man stuff

but like The spider -man stuff that JT and I

covered was superior spider -man and all that

stuff not counting that Before that, the last

time I read a Marvel comic book was 1994, 1995.

So the last time I had ever seen Vision was in

that crappy Avengers cartoon. And I'm not talking

about Earth's Mightiest Heroes. I'm talking about

United We Stand. So we've got Iron Man, Vision,

and the art is amazing in this. I love this art.

I love Plant Man. I love the design of him. You

know I was really hoping that they would have

said It's an obsession with play. I was really

hoping for some secret like you know copycat

of Pamela Isley to show up and It'd be a poison

ivy thing, but I know obviously it's Marvel They

won't do that, but that's just the DC fan and

me you know screaming out Yeah, I mean they would

have made sense, but it looks more like swamp

thing for some reason. I don't know why But yeah,

it is a cheap knockoff, but I have to admit it

is one of the more interesting battles I felt

it wasn't just like another again throwing a

plant creature in there for the sake of throwing

it in there It definitely it's shooting toxins

out It's it almost looks like a plant version

of carnage or venom if you think about it Because

he's hanging by his vines the way that carnage

would hang from his you know veins Yeah Again,

I love Tony Right cancel my appearance on Jeopardy.

I just love Tony Stark. He is so awesome Fact

check Friday Wow that that needs to be a hashtag

So this is where in this issue or in this series

they have replaced Cap well they haven't really

replaced him Steve Rogers is old at this point

so Falcon is the new Captain America I don't

mind this because it's not replacing Steve Rogers

as Captain America it's just taking the Falcon

and making him you know Captain America the Falcon.

I mean it I have no problem with that whatsoever

What I had a problem with when when comic companies

or any, you know piece of media replaces a character

Think of oh god. I hate to even bring this up

it think of movies. Okay, you've seen the original

Cruel intentions, correct? Yes With what's his

name Ryan Philippi Reese Witherspoon Sarah Michelle

Geller. Yes They then made Cruel Intentions 2

and 3 where they replaced the cast but told the

set at least Cruel Intentions 2 Replaces the

cast and tells the same goddamn story as the

first movie That's what I hate about the media

these days. It's not just comic books, it's when

people do that, when they try to give me the

same story, but hey, we're gonna dumb it down

and give you completely different, you know,

different actors and actresses. That's what I

don't like. So I'm glad that Steve Rogers is

still around. Okay. That's great. So we get Thor.

Thor will not clean weeds while there is battle

to be had. Calling Chris Helmsworth, like, seriously.

Yeah, I love this. Yeah, if you desire a guardian,

then do it yourself, little bird. Yeah, I keep

forgetting that he speaks in Shakespearean or,

you know. As guardians speak, yeah. Yeah, but

I also hear Chris Helmsworth's voice in this

one. But for the new... Captain America the Falcon.

I don't know why I Terrence Howard comes to mind

for some reason. I don't know. I guess it's because

it's there is no next time, baby You know somebody's

mother said you know what we really feel what

happened, so why don't we just kind of put them

in something Yeah, you're right cuz you look

at the line where he says I recognize that Thor

Isn't smart enough to understand my tactics,

but that's why Thor doesn't lead the Avengers

I can kind of see that coming out of Terrence

Howard's and hear that coming out of his mouth

I don't think I got enough of Falcon in Winter

Soldier to really like hear like Tony Stark Iron

Man Robert Downey Jr. We've had four movies If

you want to count his many appearances in other

Marvel movies like the Hulk that's five movies

The four obviously Iron Man 1 2 3 and the Avengers

I Don't even hear like Almi Ballard from superhero

squad show in this Falcon So I'm just kind of

like making up my own voice and my own head at

this point for this character But I can kind

of see where you're coming from as far as Terrence

Howard. Yeah So we get We get we get past that

and then after we get past that page we get to

Thor Throwing the hammer and then some weird

red bubble he doesn't respect you You know and

then Tony's like okay what he imperils you to

all placate his he he imperils you all to placate

his pride egotistical fool like this red thing

this is the hate plague this is the this is the

red onslaught talking to everybody you know trying

to get them to turn on each other which is really

really interesting what do you think of the art

so far Art to me is breathtaking. It's amazing.

I don't know why, 50 % of it feels like I'm reading

an old school 90s Marvel comic mixed in with

today. Maybe just with the backgrounds and designs,

but it feels like nothing's changed or it's not

a bad thing. They just cleaned up a few models

here and there. But I... One, I would definitely

like to wallpaper Plant Man. just dangling from

there. I don't know what it is. I mean, he has

these piranha plant things going after, you know,

Vision and Wasp and Iron Man and Falcon and Thor

is on the plane and stuff. It's just amazing

what they can do nowadays with just cleaning

up some old models. I mean, it feels like a compa

cover. It does very much so. I love the art on

the close -up where vision says egotistical fool

vision looks great there His his whole face kind

of looks metallic. I mean, I know he's a he's

an Android. He's a robot. I know that but Like

he and Tony can almost be twins as far as their

shininess to their their helmets there And then

the art kind of changes from that close -up to

Thor's close -up and it Thor just He looks out

of place. He doesn't even have bat nipples. I

mean I Don't know what it is about this this

store here just in this one panel where where

vision flies off He says I have had enough, but

I fear you not hollow man made of tin Thor in

this panel just doesn't look right to me. I don't

know what it is, but it just, maybe it's the

way he's angled or the way his stance is. He

doesn't look like Thor. No, he's not. Maybe it's

me and I go back to, you know, when I was reading

Marvel in the 90s. He just looks like any guy

that put on a cape and is holding the axe. I

don't know why. He looks like a... a less than

bleach blonde superman without superpowers. Yeah,

I mean... Look at that red cage. Yeah, I mean,

the way it's blowing, it's like somebody looked

at, like, at Frank Miller's work and copied it

or traced it. Mm -hmm. Um... So, you know, we

have... Oh, the plane. The plane is the Avengers

plane. Okay. I wasn't sure what plane that was

earlier, but now I see it's the Avengers plane.

And we've got Hawkeye and Widow on there with

Hulk. Was that Thor? Are you blind and deaf,

idiot? We're going down. Eject! And again, the

art looks stunning. I know they're trying to

get Cap... be that you know get the Falcon to

be Captain America but I'm sorry ladies and gentlemen

having the wings and having him still be Falcon

Cap or Cap Falcon or whatever that just looks

weird where it's the panel next to the explosion

where where where Wasp gets hit where the the

red onslaught says he usurps your authority I

sure as hell don't need a robot doing my fighting,

and then obviously Cap attacks Vision. That panel,

it just... Seeing it with the wings in the cap

suit just looks all wrong. You know what, I felt

the same way, and I'll even go in the movies

like Iron Patriot. It doesn't... It feels like

Captain America in an Iron Man suit. And to see

Falcon in a Captain America... I understand...

Okay, you can't get rid of the wings. That's

understandable. But then you should either call

him something else. I'm not saying Captain America

2, and I'm not saying Cap Falcon, but maybe American

Eagle. It would make more sense and just like

change the suit a little bit. I mean, if he wants

to be under the tutelage of Steve, that's understandable.

But to make him under the... Another Captain

America and then Cap Falcon. No, it doesn't have

a ring to it and that was the whole cuz like

Let's face it Captain America Steve Rogers. He

can leap tall buildings in a single. Oh, I'm

sorry, but I mean he has super strength he has

you know You know he jumps all over the place

and you know he jumps from from long distances

and stuff like that He kind of does fly on his

own. He doesn't have the power of flight, but

he does you know when he does his long jumps

He doesn't have a flying power and with Falcon

I mean That's the whole point of the Falcon.

He mimics a Falcon So the only way you're gonna

get this guy to continue to fly in a Captain

America suit is to add wings It just looks really

shitty in that panel and it looks even worse

in the next panel when plant man says are you

people insane all you primates fight each other

i've called forth a tsunami of sweet green well

somebody hold the peas yeah it's the alliterations

that don't do it for me but no but also this

close -up of iron man again maybe it's me i like

the red and yellow Red and gold. Yeah, I don't

already. Oh, I'm sorry Hulk Hogan This one I

don't know. I mean he's shiny don't get me wrong

but for some reason he feels like He put too

much polish and and took out the red. I don't

know it just See, it's only when he's on close

-up that it looks really good This like I said

earlier with the panel with with him and vision

next to each other That it looks really good,

and I agree with you the red and gold You know

throw a little hot rod red in there with the

gold You know that that does look good, and it

will always look good the black and gold I always

thought was his space suit The white one was

a space suit mmm. Oh That's that's well in Iron

Man Adventures, I think he used a black and gold

for space, but anyway. So we get Plant Man here,

and even on that panel where Plant Man says the

Tsunami was sweet green, Cap Falcon still looks,

it's not a close up on him, but you see the shield,

you see the wings, and the wings even, oh my

god, that's horrible. The wings they change colors

look at the panel before I was complaining about

him Where he throws the shield the wings on the

underside are blue, okay on the next panel where

where Plant man says are you people insane his

wings in the background look red and they are

red on the under that's That's bad art right

there. That's just bad art direction Yeah I don't

know why, and there are times he's reminded me

of Angel, you know, the mutant. Yeah, this is

just... For me, it almost looks black and red

for some reason. Yeah, this is just... It's all

the way in the far... And you can't even tell

if he wasn't holding a shield. I would have no

idea who this was. Absolutely. It's just... It's

just... They needed to keep it, you know... Mean

even vision I can tell who vision is cuz giant

green cape and red red face. I know in yellow

torso I know who vision is that's that's easy,

and he's not even he's way in the background

and anyway so We get iron man man. I hate to

do this right in the middle But I'm gonna have

to ring check the shrubbery rant Love that. So

as all of this is going on, we finally see the

Hulk and Red Onslaught is basically talking to

the Hulk, getting the Hulk to come after Stark.

And he basically smushes his head. Well, Hulk

Smash, yeah. Yeah, I mean there always has been

some tension between the two. I mean that is

you know Don't let the Avengers movie fool you

If you go to the comic universe, yeah Iron Man,

well Tony Stark and the Hulk have always you

know, not seen eye to eye Especially if we ever

get into World War Hulk, but yeah, it's typical

I don't know how you feel about the design of

this Hulk I'm okay with I mean I know. Is it

hard to draw Hulk? There's one that I really

liked in X -Men, Wolverine vs Hulk, where he

was a little bit grittier, and he had this receding

hairline. Here, it just looks like a giant green

thing that... I don't know. It's... I mean, I'm

fine with Hulk. He's got the purple pants, so

I'm fine with that. Yeah, as long as he keeps

it on, yeah. You know, he's got the purple pants

that's good You know the the scene where he barges

in he looks really cool there His hair just kind

of looks like it's a mop on top of his head without

the stick Which is fine. I'm not here to critique

the the Hulk's hairstyle whatsoever even on the

close -ups here where he's got you know Tony

by the head where Tony says just one sec Hulk

okay duplicate telepathic frequency invert and

we should have a so that panel there Hulk kind

of he's not as defined as he was in the panel

beforehand but I mean overall I'm fine with the

design it's not as bad as Some other versions

of Hulk that I've seen Well and getting back

of course to the story You know the red onslaught

got into Hulk's head So he's about to you know

we see him just like with one hand actually his

hand is across Tony's head As we can see because

you know, it's Hulk and Tony's trying to find

a way to break the You know telepathic bond that

onslaught has against Hulk and I love this where

Tony is just going how we feel buddy a spin a

smidgen less irritated I mean, I know it's all

relative and Hulk is just like you can see his

face It's like I I'm sorry, but I love the face

that he makes on this. He almost looks like a

giant Gumby He does He does I was complaining

earlier about Falcons wings And I think what

happened in that earlier panel is that they showed

him being tied up from the back Hence why his

wings were red in the other panel whereas they

were blue in the panel before it. It's still

it looks It still looks wrong, but So we find

out that you know telepathy is you know the culprit

here you know who is who is the one person that

can you know do a mass telepathic thing like

that and obviously we'll find out here in a little

bit and apparently Steve calls Tony You know,

and Tony's like, oh, we're dealing with a telepathic

broadcast, I know, blah, blah, blah. No, it's

not just Los Angeles. It's the entire world,

Tony. It's everywhere. And we see this giant

panel of Avengers Mansion. Which is really, really

cool, but man, is Steve Rogers getting old. But

he looks good. And again, he looks across between

Clint Eastwood. Mhm. And an Elder Bush terrain

for some reason. Mhm. Which I guess that's where

they were going with, I guess with, you know,

Steve and Cap Falcon, but still. Mhm. I do love

the exterior or interior of the mansion. It kind

of looks like the house of tomorrow today. Mhm.

But, I -I -I do appreciate what - They kind of

did with the mansion with with the computers

now and Again, no complaints with with design

of the mansion None at all looks absolutely great.

Yeah, I love the panels like all the gritty designs

mm -hmm So we get to The next scene Come to find

out that That's that's not Hawkeye is it no,

I don't think so no, it's not it's But anyway

we get to this scene and we see that Oh, this

is Havoc, that's right. Havoc and Janet, that's

right, because Havoc and Wasp have a relationship.

This is Scott's brother. Right, right, yeah,

it's Scott's brother. No, the only reason why

I said it was Hawkeye, ladies and gentlemen,

is because the opening monologue here, I am not

face down in the mud of a Genotion reeducation

camp. To the left of it, it's got like a bullseye

type of thing, hence why I thought it was Hawkeye,

but it's Havoc. Yeah, I think that it's a symbol

actually, Havoc. Yeah, no, I'm sure it is but

you know me I haven't read a lot of Marvel lately.

So yeah, and I have forgotten I the only thing

I remember about havoc. Yeah, is that he's Cyclops

his brother but past that he hasn't really been

mentioned much so he's kind of been forgotten

And so we see that He is married to Janet aka

the wasp and they have a child Katie and all

of a sudden It's gone Just gone rise Alex you

are neat and we see a very very crypt keeper

looking Professor X appearing to to Alex here

and I I didn't even recognize Professor X here

at all until I saw the bubble of Alex saying

Professor X Didn't even recognize him. I'm like

who is that old dirty man in the corner? Hmm

tree beard some people call me. Yeah, he kind

of looks I wouldn't say grip keeper so much.

I Thought he was the watcher for some reason

like they redesigned him Mm -hmm Yeah, but it

looks like the top of his head is gone. Well,

that's right because the Cyclops killed him.

Yeah Yeah, cuz he had the power of the Phoenix

and he used the power of the Phoenix and he Kind

of like with x -men 3 what you know Phoenix did

in that movie Yeah, Cyclops pretty much at the

same thing and killed Xavier And then of course

the we'll get to where it happened to his brain

And he says do not allow his hatred to be my

legacy, please and Katie, she never existed.

The monsters took her from you, but I'll stop

them and you'll help me. I see in your heart

you welcome the cleansing. Open your eyes. And

we have a monologue from Havoc. Why is every

damn suit in the Marvel Universe, at least in

this issue, every person in a suit have to kind

of look like Tony's? Don't think so much it has

to look like Tony's it's just that I Mean again

with Havoc. I remember his powers would come

out of his chest the way that You know with Cyclops

his beams would come out of his eyes. That was

it. You know Right that was the thing between

us two. It's really hard not to copy the same

suits I mean it would make more sense. I guess

black is easier to draw for this But again Havoc

as I recall then it's been a while since I've

seen him. I think he was also Orange and black

or yellow and gold and they were complaining

it was too much like Wolverine So they kept changing

to blue and I guess now black it's just you know

easy to put on Well, I guess it's supposed to

match the mood right now Yeah, true So we have

this scene we have the red skull talking to Havoc

um as havoc is still monologuing um the art is

amazing here in this in this big splash page

one of the uh it's like cthulhu yeah i mean yeah

again i want this as an action figure the red

onslaught he looks like yeah Which would have

made more sense, and I guess they couldn't, you

know, clear it with the Lovecraft estate. But

yeah, we have the Ryke Eternal. We've got the

Scarlet Witch up in the background. That looks

like Magneto, if I'm not too mistaken. Yep. That's

Magneto. And I can't... Is that Rogue? It looks

like... Yes. Yeah, it is Rogue. I figured as

much. Yep. Yep. Because that's who comes into

play later. um... what do you think of them taking

until like this after like after this big splash

page to actually show you the title of the book

and uh... and the uh... all the credits because

usually that's on like i know all different comics

do it different ways like uh... nightwing number

twenty nine did it like the very last page of

the book etc but like normally in marvel books

they show you right up front you know but I mean

this kind of ties in to what what he's saying

now strike with everything you have I know this

animal well and if we do not kill red onslaught

right now we will all be dead tomorrow so it

does tie in to the story it's not just stuck

there but um what do you think of tying this

tying the title page into Into the story, you

know, I've always been a fan of cold openings

as long as you have something that is not just

Previously because usually with with anything

that's like previously just here. It's a little

bit easier because I'm for people who haven't

Read previously as I'm trying to do an air quotes

I don't mind so much as cold openings trying

to tie everything together. It's At one point,

I didn't even care whether or not I was going

to see the title or not for this, because I saw

the cover. And I saw the previously, and I saw

everything that was going on right now. I didn't

think they were going to put in this title after

six or seven pages. So was it needed? No. Did

I think this was a prologue, slash cold open,

or whatever? No. I'm OK with it. Um, yeah, it

would have made more sense Not to put in the

credits. It's not a movie or a tv show. It's

a comic Yeah, I don't know if they're doing it

because again I have the digital comic. I don't

have the actual comic. I don't know. Yeah, it's

the same with me Yeah, I don't know exactly how

they would do this. But is it annoying? for a

digital Yeah, because even for a paper as I said

you have the cover you have the previously you

have the cast Just you know Instead of having

this huge credit thing, unless you want to take

a breather, then it's acceptable. But if not,

just put it in chapter one. Yeah, I mean, I'm

fine with it. But even looking at it in the one

-page view of Comixology, it still shows up as

one -page. I've even switched to... The two well

did I switch to two page? Wow, that's weird I've

switched over to two page and that even yeah,

I mean it shows these these last three pages

the the access access access page where it's

it's It's right before we get to the it's the

page where we first see havoc and you know that

dream sequence that page the following splash

page and then the the the credit page are all

three separate pages even on the two page spread

so this isn't even like this credit thing isn't

even like a a um like just a part of a panel

of a page it is a full page so i assume in the

actual um i assume in the actual physical convict

it would be the same way but again i'm we don't

have that we have the digital stuff so So we

get, as you said, Rogue and Scarlet Witch, and

Rogue and Scarlet Witch are trying to attack

the Renown slot. He's basically saying, open

your mind to me and Scarlet Witch, well, she

submits. But it's a great up close. Oh, absolutely.

With the eyes and I love the two panels of her

getting possessed because you could see her hand

is like an open claw. her body and then you of

course see the last panel or eyes are just like

wall -eyed and you have the hypnotic but I Also

loved a couple pounds before that where they're

both trying to go against onslaught issuing the

beams out at them and Even the up close stuff

where they're trying to shoot at him and you

could just see like, you know the lock jaw Yeah,

this is probably one of the best um background

and of course artwork i've seen a long time in

any comic he's definitely intimidating oh absolutely

and then we get to magneto and he um like you

know and havoc um you know um also fighting yeah

and he almost looks like he's shooting out like

pink slime Yeah, I don't know why but it just

doesn't look right it looks like Something from

high sea back in the 90s again, like, you know

Pink Panther lemonade, but yeah, it's also it's

good artwork and there are good colors to him

He just looks a little bit, you know Yeah, I

don't it would have made sense to put some more

blues in there for his powers Yeah You know,

I almost feel like we need Lady Liberty, you

know, walking through the streets of New York,

you know, humming, you know, seriously. Like,

brimming with good slime, because it's like,

the red skull, he is Vigo! It's like, seriously?

Wow. So we get Havoc. Havoc wants to basically

kill Magneto. and havoc gets thrown through a

wall and you know my god the world has gone mad

god's got nothing to do with this or anything

else really and we see cyclops and two other

people Oh, that was Magneto. That's right, that

was Magneto that went through the wall. Not Havoc.

I thought that was Havoc, but no, it's Magneto.

It's the colors, man. It's the colors that are

distracting me because, again, both of them,

as you can tell by their capes, it's either a

dark blue or black. or very, very light gray.

But yeah, I mean, the difference between the

two is that, like we said, Magneto is shooting

out mood slime, and Havok is shooting out Gatorade.

And then of course it's light blue, and I can't

tell who's throwing who through a wall. But then

we see that Magneto on the bottom panel, his

nose is bleeding. And then he's saying, like,

my god, has the world gone mad? So, yeah. But

I do also want to go back to at least the sounds,

because they feel like Stan Lee -esque sounds,

what he would write. But yeah, it's a little

distracting. And then, of course, we get to where

we see most of the mutants and chains. Yep. When

did Cyclops do a daredevil X costume I Like like

seriously, he looks like daredevil except he

has a giant blood -red X on his face I Swear

this is like right out of the 2003 daredevil

movie Yeah, I don't get it either. I don't know

if they're trying to go back to the movie and

they're trying to... Well, you know what it is

too, because I believe they're gonna come out

with a Daredevil series on Netflix. So that's

probably why. They're trying to probably pass

a new costume. They change it every now and then,

I don't get it. We get Genesis as well, who looks

like Eddie Munster. Yeah. Which, again... But...

At least now we can tell everybody apart. So

we get Havoc and Magneto and Scott all fighting

each other and Havoc basically bitch slaps Scott

and says this is your fault Scott you're Magneto's

true disciple created the perfect recipe for

hate and then we get the blue -faced Night crawling

witch boy look alike. I swear that kid looks

like Larian except. He's got a blue face It's

any monster. Yeah Genesis if you don't mind I

The less we talk about on the better Yeah, he's

and thankfully he gets basically stabbed right

through the heart yeah, which is perfect yep

So we get back to Avengers Tower and Cap and

Steve and Vision and Iron Man and Wasp and Hulk

and Sunfire are all there And they basically

They basically talk about you know Havoc and

Magneto and Scott and all that You know It's

interesting. I like the story so far. We're only

one issue into this but it's still pretty cool

And we have a nice touching moment between Wasp

and Iron Man, which is really cool We then get

to the red skull and the scarlet witch Which

is also Love this possession again. I love these

panels where he's just like you see his face

in the bat And she's kind of like in front of

him like a almost like a nose open up yourself

to me We could just see her submitting and the

transformations. Oh Absolutely hair going back

the possessed eyes Yeah The plunging necklines.

The plunging necklines, yeah. I love also the

little artwork going in between the fire underneath

her hair. And that's what it looks like, right?

Is it fire or is it just cosmic power? It's probably

cosmic power, but it looks like fire. Yeah. And

him standing behind her, yeah, it's awesome.

So we get to Rogue and she's going to fight...

Red skull You know and she's going to basically

kill herself to be able to You know defeat the

red skull because she's going to make contact

with him and while she makes contact with him

she Reaches into the depths of his mind and she

finds Charles Xavier. That's right because somehow

Xavier's brain got into red skull and now he's

the red onslaught Because Cyclops of course had

the power of the Phoenix and killed Xavier and

now we know what happened to Xavier's brain So

we get back to Havoc and Magneto and Cyclops

and all that Cyclops is going to step in front

of his brother to save him, which is very noble

of him. We then go back to Rogue and Scarlet

Witch, and Scarlet Witch is free of the Red Skull's

spell. I like the design on the Red Skull here.

I think it's really interesting. He still kind

of reminds me of Horde Prime's skull though in

the Master's comics. It's a little too strange.

Yeah, this feels like something that actually

out of the 60s for the EC comics You know now

he looks like part zombie part vampire part Cthulhu,

but still And I love Tony from off -screen did

those two forget to show you their Avengers ID

guards Entitles the whole that you an army of

Earth's mightiest in moments of dread complimentary

on birthdays. Fucking Hawkeye. Now that I know

is Hawkeye because of the arrows. So that's a

cool page where you've got Tony and Hawkeye and

Cap and Thor and Vision. I love that pullout

splash page there. That's kind of awesome. So

we've got all this fighting Thor and Hawkeye.

Going after the Red Skull. And pretty much everybody

shows up at this point. Avengers, X -Men, everybody.

We see Storm, we see Colossus, we see Nightcrawler.

Which is really cool, I like seeing all these

characters. We get to the panel where Scott says,

they came. Of course we did. You're X -Men. This

isn't work. It's family. I'm almost waiting to

hear the aww soundtrack, you know, from a TV

audience. That to me was just too cheesy. That's

what bothered me. But I guess what else are they

going to say? I mean, it's X -Men and yeah. But

it is nice to see Nightcrawler back. I'll give

him that. Storm, well... As long as it's not

Halle Berry, I'm okay with it. She has her alternate...

Egg 90s x -men look we're just as the mohawk.

I'm fine with that, you know, yeah again They're

trying to bring old school new school back and

that's fine. I'm okay with that even colossus

But then again, you know, how could you really

screw up colossus either? So yeah, I I mean this

battle makes sense They're brought back. They're

trying to reform and merge, which is great. So

It's kind of like the fellowship Oh, absolutely.

And then we have this really, you know, a few

pages later after the whole, you know, everybody

starts reuniting and, you know, you never had

any faith that help was coming. And then... I

love that this line comes from Beast, because

I can so hear 90s Beast saying this. X -Men and

Avengers, I'd tell you to assemble, but then

it'd be showing favoritism. So instead, let's

crack some skull. Yeah, I can almost hear Kelsey

Grammer from X -Men 3 going... As much as I love

Kelsey as Beast in X -Men 3, no, I... This is

one of those angry Beast moments for me, where

it's... Clearly the voice actor from the 90s

series for me. Yeah, possibly, but it's good

again to see I like this design of beast I mean,

I was worried that was good because he's next

to Hulk and it almost looks like a bull Hulk,

but I don't care Again, this is something else

should go on the wall. I mean this also feels

like a 90s Marvel poster So yeah, we get that

and now of course we're gonna get the whole battle

plan Well, we get the battle plan, but it goes

fairly fast. I mean, which is okay I mean again,

you know, we get iceman back, which is great

sunspot Yeah, we get pretty much who's ever not

possessed or who's not in the concentration camp.

So we get a pretty good cast Yeah, and Tony figures

out, you know long story short Tony figures out

the telepathy frequency and basically nips that

in the bud and So there is that and you know,

we get the giant page of red skull and He says

I It troubled you that they didn't know your

true greatness what you could do to them if you

wanted Should they forget their place and he's

basically talking to Tony because apparently

Tony has some some hidden brilliance in him and

he's trying to kind of trick Tony I guess here

and it kind of ends with you know he unveils

two adamantium stark sentinels programmed by

your close friend to kill you all so he's basically

what Marvel is doing here really is they're pulling

a Batman What if Batman had to create contingency

plans to neutralize the Justice League? This

is basically Justice League Doom, except in the

Marvel Universe. Yeah, or it's something Grog

did in that Justice League episode. Yeah. Where

he just uses telepathy and he puts the Justice

League one against each other. which is okay

again you know i don't think they're trying to

be on original that kind of irked me for a little

but i'm not going to shave off points over that

what what it lacks in again i don't think they're

trying to be on original they make up for it

in the sounds and the dialogue again design so

oh no it just shows that skull is trying to use

telepathy because again he has the brain of Charles

Xavier which makes sense so that's what he's

going to do and Tony is finding a way to disable

the frequency which will make more sense absolutely

so obviously we get that page that's the end

page and we get the next kind of page here Because

one good turn deserves another make sure to catch

every twist of Avengers and x -men access in

October Next week. We've got issue number two

issue number three and and then access revolutions

number one And then it goes into all the other

titles that are going to be crossing over with

it And we see all the variant covers for this

issue. I'm really digging this. I mean, overall,

yeah, sure, I have some problems with the art.

I don't really have a problem with the story,

because like you said, it's basically, you know,

red skull is a Nazi and whatever else, you know

what I mean? I'm really digging this to this

point. I think it's really cool. There are a

lot of pros and cons, but this, to me, would

be a solid A for effort. You've got the old school

Stan Lee sounds in the background, you know,

the fish, you know, the the feng feng fumsun.

You know what I'm talking about. I do love how

Hulk and Tony play off of each other in a way

when, you know, Hulk is possessed and how Tony

is just being, you know, Robert Downey Jr. Tony

Stark of that. I definitely love designs up close

and in the background of the red onslaught I

think it's really smart to take this character

and give him an upgrade I even like the design

of Genesis, you know the child apocalypse even

when the Spear goes through his heart. I don't

know what it is. I love those dying designs of

him. It looks a little cheesy You just you just

wanted him to get the hell out of the book. Yeah,

you know what? He is the Damien Wayne of this

but That's okay. But I also love the designs

of Scarra Witch being possessed. I even love

the designs when Scarra Witch is trying to make

up for what happened, like when she's just talking

with Rogue and we see the facial expressions.

It looks comic book -y and human, you know, realistic

at the same time. So for me, a no -brainer. This

gets a solid five. I cannot give it a solid five.

I just can't. This first issue was great. It

set everything up. I didn't need a whole lot

of preparation beforehand and I'm sure I probably

need to go back and read Avengers vs. X -Men,

but... I'll do that another time. I basically

have the Cliff Notes on that at this point. In

reading this, as I said in the beginning of this

podcast, my whole point is to eventually see

what happens with... I'm more interested in Superior

Iron Man at this point to see what's going to

happen there. For this though this first issue.

I really did like the art in a lot of places

There's several places that it is kind of bad

for me The story is not bad even though I like

I said I alluded to it being from certain things

that I had already known Even though you know

it's a completely different twisted tale as far

as how The red skull pulls all this off because

it's combining this series is combining the Avengers

and x -men like Don't think it's ever been done

before because as we said the red onslaught is

the red skull with Charles Xavier's brain You

know so that's pretty awesome. I'm gonna give

it a three and a half It just the art in certain

places is in certain places It's nice shiny and

new and then in other places it looks like a

three -year -old druid I'm sorry Adam Qbert or

however you say his last name it just It was

really inconsistent on the art for me. So three

and a half out of five stars for me for this

one We will be back doing issue number two Next

week, so there is that Where can the people find

you online, sir? Oh, God, everywhere at this

point. But for right now, Facebook, Hunnic Outcast,

podcast and Twitter, Hunnic Outskirt. All right.

You can find me, TFG, Mike on Twitter. You can

follow at Geekcast Radio for all the other network

updates. We will catch you next time. Make your

great escape into comics. The Avengers. That's

what we call ourselves. Sort of like a team.

Earth's mightiest heroes, type thing. Yes. I've

met them. Yeah. Takes us a while to get any traction,

I'll give you that one. But let's do a head count

here. Your brother, the demigod, a super soldier,

living legend, who kind of lives up to the legend,

a man with breathtaking anger management issues,

a couple of master assassins, and you, big fella.

You've managed to piss off... Every single one

of them. That was the plan. Not a great plan.

When they come, and they will, they'll come for

you. I have an army. We have a Hulk. What's the

matter? Teacher's pet got cold feet. Anytime.

Pretty boy. Cyclops! You've just heard the latest

episode of The Pullback, the GCRN's comic review

and discussion podcast. There are several ways

to get in touch with us and leave feedback for

the show. You can visit the website, keycastradio

.com, where you can comment on the episode and

all of our different podcasts. You can rate our

show on iTunes. Be sure to leave us feedback.

Call the voicemail line 502 -526 -5821. Please

remember to tell us the show you're leaving the

message for and your name. Become a fan of us

on Facebook by searching Geekcast Radio Network.

Send us an email feedback at geekcastradio .com.

Follow us on Twitter at Geekcast Radio. So until

next time, make your great escape into comics

and unleash the geek in you.