Scans_Daily

(wow, back to back. That's lucky!)

And it's one where mutants are on the run, rather than the rise.

Those who live outside the force walls face more than humanity's Exonim (clever) legions and anti-mutant legislation; they face the government's elite mutant hunters.

Four men and two women, each with their own motivations to see mutant freedoms leashed.

Six very familiar faces broken by their world, they are what they are: the Avengers.

(After the Phoenix's blowup, no point in guessing what they're Avenging.. though I can see why someone suggested Freedom Force, instead. With a Ms. Marvel, even.)

And their story's to be told in the two-shot Age of X: Universe, whose first hasn't had the warmest critical reception. But that's to be expected, when it's a two-issue tie-in to an alternate reality event.

I liked this week's first enough to be awaiting April's second, though: Simon Spurrier's definitely had fun playing with established characters in a universe really foreign to them.

( Jim McCann's AoX: Spidey backup, on the other hand, was a bit rote.. but Pete was exactly what you'd expect. )

Hawkeye & Mockingbird's a good enough ongoing; the titular mains are written well and the premise is handled pretty well (the supporting cast's pretty much a function of it, which's pretty understandable so far; Dominic Fortune makes up enough for it, anyway.)

The ongoing plot's a bit predictable, but the villains involved likewise make up for it; a teamup between the ex-CIA freak Crossfire and the ever-mad spectre of Lincoln Slade is just one of those ideas that works.

(By the by, spoilers for this week's #3 under cut, if you care.)

(  Well, it's only Crossfire at first, until the end of #1..  )