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Peter Milligan's other book for the week is
X-Statix #22, continuing the bizarrely incongruous
Avengers storyline.
Following the template laid down by the
Avengers/Defenders War, our heroes pair off into teams to
fight one another for parts of Doop's brain in assorted exotic
locations. (Let's be honest, the original wasn't the
most sophisticated piece of plotting in the world.) So
it's Captain America versus the Anarchist on a delightfully
ethnic beach, and Scarlet Witch versus Dead Girl on a tanker
of dangerous chemicals. ("It can't be dangerous, or they
wouldn't let us carry the stuff halfway around the planet!")
Despite what you might expect, this isn't
an exercise in mocking the Avengers. In fact, they're
written pretty much straight. The joke here comes from
putting the Avengers and X-Statix side by side, and it
wouldn't work if the Avengers weren't allowed to act in
character. If anything, the Anarchist/Cap segment is
heavily weighted in favour of Cap, with Tike shaking his
little fist and whining irrelevantly about racial
discrimination. Actually, I wouldn't mind seeing
Milligan do more with Captain America, though present
editorial policies might preclude that. Cap's reaction
to inadvertantly decaptitating a local statue is priceless.
Dead Girl and Scarlet Witch do a fairly
straight fight scene in comparison, with Dead Girl coming out
on top in a set-up that practically makes it impossible for
her to lose. But hey, that's the advantage of being the
title character. Again, the interplay between the two
characters works a lot better than you might think - Milligan
gets over the idea that the Avengers don't have any respect
for X-Statix while still having them try to act civilly.
This is working rather better than I was
expecting. I'm really starting to enjoy the arc now.
Rating: A-
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