AXIS #4

I was disappointed with the first two issues of Marvel's AXIS. My sense of disappointment was compounded because the writer of AXIS is one of my favorite comic scribes, the subversive Rick Remender.  I held out the possibility that the series would improve. And that is exactly what happened when Adam Kubert handed off the art work after the second issue to the spectacular Leinil Francis Yu.

I read an interview with the great Paul Gulacy once who said that the problem with today's comic books is that they are too writercentric.

Well, the difference between the work of Kubert and Yu on AXIS is proof that the role of the artist is still "make or break." The writer might be the king of the hill in today's industry, which I think is correct, but without the right artist the comic book will flop.

To this I would add the colorist as well. I have been meaning to devote one of these Saturday morning comic-book posts to the importance of color in the comic-book reading experience. I have been intending to bone up on the philosophical and historical ramifications of color (for instance, by perusing Wittgenstein's Remarks on Colour, which I have somewhere in the studio here).

Suffice it to say, all one need do is read any of the black-&-white, telephone-book-like Marvel Esssential back-issue compendiums of classic titles to immediately understand that without color one is only getting a fraction of the comic-book experience. For me, there is no finer The Doors of Perception moment than when, back from a run and endorphins flowing, I can dig into a comic book. It is the color that makes it all happen.

So the comic book, in order to be successful, is dependent principally upon the tripartite division of creative labor of writer, artist and colorist. I'm sure editors and other production staff play a vital role -- such as the person(s) who interfaces with the printer, or the person(s) who does the color separations, etc. -- but for the purposes of the marquee, it makes sense that writer, artist (both penciler and inker) and colorist are given top placement.

What is on display in Leinil Francis Yu's powerhouse work in AXIS #4 is his Filipino roots. Look at Havok's face in the bottom right-hand corner of the second scan below:

Pure Alfredo Alcala. One of the few big advantages that DC had over Marvel in the Bronze Age was its large bullpen of Filipino artists -- brilliant draftsmen such as Alcala, Ernie Chan and Tony DeZuniga who gave DC several contemporary horror titles like Ghosts and Unexpected with which Marvel couldn't compete.

In AXIS #4, "Inversion: Chapter 1 - Altered Beast," the X-Men and the Avengers are back on a war footing against each other. The issue at dispute is the habeas corpus of the Red Skull. The Avengers have him, or at least they think they do, and want to kill him once and for all. That is the decision of a deranged All-New Captain America, a.k.a., Sam Wilson, formerly The Falcon. The X-Men want the Red Skull because they believe that their beloved leader Charles Xavier is still inside.

When the Avengers go to the Red Skull's holding cell high atop Avenger's Tower, Hulk "Hulks Out" in the form of a Super Hulk named Kluh, as you can see in the eight scans below.