Giant-Size Little Marvel: AvX #2 - Marvel Comics

GIANT-SIZE LITTLE MARVEL: AVX No. 2, September 2015

Absolutely crammed full of some genuine, belly-laugh inducing quick-fire gags and comical set-pieces, Issue Two of “Giant-Size Little Marvel: AvX” doubtless had its 36,019 readers heartily chuckling to themselves with each and every turn of the page. Indeed, considering this publication’s opening groan-inducing “Dodgeball” sequence, which starts by depicting team captain Cyclops boldly declaring “Eye pick [those on my side] first” and ends with Spider-Man asking the blind super-hero Daredevil “Did you see who won?”, it is hard to recall “Marvel Worldwide” printing a more pun-filled publication this side of their Late Sixties title “Not Brand Echh”.

Somewhat fortunately however, Skottie Young doesn’t just rely upon a seemingly endless series of unrelated corny gags with which to fill this twenty-page periodical’s script, and soon introduces two new students to Marville Elementary in the shape of the dour-looking Zachary and Zoe. Not being mutants, “lost in a time not of your own”, “bitten by any insect or animal”, or interested in visiting a homicidal Arcade’s “house after school to play my own indie game Murderworld”, the twins soon become the subject of a secret clubhouse tug-of-war between “the astonishing, amazing, uncanny, super-dope X-Men” and “the mighty, ultimate, super-fresh Avengers.”

Perhaps predictably, such a titanic tussle provides the Inkwell Award-winner with plenty more opportunities with which to demonstrate his witty waggishness, and Black Widow’s needling of Scott Summers, after the X-Men’s leader has had a “Welcome” (to our not-so secret headquarters) banner made from macaroni and glue, is a good example of this. Although even the subsequent mass-battle involving a cutesy Sentinel blasting the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier doesn’t compare to the belly-laugh caused by Namor feeding a pet goldfish which is simply waiting for ‘the World to soon be covered in water once again’ so he can have his “cousin Toothy” eat the Sub-Mariner; “Heh heh.”

Featuring a somewhat more sedentary storyline than its previous edition, Skottie Young’s ultra-cartoony and brightly-coloured breakdowns still manage to instil this comic’s narrative with plenty of pace and energy. In fact, the children’s book illustrator somehow even succeeds in imbuing Professor Xavier’s “few minutes to get to know each other” classroom question & answer session with some much-needed dynamism, simply by over-exaggerating the facial features of each character concerned.

Words and Art: Skottie Young, Colors: Jean-Francois Beaulieu, and Letters: Jeff Eckleberry