A.X.E.: Judgment Day

A.X.E.: Judgment Day

by Kieron Gillen (Writer), Valerio Schiti (Illustrator)

The battle for the planet is here! The X-Men claim they’re Earth’s new gods. The Eternals know that position is already filled. And the Avengers are about to realize exactly how many secrets their so-called friends have been keeping from them! Years of tension are about to lead to a volcanic eruption — and two worlds will burn! Who has leaked the X-Men’s secrets to their latest foes? Why is Tony Stark abducting an old friend? And who stands in judgment over the whole world? The clock is ticking. Midnight looms. But it’s not too late… From the powerhouse creative team of Kieron Gillen and Valerio Schiti comes the apocalyptic, emotional event that will define 2022!

COLLECTING: A.X.E.: Judgment Day (2022) 1-6, A.X.E.: Avengers (2022) 1, A.X.E.: X-Men (2022) 1, A.X.E.: Eternals (2022) 1, Free Comic Book Day 2022: Avengers/X-Men 1 (A.X.E. story)

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Graphic Novels, X Men, Superheroes, Comic Book, Graphic Novels Comics

240 pages, Paperback

First published February 21, 2023

About the author

Kieron Gillen is a comic book writer and former media journalist.

Reviews

[Baba · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mutant kind's big secret's out, and if you thought humanity's response was extreme wait 'til yo see what the Druig led Eternals do! Yes it's Avengers vs X-Men vs Eternals. And it is also Marvel running out of innovative ideas, bring back strategic planner Brian Michael Bendis! Kieron Gillen is in my opinion of the best creator's currently at Marvel and hence this, despite the boring concept, reads really well which is pretty immense when you consider how many characters involved. The big question is, is the hype real, will the Marvel universe be changed forever, well, I reckon so, but others don't. Only you (or time :)) can decide. A 7 out of 12 Three Star read.
Note that for the full story Marvel has made it fundamental that you also have to read A.X.E. Judgment Day Companion

2024 read

[Sean Gibson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Confusing initially, then sort of eyebrow-raising, and then it turned out okay. Sort of like when I make dinner.

[Ray · Rating 5 out of 5]

Surprisingly blown away by this X-Men crossover, a Marvel event tying in the Eternals and to a lesser degree the Avengers. Feels like real stakes, and sort of makes sense as a proper plot as these different titles have gone in that direction.

Kieron Gillen's Eternals didn't seem necessary to me, but then the Immortal X-Men series led up to this in a perfect way. These days, the X-books are all about mutant society politics and weird science fiction ideas. Seems every writer is trying to top the previous, and Gillen keeps up alright.

The 'Judgment Day' part of the story felt like real stakes, with every character exploring how the end of the world shows whether or not they're personally worthy. I'll say little else, other than read the main series and decide for yourself if the endless tie-ins are also something to read. Comics in 2022 do tend to be of high quality, this is not some approachable Secret Wars for fun, rather it's the culmination of various Big Ideas utilized in big ways.

[johnny ♡ · Rating 4 out of 5]

i actually really loved this!!! very very fun and crazy to see our favorite heroes judged. sinister delivers as always, jean pulls at your heartstrings, and steve rogers has one hell of a crisis. all around just really wonderful stuff.

[Frédéric · Rating 3 out of 5]

An event in the great tradition of events through the ages: nothing will ever be the same again and everything stays the same.

That said, it's well written by Kieron Gillen, who I'm enjoying more and more. I know next to nothing about the Eternals and I must admit that I sometimes had a little difficulty with these characters and their interactions, but by sticking to the main thread the whole thing remains comprehensible.

The characters - at least the ones I know - are pretty well written, with good dialogue and a well-cast main antagonist. The plot is well developed, with good tension management and an ending that is admittedly conventional but well handled by the author.

There are several artists working on this volume, but the majority are of a good standard - a big disappointment for Pascual Ferry, though - even if the battles are sometimes confusing, not helped by the beautiful but sombre colours.

In short, a classically inconsequential event, but one that's well handled enough to keep the reader's interest. A good 3.5*, which I'm rounding down because of the confusion caused by the use of Eternals, which I haven't mastered.

[Matt Quann · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was set upon by an urge to catch up on the goings on of the Krakoan community and found out I’d have to trudge through another event. Though they can sometimes be fun, they’re often loud, slightly silly, but can be worth the price of admission for some stellar art.

Fortunately, this is a crossover that’s a bit smarter than your usual fare. There’s some interesting tie ins that I picked at (using the Marvel unlimited app), but you could easily get by with the main story alone. Great character moments for some of the X-men, but the Avengers all get their space to shine too.

My one complaint is the deus ex machina, quite literally, that crops up in the last issue. It undoes the harrowing devastation of the earlier issues, but it would have been interesting to see the Marvel landscape irrevocably (until the next crossover) changed.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was pretty great! It's nice to have a big summer crossover that actually is pretty great, one of the better ones in recent memory. Not everyone who should have a moment to, but that's the nature of big events. Who knew the Eternals of all characters would be the focus of one of my favorite events. Tie ins from Immortal and Red helped the event as a whole but they are not included here. The three team one shots during the story were ok, but also not super needed.

[Andrew · Rating 2 out of 5]

Does anyone truly like the Eternals? Who is asking for more Eternals content? Anyone?

[Alex Sarll]

Kieron Gillen made it through the whole of his first Marvel stint without helming a big event – though Journey Into Mystery in particular managed the remarkable achievement of telling a single clear, consistent and powerful story while taking place entirely in the margins of other people's. But now he's back, and given their other best current writer fumbled the crossover ball with Empyre, it was only a matter of time before Kieron got the call. And in fairness, compared to some of the dafter 'we must have an event because we always have an event' storylines - hammers fall, everyone dies (then gets better) - this one does at least follow naturally from developments in his own books (Eternals and Immortal X-Men), without feeling like it should have been confined to them (if Earth's two insular societies of superpowered immortals go to war, of course the Avengers are going to get involved). It even manages a decent stab at making the story something more than superheroes punching each other about superhero superdisagreements; when the Eternals' devious new leader Druig makes his pitch for war to humanity through their devices, as against the mutants' telepathic announcement of the Krakoan era, the parallels would be obvious even without the bit where Druig doesn't really believe the mutants are a threat, and just wants a unifying external conflict. He is, in short, a very now sort of git. And even as that conflict gets ever more out of hand, the story makes a point of checking in on a handful of regular humans as well as the superpowered leads. It's clear from the off that there's an element of Russian roulette to this, given we now know that Eternal resurrection is fuelled by the death of a human, but we're not just waiting for that shoe to drop. Where civilians would normally be screaming in the background or getting reassured by Captain America, one of the best scenes here sees a regular person trying to reassure Cap instead; she knew full well that Earth was going to fail the test, but she still appreciated his efforts to make it otherwise. And her sense of despair, that obviously we would be judged and found wanting, is the bit I felt the most in Judgment Day. Followed closely by its compulsive picking at the normal event format, where there's widespread carnage but it's fine because one name character has an emotional breakthrough, a tendency regarding which the Iron Man showcase issue is especially and deservedly savage. Various solutions to the impending catastrophe are advanced, not least by Starfox, here being played as a power of love to match his brother Thanos' power of death, rather than The Amazing Date-Rape-Man. And then they fail, because of course they do, and Earth faces the judgment it deserves*, because the attempts to end the mutant/Eternal war only served to unleash something even worse.

Topically doom-laden as this is, part of the problem is the usual one, where despite the promise that a given event will Change The Marvel Universe Forever, we know it won't, or at least not by much. There are scenes here where I could almost half-believe in what I was seeing, and dream of a Marvel line which from November would follow the few battered remnants of all three races living on Arakko, or characters in parallel universes...but let's face it, even when Secret Wars did stop publishing everything and blow the whole multiverse to pieces, it came back much the same. It's one thing when mutants are getting massacred, even ones who've left 'No resurrection this week, pls!' notes for the milkman; Gillen is the X-office capo these days, so we can believe those might stick for, ooh, as much as a year. Hell, the opening massacre on Mars, courtesy of Thanos' granddad (the one who thought the kid wiping out half the life in the universe was lily-livered centrism) isn't just believable, it's for the most part a welcome bit of spring cleaning, because since the Arakki mutants joined us in the lamentable X Of Swords, they've seldom been more than leaden. But once major Avengers are getting mowed down en masse, it's clear that these are the sort of event deaths which will be reversed by the coda issue at the latest.

And speaking of leaden characters: the Eternals. Gillen's run which led up to Judgment Day was undoubtedly the closest an Eternals comic has ever come to being outright good, but even that couldn't stop them feeling like a bit of a dead weight, especially in the sort of event where there's only moments to establish individual characters for people who don't already know them. Sersi, for instance, wet as she was in the film version, has in the comics always been one of the best of a bad bunch (possibly through being dual-classed as an Avenger). Once she's in the same story as Emma Frost, though, suddenly I realised that beyond faction and powers, she's pretty much Emma Bit Chilly Out. Worse, there are times when despite sharing a writer, AXE doesn't even feel fully aligned with what's gone before. One of Gillen's smart moves in that series was recasting the Eternals as something like angels, which dealt with the problem of their having been conceived as von Daniken-style inspirations for Earth's gods, then shunted into a Marvel Earth where those gods are not just real in their own right, but members of the Avengers. Here, though, people keep referring to the Eternals as gods again, even Nightcrawler, who you'd think would be most wary of that given both his religious background and his recent forays into establishing something like a new religion for mutantkind. This becomes doubly confusing when there's then talk about the Eternals' creators the Celestials as gods, which makes more sense, especially once it's a botched reboot of a Celestial which decides to judge the Earth, and against whose destructive power even Earth's mightiest heroes prove conveniently able to do little more than give their all to buy tiny delays. Which in turn starts feeling wobbly when, though some of its narration and dialogue is appropriately apocalyptic ("I am of such power that I cannot help but patronize you. I am not making baby noises to children. I am staring at ants, knowing that in the end, all you understand is violence."), elsewhere the unimaginably powerful entity is suggesting "Take a beat", or making Fortnite gags. Sure, there's a bit of Tony Stark in there too, because of some plot, but even so.

I don't want any of this to suggest the story is a dead loss, and not just because that'd be awkward next time I see Kieron. For one thing, him writing Mr Sinister is always a delight, and said reprobate has a prominent part to play here: "I'm all about making brand-new, exciting mistakes. That's the scientific method, friends!" The resolution, for saying it had been clear for some time it was going to be one or another form of reset button, still managed to combine that with a decent degree of emotional heft and, again, to feel like it was saying something relevant beyond the minutiae of superhero continuity. Hell, even the Next Issue text was really good, though presumably that won't be in the collection. But ultimately the superhero event comic is a form with so many moving parts, both on the page and beyond it in the corporate backrooms, that it's no wonder if the vast majority of them don't quite work, not even when they're in the hands of one of the best writers in the business. At the very least, this is a nobler failure than most.

*Or at least, the judgment its humanoids deserve – the collateral damage some of those scenes must have caused to plants, animals, fungi, and poor bloody Krakoa itself are to be lamented, and of Marvel Earth's non-dominant species, it is only Homo sapiens who get a pass to viewpoint character status.

[Nate Deprey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Deeply wordy and philosophical while at the same time the plot is propelled by a bafflingly stupid idea. Judgment Day mostly works as an event on the back of Captain America's virtue and Kieron Gillon's cynicism. Judgement Day is an achievement with real moments but at the same time I was really glad when it was over.

[Liv]

i rly wish they would stop putting avengers in my x-men

[Bertazzo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Blessed be Kieron Gillen for two miracles:

- A solid comics event
- An Eternals story that doesn't bore you to death

[FrontalNerdaty · Rating 3 out of 5]

The set up for this story is solid and could’ve been huge. But as quickly as the set up is established it’s thrown away. The Avengers sort of ruled the Marvel comics world until Disney got the rights back the X-Men movies - thus the X-men were given a lot of love again in the comics. Then the Eternals were propelled back to the forefront of Marvel comics. All of these top teams vying to be King could’ve made for a really bombastic tale but that isn’t what we got. This isn’t to say what we got is bad but it’s another end of the world, only not really, story. The stakes are high but are always undercut.
It’s a worthwhile read if you’ve been reading the current run of Eternals but does little for the Avengers or the X-men that isn’t just a retread of what they’ve dealt with/ realised before.

3/5.

[Vaughn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lackluster and pointless event.

Due to mutant resurrection, the Eternals start viewing the X-Men as Deviants and declare war on them due to one of their gods protocols being "destroy excess deviation". To combat this, a new god is created (or resurrected) for the Eternals in order to get rid of that rule. Only problem is, this new god decides to judge humanity as a collective and as individuals. If they fail, then this new god will destroy the world.

The plot is a bit contrived, and the tests that individuals have to pass are really arbitrary. Some tests are easy, some hard, for some people its an obvious test, some people are tricked, some people pass or fail on battle prowess, some on compassion, some on belief in oneself, some on how they inspire people etc.

The ending was ridiculous. The antagonist was an omniscient god-like being, and the heroes pretty much just told it that it had no right to judge others. No big convincing arguments or anything. Just a simplistic challenge that you would think an omniscient being would have already probably considered.

I would only recommend this title if you're following the Eternals, and only because of the large changes it makes to their corner of the Marvel Universe. This event is largely unimportant for the X-Men and Avengers. If you're not into the Eternals, then this is a boring and nonsensical read.

[Brandon Daniels · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this more as a collection than as singles, which is something that is happening a lot as I go back through the post-Inferno, second half of the Krakoan era. I was a little irked by the timing of this event at the time; it seemed too abrupt within Gillen’s tenure on the X-Men. And while I still agree with that, I cannot hold it against this specific book. This is one of the better events of the last decade. The scale is incredible, the art is consistently some of the best in the form, and it sticks the landing. The tie in issues collected here are crucial, and I’m very glad they are included. They add much needed character moments to an otherwise dense and pretty compressed main series. I’ll be interested to see what, if anything, from this plays a part in the Fall of X endgame. I’m not sure if the Eternals have even shown up in anything since this, which is wild. I’ll have to look into it.

[Adam Fisher · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been building to this one for a while now...
1) This story needs to be consumed in one sitting. I know that can be a lot, but the flow is perfectly timed and will feel like watching a movie if you one-shot it.
2) There are TONS of synopses for this title out there if you want to read it. My review will still have spoilers like usual, but my review will be a combination of personal thoughts as well as plot points.

Summary:
The Eternals get it in their heads (with Moira's help) that mutants are deviants. They declare war and the Avengers step in to help protect the mutants. To help overcome their default programming, they wake up Avengers Mountain, which is a Celestial known as Arishem the Judge, thinking the Eternals will have to obey the Celestial. It backfires. Instead, Arishem judges all of the world and gives them 24 hours to judge themselves; if there are more bad than good, the world dies.
This title has some of the most epic fights and deaths I've ever seen in a mainstream comic. I could talk for hours about some of the judgments as well.
It all comes to a head when a strike team of Avengers, X-Men and Eternals have invaded Arishem's body. Between a combination of Ajak showing him that he himself has been deemed unworthy to judge and Sirsi revealing the Eternals greatest secret, they win the day.
Aftermath points:
- Before his death, Arishem rewinds things so that all the heroes and people who died are back
- Ajak is now Ajak Celestia, a combination of Eternal and Celestial.
- Sirsi is wiped from existence, not to be reborn (we'll see about that...)
- Prime Eternal Zuras makes peace with the mutants, siting them as "not Deviant enough", and gives them access to weapons for reparations of the scourging of Arakko.
- We find out that Humans can be resurrected in the pods, same as mutants, but only if they are backed up ny Cerebro. First one is Captain America.
- The Phoenix Foundation is established. 5% of the resurrections happening will go to humans who didn't get a chance to live, for whatever the circumstances. (Who can say no to resurrecting a sick kid?)

This story will have ramifications throughout the Marvel Universe. You owe it to yourself to read this story soon, especially if you are a fan.
Strong recommend.

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Eternals have a new leader, and Druig has an idea - let's kill all the mutants! Yeah, good idea Druig. But when the other Eternals go rogue and create a brand new Celestial, instead of saving the world, it decides to judge whether humanity is worthy of living or not instead. Oopsie!

AXE is one of those events that I think most people will forget about, but that will live rent-free in my head forever. Gillen brings his already excellent Eternals storyline to an explosive head - if you've not been reading the Eternals series, a lot of the context and impact here is going to be lost.

AXE is also one of those events where you don't get any huge monumental status quo shifting character deaths or anything like that. It reminds me a little of Empyre, in that it fundamentally changes how the Marvel Universe works, but in subtle ways instead of just 'oh, Captain America's dead again' ways. Despite all of the explosions and planet murders, AXE is a very introspective storyline at its core; it's built into the very premise.

And it looks amazing as well, because, also like Empyre, Valerio Schiti is on art. Honestly, if Marvel tap Schiti to draw all their events from now until the end of time, I think everyone would be pleased. There's nothing this guy can't draw, and AXE throws it all at him and the kitchen sink and he manages it all, from the huge crowd fight scenes to the little character pieces in tiny panels. Truly impressive.

Also included alongside the main six issue mini-series are the three Avengers/X-Men/Eternals one-shots that slot between the main series. These are the definition of introspective character pieces as well, though I'm not sure they needed to be here so much as in the Companion volume (more on that over on the review for that book - short version, you need to read that too).

AXE isn't going to be for everyone, and it doesn't really fit the mould of most Marvel events to this point. But for those of us who want something a little different, Gillen and Schiti deliver in spades. Just make sure you read Eternals first!

[Jennifer Sigman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was actually really good. I never felt out of my depth (I've never read an Eternal book), and the only thing I ended up looking up was who had the Phoenix mantle (Echo?????). Bit of a cop out at the end, but then again you couldn't leave everyone dead, so.... they've got a reset button tucked away now with the new God that everyone will forget about by the end of the year.

[Scott Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very cool and very current series. Highly recommend.

[Kyle Dinges · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's come out that mutants are now effectively immortal leaving the Eternals to call them Deviants and declares war. The Avengers are stuck in the middle until Tony Stark comes up with a plan that goes horribly wrong. While Schitti's art is very good, even Guillen can't make me care about the Eternals. I'll be very glad if they are going back in their toy box at the end of this. That being said, you will want to read Guillen's Eternals series before starting this. As long as you have a basic knowledge of the X-Men and Avengers you should be fine. For a big event there aren't many repercussions except to the Eternals and who really cares about those?

[Ross · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's that time of year again. Time for a crossover with marginal explanations and questionable necessity...

In the tradition of AvX and IvX, there's now AXE. When two major teams just aren't enough to fashion a crossover around. The three groups are, X-Men (appearing less marginalized and more elitist), Avengers (continuing a trend of 'just being there'), and Eternals (desperately trying to stay relevant and gunning for the X-Men's former 'marginalized' status).

This collection holds the main story (#1-6) along with the X-Men, Avengers, and Eternals one-shots that follow the 'team-up' team through the newly created Celestial break-in.
----------
I'll give them credit where credit is due. The primary six issues read as a decent 'tent pole' story. You're given just enough information to keep up with the characters that you know and introductions to those you aren't familiar with aren't too long. Grounding the story, ultimately, in individual worth AND showcasing a handful of humans as the story rockets on was a solid move.

The only part I have a gripe with is the resolution. Events happen. BIG events. They're explained away and the Marvel universe keeps chugging along. This has been, arguably, a global event with humans having to justify their existence. Give me some stakes. Show some people having a hard time with it. You can't solve this with a cappuccino and a talk.

Bonus: Is it ALWAYS that easy to override Celestial programming in Eternals?
Bonus Bonus: Resurrection Protocols for everyone! THAT isn't going to bite someone in the ass.

[Sarospice · Rating 1 out of 5]

Meh. Poorly executed. The art is an eyesore throughout. Eternals think mutants are equal to deviants, and since their main reason for being was suppressing deviation they lose it when mutants can't die any more. For some reason they involve the Avengers. I guess since they appeal to their god then build a new god who judges us all unworthy. Then a lot of back and forth about worth, every so often interrupted by "regular people" characters who do fuck not.... No reason for this at all.

[Stuart Knott · Rating 2 out of 5]

A confusing mess of a crossover that had potential, but squandered it with a convoluted mess of a narrative. I'm not the biggest fan of the Eternals but they were kinda useless here because of their programming. The Avengers mostly boiled down to Iron Man being an arrogant douche and Captain America being an inspirational martyr. The ethics of X-Men discovering immorality was interesting, but feels like a convenient way to bring them back after the "shock value" of a death, lowering the stakes. I enjoyed the Celestial judge; he was quite nuanced and caused some massive destruction and tested everyone. But I could've done without his constant narration and in the end it all felt redundant anyway.

[Subham · Rating 4 out of 5]

This gotta be one of my favorite marvel events ever.

The way it starts off in this epic fashion as we see Eternals declaring war against the X-Men and how that pulls in the Avengers, so many subplots coming together be it the Krakoan era or the eternals run by Gillen himself and how it ties all well together, the Eternals trying to make a"Progenitor" to save them, stop Druig's insane plans, the machinations of Uranos (Thanos grandfather) and how it all comes to a head and if you have read the tie-ins, its even more epic.

And just seeing how the Progenitor becomes the main villain, giving everyone 24 hours before it judges them and different tie-ins exploring what it means for them, their actions, them being judged by their loved ones, thats kinda awesome and many people will like it because of that but in the main series you have all the 3 teams come together first fighting each other, then together, as so happens and then how they try to stop this Progenitor and how it goes wrong and how ultimately they come up with a plan to save the world is so interesting.

I really liked how the 3 tie-ins after the 5th issue explore Tony, Jean and Ajak and with Tony particularly it sort of gives Gillen a chance to close out his run on Iron man in a way and give Tony one of the big moments and some interesting dilemma and with Jean, the Phoenix stuff she did and how it affects her in modern-times and how she moves beyond it, and I really liked it. In a way closing a long-running arc for these characters and giving them closure and maybe some new stuff to handle/address.

Its an event that does right on so many levels, giving Captain America his due too and like showing the faith of everyone in him, and him being one of my favorites I loved it even more and Gillen really knows how to give them their moments and not make it feel taking away from the event and adds to the story at large while also showing the symbolism of Cap.

The fall out was a weird one as it sort of doesn't change much but still does for some and there are some ethical stuff that will be fun to see how they address it.

Overall, a fun and bombastic event with amazing art once again by David after empyre, so love that for him and also good use of the continuity and a good message by the end of how we are judged everyday and so we should try to do our best to live upto that!

[Fahad Ahmed · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've gotta say, this was a lot better than I thought it'd be! At the end of the day, AXE Judgment Day is a pretty typical Marvel crossover event, but there are things that set it apart, too.

Even on paper, this storyline sounds pretty dope. Cyclops is often right about things, but when it comes to allowing the secret of mutant resurrection to be revealed, you'll have to pencil me in as a 'maybe'. See, it triggers a worldwide backlash against the mutants, and it provokes Druig the AXEternal into waging war. While the AXEmen and the AXEvengers put that matter to bed quickly enough, they do this by turning Avengers Mountain into a living Celestial - and that Celestial is AXEing one question: do humans deserve to not be destroyed? Find out in 24 hours!

Multiple times, the heroes try to prevent Judgment Day through the usual superhero means, but a Celestial can't be destroyed so easily, and the world ultimately submits to the Progenitor's judgments. That means there's a lot of action in these pages, but a surprising amount of introspection, too. The one downside of the trade is that it doesn't include the tie-ins, some of which spotlighted the judgments of individual characters.

On the AXEmen front, this event is really solid. I don't think readers of the ongoing Krakoan age of the mutants will find anything to complain about. The AXEvengers, on the other hand, feel once again like second stringers in this story, though Captain America and Iron Man get some cool moments. My biggest gripe with this event is the Eternals.

I gave Kieron Gillen's Eternals an honest try, but I really can't get behind these people. These characters, their backstories and their lore are so detached from anything to do with the larger Marvel universe, and they're not even all that compelling on their own! I really think this event could've been so much better if the Eternals were relegated to a tie-in subplot after the Progenitor was introduced.

All in all, Judgment Day is a pretty cool story, and it's backed by some baller artwork. If you don't like the standard Marvel event formula, I doubt this would persuade you too much, but if you're along for the ride, there's a lot of fun to be had.

[Comics Instrucciones de uso · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cierta parte de la crítica celebró "Judgment Day" como el mejor evento Marvel desde la legendaria "Secret Wars" (2016) de Hickman, pero lo cierto es que, al final, "Judgement Day" resulta ser sólo un evento más que probablemente en par de años ya ni recordaremos. Es lamentable pues la premisa era atractiva: los Celestials quieren reajustar el universo, que los X Men han desbalanceado desde que son incapaces de morir. Eso obliga a los Eternals -que, aunque lo quieran, no pueden desobedecer los mandatos de los Celestials-, a atacar la tierra y especialmente a Krakoa (y además pasar por Marte, o Arakko, en donde ahora vive la otra parte de los mutantes, liderados por Magneto y Storm). Naturalmente, un ataque así no iba a pasar desapercibido para los Avengers, quienes acuden en ayuda de los X Men, contra la opinión popular (desde que se supo que los X Men pueden resucitar, el resto del mundo los desprecia -con razones, a mi juicio-, por no compartir con ellos ese no menor benefcio). A ellos se les une un puñado de Eternals renegados, que no quieren la aniquilación mutante ni tampoco la de la tierra. Ahí se arma toda la lucha. Primero parece que la tierra se impone, pero luego la arma que usaron para imponerse les juega en contra, y deben improvisar una serie de ataques hasta que alguno les funcione. Hay muchos momentos absurdos: ya a los X Men la muerte no les importa nada, de modo que, por ejemplo, en una viñeta matan a Cíclope, mientras que en la siguiente ya lo han resucitado (este enredo de las resurrecciones tendrán que resolverlo pronto los editores de Marvel. ¿Qué es un héroe que no puede morir?) Para peor, ante la abundancia de personajes, Gillen -quien usualmente es un gran guionista- no se decide en dar el protagonismo a ninguno, sino que va alternando entre el Capitán, Iron Man, Jean Grey, Thor, luego otra vez el Capitán, etc., de modo que uno no logra identificarse con ninguno. Y por último, las consecuencias de este evento dejan intactos a los X Men y a los Avengers y sólo afectan a los Eternals, de modo que uno se pregunta ¿Para qué estas casi 250 páginas?

[Rick Ray · Rating 3 out of 5]

Spinning out of Gillen's own Eternals series alongside the ongoing story from the Krakoan era of the X-Men titles, comes another major comics crossover event. "A.X.E." features the clash between the Eternals and mutants of Krakoa, with the Avengers forced to play out the conflict as intermediaries. Like all superhero comic crossovers, the conflict is effectively a means to allow the creators to bash a bunch of toys together for a few issues before returning to the status quo, but fortunately Gillen manages to weave a bit more interesting of a story throughout the action. The central premise of "A.X.E.: Judgment Day" is that the Eternals, now led by Druig, feel that the mutants of Krakoa have reached the point of "excess deviation". As the Eternals themselves are static towards evolutionary change, the paradigm shift that Krakoa poses to the natural order of things seems to have gone too far. The creation of the nation of Krakoa was predicated on the fact that mutants have effectively solved death with the help of the psychic backups created by Professor X and the powers of the Five. But in Duggan's X-Men run, the secret that mutants become immortal is now out to the world. The Eternals now declare war on the mutants of Krakoa and Arakko, while the Avengers are caught between the hostilities.

What works well for "A.X.E." is Gillen's ability to craft individual storylines for a multitude of characters across the factions. It never feels rushed, aside from the ending, and the stakes feel well realized. It still suffers from some of the pitfalls of most crossover events, such as the feeling of overindulgence as well as the breakneck pacing, but overall this is probably one of the better modern events of recent years. Valerio Schiti's artwork also really does the action justice, and captures the bold designs of the many characters here well. While I do think a more subdued, and prolonged arc within the pages of Gillen's Immortal X-Men run would have served the ideas of the story much better, this was still a pretty well done event.

[JCRD]

Kieron Gillen está siendo un heredero dignísimo de Hickman. Apoyado en multitud de tie-ins, la mayoría a un nivel altísimo, ha sido capaz de cocinar uno de mis eventos favoritos de los últimos años, lleno de momentazos, caracterizaciones cuidadísimas y una coordinación editorial digna de aplaudir.

La serie principal es una pasada. Pocas veces he sentido más cómo un guionista pone a la totalidad del universo Marvel contra las cuerdas. Vengadores, X-Men y Eternos tienen que hacer lo imposible para intentar (porque en ningún momento está claro que puedan) salvar la Tierra de la aniquilación. Me parece muy inteligente por parte de Gillen plantear esto como una guerra entre mutantes y Eternos con los Vengadores intercediendo para después pegar un volantazo y pasar a otra cosa, en mi opinión, mejor. La espera entre número y número ha sido larga, pero qué eventazo del copón bendito le ha quedado. Sobra decir que Valerio Schiti se convierte en una primera espada de Marvel gracias a su portentoso trabajo.

Respecto a los tie-ins: en parte muy bien porque Gillen escribe la mayoría y sirven para ofrecer más perspectivas en este conflicto, pero por otro madre de dios la pasta que tiene que suponer leer todo. Immortal X-Men, X-Men Red y los números especiales dedicados a cada grupo son prácticamente imprescindibles y ofrecen algunas de las mejores parte de todo el evento. Hay otros que sí que me han dado bastante igual (todo lo de Kraven es un gigantesco meh), pero por lo general no han estado nada pero que nada mal.

Total: me ha encantado. El regreso a Marvel de Gillen está ofreciendo algunos de los mejores cómics de la editorial en años, y por mí que se quede el tiempo que quiera al frente de los X-Men, Eternos y lo que haga falta.

[Michael Church · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this. I was waiting for it for a while, and knew broad strikes of the main story. Like most events, every character can’t get their full chance to shine, so they pick and choose ones to highlight. Sersi, Iron Man, and Jean Grey are probably featured the most. Exodus gets a surprising amount of panel space, along with Ajak and some others.

The story is interesting. I like the way the Eternals were set up for this (reading Gillen’s run definitely helps it make sense). There are some key events that take place in other books, notably the X-Men Red tie-ins, since the Arakko attack otherwise takes place almost entirely off panel.

I do feel like some of the problems they brought on themselves. Like why did they use the thumbprint of Arishem the judge? That feels like it’s just asking for trouble, but maybe that’s me reading too much of the meta narrative (I did know it was called Judgment Day, but none of the characters would).

I think what I enjoyed was the complexity of the judgments. I think a lot of them were intended to bother the reader. Every one of them could be justified, but not necessarily in the same set of standards. It struck me as being about how vast the shades of gray are that we use to form opinions about these characters and the world around us. Along with some intense zapping and lasers and giant god robots.

The art throughout was really great. You can’t go wrong with Valerio Schiti. That said, the design for Sinister was terrible. Mainly the face, but it was completely off and bad looking.

In general, I had a lot of fun. I’m disappointed to know there isn’t a follow up Eternals book, because I think they have the most interesting shift to their status quo out of the groups in this book.