As the second act of the House of Ideas summer of event begins, the story seems to pick up and proves this is beyond the fight between two major teams but a war between the X-men and humanity.

(Spoliers!) At the end of act one, the X-men and Avengers battled on the moon while the Phoenix approached. Hope Summers, believing she could control the power is quickly overwhelmed and calls for Wolverine to kill her to stop the madness. Meanwhile, Tony Stark and Hank Pym finish their “Phoenix Killer” armor and unleash a Hail Mary attack. Tony fires a weapon specifically designed to Phoenix’s energy signature and appears to shatter it. Wounded it comes to Hope but is rejected and in a crazy twist the Phoenix takes a group of X-men (Cyclops, Emma Frost, Colossus, Magik, and Namor) as it’s hosts, creating the Phoenix Five!

Act two picks up 10 days after the moon battle and we soon find that the Phoenix Five have literally recreated the world. They’ve brought food to the starving, water to the thirsty and ending wars single handedly.  This creates a division between the Avengers who although can’t argue with the X-men’s results still can’t leave a power that great unchecked.

None of this matters because the Avengers are now no match against the power of the Phoenix five. But the arrival of the Scarlet Witch may change all that.

Issue six really picked up steam in the story. Jonathan Hickman’s script was fast paced, action packed, and really played up the social and political ramifications of the events unfolding. Unlike the other issues so far, Hickman began to use elements of the tie in issues which really opened up the story and showed how wide spreading it really is.

This issue also marks the start of Olivier Coipel’s run on the series which brings a grander more epic scope this story. Although I’ve always been to a fan of John Romita Jr’s dark and gritty style, after the events of issue five the story needed a much more detailed and cleaner look. Coipel’s characters and layouts and characters hold a presents about them, giving you a feel of the weight and power behind them all. Since his work on Thor and Siege, there really is no one better for a story of this scale.

Although the series had a some what slow and rocky start, issue six proves to be a real game changer. For anyone on the fence of this series or haven’t read it up until now, issue six is a great jumping on point  and teases to be an epic conclusion.

As an added bonus, when you download issue six from the Marvel APP you also receive a digital only Infinite Comic written by Mark Waid and drawn by Carlo Barberi. This interactive format gives an insight into how the Phoenix powers is effecting Cyclops and gives you glimpse of what he’s truly becoming. Although not a completely crucial to understanding the events of AVX, it’s a great read and completely worth the download.

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