Among Marvel Comics' biggest publishing initiatives for 2012 is Avengers Vs. X-Men, the previously announced 12-issue series where the writer will change every issue: Brian Bendis, Matt Fraction, Jason Aaron, Ed Brubaker, and Jonathan Hickman; and where John Romita Jr., Oliver Coipel and Adam Kubert will each illustrate one four-issue "act."

Breaking with tradition, Marvel confirmed this week that only one sister title will be launched to tie-in with Avengers Vs. X-Men, and it is called AVX: Versus. Each issue of the six-part series will spotlight two fights from the main book in more detail and more action than can be allowed in the main book. Like the main series, AVX: Versus will employ different creative teams from issue to issue, beginning in April with Magneto vs. Iron Man by Jason Aaron & Adam Kubert and Namor vs. The Thing by Kathryn & Stuart Immonen.


The news comes to us courtesy of Marvel.com Associate Editor Ben Morse, who administered a live blog of a conference call hosted by Junior Sales Administrator James Viscardi and featuring Editor-in-Chief Axel Alonso, Executive Editor Tom Brevoort and Senior Editor Nick Lowe.

Some highlights and relavant information:

- AVX: Versus will be the only newly created tie-in title to the main Avengers Vs. X-Men book, as opposed to the deluge of tie-in miniseries and one-shots typically associated with superhero publishing events of this kind. However, existing ongoing series such as the "core" Avengers and X-Men titles will tie-in to the AVX event.

- AVX: Versus is brazenly a fight comic. In the words of Tom Brevoort, "[There's] not a lot of conversation, introspection or sitting around tables. Page one has somebody punching somebody, the last page has somebody shooting somebody else."

- It would seem the 12 issues of Avengers Vs. X-Men are not enough to "do every fight justice," necessitating the tie-in book focused solely on battles. Brevoort likened the scheme to a 1960s issue of Thor that was dedicated to revisiting a Hulk fight that spanned only a few panels in an earlier issue of Avengers.

- Naturally, fights are fun to draw. "We wanted to give beautiful eye candy by rotating A-list teams," Brevoort said. "We're bringing in our big guns. If we were ever going to publish over-sized, this would be the candidate. You won't find a more straightforward title than Versus."

- "There are a tons of twists and turns in AVX where each team gets the leg up. I'm excited for those. I'm looking forward to seeing a Storm fight. I want to see Jewel get involved, she doesn't fight enough. We've got to see a Thor fight." -Nick Lowe

- "The positions of both the Avengers and the X-Men in AVX are hopefully presented effectively so that you think either side could be right. There will be moments where some Avengers break ranks and side with the X-Men and vice versa. Wolverine, Beast and Storm are conflicted. Hawkeye, Spider-Woman and Ms. Marvel might be as well." -Tom Brevoort

- "You won't see bouts in [AVX: Versus] that aren't reflected in some way in [Avengers Vs. X-Men], but they will be shown with more depth." -Tom Brevoort

- "We won't shy away from fan favorite fights like Rogue vs Ms. Marvel or Pixie vs Squirrel Girl." -Nick Lowe

- "Hopefully in the background of one fight you will see Ben Urich fighting Trish Tilby to give fans their Front Line fix." -Nick Lowe

- "At the end of the day what you get excited about is seeing your favorite character pummel your friend's favorite character so you can laugh at them." -Tom Brevoort

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