Ax

Marvel Graphic Novel #44

by Ernie Colón

Enter a world of far-out fantasy in this tale that unfolds on three different worlds and many more levels! Ax's people think that the young man is destined to change their lives. And he is— but not necessarily in the ways they think he will!

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels

40 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1988

Reviews

[Brian · Rating 2 out of 5]

The art was fantastic. You really get to see the art in these old graphic novel format pages. The story is the weak link here. Some interesting ideas, but unfortunately poorly executed. It seemed that the author had an outline for an entire series that was condensed into one book and the parts he hadn't quite figured out yet were left in. This results in a narrative that is grand in scope but vague in execution.

[Sud666 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ax is one of the stranger comics I've run across. In its scope and storytelling, I think there could have been something amazing and original but an abrupt, to me, ending made it jarring.

Ax is a young man with what I assume is a magical ax. It turns out he is a being that is worshipped as a savior figure by three different cultures. One is a tribal culture, one is a medieval culture and finally a future society as well. It seems a conflict had broken out between the future society and the tribal one over resources. The future society used its weapons and drew upon themselves a curse. In the medieval society, which seems to be Ax's origin, he seems to be fulfilling a strange prophecy.

Does all this sound interesting and grand? I thought so too. There was a great deal of story to be told of a savior viewed differently by different cultures. It was the ending that threw me. I shall not spoil it, but it seemed rather abrupt. Though in a weird way he does help both the tribal and future societies achieve their deserved apotheosis. But it is the vagueness of what should be a satisfying conclusion that causes me to only rate this 3 stars. That is a shame since this had the potential for so much more.

[Rob Smith, Jr. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Storytelling-wise, this is a mess. Multiple angles presented. The effort to tie together shorts out entire book. I get the idea this was supposed to be the stat of a series to flesh out whatever is going on.

The artwork is good and quite a departure from his Richie Rich work. Still good, though the story is so poorly presented, it's unclear if the illustrated depiction is part of the problem.

Bottom line: i don't recommend this book. 3 out of ten points.

[StrictlySequential · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story is a bit far-reaching but I enjoyed it.

The art is a bit choppy but it has it's strengths to the narrative.