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Wednesday, February 13, 2008

X-Force #1: Angels and Demons (Part 1) Review


Cover: Clayton Crain
Writer: Christopher Yost, Craig Kyle
Pencils: Clayton Crain
Colorer: Clayton Crain
Lettered: VC-Cpry Petit

Synopsis: So part of post Messiah Complex is all the X-men spin-offs. They have a new divided we stand gimmick meant to justify the adding of all the new titles. X-Force can be best described as the X-men black ops and this debut issue helps support this. But enough of my banter, the synopsis is upon us. We open up in Colorado with Wolverine chilling on the porch. Cyclops joins him and tells him about the SHIELD infiltration by the purifiers. They stole some super weapon from SHIELD so Cyclops decides to be reasonable and start a kill force to take them out. Warpath is burying his body and swears a blood oath (the only oath worth swearing [pinky being second] {heh the parentheses keep coming}) to avenge his little buddy. Cy tells Logan that X-23 is already signed up. Logan pops him, says he has no right to make her kill again. Cy introduces Rahne to the force and they take off to the evil lair of the purifiers (North Dakota, awww yeah its on). Logan gives everyone a last minute pep talk about how once you go black (ops) you don't go back and this will change you forever (btw their uniforms are black which is why this jokes on so many levels). So the purifiers are hating in their layer and show they had a robot that told the future which is how they knew about the baby. They attach a head to the robot and it comes to life and looks like a bad ass. The X-Force bust in and starts going balls to the walls just killing people. The fighting winds down then the token disfigured leader of the purifiers captures Rahne and says he will shoot her if they don't stand down. X-23 calls shenanigans and rushes two lackeys when the purifier leader seemingly pulls the trigger and ends the issue with a BLAM (the new guns go BLAM not BANG)!


Commentary:
This issue was really interesting. It puts an interesting spin on the X-men. Usually the main fear of regular people is that mutants would use their powers to do something like forming an unstoppable kill force but at the same time you can see how their situation calls for certain things like this. I enjoyed how Wolverine came across. Lately Wolverine has become just a background character but it's good to see him in the spotlight again. Cyclopes may have been stepping up lately but he seriously needs a check and Wolverine is the only one capable of giving it to him. I also liked how he warned everyone about becoming a killer and how doing what they will do will change them forever. It is in his character to basically take the burden of others and he doesn't want others to go down his road which is mighty big of him. I also enjoy how this picks up on the purifiers storyline which I think is the biggest snub in Messiah Complex since it just kind of disappeared. The art though is a bit rough at the start but manages to pick up. The manner of killing seemed a bit too much and it doesn't make sense that a stealth team with knives has such messy kills, logistics wise it doesn't stand. This was a decent issue but though it seems a bit out of character and the purifiers are a threat that need the X-men as a whole. They have earned the full force of the X-men and this does seem like a job.


Verdict:
almost GET IT but earns a strong SKIM IT

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