X-Force #1 Review
Summary: Another shaky 1st issue. All the books have earned a minimum of three stars but haven't really gone beyond that. This is the first book I've read that gained anything higher than that 3. At least the lines not terrible, but I'm still waiting for it to kick into the next gear. The issues fine, but needs some work.
3.5
Thinking!
Background – Forge assembles a new team and thinks. He thinks a lot.
Writing – A new number one? AWESOME! That means a new team!
Forge – Forge never really connected to me growing up. He was always the guy who built things who had a giant gun and a bionic leg. As I grew older, I realized just how valuable his powers were. This guy can build ANYTHING. Reading this issue, I audibly (and quite loudly in a Starbucks mind you) exclaimed “IS HE NUTS!”. Forge has built a machine that allows him to boost his powers to Omega status. This can’t be a good idea. Forge has made a device, the “Analog” that can see the “cracks in the world”, which I’m assuming is another way of saying the world’s problems. That’s what he’s out to fix: the problems of the world.
Sage – Our resident mutant with a computer for a brain. Krakoa’s fall and eventual departure from our reality has left Sage in a very fragile mental state. She is considered crazy by some until Forge comes to her and heals her. She becomes the team’s strategist. I don’t know when exactly Sage started to become an X-Force mainstay, but at this point I find it difficult to imagine an X-Force team without her.
Tank: Tank literally just shows up and does what Forge says. We know nothing about him, but his design sure looks cool.
Captain Britain (Betsy) & Askani (Rachel) – Our couple is back in action. So far they seem to be our resident telepathic and telekinetic duo for the team. Betsy seems very apprehensive and wary of joining the team, but Rachel is all in. Also, Betsy REALLY doesn’t like Deadpool. I don’t know whether she finds him annoying or if it goes back to the Uncanny X-Force days, but the dislike is palpable. Rachel on the other hand is immediately happy to join the team and does so with ZERO hesitation. It’s actually kind of endearing.
Deadpool: I’m assuming he’s here because a certain movie just came out (a fact that Wade hilariously brings up). He’s not actually on the team though. Forge hires him for this one mission. Wade is actually the one who beats the monster, albeit unwillingly. Forge brought him along so the monster would eat Deadpool and in the process, his cancer. I’ll miss Wade, but I’m sure he’ll be making more appearances down the line.
Surge: I doubt Peach Momoko and Geoffrey Thorne have had talks about characters to use, but Surge is definitely making a comeback into the mainstream. While she’s a villain in the Ultimate 2.0 universe, here we find her protecting a large group of civilians from a giant slime monster. I’m assuming she’ll fill the Kitty Pryde / Jubilee slot on the team.
The villain: The giant slime monster has an insatiable need to feed and is apparently made by Fujikawa … which happens to be owned by Mr. Sinister. I’m hoping that this is a one time Sinister thing though because after Krakoa and the Heir of Apocalypse story, I am so burned out on Sinister.
Artwork – The characters all look great, if a bit “normal”. I say normal because nothing really stands out, except for the design of Tank. Whatever he or she or it is, it looks awesome. The monster is a bit of a letdown. It looks like a cross between something that the PowerPuff Girls would fight and your generic ghost from the Ghostbusters franchise (It’s individual pieces before coming together look way better and more thought out.) The coloring is where everything gets highlighted (no pun intended.) These uniforms look great, with the red / yellow / black combination bringing to mind several incarnations of the various X-teams these mutants have been on. This has been a constant through the new “X” line: weird artistic choices with fantastic coloring. I wonder how the Uncanny X-Men will fare?
Final Thoughts – Once again, the new age of X-Men has gotten off to a rocky start. All the books so far have landed around the 3 out of 5 range and this is no different. While the premise is good, and the coloring is amazing, there seems to be a lack of characterization (Tank in particular), and what seems to be a very unclear mission for the team. This book can’t work if it’s going to be episodic. It needs a main villain (just… PLEASE NO SINISTER.) I’m a little less nervous about this book than the others though. There are some great designs and colors and there is still time to state the books’ actual objective. This book brings me hope in the “From the Ashes” era.
Publisher: Marvel
Writer: Geoffrey Thorne
Artist: Marcus To
Colorist: Erick Arciniega
Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramagna
Cover Artists: Stephen Segovia and Bryan Valenza
Genre: Superhero
Format: Monthly
Release Date: 07/31/2024
About the Author
Matt Fischer Lover of all things nerdy. Reader of Comics for over 25 years. DC encyclopedia. X-Men historian. Spider-Man and Marvel lover. Indie side guy.
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