Mania Grade: B

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Info:

• Issue: 1
• Authors: Craig Kyle, Chris Yost, Clayton Crain
• Publisher: Marvel
• Price: $2.99

X-FORCE #1

X-FORCE #1 by Craig Kyle, Chris Yost, Clayton Crain(2008).
© Marvel

I can accept the premise that Cyclops wants a black-ops squad to eliminate the enemies of mutant-kind, and that he finds himself willing to dispatch lethal force. After years of persecution, I figure that Scott Summers has to realize that a more passive approach won’t appease fanatics. Though the X-Men have killed on occasion, they usually eschew it – philosophically, if nothing else. With the formation of the new X-Force, Summers has made his intentions very clear: that Wolverine will lead a team of killers to take out the worst threats to mutant-kind. The team will consist of himself, X-23, Warpath, and Wolfsbane. In this first issue, Logan leads the team into a compound occupied by Rev. Matthew Risman, and his mutant-hating cult, the Purifiers. The Purifiers have stolen a power source from S.H.I.E.L.D. to power Bastion, whom they resurrected by combining with the mutant hunting robot, Nimrod – a transplant from the future of Days of Future Past. Needless to say, the team cuts their way into the compound like a glutton at a buffet.

I love the idea behind X-Force. I love it because nothing pleases me more than troubled, violent anti-heroes that try to do the right thing in the worst way possible. I love characters that turn their back on their humanity to serve a nobler cause. I love Wolverine and I love X-23. But unfortunately, I do not love this book. I like it, and I’ll grab the next couple of issues, but this first issue of Craig Kyle and Chris Yost’s new series suffers from a handful of classic problems. The entire infiltration of S.H.I.E.L.D. not only occurs in a flashback with a voiceover, but uses too few images and too much text. Consequently, the reader feels rushed and confused. The pay-off comes quickly, though, and the new team gladly cuts down much of the church that persecutes them. Though the graphic violence certainly establishes this as a more “adult” X-book, it only resonates in the moments before it. In one of the issue’s best – and saving – scenes, Logan warns Warpath and X-23 – as if she doesn’t already know – that a life spent killing means one devoid of humanity. If X-Force carefully examines the effect of violence on its principle characters, it will justify itself beyond an excuse to show blood in an X-book.

Clayton Craine’s digital art looks as good as ever. He always walks a pleasing line between exaggeration and realism, and creates image of such detail that they all but wipe out the artificial quality of so much digital art. Craine sets the industry standard for digital art, and I hope he remains on the book.

X-Force shows a lot of potential, but this issue makes a few missteps. I’ll pick up the next couple of issues, but your mileage may vary.

Questions? Comments? Let us know what you think at comicscape@mania.com.