Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Uncanny X-Force #2

Overall: This issue begins with Wolverine and Psylocke training in the secret Danger Room. It seems that while Archangel is the co-leader of the team, Wolverine wants Psylocke to train to kill Archangel just in case he falls under Apocalypse's sway again. Upon discovering what was going on, it should go without saying that Archangel felt a bit betrayed by his girlfriend's actions. A bit later on, Wolverine and Archangel talk to clear the air, and are informed by Fantomex that he had located Apocalypse, who was living on the moon. X-Force heads to the blue area of the moon and are met by the Four Horsemen of Apocalypse, who absolutely trounce X-Force, ending this issue.

I really enjoyed this issue. It gave us some character development with Psylocke, Wolverine and Archangel, some humor with Fantomex and Deadpool, as well as a great cliffhanger, where Kid Apocalypse was being asked by his tutors how he wanted X-Force executed. If played correctly the mistrust that Wolverine is inadvertently sewing between Archangel and Psylocke could have some fun implications down the road. Besides that, the whole moral dilemma I'm sure X-Force will face when they finally come face-to-face with Kid Apocalypse ALREADY has me looking forward to the conclusion of this storyline.

Score: 9 1/2 out of 10.Yup, that's going to give me nightmares for at least a week...

15 comments:

  1. Glad this series is still doing well. I like the first issue and I didn't realize a new one was already coming out, so I might pick it up when I go to get ASM #649. I'm still kinda weirded out by the Kid Apocalypse thing, but I guess that's the point, right? And like you said, it should set up an interesting moral conflict at the end of the arc.

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  2. Yeah, I'd def recommend giving the second issue a shot, if only to see Apocalypse's newest(and probably weirdest)Horsemen yet.

    "it should set up an interesting moral conflict at the end of the arc." EXACTLY! The best thing is that Kid Apocalypse isn't Apocalypse in a kid's body acting all crazy, it's simply a kid(with Apocalypse's sprint or something like that)who is being indoctrinated by Apocalypse's henchmen. I mean the kid isn't really evil yet. So when Wolvie and company reach him, what do they do? Anything short of killing a thus far innocent child always leaves the possibility that Apocalypse could return in earnest. It's a much deeper storyline than I would have expected here.

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  3. Yeah, I was honestly pretty shocked when the first issue wasn't crap. X-Force has always been a title with a bad reputation (other than the awesome Milligan/Allred X-Statix stuff in the early 2000s), and from what I read of the Kyle/Yost X-Force series, it was pretty bad well. I was expecting more of the same with Uncanny X-Force, but I actually think this is probably one of the best X-books being published right now. Not that I'm reading any of the others, but from what you've been saying about them and just the fact that they look kinda boring to me (vampires? yawn), I'll stick with that assumption...

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  4. Same here, Marc. When you think X-Force you usually think of a bad summer action movie, full of big explosions and well endowed characters. This series(so far)has done away with that. Granted it's still a bit early, but if I had to choose only one X-book to read, it would be a toss up between this and X-Factor.

    I had NO clue you read X-Statix, Marc! That series(along with Morrison's New X-Men)went a LONG way in getting me hooked on comics again. I LOVED that series!

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  5. Have you guys tried Dark X-men or x-factor those are some good story lines a bit confusing.

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  6. Theres a kid apocalypse does he have his horsekids of death.

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  7. Yep...New X-Men, X-Statix, and JMS's ASM were the triple threat that made me HAVE to read comics at that time! But whereas I've re-read New X-Men and ASM within the last couple of years or so, I haven't gone back to X-Statix in quite a while. Those comics are somewhere in my parents' new house now, so I'll have to try to look for them when I visit for Christmas.

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  8. I haven't read X-Statix since it ended. I actually kind of wonder how it held up actually. I mean one of the thrills of reading it was the fact that you never knew who was going to die next, but having read the whole series, that little bit of mystery is gone. Then again, who am I kidding, the thing that made X-Statix as great as it was was the humor... I still laugh when I think of the Surrender Monkey!

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  9. I did re-read the X-Force issues of that run a couple years ago, and they're still wonderful, even knowing where the plot is going. If anything, the characters seem more fleshed out and slightly less farcical than they originally did, since you're focused more on them than on what's going to happen to next, if you get my meaning.

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  10. Mmm, sounds good. That's one of the things I really enjoyed when I re-read Morrsion's New X. There were so many little things I picked up on the second time around(like the empty car driving that evil Stepford girl away from the mansion after the murder investigation, obviously a nod to the later Magneto reveal)that I actually enjoyed reading that run EVEN more the second tome through!

    I loved most of the X-Statix characters as it was, so I'd have to imagine that I'd appreciate that run even more now.

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  11. The good news is that they're actually talking about bringing X-Statix back with the original creators sometime next year. Knowing Marvel it will probably get cancelled after about four issues, but hey, better to give it a shot than not, in my opinion.

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  12. *mouth drops*......... WHAT?!?! Seriously?! I... I can hardly believe that! Wow... You have taught me the true meaning of surprise, Marc!

    On one hand, that's awesome beyond words, but then on the other hand, I don't know that Milligan and Allred could possibly recapture what was so awesome about that series to begin with. I'd be afraid that it would be like Claremont's 5,923 returns to the X-Men, and how he hurt his legacy with each sub-par subsequent storyline. And then of course, as you mentioned, there's Marvel's notorious fast trigger when it comes to axing books... *coughYoungAlliescough* So while I'd be beyond psyched to get my hands on some fresh X-Statix, there's a lot of possible negatives attached as well...

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  13. The difference between Milligan and Claremont is that Milligan hasn't become a total hack in the years since he stopped writing X-Statix, like Claremont did in his years between X-Men runs. Allred hasn't really done anything in mainstream comics since X-Statix, and is still at the top of his game. So I think it'll be awesome! *fingers crossed*

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  14. Claremont=total hack... I'm glad you said it, because it's so true. I mean I never really thought his Uncanny run during the 80's was all that special(besides the Dark Phoenix Saga and catching lighting in a bottle with Wolverine), and his work post 1990 has just been universally bad, with some thing bordering on unreadable.

    I def hope you're right on X-Statix, Marc. I'd just hate to see the memory of something that awesome sullied with some bad/unneeded stories.

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