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3.18 AVERAGE
3.18 AVERAGE
Ok so I'm editing my review. This volume is the best of this run, but only because of the potential I saw that was never delivered on. It undoes half of what Remender accomplished his run and gives you literally nothing to make up for it. Don't waste your time or money. Now my original, uninformed review:
I'd say this is off to a relatively strong start. It picks up after Remender's run, which automatically makes it worthwhile. Plus it's focused on Psylocke and develops a "buddy cop" feeling between her and Storm. Sold yet?
From there, the dialogue is good, the action is good, and the art is breathtaking. They manage to capture this grand imagery while in any setting, even in a subway tunnel or a little nondescript room. The whole thing has a phenomenal vibe and artistic feel. The accent colors are a real treat, too. Seeing the pop of Betsy's pink knife or butterfly or Storm's white hair sticking out was pretty great.
One frustration was the insistence on so many things being too difficult to talk about. This is NOT very new reader friendly because it builds so heavily from the last arc. It's a double edged sword because new readers don't know what's being referenced and existing readers aren't getting any resolutions. I'm more than happy to wait it out, it just came up a little too often.
Otherwise, I'm very excited for this book. I love the team and really hope to get some good closure with Psylocke (especially since I don't think I'll be following her book after All-New Marvel NOW kicks off). Even if I don't, it's going to be a visually amazing and really fun ride.
I'd say this is off to a relatively strong start. It picks up after Remender's run, which automatically makes it worthwhile. Plus it's focused on Psylocke and develops a "buddy cop" feeling between her and Storm. Sold yet?
From there, the dialogue is good, the action is good, and the art is breathtaking. They manage to capture this grand imagery while in any setting, even in a subway tunnel or a little nondescript room. The whole thing has a phenomenal vibe and artistic feel. The accent colors are a real treat, too. Seeing the pop of Betsy's pink knife or butterfly or Storm's white hair sticking out was pretty great.
One frustration was the insistence on so many things being too difficult to talk about. This is NOT very new reader friendly because it builds so heavily from the last arc. It's a double edged sword because new readers don't know what's being referenced and existing readers aren't getting any resolutions. I'm more than happy to wait it out, it just came up a little too often.
Otherwise, I'm very excited for this book. I love the team and really hope to get some good closure with Psylocke (especially since I don't think I'll be following her book after All-New Marvel NOW kicks off). Even if I don't, it's going to be a visually amazing and really fun ride.
So, this is why we needed two X-Force books at the same time? I guess Cable's team is there to rehabilitate Forge as a character and this must be planning to repair Bishop (good luck)?
Maybe this series gets better, but between the wasted efforts of Cable and X-Force, Thunderbolts and now this, I'm not feeling very generous for the "too cool for school" teams that face the problems no one else is equipped to face.
Maybe this series gets better, but between the wasted efforts of Cable and X-Force, Thunderbolts and now this, I'm not feeling very generous for the "too cool for school" teams that face the problems no one else is equipped to face.
For me to give an X-book four or five stars it must either be a strong starting point, a well-earned finale, or something shockingly good amidst the sea of mediocrity that the X-books often float upon. While I think this is a solid B+/B X-book for superfans, it wold be an absolute disaster for new readers, and not a great choice for people with surface knowledge of X-characters.
This book features Psylocke, whose history involves being a British psychic doctor with butterfly iconography, a ninja assassin with a Psychic Knife, a Mojoworld character who had her eyes removed and replaced with cameras, she's died, come back, her ninja body has battled her doctor body, died from the Legacy virus, then her other body died in a terrible X-book, she's come back without reason or understanding, she's been the Shadow King (I think), she's had The Crimson Dawn (you know the ...you don't ... yea, me neither), I think she died again, she was an assassin in the previous volume of Uncanny X-Force, she was in Brian Wood's X-Men book but didn't do any memorable things, and now she's ... ooof, this is a lot, right?
There's also Fantomex who used to be three brains in one, but now each one has their own body, and they're all in love with Psylocke.
Storm is ... in the book, but I think it's just so that there's one major recognizable X-character in the book.
Spiral, who is the one who cut Psylocke's eyes out back in the day, is one of the villains, and then not a villain.
Puck from Alpha Flight is back from Hell (did you know he was in Hell? me neither) and is definitely in this book for reasons.
Bishop is back from the future, and he's possessed by ... The Demon Bear ? from the 80s New Mutant books, as a lead in to the book's Big Bad who is The Owl Queen (who is totally a familiar villain, but shhhhh ... no spoilers).
The book is kind of a mess, but it was a fun mess.
I reccomend it only for die-hard X-fans who lurve Bishop, Psylocke, Fantomex, The Demon Bear (there's gotta be someone, right?) or Spiral. I'm pretty sure Wolverine is the only one who stans for Puck.
This book features Psylocke, whose history involves being a British psychic doctor with butterfly iconography, a ninja assassin with a Psychic Knife, a Mojoworld character who had her eyes removed and replaced with cameras, she's died, come back, her ninja body has battled her doctor body, died from the Legacy virus, then her other body died in a terrible X-book, she's come back without reason or understanding, she's been the Shadow King (I think), she's had The Crimson Dawn (you know the ...you don't ... yea, me neither), I think she died again, she was an assassin in the previous volume of Uncanny X-Force, she was in Brian Wood's X-Men book but didn't do any memorable things, and now she's ... ooof, this is a lot, right?
There's also Fantomex who used to be three brains in one, but now each one has their own body, and they're all in love with Psylocke.
Storm is ... in the book, but I think it's just so that there's one major recognizable X-character in the book.
Spiral, who is the one who cut Psylocke's eyes out back in the day, is one of the villains, and then not a villain.
Puck from Alpha Flight is back from Hell (did you know he was in Hell? me neither) and is definitely in this book for reasons.
Bishop is back from the future, and he's possessed by ... The Demon Bear ? from the 80s New Mutant books, as a lead in to the book's Big Bad who is The Owl Queen (who is totally a familiar villain, but shhhhh ... no spoilers).
The book is kind of a mess, but it was a fun mess.
I reccomend it only for die-hard X-fans who lurve Bishop, Psylocke, Fantomex, The Demon Bear (there's gotta be someone, right?) or Spiral. I'm pretty sure Wolverine is the only one who stans for Puck.
This new iteration of X-Force looks to be in the same vein as the last but maybe with more of a conscious. I loved the interactions between Storm and Psylocke as they "dealt" with their relationship issues. There were a handful of X-Men villains from the past and I think they missed their mark. Remender's run did similar things but this seemed forced. The inclusion of Puck also does nothing for me. The art by Ron Garney in the first part of the book was amazing. Loved it. The second half suffered without him. Overall, a decent start to a new-ish series but not up to the previous team's standards.
It's been a while since I read any, but I love me some X-Folx. I loved the Astonishing X-Men series that started with Whedon (fuck that guy) and all the Schism stuff, so I understand Wolverine and the new school, but the situation with everyone else was new to me, which seemed to significantly affect how flummoxed and struggling to engage.
Logan is a headmaster, so he can't be mutant back ops, but he can be their Professor X, sending Psylocke and Storm to join Puck in investigating mind control ecstacy. There's a multi-armed space ninja, a little girl in a safe, Bishop doing timey wimey stuff as he is does, there's bad(?) Stands that infect people, dream stuff, and Fantomex and Control are also in here for some reason.
X-Folx has always been a whole lotta WTF and go with it, but this is a lot and absolutely does not feel like a volume 1 of a new series that barely gives any context to anything or anyone, but then a few issues in starts telling the story through huge and boring infodumps. The script seemed like a scattershot mess mess to me that was supposed to be conveying big emotional and significant stuff, but never did I feel able to connect, and I'm someone who has become way too attached, engaged, and bawled more time than I would like to admit at comics in general, but a lot of X-Folx stuff.
Like so many comics, I imagine this must have been running alongside other series because there are jumps and so much unexplained stuff. It just feels like whole scenes are missing and for a TPB it just makes for an incredibly jarring experience.
The art has some moments, but it feels very Marvel house style without much flare. Some of the dream stuff is cool, but from noth a script and art style the dream stuff seems wasted. I found the whole thing extremely dull.
I know I swore off random Marvel stuff without recommendation, but I am addicted to getting stuff from the library and thought I could trust X-Folx to at least be interesting.
(Increasingly feeling like in getting old, grumpy, and my tastes changing, so your mileage may vary)
Logan is a headmaster, so he can't be mutant back ops, but he can be their Professor X, sending Psylocke and Storm to join Puck in investigating mind control ecstacy. There's a multi-armed space ninja, a little girl in a safe, Bishop doing timey wimey stuff as he is does, there's bad(?) Stands that infect people, dream stuff, and Fantomex and Control are also in here for some reason.
X-Folx has always been a whole lotta WTF and go with it, but this is a lot and absolutely does not feel like a volume 1 of a new series that barely gives any context to anything or anyone, but then a few issues in starts telling the story through huge and boring infodumps. The script seemed like a scattershot mess mess to me that was supposed to be conveying big emotional and significant stuff, but never did I feel able to connect, and I'm someone who has become way too attached, engaged, and bawled more time than I would like to admit at comics in general, but a lot of X-Folx stuff.
Like so many comics, I imagine this must have been running alongside other series because there are jumps and so much unexplained stuff. It just feels like whole scenes are missing and for a TPB it just makes for an incredibly jarring experience.
The art has some moments, but it feels very Marvel house style without much flare. Some of the dream stuff is cool, but from noth a script and art style the dream stuff seems wasted. I found the whole thing extremely dull.
I know I swore off random Marvel stuff without recommendation, but I am addicted to getting stuff from the library and thought I could trust X-Folx to at least be interesting.
(Increasingly feeling like in getting old, grumpy, and my tastes changing, so your mileage may vary)
Pretty much all my issues with the Marvel Now books can be somewhat offset by my being pre-invested with the characters and not being betrayed. This book is a case in point. It is on the surface a random grouping of characters. But as a former reader of X-men, New Mutants and Alpha Flight - I pretty much know all but Fantomex and Cluster. And the story has almost a random feel to it, but it just kind of works. And this is a version of Psylocke that I could perhaps appreciate. I even remember the bear. And yet clearly this is not a book that worked for everyone. Ah well - they probably like [b:Hawkeye, Vol. 1: My Life as a Weapon (Hawkeye|16002136|Hawkeye, Vol. 1 My Life as a Weapon (Hawkeye (Marvel NOW!) #1)|Matt Fraction|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1360413248s/16002136.jpg|21502266]
Let It Bleed is an odd volume, and I'm not entirely sure what to make of it. For the most part, I did enjoy it. I just didn't really understand it.
Now, I know about Storm and Wolverine, and have some basic knowledge of Psylocke and Bishop, and have even briefly come across Spiral and Fantomex before. I'm still very much new to Marvel comics and am much more invested in the cinematic universe, so cut me some slack, so maybe that's why I didn't follow at all times. I don't know anything about the X-Force, but seeing as how this is a Marvel Now! title I didn't see that as a problem.
And that's where I made my biggest mistake. The Now! branch of comics may be geared towards newer readers, but this very much felt like it was meant for seasoned fans. Or at least new readers who aren't as new as me. There's little to no explanation for Bishop's return, or even where he was or what had happened to him. We get glimpses of Spiral's and Betsy's pasts, but it still feels like you need to read about them individually before jumping into this. Which is fair enough, I suppose, as this volume isn't about them, but they're featured so heavily a little more information would be nice.
There also seemed to be a disconnect between the issues collected in this volume, with the last two feeling very out of place in terms of art style and story. They take a much closer focus on Bishop's mind, which was my least favourite part of the story, and seem to veer totally away from what was initially going on. I get the connection between Bishop and Ginny. Kind of. I just wasn't overly interested in it and cared more about Betsy, Storm, and Puck taking on Spiral to rescue a new mutant.
Maybe I'll continue with this if I ever find volume two, as answers would be really nice. But then again, maybe I'll just leave it.
Now, I know about Storm and Wolverine, and have some basic knowledge of Psylocke and Bishop, and have even briefly come across Spiral and Fantomex before. I'm still very much new to Marvel comics and am much more invested in the cinematic universe, so cut me some slack, so maybe that's why I didn't follow at all times. I don't know anything about the X-Force, but seeing as how this is a Marvel Now! title I didn't see that as a problem.
And that's where I made my biggest mistake. The Now! branch of comics may be geared towards newer readers, but this very much felt like it was meant for seasoned fans. Or at least new readers who aren't as new as me. There's little to no explanation for Bishop's return, or even where he was or what had happened to him. We get glimpses of Spiral's and Betsy's pasts, but it still feels like you need to read about them individually before jumping into this. Which is fair enough, I suppose, as this volume isn't about them, but they're featured so heavily a little more information would be nice.
There also seemed to be a disconnect between the issues collected in this volume, with the last two feeling very out of place in terms of art style and story. They take a much closer focus on Bishop's mind, which was my least favourite part of the story, and seem to veer totally away from what was initially going on. I get the connection between Bishop and Ginny. Kind of. I just wasn't overly interested in it and cared more about Betsy, Storm, and Puck taking on Spiral to rescue a new mutant.
Maybe I'll continue with this if I ever find volume two, as answers would be really nice. But then again, maybe I'll just leave it.