Published: March 22nd, 2017 Written by: Rob Liefeld, Fabian Nicieza, Todd McFarlane, various Art by: Rob Liefeld, Greg Capullo, Todd McFarlane, Mike Mignola, Mark Pacella, Darick Robertson, Terry Shoemaker, various
Marvel Comics, 463 Pages
Review:
Man, oh, f’n man… it’s been ages since I’ve read the Rob Liefeld era of X-Force. When I was a kid, I thought that this was the greatest new series Marvel had but I also think I was convincing myself of that, as Rob Liefeld was a hot commodity and I was also a fan of The New Mutants, which this was born out of. Besides, there was just so much hype at the time and I was at a pretty impressionable age.
Reading this now, I still found it really enjoyable and was surprised that I liked it as much as I did.
However, I also know that the story essentially came from Liefeld like bullet points and then it was handed to ace writer Fabian Nicieza, who actually wrote all the dialogue and massaged Liefeld’s notes into a usable script. After Liefeld left the series to co-found Image Comics, Nicieza stayed on as the writer and worked with other greats like Greg Capullo and Mike Mignola.
Now looking at the other side of this, creatively, the art isn’t great and even if I loved Liefeld when I was in 7th grade, I see the issues with his art much more clearly now. However, I don’t want to shit all over the guy like everyone else has done for years. I just notice the issues he has with anatomy and perspective.
It’s worth mentioning, though, that the art did improve once Liefeld stepped away, which happened about two-thirds into this collection.
As far as the story goes, I really got reinvested in this and want to keep reading it. Possibly beyond where I stopped when I was buying this month-after-month, which was about four or five years into the series.
Additionally, this also reminded me of how much I liked some of the long forgotten characters that were so cool in 1991. Characters like G.W. Bridge, Garrison Kane and the other people associated with them and Cable’s past.
Published: 1991 Written by: Chris Claremont, Jim Lee, Fabian Nicieza, Whilce Portacio, Peter David, Len Kaminski Art by: Jim Lee, Whilce Portacio, Kirk Jarvinen, Tom Raney, Terry Shoemaker, Paul Smith, Andy Kubert, Jerry DeCaire, Ernie Stiner, Steven Butler, Art Thibert
Marvel Comics, 437 Pages
Review:
I’m pretty excited for the current Jonathan Hickman run on the X-Men titles. I haven’t started reading them because the two miniseries that are coming out are doing so just about weekly. So I want to wait to have all twelve issues before giving it a read. But from what I’ve heard, it’s absolutely solid and quite refreshing.
However, before getting into the new stuff, I wanted to travel back to the height of my time reading and buying X-books: 1991.
The reason I wanted to go back there was because it was a transitional period, as the original X-Factor team came to an end, the New Mutants became X-Force and two new X-Men teams formed, each with their own ongoing monthly series. It was also a transition from the Chris Claremont era into the era of Jim Lee.
This thick trade paperback collects multiple story arcs but all of the arcs are unified in their purpose, which was to end an era and to create a new one.
Here we have the final stories of the first X-Factor team, as well as stories involving the newly formed X-Force and New Warriors, Freedom Force and the X-Men team as it existed when Claremont moved on from the series.
This almost feels like an omnibus.
It also features a lot of great creatives on the writing side and art side.
Ultimately, this was a hell of a fun read that flew by despite its meaty 437 pages.
We get dozens of heroes and a whole slew of major X-villains like Magneto, Apocalypse, the Shadow King, Proteus and Fabian Cortez, just to name a few.
While a lot of the ’90s comics I go back to don’t have the same effect on me as they did when I was twelve, this is a solid f’n read. Seriously.
And what’s really surprising is that it has all these creatives working on it and it still turned out to be a really well managed and fully realized vision that brought an era to its end, quite epically, and generated real excitement and enthusiasm for what was to come.
Rating: 10/10 Pairs well with: other major X-Men crossover events from the era: X-Tinction Agenda, X-Cutioner’s Song, etc.
Published: 2016-2017 Written by: Chad Bowers, Chris Sims Art by: Mirati Firmansyah, Coby Hamscher, David Nakayama (cover) Based on: the X-Men animated series by Fox Kids
Marvel Comics, 240 Pages
Review:
If you were a kid in the ’90s, you probably watched the X-Men cartoon that used to be on Fox on Saturday mornings. It was solid, did a pretty good job of adapting some of the comic book’s big storylines and introduced a lot of non-comic reading kids to the X-Men franchise.
It ended after a few seasons and never really had a proper follow up. Well, that is until recently, as the show moved into the medium it was born out of: comic books.
Maybe this took its cues from DC Comics and how they came out with Batman ’66, a comic book series that revisited the 1960s Adam West Batman TV series. But one can’t deny that Batman ’66 was a cool comic, a great idea and with that, should have inspired other comic books that continued the stories of comic book characters as they were presented in other mediums. Hell, I’m still waiting for that Batman ’89 comic that was once teased and then had those teases retracted.
But this is about X-Men ’92, which was a decent follow up to the animated series.
Overall, this was a fun read but it didn’t wow me in the same way that Batman ’66 did. Where that Batman comic felt tonally right and as if it was a true continuation of the series, X-Men ’92 throws some weird curveballs and also tries to force in way too many characters just for the sake of the creators trying to give you the animated series’ versions of these characters.
Maybe they knew this series would be short lived and therefore, they wanted to wedge in every character they could but it really becomes too much to process in the second half of this series. Also, I wasn’t a fan of devoting so much time to a Dracula/vampire story. None of that was central to the core of the cartoon and it shouldn’t have been central to the core of this comic.
Also, this feels like it is just borrowing the visual style of the TV show but it doesn’t seem to understand the tone or the spirit of it.
It’s still entertaining for fans of the source material but I wouldn’t call it a must read or all that necessary. Die hards should check it out but I can see why this didn’t make it a year where Batman ’66 has still been hanging on for quite awhile with a long running series and several crossovers.
Rating: 6.75/10 Pairs well with: the animated series it’s based on, as well as ’90s X-Men comics and various spinoffs.
Published: 1992-1993 Written by: Scott Lobdell, Fabian Nicieza, Peter David Art by: Brandon Peterson, Andy Kubert, Jae Lee, Greg Capullo
Marvel Comics, 336 Pages
Review:
This was one of my favorite big crossover events when I was really just getting deep into comics. This blew my middle school mind at the time and it had a lot of influence over my creative output in the comic book medium.
I was worried that revisiting this story would be a big disappointment. A lot of the stuff from this era that I reread now, usually lets me down, as my palate is more discriminatory than it was at thirteen years-old.
I’m happy to say that this was still pretty f’n solid!
In fact, I think it is slightly better than X-Tinction Agenda, which I used to place ahead of this one.
What I really liked about it, is that it features three of my absolute favorite villains: Apocalypse, Mister Sinister and Stryfe. They are all well balanced and they aren’t here to come together in an effort to finally take out the X-Men, X-Factor and X-Force (formerly the New Mutants). Each one of these baddies has their own purpose and agenda within the story and it all just comes together in a really cool way that even sees the X-Men have to turn to Apocalypse in order to stop Stryfe’s chaos.
This is the best big story to come after the epic Chris Claremont run on X-Men. But if I’m being honest and this certainly isn’t a dig at the legendary Claremont, whose work I love, X-Cutioner’s Song was really refreshing and it showed that new blood could liven things up. Granted, Peter David didn’t hang around too long, Scott Lobdell and Fabian Nicieza also moved on to other things, but this was a weirdly perfect storm considering all the changes happening on Marvel’s X-books following Claremont’s departure and many of the top creatives leaving for the newly formed Image Comics.
The art is also top notch, but Brandon Peterson, Andy Kubert, Jae Lee and Greg Capullo are all fantastic and three of those men have become somewhat legendary in their own right.
X-Cutioner’s Song is well crafted, well balanced and it should be a primer on how to write massive crossovers featuring dozens of characters all competing for their moment.
Rating: 9.25/10 Pairs well with: previous big X-Men crossover events like X-Tinction Agenda, Muir Island Saga, Inferno and Fall of the Mutants.
Published: March 14th, 2018 – August 29th, 2018 Written by: Matt Rosenberg Art by: Adam Gorham, Ryan Stegman (covers)
Marvel Comics, 136 Pages
Review:
I had trouble rounding up the six issues in this miniseries, as the first few sold out quickly at my local comic shop and then the last few seemed to have not been ordered. But now that I got all six issues, I was able to finally read this. I was anticipating this greatly, as I am a long time New Mutants fan and I also love Magik.
But man, this was a mixed bag.
Had I bought and read these from the beginning, I would have quit this series after the second issue. As much as I like these characters, this miniseries started out really f’n bad.
To start, don’t let the nice covers fool you because the interior art is pretty unimpressive. In fact, Magik looks like a blonde wannabe of Lisbeth Slander from those Girl With the Predictable Yet Easily Triggered Goth Attitude books and movies.
Go look at the cover of X-Infernus because that’s how Magik should look in the modern age: all woman. I mean, is she a teenager again or supposed to be? Did I miss some moment in recent years where she reverted back to her younger age? Because she grew into one heck of a badass demon women wielding a magic sword and wearing armor like some sexy Red Sonja villain. Now she looks like my neighbor’s pissy daughter, Chloe. I said “hi” to her once and she just starred at her phone, chewing gum and looking like she was cosplaying as Negasonic Teenage Warhead cosplaying as Axl Rose. I just call her “Chlobot” now and her reaction is the same.
Anyway, the story was pretty unimaginative, at least in the beginning. It started out as a New Mutants versus zombies tale but then it evolved into a mish mash of what felt like random shit. It went from The Walking Dead to fighting a frost giant at the North Pole to a bad plane ride to a funeral to I don’t know, it was all over the place.
However, it did pick up and seem more cohesive as it went on. The part about the funeral and it being some mind games from the villain was an interesting twist. I wouldn’t call it original and the twist felt like a cop out, as they couldn’t commit to the more interesting bit but at least it pulled me into the story.
There is a whole side plot about Warlock, which culminates in the big ending of this story but that ending was problematic because it was a non-ending and showed that this six issue miniseries was just a tool to setup something else in the future. The problem with this, is that a miniseries should be pretty self-contained and this wasn’t. It ends in the middle of a larger story arc and I have no idea where this is supposed to pick up or if it even started or not.
Another big issue was the writing and I don’t mean the story, I just covered that. It was the dialogue. Man, it was terrible. These kids talk like every generic and uninteresting Marvel character being written today. They all have the same personality with just minor tweaks. It’s all snark, no likability and it’s a lot of forced humor. You know how some people aren’t funny but try to be funny? That’s just about every character in this book.
I really wanted to like this because I miss the experience I had reading The New Mutants. Sadly, this doesn’t cut the mustard. But I can just go back and pick those old books up anytime, I guess.
Rating: 5.25/10 Pairs well with: I guess the recent X-Men stuff, which has all been pretty weak if not outright terrible. I’d like to say classic New Mutants but this just doesn’t live up to those great stories.
Also known as: DP2 (promotional abbreviation), Daisy, Love Machine (both fake working titles) Release Date: May 10th, 2018 (US limited) Directed by: David Leitch Written by: Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick, Ryan Reynolds Based on: the character of Deadpool created by Fabian Nicieza, Rob Liefeld Music by: Tyler Bates Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Josh Brolin, Morena Baccarin, Julian Dennison, Zazie Beetz, T.J. Miller, Brianna Hildebrand, Jack Kesy, Leslie Uggams, Karan Soni, Terry Crews, Lewis Tan, Bill Skarsgård, Rob Delaney, Brad Pitt (cameo), James McAvoy (cameo), Evan Peters (cameo), Tye Sheridan (cameo), Nicholas Hoult (cameo), Hugh Jackman (archive footage), Alan Tudyk
Marvel Entertainment, Kinberg Genre, The Donners’ Company, 20th Century Fox, 119 Minutes
Review:
“I was born into war, bred into it. People think they understand pain, but they have no concept of it. What’s the most pain you’ve ever felt? Maybe the kind that leaves you more machine than man. ” – Cable
*There be spoilers here!
After what felt like too long of a wait but was actually only 27 months, Deadpool 2 has arrived. I guess if I were to sum up the experience in one word, that word would be “consistent”.
The film is very consistent to the first movie but it had a few things that were better and a few things that weren’t, which makes it break even, as to whether or not it was better or worse.
The positives were the addition of new cast members and the genesis of what is going to become the X-Force team.
Josh Brolin’s Cable is everything you would want a Josh Brolin Cable to be. I think the casting of Brolin was perfect and one hell of a great move and lucky break for this pocket of the X-Men film franchise.
Zazie Beetz’s Domino was really fun to watch and while I love the old school X-Force comics, which Domino was a big part of, this version of the character eclipses the comic book version. Plus, most of the Domino stories I remember were actually just Copycat posing as Domino because I stopped reading X-Force about a year after Rob Liefeld left and the X-Cutioner’s Song crossover ended.
The negatives or really just the one big one for me was that the plot seemed all over the place and kind of aimless at times. Lots of things happened that seemed way too convenient despite the film actually making note of that once or twice, especially with Deadpool’s “lazy writing” jab at his own film. Joke aside, poking fun at it doesn’t necessarily excuse the parts where it happens.
It’s just that the first film felt more refined and more fluid. This one propelled forward at a good pace but it seemed like it was all over the place. There also wasn’t a clearly defined villain, which isn’t a necessary component but I felt like Deadpool and Cable’s first meeting and eventual team-up should have come with a real threat other than just trying to save a kid from his anger. I was kind of hoping that Stryfe would at least appear, even if only to setup the X-Force film.
Juggernaut shows up and his bits are great but he’s really just there to setup a cool fight with Colossus. Also, you get Black Tom Cassidy but he was totally wasted and just sort of a prison thug that ends up getting killed in the lamest way possible. We didn’t get to see the BFF pairing of Black Tom and Juggernaut like we got to see in the earliest Deadpool solo stories and in the original X-Force run. I really hoped we were going to get to see Cassidy and Juggernaut form their villain tag team that was a thorn in Deadpool’s side back in the early ’90s.
My favorite part of the film was the mid-credits sequence, actually. This is packed full of some really cool stuff and more great moments of Ryan Reynolds poking fun at himself.
Deadpool 2 was good but it was a wee bit of a disappointment. With the mythos getting richer with new characters people have wanted to see for years, this should have taken the franchise to the next level. They had a solid foundation, new tools to work with and a world to branch out into. I’m hoping that X-Force, whenever that arrives, takes things to that next level.
Rating: 8/10 Pairs well with: Obviously the first Deadpool film and Logan for being the only other R rated X-Men related film. I’d also pair this up with Legion, which is TV’s more mature take on the X-Men universe, although it’s nowhere near as hilarious as Deadpool.
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Talking Pulp 
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