Uncanny X-Force #1
Writer Sam Humphries has picked a pretty colorful cast to make up his X-Force team. With Psylocke, Storm, and Puck all on board, I was ready to read this comic for some of my favorite X-Men. One thing I didn’t expect from this, nor do I ever expect from an X-Force title, is the exposition to be more interesting than the action sequences. The initial setup for this comic’s story is decent enough, but what follows feels rushed and messy. I’m all for starting a series off with a bang, but it feels like there is an attempt at shock here that comes off as a cheesy attempt to be edgy. I also don’t mind when a comic has a cliffhanger, but the three that are present in this debut issue aren’t that interesting nor do they give us an idea of where they will be taken.
Ron Garney is the series’ artist and his pages are very hit or miss. The opening splash has really intricate and cool backgrounds, but the primary focus of the panel is cluttered, confusing, and almost Liefeld-esque. From that point on it’s a coin toss what you’re going to get. Many pages look really good while others aren’t easily discernible with limited details and downright goofy character expressions. The one thing that really helps the artwork is the coloring job by Marte Gracia and Israel Gonzalez, their work really makes some of it more interesting to look at.
Uncanny X-Force is the kind of comic that will either really please or disappoint fans, there isn’t much middle ground here. It feels like a rushed and silly debut issue that moves so fast, it’s hard to even get a grasp for what is going to happen or what will happen. I hope this series gets more interesting. The characters in it are too good to fall into oblivion.
Rating: 5 / 10
You can follow Spencer on twitter @TheSpencerPerry.
