Uncanny X-Force #32 – Review

By: Rick Remender (writer), Phil Noto (art), Frank Martin Jr. & Rachelle Rosenberg (colors), and Cory Petit (letters)

The Story:  Deadpool to the rescue!  Quick, somebody rescue Deadpool!

The Review:  If there’s one thing this issue hammered home for me, it’s that I really, really love how Rick Remender writes Deadpool.  Honestly, if Deadpool were written like this more often, I might actually be tempted to pick up his ongoing.  Remender’s Deadpool actually feels like a three-dimensional, believable human being.  Yes, he’s unhinged, yes, he’s goofy, but he’s not the over-the-top cartoon caricature that he’s usually portrayed as.  Rather, he has inner struggles and insecurities and one always gets the feeling that there actually is a hero with a sense of morals underneath all the jokes.  That’s the thing about Remender’s Deadpool:  there’s a real person, and a good one at that, sitting beneath the surface, or fascade, of wackiness.  That’s not something a lot of writers do correctly, most seemingly focused on that surface as being the be all and end all of Deadpool.

Alex’s Stack

Hey WCBR readers,

So I’m currently sick as a dog and buried with work.  Of course, that doesn’t change the fact that this past week was huge for comics.  In an effort to at least get some opinions out there, I’m going to break from the norm and offer some quick opinions on everything I bought this week.  This isn’t a regular feature so much as it is a stop-gap for my currently ill and mad-cap life.  Also, just because I give a take on here doesn’t mean that a full review won’t be incoming.  Anyway, here goes:

Wolverine & the X-Men #15 (by Jason Aaron (writer), Jorge Molina (pencils), Norman Lee (inks), and Morry Hollowell (colors)

After a couple of good outings, AvX drags this issue back down.  This was a definition of “mixed bag” as it was an incredibly disparate issue with next to nothing in the way of an overall, unifying plot.  Instead, we just got a scattershot array of short vignettes checking in all the characters.  Some sucked (yet ANOTHER scene of Hope and Wolverine belly-aching about Jean), a couple admittedly shone (Toad and Husk’s quirky romance, an EXCELLENT exchange of barbs between Quire and Xavier), while the rest were completely forgettable.  Also, Jorge Molina’s faces are often ugly as hell.  For instance, Hope looks Asian but with a chin sharp enough cut diamond.  Thankfully, Hollowell’s colors are pretty slick.

Grade: C

FF #21 by Jonathan Hickman (writer), Nick Dragotta (art), and Cris Peter (colors)

I’ve been pretty unkind on this title of late due to a seeming lack of direction.  Thankfully, this far and away the best issue of FF in quite some time.  Put simply, it’s a great cosmic story with epic contests between larger than life character all surrounding a Romeo and Juliet sci-fi romance.  The issue, unlike others, works because it’s Hickman telling a story that needed resolution, tying up a loose end from his run.  As such, it isn’t plagued by the lack of necessity that dogged other issues.  Also, this is BY FAR Nick Dragotta’s strongest performance on FF.  His pop art leanings really come to the fore here and they are fantastic fit for a cosmic story, apparently.

Grade: B

Uncanny X-Force #30 by Rick Remender (writer), Dave Williams (art), and Dean White (colors)

Once again, Remender makes magnificent use of a frequent comic book storytelling device that is so hard to use properly.  Last month it was time travel and this month it’s mind control.  Remender makes devilishly clever and cerebral use of high-level telepathy this month, making for a psychological read in which it becomes hard to tell what’s real and what’s not….although I will admit that the twist at the end was nonetheless a little obvious.  It’s hard to judge this issue on its own, as it’s clearly the introduction to the next stage in a larger story, but I enjoyed the feel of the carefully orchestrated game that Evan is locked into, playing the rat in a maze of the Brotherhood’s creation.  I will say, however, that the art didn’t do much for me.  Dave Williams is a fine artist and Dean White is as brilliant as ever, but it’s just a case of standards being so high on this book and Williams simply not being quite on the same ridiculously high level of Opena/Noto/McKone/Tedesco/etc.

Grade: B

Winter Soldier #9 by Ed Brubaker (writer), Michael Lark (pencils), Brian Thies & Stefano Gaudiano (inks), Bettie Breitweiser (colors)

Shame on you for not buying this book!  Now Ed Brubaker is going away…or something.  Anyway, Winter Soldier, unsurprisingly, delivers another excellent issue, full of shadowy Cold War espionage action with bullet-casings scattered everywhere.  I found this issue to be a tight, tense outing that flew by and was very exciting throughout.  At times, the tone of this book felt like James Bond crossed with a noir detective fiction story.  Also, there is a really cool twist near the end of the issue that vaguely reminded me of one of my favourite scenes from the Avengers movie.  Also, Michael Lark continues to bring it as only he can, hitting the tone of the book perfectly.  It did leave me wondering, however, just how much better Brubaker’s run on Daredevil would have looked were it colored by Breitweiser instead of Frank D’Armata.  Anyway, I digress.

Grade: B+

Journey into Mystery #642 by Kieron Gillen (writer), Carmine di Giandomenico (art), Chris Sotomayor (colors) 

The first issue of the Everything Burns crossover led to the best single issue of Fraction’s run on Mighty Thor.  Naturally, Journey into a Mystery, a book that, unlike Mighty Thor, has been awesome throughout its run delivers a performance that’s just as good.  Suffice it to say, when it comes to Everything Burns, I am officially a believer.  I’m rarely one to sing the praises of a crossover, but this is awesome.  This month, Gillen really gives us a good healthy chunk of one of those high fantasy genre elements that make those gigantic novels so addictive:  politics.  The various powers, the deal-making, the shifting allegiances, the bluffs, the gambles, and the lies are all in play, making for a colorful, gripping read.  Also, Gillen reminds us that he really GETS the relationship between Thor and Kid Loki, which feels sincere throughout with Gillen reminding us what can at times be forgotten:  Loki is, in the end, a kid.  It’s great character work throughout.  The only thing holding this back is the art.  I’ll admit that it may be a personal thing, but I’ve just never been a fan of di Giandomenico.  I find his work muddy and too indistinct for my tastes.  That said, even that can’t keep this issue down.

Grade: B+

Justice League #12 by Geoff Johns (writer), Jim Lee (pencils), a ridiculous number of other people (art, inks, colors…etc)

At first, I reacted a little defensively to our own Mr. Nguyen’s review and I think that’s in large part because I really do feel that this title has improved significantly since it’s first arc.  Upon reflection though, this still isn’t exactly a game-changing comic book.  Graves just doesn’t doesn’t work as a villain quite as much as I want him to because…well…I still don’t really understand the nature of his powers and what they’re doing, and Johns only complicates that further this month.  It’s a shame, as I do like his back-story.  The whole soap opera romance stuff was another thing that didn’t work for me quite as well as I wanted it to: the Superman/Wonder Woman thing makes sense, but comes completely out of nowhere while Johns is still acting as though he’s given us a reason to care about the Wonder Woman/Trevor relationship when he hasn’t really.  As far as the art goes, I don’t know if it’s Jim Lee rushing or the brigade of inkers, but this felt rough and at times a little dated.  At times, it felt like I’d picked up a bog-standard 90s superhero book that’d been re-colored.  All that said, I thought the ending to the issue was strong, with a great cliffhanger involving Amanda Waller and a very interesting turn for Green Lantern that reminded me a little of Batman at the end of the Dark Knight movie.

Grade: C+

Uncanny X-Force #29 – Review

by Rick Remender (writer), Julian Totino Tedesco (art), John Lucas (interlude inks), Dean White (colors), and Cory Petit (letters)

The Story:  The future X-Force tries to keep Psylocke alive to stop their Minority Report-styled universe from ceasing to exist.

The Review:  In most comics, the bad guys’ plans require killing the good guy.  I loved Remender’s creative reversal of this dynamic; here, the bad guys are desperately trying to keep Psylocke from killing herself.  It makes for some really great situations.  For instance, there’s a wonderful scene where the Punisher tries to get Psylocke to do what he wants…by pointing a gun at her.  Psylocke rightfully laughs at this and it shows that even the characters struggle to deal with this wacky reversal of the usual state of affairs.  There’s just something so wonderfully goofy, in a very dark way of course, about a hero desperately trying to die and diving into things with reckless abandon to accomplish this end, while the villains try to save her.

This also leads to a great little interlude where Psylocke meets Warren in the afterlife (maybe?).  Remender leaves it perfectly in the air as to whether this really was the afterlife, but it’s a highly effective scene and leads to more fantastic character work, and character development, for Psylocke.  Remender is really doing some of the best work with Psylocke that we’ve ever seen.

Remender also once again shows a fantastic handle of Deadpool.  There’s a couple of pages that are utterly hilarious here, with one visual gag involving the Punisher that is guaranteed to get a laugh.  Deadpool is, again, never over the top but adds a nice touch of zaniness to an otherwise unremittingly grim comic.  The gag with the Punisher is definitely one of the best Deadpool scenes from Remender yet.

Uncanny X-Force #26 – Review

By: Rick Remender (writer), Phil Noto (artist), Dean White (colorist), and Cory Petit (letterer)

The Story: Wolverine, Deadpool, and Nightcrawler fight for their lives against the Omega Clan, but Psylocke and Fantomex have problems of their own.

The Review:  It’s amazing just how much ground Rick Remender covers in this issue not so much in plot progression, but in tone and style.

On the one hand, the action in this comic is ridiculously brutal and creative with buckets of gore.  It’s an entertaining and furious comic in this regard.  As has often been shown in this series, Remender is also unflinching and disgustingly inventive with his violence and there’s certainly a scene this month that’ll add to that reputation.  On the other hand, however, the scenes with Psylocke and Fantomex appeal in an entirely different way.  The dialogue and the ordeals these two go through are gut-wrenching, with Remender being absolutely merciless to his characters.  It’s harsh, hard-hitting stuff that has a lot of heft, emphasizing the dark, intimate character-work that sets this book apart.