X-Force #18 – Review

By Craig Kyle & Chris Yost (Writers) and Mike Choi & Sonia Oback (Art)

Some Thoughts Before The Review: The last issue of X-Force gave me the feeling that the creative team behind it was desperately trying to get the series back up to speed after the miserable Messiah War storyline. I look forward to seeing where they take things, now that the series looks to be close to getting back on track.

The Story: X-23 gets taken away by the H.A.M.M.E.R. people. Wolfsbane and her lover deal with the frost giants. The rest of X-Force save lives, human and mutant.

What’s Good: From the awesome opening (nice to see Warpath really making an impact like that) to the brutal ending (not one of my favorite characters!), X-Force #18 delivers all the action, intensity, and violence I’ve come to expect from the series. But, while that’s definitely great and all, the best thing about the latest issue of X-Force is how effective the storytelling is. The threads that got interrupted by the crossover are effortlessly picked back up (and, in ways, wrapped up) while new ones are established in a way that feels natural to the way the series has been playing out since it began. Especially notable is how writers Craig Kyle and Chris Yost once again show their appreciation for recent (and not so recent) “X” continuity by throwing a number of things into X-Force that longtime fans should really enjoy. An interesting character thought dead makes a rather chilling return, X-23’s past catches up with her, and Wolverine’s scene with Cyclops really takes advantage of the tense, respectful relationship they share.

The artwork by the team of Mike Choi and Sonia Oback is, as expected, very slick and incredibly polished. While I still wish the art was a bit more gritty, there’s no denying how great X-Force #18 looks. The character work is particularly impressive as nearly every single character displays a realistic level of emotion in almost every panel. Also worth mentioning is how cool the full page images that are sprinkled throughout the book look.

What’s Not So Good: While it lends itself well to some nice artwork, the whole Wolfsbane storyline continues to leave me a bit bored. Frost giants fighting wolves is cool and all, don’t get me wrong, but it really breaks momentum and distracts from the main plot. The Wolfsbane scenes could easily be cut in favor of something a bit more relevant and therefore, they fall into “Not So Good” territory.

Conclusion: X-Force #18 gives readers everything they should be looking for in an issue of the popular X-Men series. Pick it up!

Grade: B

-Kyle Posluszny