Thursday, January 1, 2015

12 Days of X-Mas: X-Force #32

Happy New Year!

The Younghunt. Oof. Fabian Nicieza has written some fantastic comics over the years, but there are some mighty iffy concepts out there too. It doesn’t help that the villains teaming up to partake in the hunt are a pretty weak mix. Sienna Blaze, Shinobi Shaw, Trevor Fitzroy, and Graydon Creed are not grade-A villains. Mostly (now) forgotten second-generation villains that didn’t end up having much staying power, it is hard to take them seriously. The only other hunters in the issue are rocking absolutely awful 90’s looks. Fenris, the neat brother/sister villain team, are clearly the coolest villains in the issue. But they look bad.

For the first part of a crossover with the New Warriors, there isn’t a whole lot of Warrior goodness happening. Justice is hanging out with Shinobi Shaw and making overtures towards joining the Hellfire Club, but it is all a cover. Dwayne Taylor shows up too, but I don’t think any character ever refers to him as his Night Thrasher identity. It took me a moment to remember who he was!

Its too bad, the idea of hunting down former members of the New Mutants and Hellions is a strong one. I had almost forgotten that Firestar was a former Hellion. I’m tempted to read more of the crossover to see if she has any nice moments with Warpath or any of the other mutant-focused characters.

Again, as the first part of a crossover, why oh why would we have to spend so much time on the boring Guthrie farm? There has never been a good reason to spend a lot of time with Cannonball’s generic family. Even seeing early-days Husk doesn’t help if she’s acting this silly and doe-eyed. I was amused to see Cannonball and Boom Boom frolicking around at the ol’ swimmin’ hole, though. Their relationship is something else that I had totally forgotten about.

I’m also curious to see what is happening in the next X-Force issue I read. With most of the team really starting to mature, I am not sure Cable is really a necessary part of the team. His obscure future talk and fatherly advice are unnecessary at this point. I want more Rictor. I want more Shatterstar. I want more Siryn. I don’t need to hear Cable talking about responsibility and his lost son from the future!

How lucky was this book artist-wise? From Rob Liefeld to Greg Capullo to Tony Daniel? Daniel’s art isn’t my cup of tea, but there is no doubt he’s got dynamic pencils. Every gal looks super hot and every guy has the same face and long hair, but the directing in the action sequences is fun. I do wish I had read one of his issues that didn’t spend so much time talking on a farm.


This one is only FAIR. I can’t give a comic that spends most of its time whining on a farm a top rating. 

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