In the continuing saga of great artists, this issue of
X-Force features future superstar Jimmy Cheung. This is a pretty neat glimpse
at his early work because unlike some of the other artists we’ve seen so far,
Cheung already has his style pretty well established. He’s not perfect, things
can look a bit too cartoony, but man, he’s already quite good.
John Francis Moore has the team setting up shop in San
Francisco with a pretty reduced lineup. Dani Moonstar, Siryn, Warpath, Meltdown
(formerly Boom Boom), and Sunspot make up the team at the start of the issue. I
had totally forgotten that Sunspot and Boomer were dating. The pairing is no
odder than the one with Cannonball, although dating two best friends is always
an interesting choice for new drama.
Another forgotten (to me) character makes his debut in this
issue. Jesse Aaronson (later known as Bedlam) shows up asking the team to help
out their former mentor Domino. (Both Bedlam and Domino will end up filling out
this era’s roster by the close of the issue.) This all sets up with a new
villain called the Gryphon along with a strange new Marvel science-villain
organization. Thanks to some sharp character design from Cheung, even the
low-level guards and flunkies are pretty interesting and unique looking. I’m
not sure I buy the threat-level they pose to the team, but the look pretty good
in their slimmed down, Mandroid-ish armor. (In a great twist, there is no psyche-shielding
on the power suits, so Moonstar just drops each of them with one hit.)
I’m not a huge fan of the “team uniform” look, because it
takes away so much of the visual flair of super-hero comics. Sunspot can make
out just fine in a uniform, but Warpath and Siryn lose so much of their unique
palette and contrast on each page.
This is another FAIR issue of X-Force. This is something of
a trend at this point. Moore does a nice job giving each character a voice (and
making Siryn an effective leader) but there is nothing ground-breaking here.
That will have to wait for tomorrow’s issue.
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