Friday, December 26, 2014

12 Days of X-Mas: X-Force #2

Kane! Weapon X! With the power to shoot his hands and feet off like a broken toy! I can’t remember if he had more powers, but those are the only ones he uses in this issue. The opening pages are as dynamic as the premiere issue, but man, the overwhelming RED on the page makes it hard to enjoy. I know you can’t change someone’s costume design, but having Deadpool and Kane throw down just makes for an overall sense of red bleeding over the entire page.

In fact, I’m not sure if it is the coloring or printing errors, but this book is full of problems. Boom Boom’s awful costume is mis-colored on one page. Cable’s face is pure yellow in on another. The quality control on this one wasn’t too high, I think.

Rob Liefeld’s pencils are not as tight as in the first issue, and the anatomy on some of his figures seems more off than normal. I don’t expect realism in comic art, but I’m pretty sure that Warpath has three elbows per arm in one panel. In fact, a lot of the cast doesn’t look great here, with the grimacing and wincing through the roof. BUT, Liefeld still makes Feral and Shatterstar look tremendous. I wonder if Shatterstar was his favorite? That padded mask actually looks cool to me!

In issue 1, Fabian Nicieza really throttled back the caption boxes. They are back with a vengeance here. Kane in the opening sequence, and Feral in the back, the dialogue is heavy and obvious, not the best I’ve seen from the writer. He does do a nice job with Deadpool’s dialogue though. It’s so weird seeing the character show up in this comic as a villain. He’s working for “Tolliver,” who I don’t even remember!

The main plot isn’t a barn-burner. GW Bridge wants Kane for his anti-X-Force team, and Feral loses control and guts Cannonball while on a training exercise. I’m much more excited about the cliffhanger; Black Tom Cassidy has kidnapped Gideon and Sunspot. PLUS, Tom has just rescued the Juggernaut from a non-corporeal state.


This AVERAGE issue isn’t quite as fun as issue 1, but I’m anxious to see the team go after the Juggernaut. 

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