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Review: Uncanny X-Force #5.1

By | March 17th, 2011
Posted in Reviews | % Comments

Written by Rick Remender
Illustrated by Rafael Albuquerque

START READING with this Point One issue. When a situation calls for hard choices, the X-Force is there to step in. Lady Deathstrike, with the deadly Reavers at her side, set out to destroy the X-Men in their home! Deathstrike will obliterate the X-Men or die trying, and this new Uncanny X-Force is more than happy to oblige. As the line between right and wrong become more and more blurred, will the Uncanny X-Force be heralded as heroes…or villains?

With every Marvel Point One issue that I read, I become both more and less convinced of the merits of the entire initiative. While, so far at least, the other Point One issues have managed to slide in between arcs in a way that makes them appear to be natural interludes in between major stories. This was not the case here, and while this issue was a fantastic, standalone story, I really have to question its placement right in the middle of an arc, right after an issue that ended in a massive cliffhanger. Despite the odd publication choice, the issue held up to the incredibly high standard set by Remender since Day One. Clickity on down to find out why.

As the issue opens, we learn that Deadpool has uncovered a plot by the villainous Reavers and a “returned from the grave and to her classic look” Lady Deathstrike, both of which have not been seen since Messiah Complex. Its also at this point that we learn the opening of the last arc was not a one time thing and Warren really does plan to use Deadpool as a scout for all their missions, a tactic I approve of entirely (since why not send the unkillable psychopath with a heart of gold into potentially volatile situations first?)

Following a somewhat haunting history lesson on the X-Men’s past with the Reavers courtesy of Psylocke and Wolverine, the team heads out to the small town in Australia that they were based in for several years. It seems the villainous band of cyborgs has taken up shop in the X-Men’s old base of operations (which was an old Reaver base before that anyway) and had blackmailed the X-Men’s former ally Gateway into assisting them with their latest plan. As it turns out, Gateway actually didn’t die during Second Coming along with seemingly every other non-Welsh mutant teleporter. Who knew?

After discovering that the Reavers weren’t using their usual plan of “use knives and rail guns on mutants until they die” and were actually attempting to suicide bomb Utopia (using Gateway as their primary mode of transportation), the book devolves into what it does best: senseless violence. After two highly choreographed fights (Wolverine/Deathstrike, Psylocke/Two Reavers in the shadows of Utopia), the issue ends on yet another haunting reminder that what this team does is taking an active toll on the characters.

While deconstructing the story, I found a lot to like about it that isn’t really readily apparent. Sure this is a great, stylized, occasionally hilarious story about X-Force brutally killing one of the most recognizable X-Foes, but theres a lot of hard case mission statement of the book action going on here. Watching Psylocke struggle with her growing love of murder as well as masterfully complete her mission with the “regular” X-Men literally around the corner and not getting found out showed some really superb writing on Remender’s part. Plus, finally giving a concrete answer as to how Deathstrike keeps “dying” and coming back (other than editors sucking at their job) was actually a pretty high point for me. Also, the main book has had an unusually unbalanced focus on Fantomex and Deadpool since it began (more the former than the latter mind you), so it was nice to see those characters taken off the table for this story and the focus given to Wolverine and Psylocke.

On the art side, I’m sad to say that Albuquerque’s work was not really at the level I’ve come to expect based on his American Vampire work. While the key components that make him one of today’s best graphic fiction illustrators were all in play, the sheer attention to detail and stoic/violent ambiance I’m used to from him was lost with this one. Maybe its just due to the stunningly different subject matter that he’s dealing with here as opposed to what he gets in American Vampire, but it just felt a little too muddied and incomprehensible in some places. That said, he’s still better than 90% of artists that operate within the “stylized scratchiness” school of thought.

Overall, this was a great one-shot. A little oddly placed, mind you, and I have my doubts that it will bring more readers to the book than actually exist, but a fun story to add to my Uncanny X-Force collection nonetheless.

Final Verdict: 8.5 – Buy


Joshua Mocle

Joshua Mocle is an educator, writer, audio spelunker and general enthusiast of things loud and fast. He is also a devout Canadian. He can often be found thinking about comics too much, pretending to know things about baseball and trying to convince the masses that pop-punk is still a legitimate genre. Stalk him out on twitter and thought grenade.

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