bedsitter23

X-Force (2018-) #1 by Ed Brisson

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Ending the year and contemplating the decades old collection of comics in my basement, I think I have finally come to the conclusion that I will eventually go electronic and/or trade paperbacks.

That said, as long as my longtime friend is in the comic shop business, then I will remain a Wednesday warrior. That could be another 20 years.

In any case, I could stand to add a few titles. Most every one sat the day after Christmas out, but Marvel threw out a couple of things including this one, so this was a good opening

I really enjoyed Ed Brisson’s work for Image. He has done a variety of assorted work including a stab at Iron Fist (which I liked enough) and Old Man Logan (which I skipped) before getting the reigns of the Uncanny X Men. It's a series that I haven’t read but seems to get a lot of online hate. (My comic shop guy gave me a plot breakdown but no real feel for whether local readers stood on the topic).

I have skipped that series (and the surrounding Extermination event) but the lull in comics this particular Wednesday made me look at X Force as a jumping on point.

Any discussion about X Force must include mention of Dylan Burnett’s art. A lot of people really seem to hate it. It can tend toward slapstick and exaggeration at times; but it seems in line with the current Marvel style, and to a certain extent I think the object is to emulate Stuart Immonen. Once I got used to that, I was mostly fine with it.

Brisson for his part shows off what a top notch writer he is. There is a lot to set up to this series, though, and if I didn’t know some of the back story, it would be even tougher to piece it all together.

The choice of dedicating a few pages to a backup story seems questionable when it steals pages from the main story. That said, the backup story isn’t the usual throw away and actually adds some flavor to the issue that is rather needed.

I am not picking up many Marvel titles now, so I might keep an eye on this one for a few and see if it draws me in some more (or if I will be totally lost by having been away from Marvel for a few months).

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