The Quick and Dirty

Writer: Craig Kyle, Chris Yost

Art: Humberto Ramos (p), Carlos Cuevas (i), Edgar Delgado (c)

Pros: Strong, exciting battle scene; great character interaction; excellent artistic showing; Rahne cutting lose; Warpath showing his true loyalties

Cons: If you haven’t been following the storyline thus far, you unfortunately will not have the opportunity to get the maximum enjoyment from this issue.

Who should buy this issue: Anyone who wants to get a good taste of what the new X-Force book will be like; fans of X-23; fans of Caliban; anyone just looking for a good fight sequence; anyone following the crossover thus far.

Overall Rating: ●●● ●●● ●◦◦ (7/9)

The Details

The Art:

Humberto Ramos came to this show with his A game, let me tell you. I haven’t enjoyed his superhero style this much since Crimson! Edgar Delgado’s colors were amazing. His style is so simple, and clean. He puts down just enough color to give the illusion of depth, and lets your mind do the rest. Many surfaces have an almost edgy texture to them that compliments Carlos Cuevas’ angular inks very nicely. The snowy setting gave the X-Force scene a lot of room to breath, and the negative space was very well used. Many artists who use this much negative space come off as lazy and avoiding detail, but the art team avoids giving off that feels. If this team is the one chosen for X-Force, I would have to pick up the first few issues to give it a chance. I don’t see that happening, however, as Ramos is slated to pencil Runaways next.

I love Ramos’s Rahne! Hands down, this is the best she has ever looked in her current wolf form (I’ve always had a soft spot for her early 90′s form, but I am aware that nostalgia plays a certain role there). I also enjoy his Reavers. Personally I would rather see the cyborg Reavers from the 80′s as opposed to the Body Bags/Clownface wanna be costumes last seen in the early issues of New Mutants (vol. 2), but I like that those little read stories are being acknowledged.

I don’t care for Wolverine’s small Frank Miller styled “ears”, but that is such a minor gripe compared to the rest of such an amazing looking issue.

The Story (possible spoilers):

I was weak with anticipation for chapter 9 after reading this issue. The excitement slowed down for the past two issues, but things have picked up again (at full speed, I might add) in NXM. Two exciting developments occurred in this issue. The most important was the battle between the Reavers and X-Force, which yielded three significant results (X23′s victory, Cable escapes, Caliban). And the second was discovery that Jamie is soon to be branded. One the surface, this seems to be “fun” but inconsequential. However, there may be a deeper implication for the story as a whole.

I’ll talk about Jamie first, since I have a lot to say about X-Force later. This was the sequence that I was hoping to see last issue in X-Factor. We get some wit and fun dialogue between the two. And then in the next issue page, we learn that Jamie is going to get a giant “M” brand on his face like Bishop does. Now, to be fair to PAD, Jamie is a complex character who does more than just exchange wit with his partner in crime. There’s an emotional side to him too, and while the dialogue we got to see last issue in X-Factor was not as fun as the stuff in this issue, it was more necessary to the story. However, the implications of this issues activities are more exciting than all of that. If Jamie is getting an ‘M’ brand like Bishop, Shard, Randal, and all of the other X.S.E. members, then that means that the future timeline that Bishop came from may once again exist! Or at least one similar to it. Seeing as how the writers have left something of a mystery surrounding the B-man in Messiah Complex, this revelation here may be very important for the outcome of these future events.

The three pages that took place at Xavier’s were fun also, because for the first time in this storyline we see Strong Guy and Monet! Also, a strike team is assembled consisting of the remaining non-X-Force characters. Whomever they fight it does not matter, because it is guaranteed to be a rockin’ good time!

Even though I care little the new X-Force as a team, I really enjoyed the battle scene this issue. Maybe it was because I enjoyed the art so much, or maybe it was because of Kyle/Yost (I wonder if they would object to being referred to as “Kyost” or even “Ky-ost”?), but I was very caught up in the action.

The X-23 (I hate that code name) was fun and I liked the way that she won. I didn’t think it was possible, but hey, who’s complaining. I still don’t get the character or know what she’s about, so its hard for me to say anything else about her other than “hey, that was a cool fight. She’s smart.” Ramos took a cue from Erik Larsen’s Savage Dragon and had the heroine’s boobs hanging out of her ripped spandex costume. Its a something that I’m sure happens more frequently than artists choose to depict.

I love the Rahne moments- I felt special attention was paid to her this issue, as her reaction to the use of God’s name as justification for hate and violence is very important to her character. Despite mauling a guy, we still see her human side, as she defers final judgement on his life to her Lord. I feel like Kyle/Yost really “get” her, even though they have just begun writing her.

The same can be said for Warpath. I was introduced to this character through the original X-Force, and was underwhelmed. He seemed bland to me, and I assumed he was on the team only because a “strong guy” was needed, and because of the ill ties his brother had to Xavier and friends. However, Brubaker showed me a different James Proudstar over in Uncanny, and ever since, I have been rooting for the guy. This issue was no exception. His reaction to Caliban getting shot was perfect- despite being a soldier trained by Cable to do whatever it takes to get the mission done, James proves that he has not lost his human when his friend gets shot. Now, I never read the issues of X-Force where the two were teammates together, but I was able to gather from Uncanny that the two were close. Wolverine questioned James’s loyalties and his ability to get difficult jobs done, and it became very obvious after this scene that Logan was extremely wise to do so (I guess he really is the best at what he does). Proudstar lets Nathan get away because he cares too deeply for his former teammate. I can’t imagine the guy would hurt Cable. He abandoned Logan once and I expect him to do it again if the situation ever arises.

Which leads into the one of the saddest moments of the entire crossover: Caliban’s death. I couldn’t tell you for exactly how long he has been around, but I am pretty sure he was created over two decades ago. During that time, he was a Morlock (one of the few to survive Sinister’s Massacre, I believe), one of Apocalypse’s Dark Riders, a member of X-Force, and an overall ally of the X-Men. I was honestly shocked and saddened when I turned the page to see him getting gunned down. I felt that helpless feeling; when you want to do something to protect a person, but instead you are stuck watching their agony. The set up for the death shot was excellent- I knew something was about to happen by the way Proudstar had his back facing us in the shadows, but I wasn’t sure. What a noble and fitting way for Caliban to go out: protecting someone he cares about. The part that saddens me most about his passing is that, unlike a major X-character like Banshee, the chances are slim to none that Caliban will ever be brought back. And as much as I would like to see that happen, it is probably for the better that he stay dead. Its just disappointing, as he was my favorite part of the new X-Force, and I think he would have added a lot to the team. I’m suspecting that the launch roster will be Wolfsbane, Warpath, X-23, and Wolverine- which means that it is very likely that Hepzibah will end up in space, missing, injured indefinitely, or dead.