X-Force #1

Craig Kyle, Christ Yost & Clayton Crain

.

This is not a good comic. The first indicator should have been that the writers on this book are the same as those behind the dreadful New X-Men "Quest For Magick" arc. Kyle and Yost know how to tell a sloppy, uninteresting story while not even trying to touch on characterization. At least this time the art matches their talent and is equally underwhelming and laid out pretty dreadfully. It's dark and cold, ugly and brutal, and the suspense and fluidity that should be present in a comic like this is just not there. I'm actually offended that I was subjected to this.

.

The story follows four X-Men who are recruited by Cyclops to do the dirty black ops work that the rest of the teams can not do publicly: Wolverine, X-23, Wolfsbane and Warpath. Together, they try to recover a device stolen by Purifiers, specifically Reverend Matthew Risman, that they would use to give power to the future sentinel Nimrod (or part of him, at least).

.

There's buckets of blood and blades cutting through soldiers' various body parts, but it's impersonal and cold, like the colors and the overall art. This is clumsy storytelling, dull and drab and completely forgettable, the likes of which I would warn anyone from reading. As "eh" as the original X-Force book was, this is an insult to that title.