Fresh off his amazingly successful ‘X-Men Legacy‘ series, Spurrier is now tackling another set of mutants. While he did amazing things with Legion, one has to ask if he is able to write a team just as successfully as he was able to shine the spotlight on primarily just one character?
To start off, let me say that Simon seems to have a knack for teaming up with artists who have very clear styles of their own. Tan Eng Huat had the perfect psychedelic style for ‘X-Men Legacy’ and I think that Rock-He Kim really pulls off the visual look of a gritty black ops team like the one Cable is clearly trying to put together in this latest book.
The last ‘X-Force’ title ended with Cable’s arch enemy Stryfe once more in the open and his old team no longer having a need to exist with his prophetic visions now being gone. Cable hinted that he might be setting up a new one and Psylocke was the only member he wanted on board. Clearly that’s changed as he’s also picked up Fantomex this time around. Who else is in the mix? Marrow rounds it out and much of the story is told through an inner monologue she is giving as she talks to someone that she is no longer able to. It’s hinted that it’s someone who could be listening in so is it to a psychic? Is it to someone who has died? I think we’ll find out down the line, but it’s very reminiscent to how much of Legion’s internal dialogue felt from the recent run on Legacy.
Fun fact: Marrow also has her powers back to some extent. She has no real control over them without an inhibitor and even then they are flakey at best. She clearly missed being a mutant from this dialogue so we’ll have to see how, where, when, and why she got them back up in the upcoming issues.
The entire base of Cable’s no mission stems from something we get scant details on referred to as “The Alexandria Incident” which is somehow responsible for Hope being int he coma we find her in. Is cable’s true motivation for starting a black ops team really for mutant kind or does he want to get revenge for what has happened to his daughter?
Regardless they have a mission that might be related to the incident referred to above and it’s a quick snatch and grab first to rescue Fantomex and with his information infiltrate a highly secure plane and steal a weapon off of it. The weapon itself ends up being a mutant and it’s unclear at this point if it’s one that will be joining the team or just be added into the mix in general.
This introduction gives us a return to the ‘X-Force’ of old. Yes, only Cable was initially on that team but we’re getting a highly black ops team loaded down with tech and weapons to fulfill a show of force for the side of mutants. From the get go it feels like they are instantly succeeding in what felt like a stretch for Wolverines recent run as being the head of another X-Force team though clearly Psylocke felt that it’s something which the mutant nation clearly needs.
Will Spurrier be able to work his magic twice? I’m hesitant to say but he’s already gotten my curiosity with a few dangling story lines that he’s laid out before us and I’ll be eagerly following the series as it progresses.
X-FORCE #1
Writer: Simon Spurrier
Artist: Rock-He Kim
