X-FORCE #13 – August 1992

Everything Hits The Fan

Credits: Fabian Nicieza (writer), Mark Pacella (pencils), Dan Panosian (inks), Chris Eliopoulos (letters), Steve Bucellato (colors)

Summary

Weapon Prime attacks X-Force, as Cable prepares to destroy their headquarters. Cable’s computer, the Professor, teleports his technology away as X-Force easily defeats Weapon Prime. X-Force’s headquarters then detonates ahead of schedule, thanks to a trigger override implanted by Vanessa. Meanwhile, Gideon is conducting deadly experiments on Sunspot.

Continuity Note

In his third appearance, Tygerstryke finally speaks…one line. Apparently, he has a super-powered suit that allows him to fly. It’s hard to imagine a less engaging character.

Approved By The Comics Code Authority

Feral is drawn at certain angles so that her breasts are almost totally visible, with her costume looking as if it’s only a pair of triangle-shaped pasties. Of all of the female characters in comics, Feral is the probably the last one I’d like to see used as cheesecake. If there's a market for furry, poorly drawn, half-human, half-cat comic book character T & A, I'd rather not know about it..

Production Note

The art actually is full bleed in this issue, an effect that an Uncanny X-Men issue from just a few months earlier couldn’t pull off. It’s something everyone takes for granted now, but having the art extend across the entire page was a huge advancement at this time for regular-priced comics.

Review

This is the first post-Liefeld issue, and I wish I could say that it’s the end of an era, but it’s virtually identical to the preceding issues. The confrontation with Weapon Prime has been building since the first issue, and is finally resolved in an anti-climatic fight scene that lasts for only a few pages. Not one member of Weapon Prime is really allowed to be credible threat, as X-Force tears through them without any problems. I assume that Nicieza was as bored with this storyline as I was and just wanted to be done with it. I can’t blame him, but as the payoff for a year-long subplot, this doesn’t work.

It’s interesting that Rob Liefeld's departure isn't acknowledged at all. Less than a year earlier, when Todd McFarlane left Spider-Man, he was given the entire letters page to say goodbye. Marvel doesn’t even recognize that Liefeld is leaving, or that he was ever there. A letter is printed that complains about the title’s slow pacing, and the response is that the writer should “hold tight” until the Nicieza/Capullo run begins. I can’t imagine that Marvel was thrilled to find out that the first issue of Youngblood sold more than one million copies. Maybe they thought that even acknowledging Liefeld’s departure would draw even more attention to Image.