X-FACTOR #75 – February 1992

The Nasty Boys

Credits:
Peter David (Script), Larry Stroman (Pencils), Allen Milgrom (Inks), Glynis Oliver (Colors), Michael Heisler (Letters).

Summary

The rogue Madrox absorbs his X-Factor counterpart and reunites with Mr. Sinister’s cronies, the Nasty Boys (Ruckus, Hairbag, Gorgeous George, Ramrod, and Slab). Sinister is revealed as the man behind last issue’s lie detector test. Madrox internally fights against his rogue duplicate and causes him to implode. Sinister allows Madrox to escape as part of his plan. During his battle with X-Factor, Sinister disguises himself as the Senator and outs him as a dangerous mutant. Before killing him, Mr. Sinister reveals that his actual plan was to prevent Senator Shaffran from becoming President.

I Love the ‘90s

You can see a pair of Pump tennis shoes on the first page amongst the Nasty Boys’ garbage.

Senator Shaffran says that he used his jinx powers to make President Bush choose Dan Quayle as Vice President.

Commercial Break

There’s an ad for the BMG Music Service, offering you four CDs or cassettes for just one cent. There’s even a place to tape your penny on the mail-in coupon. Some of the albums you can buy are Paula Abdul’s “Spellbound” and Enuff Z’Nuff’s “Strength”. Actually, one of the characters introduced in this issue, Ruckus, looks like he could’ve been a member of Enuff Z’Nuff.

In the Bullpen Bulletins, Marvel announces that prices are going up to $1.25, but that the quality will be increased by “100%!” This is the same company that will soon be publishing Mark Pacella’s X-Force run.

Continuity Notes

This is the second issue in the row that claims that Mr. Sinister has knowledge of the future. He states as an absolute fact that Shaffran would have become President, and that this would’ve lead to the deaths of Havok and Polaris. Sinister wasn’t given any type of origin at this point; and when the story was finally told, he was not revealed as a time traveler.

Sinister also refers to the domination of “our kind” implying that he’s a mutant, which also doesn’t fit in with his origin.

Review

This issue is representative of the way a lot of storylines at this time were handled. Most of the immediate mysteries are answered, but there are still vague hints and mysterious characters that don’t offer a full resolution. Last issue revealed that Senator Shaffran is working with Sinister to discredit X-Factor in order to help his Presidential bid. It’s revealed now that Sinister is double-crossing him in order to protect Havok and Polaris, and to ultimately help X-Factor’s public image.

Why does Sinister want to protect Havok and Polaris? It’s a mystery. Why does he ultimately want the destruction of all who bear the name “X-Men”? It’s a mystery. Why does Sinister want to build up X-Factor’s image? It’s a mystery. Who is Mr. Sinister in the first place, and why didn’t he die in his last appearance? It’s a mystery. I’ve mentioned before that I found these mysteries intriguing as a kid, so I guess it’s not surprising that Sinister was one of my favorite villains.

The over-reliance on mysteries instead of straightforward storytelling is one of the most common complaints about ‘90s X-comics. I think that a lot of the resentment comes from the fact that the mysteries dragged on for too long, and often had anti-climatic resolutions. Sinister’s origin was finally revealed ten years after his first appearance, and it wasn’t even in one of the main titles. You had to buy a separate mini-series to get the answers. With all of that said, it’s worth remembering that X-Factor probably had fewer mysteries than the other X-titles at this time. The mysteries regarding Sinister weren’t the main focus of the storyline, so there is an actual resolution to the lead story.

The Nasty Boys are introduced in this issue as Mr. Sinister’s newest group of goons. They never became major characters, but were immortalized in the ‘90s X-Men cartoon. Their absurd names and powers make them good antagonists for this version of X-Factor, but I wonder if the other X-writers just considered them too ridiculous to be believable threats. Peter David comes up with another unique use of Madrox’s power by having him force his duplicate to implode. Larry Stroman does an impressive job with that scene, along with the rest of the issue. If you’re willing to overlook Sinister’s annoyingly vague motivations, it’s an enjoyable resolution to the first storyline.

X-FACTOR #74 – January 1992

Politically Incorrect

Credits:

Peter David (Script), Larry Stroman (Pencils), Allen Milgrom (Inks), Glynis Oliver (Colors), Michael Heisler (Letters).

Summary

Slab threatens to destroy the Washington Monument if Strong Guy doesn’t agree to fight him. During the course of their brawl, Strong Guy is the one who accidentally destroys the Monument. The entire fight is revealed as a set up by Mr. Sinister and the mysterious Senator Shaffran to discredit X-Factor. Meanwhile, a lie detector test reveals that the Madrox who joined X-Factor is a duplicate.

Continuity Notes
Slab is incorrectly colored as green on the cover. The mistake is repeated on the next cover, so maybe he was originally intended to be that color.

Review

Almost half of this issue is a fight scene, but it doesn’t get in the way of the ongoing subplots and character dramas. The two mystery figures from the previous issues are revealed to be Mr. Sinister and a new character, Senator Shaffran. X-Factor is still standing out as the best X-title. The mysteries don’t seem to be dragging out forever, and the fight scenes actually serve the ongoing storyline instead of getting in the way of it.

X-MEN #4 – January 1992

The Resurrection and the Flesh

Credits:
Jim Lee (Plot); John Byrne (Script), Jim Lee (Pencils), Scott Williams (Inks), Joe Rosas (Colors), Tom Orzechowski (Letters).

Summary

Omega Red is revived by the Hand as a part of the Upstarts competition. They soon team up to capture Wolverine, Gambit, Rogue, Jubilee, and Beast. Consumed with guilt over her treatment of Magneto, Moira McTaggert moves away from the mansion.

Continuity Notes

For the most part, Gambit still isn’t speaking in “dese” or “dats”. I was looking through some of Claremont’s last issues recently and noticed that Gambit didn’t speak that way in his initial appearances, either. His accent is mostly conveyed at this point by saying chunks of his dialogue in French. There’s only one “dat” in this issue, so I’m wondering when his accent became so comically exaggerated.

Review

(Note - I’m skipping the first three issues of this series because they’re the conclusion of the Claremont/Lee run that began in 1989. I view those issues as a bridge between the writer-driven comics of the ‘80s and the artist-driven comics of the ‘90s. Since they don’t really fit into either, I’d rather move ahead to Jim Lee’s clear start as writer of the series.)

My first impression of Liefeld’s art was that it was weird looking. I guess I didn’t find it too weird since I loyally followed X-Force during his run, but I don’t remember being that excited about it. Jim Lee, on the other hand, always had a large impact on me. I first saw his work on Punisher War Journal, with inks by Carl Potts and Klaus Janson. When he took over Uncanny X-Men, I was thrilled. It seemed so attractive and energetic at the same time, basically everything I wanted to see in a comic. I didn’t realize that his work was kind of an amalgam of manga-influenced artists like Art Adams and Michael Golden, and more realistic traditionalists like John Buscema. I just thought it looked cool.

I clearly wasn’t alone, since Lee was the most popular artist in comics by this point. He was a very stylized artist, but he still had a foot in reality, placing him above “weird” artists like Todd McFarlane and Rob Liefeld. Jim Lee was a Frankenstein of the best artists in mainstream comics and we were powerless before him. I look at this issue now and can see lots of pointless detail lines over everything, and some of the figures look flat, but it still looks nice enough. Lee hasn’t gotten to the point where the detail lines distract from the actual drawing, or cover up the acting. The cover is a good example of this. Wolverine’s scowl has been done a million times, but I like the way Gambit and Jubilee look here. If there’s an attractive way to pull off people gritting their teeth, Lee does it here. I could do without half of the detail lines on Gambit’s face, but other than that, it looks nice. Jubilee’s expression is a nice use of cartoony exaggeration.

I don’t know what type of coloring process Joe Rosas was using at the time, but it really stood out. It was probably an early attempt at using computers to color comics, but nothing sticks out as garish or gaudy. It still looks nice today.

Byrne’s scripting is very similar to heavy text style that the Claremont issues are known for. It’s also just as theatrical. Most mainstream comics at this time were fairly verbose, so it’s hard to say if there was a conscious effort to stay in Claremont’s style, or if Byrne was scripting as he normally would.

A lot of space in this issue is dedicated to Moira McTaggert. She’s given such a large send-off that you would think that her leaving would have some significance to future storylines, but I don’t think that happened. There’s also a lengthy scene with the X-Men playing basketball that does a decent job of showing off the characters’ personalities and giving them something fun to do.

For some reason, Omega Red and the Hand know where the X-Men live. The team is ambushed as they’re driving away from the mansion, so that’s the only conclusion you can draw. This is the type of plot convenience I didn’t notice as a kid, but it really stands out now. There’s not even a throwaway explanation like “we’ve heard lots of reports of mutant activity around Salem Center, so we’ve been canvassing the area”. Other than this flaw, it’s a decent issue.

X-FORCE #4 – November 1991

Sabotage Part Two


Credits:
Rob Liefeld (Plot); Fabian Nicieza (Script), Rob Liefeld (Pencils), Rob Liefeld (Inks), Brian Murray (Colors), Chris Eliopoulos; Joe Rosen (Letters)

Summary

Spider-Man and X-Force fight Juggernaut in the wreckage of the World Trade Center, until Deadpool appears to teleport Juggernaut away. In the remains of one of the Towers, Cable shoots Black Tom and lets him fall to his seeming death. Deadpool teleports in time to save Black Tom, telling him that his employer Tolliver needs him.

I Love the ‘90s

Spider-Man references “Stormin’ Norman”, and jokes about forming a “Dessert (sic) Storm” with X-Force.

Review

The image of Cable on the cover is probably the Liefeld highlight of the comic. Not only is Cable holding a gun that appears to be over five feet long, but there’s also something going on with the bottom half of his body that I can’t even begin to describe.

The very first narrative caption of the issue seems to sum up Nicieza’s approach to scripting this series: “Manhattan. Pick it up as you go along.” So far, this series hasn’t had any of the histrionic thought balloons and narrative captions that are associated with X-titles. Nicieza probably feels that this book’s audience isn’t looking for that style.

Also on the first page, Warpath asks, “Does anyone have any idea how tired I am of all this gratuitous fighting?” Shatterstar responds, “No, do you have any idea how much I’m enjoying it?” Apparently, even someone named “Warpath” feels there’s too much mindless action in this title. This is actually a nice example of Nicieza bringing at least a little humor and personality to the series. That's really the only nice thing you can say about this issue.

Many of the characters in this storyline just seem to appear and disappear at random. It’s impossible to keep track of where Boom Boom, Cannonball, Siryn, Gideon, Sunspot, Domino are at any point in the story. This is the first time the plotting of the series gets outright sloppy. Even if the previous issues were all just extended fight scenes, you could at least keep track of where the characters were supposed to be.

Liefeld’s deadline troubles seem to have started. The story is cut short by a two page pin-up (by Mike Mignola of all people), and a two page letter column. The letter column intro says that they’ve received lots of praise and critiques, but there are no letters of complaint over the next two pages.

This issue is colored by someone named Brian Murray. I’ve never heard of him and don’t know what else he’s done, but his work here is dreadful. The early issues of this title had nice color work by Brad Vancata, so it’s especially jarring to see the ugly day-glo job in this issue. I can’t think of any other Marvel comic at the time colored in this odd style.

There’s a narrative caption obviously done by a different letterer that tells us that Boom Boom and Cannonball are helping survivors of the World Trade Center explosion. I’m assuming that this line was added at the last minute to explain where two of the characters disappeared to, and hopefully someone realized that the heroes of this series should be trying to help the victims of a massive explosion. It is weird now to read a comic that involves the destruction of the World Trade Center that doesn’t bother to show a single civilian.

Black Tom surrenders to Cable, but Cable just shots him anyway so that he won’t “escape in two months time to do this all over again”. I knew that Cable had always been willing to kill, but I forgot that they took it this far. After years of seeing the hero send the villain off to jail, we now have a hero not only willing to kill his opponent, but willing to kill a helpless one who has already surrendered. I don't remember this scene really bothering me when I first read this comic, but it stands out as atrocious now. It’s really an awful scene that brings this book to a new level of ugliness.

X-FACTOR #73

Crowd Control

Credits:
Peter David (Script), Larry Stroman (Pencils), Allen Milgrom (Inks), Glynis Oliver (Colors), Michael Heisler (Letters).

Summary

Madrox and the man claiming to be the real Madrox fight, each one creating twenty duplicates and causing chaos around the city. X-Factor knock out all of the duplicates, hoping that the duplicates will disappear if the original Madrox is unconscious. In the end, the doubles disappear, except for the two Madroxs that started the fight.

I Love the ‘90s
Weird Al parodies TMBG's "Particle Man" as "Multiple Man".

Flavor Flav has a cameo, along with Kid and Play apparently. There are also quite a few Malcom X baseball hats.

A spectator filming Madrox’s fight comments that the tape’s going straight to Bob Saget.

Jaime Madrox is mistaken by a bystander as The Rocketeer. Did Stroman base his version of Madrox on the actor in the movie?

“Pewee Herman” and “Marvel Stock” are the top two items in the Bullpen Bulletins “Cool-O-Meter”.

Continuity Notes

Guido coins the term “Genetically Challenged” or “GeeCees” to replace the word “mutant” in this issue. This becomes a running joke throughout David’s run.

Havok doesn’t have any problem using his powers non-lethally, which previously had not been the case.

Commercial Break

American Comics & Entertainment lists a “Marvel Investor Kit” in its ad. It includes “a grading guide, a price guide, a storage box, plastic bags, 5 valuable Marvel comics & more!” The list price is $20, and their sale price is $14.95. Was this an officially licensed Marvel product?

Review

It’s the third issue of the relaunched X-Factor and it’s the first fight scene. Compare this to X-Force, which had a fight scene by the second page of the first issue. As a kid, I wasn’t bothered by the lack of action in X-Factor. I liked the characters and it seemed like the story was headed in an interesting direction. Maybe I also tolerated the lack of combat in X-Factor because I knew that X-Force was going to offer plenty of punches, laser blasts, and explosions. I wonder if Marvel made a conscious effort to produce at least one X-book that was more highbrow than the violence-driven books of the time. Reading X-Force and X-Factor simultaneously, it’s odd to know that the books were being released at the same time and overseen by the same editor.

Most of this issue is a fight scene involving dozens of Madrox dupes, but it never feels dull or too long. The idea that the Madrox who joined the team might be a duplicate is handled well. He’s such a minor character at this point that any revelation about him could be plausible, so David is able to create some genuine tension. Stroman does a good job with the fight scene, combining his stylization with solid drawing. The image of Madrox in the final panel of page eight is just as dynamic and exciting as anything else going on in the X-books at this time.

X-FACTOR #72 – November 1991

Multiple Homicide

Credits:
Peter David (Script), Larry Stroman (Pencils), Allen Milgrom (Inks), Glynis Oliver (Colors), Michael Heisler (Letters).

Summary

X-Factor investigates the apparent murder of Madrox, The Multiple Man. Not surprisingly, the dead body belongs to one of his duplicates. Madrox is shocked to discover that he cannot re-absorb his duplicate’s dead body. Later, the team has a press conference announcing themselves to the public. Another Madrox duplicate appears in the audience, calling the X-Factor member an imposter.

Commercial Break

The back cover has an ad for a Wolverine NES game. The box art comes from a Wolverine Jim Lee cover. I think the X-Men arcade game (which featured very nice work by Art Adams on the cabinet) also came out in 1991. A few years before this, the infamously bad X-Men NES game was released. The X-Men were still years away from getting their own TV show or movie, but apparently they did have enough popularity to be merchandised as video game characters.

There’s an ad for the Marvel Swimsuit Special , so I guess T&A has already become common in mainstream comics at this point. It’s priced at $3.95, almost four times the price of Marvel’s regular titles at the time, so maybe they were aiming it at older readers.

The Bullpen Bulletins page mentions Rob Liefeld’s Spike Lee-directed Levi’s 501 commercial. I tried finding this on Youtube but didn’t have any luck. It also mentions a print ad for Dewar’s Whisky that featured artist Denys Cowan. Why exactly Cowan is appearing in hard liquor ads is beyond me.

I Love the ‘90s

A mystery figure quotes “Don’t have a cow, man.”

Review

The Peter David/Larry Stroman run continues and remains solid. It’s not surprising that the current X-Factor series started out as the Madrox mini-series, and that he remains the major focus of the book. Peter David’s first X-Factor story also heavily revolves around Madrox, so I’m assuming he has a lot of affection for the character. Madrox’s ability to duplicate himself instantaneously offers a lot of story potential, so it’s surprising that the character stayed in the background for so many years. I’m pretty sure the characterization of Madrox as a flippant prankster originated in this run. Even though he was created in the late 1970s, I don’t think there had been much of an effort to really give him a personality at this point.

There is almost no action in this issue, just a brief scene with Havok and Polaris saving civilians from an apartment fire. Most of the focus is on characterization, like Polaris and Havok discussing their relationship, Madrox’s angst over the death of his duplicate, and Wolfsbane’s crush on Havok. The original phonetically spelled out “New Yawk” accent that Chris Claremont gave Guido has been toned down, which is probably for the best. Larry Stroman is able to pull off the bizarre proportions Bill Sienkiewicz gave the character.

The pacing of the book is a little odd. Page eight has eleven panels and page twenty-nine has fifteen panels, yet some pages have only three or four panels. This could’ve been divided out more evenly. But even Stroman’s cramped pages look pretty good. This is the second issue in a row without a lot of action, but he’s still keeping things visually interesting.

X-FORCE #3 - October 1991

Battlecry
Credits: Rob Liefeld (Plot); Fabian Nicieza (Script), Rob Liefeld (Pencils), Rob Liefeld (Inks), Joe Rosas (Colors), Chris Eliopoulos (Letters).

Summary

X-Force battles Black Tom Cassidy and Juggernaut at the World Trade Center. Siryn teams up with X-Force to stop her uncle, Black Tom Cassidy. As Spider-Man swings by to help, Black Tom detonates a bomb and destroys one of the Twin Towers.

Miscellaneous Notes

The Siryn figure on page one looks as if it was inked by Todd McFarlane. The way her eyes and lips are drawn especially remind me of McFarlane. Pages eleven and nineteen look like more pages ghost-inked by Erik Larsen.

Warpath’s infamously large shoulder pads debut in this issue. The tassels attached to them are especially stylish. Cable also appears in new, shiny armor that only lasts a few issues.

Review

While the previous issue focused almost exclusively on Liefeld’s new creations, this issue has the team fighting long established villains, and the return of the rather obscure character Siryn. Former New Mutant Sunspot also gets involved with the action. I wonder if there was a conscious effort at the time to alternate between using new characters and older ones. Focusing too much on either can alienate fans, so there is a certain amount of sense in alternating back and forth.

Siryn was initially introduced in pages of Spider-Woman as the daughter of the X-Man Banshee. She made occasional appearances in various X-titles over the years, but this issue marks the start of her run as a regular cast member. Ever since then, she’s had a surprisingly stable role in the franchise. She’s currently appearing in the relaunched X-Factor series. Bringing her into this story is a nice use of continuity since she already has a connection to one of the villains.

The story is, not surprisingly, a collection of action scenes. No subplots or mysteries are introduced in this issue, just a lot of fighting. If kids only want fights and explosions out of their comics, this issue certainly delivers on that much. Nicieza writes a lot of self-conscious “tough guy” dialogue, which is probably the best way to script an issue-long fight scene. It’s impossible to read this issue and not point out that blowing up one of the Twin Towers now seems tasteless. But at the time, who knew?

A letter in the letters page compliments the art for never using a “boring grid layout”. It’s worth remembering that at this time, mainstream comics were only just beginning to move away from grid layouts. It seems as if they only return now for specific storytelling purposes. I will say that I haven't had any problem so far following Liefeld's panel-to-panel storytelling.

I don’t want to be the five hundredth guy with a blog pointing out Rob Liefeld’s artistic shortcomings, but there are some things I have to bring up. I believe standard comic book anatomy is that the human body is around seven heads tall. Siryn’s hair on page three stands three heads high over her head. Her hair is as tall as a circus midget.

X-FORCE #2 - September 1991

The Blood Hunters

Credits:
Rob Liefeld (plot); Fabian Nicieza (Script), Rob Liefeld (Pencils), Rob Liefeld (Inks), Erik Larsen (Ink Assist - uncredited), Brad Vancata (Colors), Chris Eliopoulos (Letters).

Summary

Kane stops Deadpool from stealing a shipment of Japanese technology for his boss Tolliver. G. W. Bridge attempts to recruit Kane for a new team set to capture Cable, but Kane refuses. Meanwhile, X-Force has a training session in the woods, and Feral guts Cannonball. While at the World Trade Center, Black Tom summons Juggernaut.

Review

It’s the second issue of their series, and the title characters have already taken a back seat to various subplots and mysteries. The first half of the issue is dedicated to introducing Kane, the new Weapon X. Kane was pushed as a major character in the X-titles for years before fading into obscurity. I believe he last showed up in Deadpool’s solo series as an out-and-out villain. Kane fulfills a standard X-stereotype by being involved in three mysteries in his very first appearance. He’s a part of the mysterious Weapon X agency, he’s tracking down Deadpool and his mysterious employer Tolliver, and he has a mysterious past with Cable. After most of the mysteries surrounding Kane were resolved, no one at Marvel seemed to have any use for the character.

The X-Force characters appear in exactly half of the story pages of this issue, and their appearance is limited to a tedious training sequence. In fairness, the scene does establish the depths of Feral’s psychosis, and Cannonball’s injuries do have plot significance in future issues. Still, a lot more could have been done with eleven pages. One of the things I intend to do with this blog is compare the actual material to the stereotypes that surround it. The X-books were criticized heavily in the 1990s for having incomprehensible plots, but so far, X-Force is content just giving you kicks to the face.

Liefeld’s art is exactly what you would expect. In a scene that lasts nine pages, Kane’s eyes are only visible in one panel. In all of the other panels, I assume he’s just squinting really hard. Maybe he’s intensely concentrating on his mysterious backstory. In another panel, the members of X-Force all seem to be floating off the ground. Nicieza’s script is again sufficient, with only a few clunkers, like Kane mentally telling himself to “Get –Into – The- Groove”.

It’s interesting that the cover brags, “Deadpool’s Back!” in only his second appearance. The entire comic is really dedicated to Liefeld’s new creations, while characters established years earlier in New Mutants barely do anything (except bleed, in Cannonball’s case). The success of this series, and of Image a year later, shows the audience’s willingness at the time to invest in new characters. Getting readers to accept new characters today seems almost impossible for the Big Two. The only new character Marvel seems to have had success with in recent years is a female Wolverine clone.

X-FACTOR #71 - October 1991

Cutting the Mustard

Credits:
Peter David (Script), Larry Stroman (Pencils), Al Milgrom (Inks), Glynis Oliver (Colors), Michael Heisler (Letters).

Summary

Val Cooper recruits Havok and Wolfsbane to join the new government-sponsored incarnation of X-Factor, which already consists of Polaris, Guido, and Madrox. Quicksilver travels to Washington DC looking for X-Factor’s help in finding a villain who has turned his powers against him. Later, Madrox is apparently murdered in his apartment.

I Love The ‘90s

The inside front cover has an ad for the Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure NES and Game Boy games.

Inside X-Factor’s headquarters, a George Bush, Sr. poster doubles as a dartboard.

Guido refers to himself as a sensitive “90’s guy”.

Professor Xavier refers to President Bush’s high approval ratings.

Commercial Break

The back page has an ad for X-Men action figures. This was a big deal at the time, as the characters were only known amongst comic book fans. They look pretty awful now, except for the Nightcrawler figure, which is mostly painted black.

Approved By The Comics Code Authority

The blood on Madrox’s body on the last page is actually colored red, and there’s a decent amount of it. Usually in comics at this time, blood was inked black.

Review

While X-Force #1 opens with all action, the relaunched X-Factor series begins with a talky issue, with a bit of humor and cutesy dialogue. So far, the franchise is at least offering some diversity. Pretty much every character in this series is a cast-off from another X-title. Havok was a part of the main title in the late ‘80s, and played a large role in the X-Tinction Agenda crossover from a year earlier. He’s the largest “name” in the book and a probably the main reason why I decided to follow this title as a kid. Wolfsbane had been a long time New Mutants character that last appeared in the X-Tinction Agenda. Polaris, Guido, and Madrox had been a part of a long-running subplot in Uncanny X-Men, and all played roles in the recent Muir Island Saga crossover. Quicksilver is the only character that really comes out of nowhere, but his history with the X-titles goes back to his first appearance. It may seem like a random collection of characters, but for people who had been following the X-line it doesn’t come across as contrived. I think that Marvel tired for this type of coherence after its more recent crossovers, but the results have been far from successful.

Peter David’s X-Factor stint is one of the few runs from the line that’s still held in high regard by fandom. It gets off to a slow, but enjoyable start in this issue. Larry Stroman’s stylized art holds up very well, and it’s worth noting that his work didn’t really fit in at all with the artwork used in the other X-titles at this time. It’s interesting that the fans of this era could embrace the idiosyncratic art of people like Liefeld or Portacio, but not get as excited over Stroman’s work. He brought just as much energy to the page, and his work is certainly easier on the eyes. Was it the lack of crosshatching and relentless detail lines?

X-FORCE #1 - August 1991

A Force To Be Reckoned With
Credits:
Rob Liefeld (Plot); Fabian Nicieza (Script), Rob Liefeld (Pencils), Rob Liefeld (Inks), Brad Vancata (Colors), Chris Eliopoulos (Letters).

Summary

The X-Force team (Cable, Feral, Boom Boom, Cannonball, Warpath, Domino, and Shatterstar) travel to Antarctica to take out one of the Mutant Liberation Front’s secret bases. X-Force easily defeats the MLF, but the terrorist group teleports away at the end of the battle. SHIELD Commander G. W. Bridge investigates the abandoned base and discovers Cable’s hardware, vowing to bring him to justice for unknown reasons. Meanwhile, former teammate Sunspot and his new mentor Gideon are taken hostage by Black Tom during a business meeting at the World Trade Center.

Gimmicks

This issue comes packaged in a polybag with two cards. One of the cards is an ad for “X-Force Card Shirts”, with a choice of five designs taken from the trading cards. The price is $15.95 (!), plus $2.00 for postage and handling for one shirt. According to The Inflation calculator, $17.95 would be $26.71 in 2006 dollars. If X-Force #1 was at one point the highest selling comic in history, I can only hope that X-Force #1 t-shirts were the highest selling overpriced comic merchandise at one time. This ad does make me wonder how many of these shirts Marvel sold, and if Rob Liefeld made royalties off of them.

I’m embarrassed to admit that I have two copies of this comic book. I purchased one version with a Deadpool trading card, and another with a Sunspot & Gideon card. Why exactly I chose these two is a mystery. I had no idea who Deadpool was, was equally clueless about Gideon, and had only a vague knowledge of Sunspot. I was convinced that I needed two copies, though. One to open and read, and one to keep sealed and save because it was going to be very valuable. I remember that I had to ask my mother for extra allowance money to buy two copies. For some reason, my mother didn't seem to understand why I wanted two copies of the same book. At least I wasn't the only sucker out there, though.

The Sunspot & Gideon card has a passable drawing of Sunspot, and a rather hideous version of Gideon that fulfills a lot of the Liefeld clichés; no eyes, broken spine, tiny waist, and pointless accessories (in Gideon’s case, some type of golden metal that covers most of his arms). Sunspot’s group affiliation is listed on the card as “The Prophet$”, which I don’t think ever came up in the actual series. If there has never been a hip-hop group named “The Prophet$”, I will be sorely disappointed.

The artwork on Deadpool’s card also features a tiny waist, and legs that start off with thick thighs that dramatically slim down to very tiny ankles. As an eleven year old, I wonder if I noticed any of this. I think I had a good faith agreement with Marvel; if they were publishing this guy’s artwork, then I assumed it must be professional enough to be published.

The text printed on the polybag brags twice (once in very large print) that the trading card included is FREE. I suppose it was nice of Marvel to throw kids a bone after charging so much for those t-shirts. I wonder if Marvel considered the t-shirt promotion a nice way to help offset the cost of the trading cards.

I Love The '90s

Gideon and Sunspot have a meeting at the World Trade Center. They joke that the business rivals they meet are going to need tourniquets to stop their bleeding.

X- Force’s new headquarters is referred to as “le chalet Schwarzkopf”.

Continuity Notes

Stryfe implies that Nathan is just one of many names Cable has used over the years.

Tyler is mentioned, and Cable states explicitly that he is not his son. The back story given is that Tyler and Cable were partners and that Tyler was later killed after joining the MLF.

Cable uses his telekinesis to pick up tools .in one scene The dialouge suggests that he’s deliberately hiding this from the team. I believe this is the first reference to his mutant power, which is odd given that the character had existed for two years at this point. Was just calling your character a “mutant” good enough in those X-obsessed times?

The Mutant Liberation Front employs a large army of soldiers. I assume that none of them are supposed to be mutants since they’re not using powers, or get nice colorful costumes.

I believe this is G. W. Bride’s first appearance, a character who just shows up as a high-ranking SHIELD official with a mysterious (of course) connection to Cable.

Commercial Break

A mail-order company named Entertainment This Month has an ad featuring the image of Cyclops from the cover of X-Men #1. His costume is mis-colored, but that’s forgivable since it had not actually debuted yet. However, the bottom half of his body is obviously drawn by someone else and is remarkably ugly and amateurish. It’s as if the lower half of his body is simultaneously exists in the world of Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist. I have a mental image of an ETM employee looking at the Marvel preview art and realizing that the image of Cyclops they want to use is cropped off at the waist. “No, man. It’s okay. I can do this. I can finish this up. It’ll look okay.”

Approved By The Comics Code Authority

Feral’s buttocks are fully visible on page four. I really hope that this wasn’t intended to be titillating.

Shatterstar cuts off Reaper’s hand during the opening fight scene. I’m pretty sure this kind of stuff was pretty rare in mainstream comics at the time.

In an illustrated Bullpen Bulletins page, editor Michael Higgins is drawn with a “Legal Lies Pot” tattoo. Also, Danny Fingeroth appears to be truly excited about Howard Mackie’s work on Web of Spider-Man.

Review

Oh, dear. I plan on reviewing these comics in the order I have them filed. Being very continuity-anal in my youth, I painstakingly arranged these books into the order I was convinced they happened. When I set out to do this, I hoped that this comic wouldn't be the first one in order. So, of course it was.

I’m sure X-Force #1 has already taken its pounding on the blogosphere over the years, so I’m not going to focus that much on what you probably already know. Yes, Cable’s shoulder pads are too large, and he wouldn’t be able to see anything if he turned his head in either direction. Yes, there are multiple, extremely large lines that somehow grow out of the characters' crotches. Yes, most of the characters have thighs the size of tree trunks.

I will say that it's readable, at least. I haven’t read this comic since it was first released and had no idea what to expect. The story is very slim and easy to follow, so I suppose it goes against the X-stereotype of being confusing or impenetrable. It is filled with characters with mysterious pasts and mysterious connections to one another, though. Stryfe, Cable, Bridge, and Gideon all fit into the mold of characters with vague pasts and unclear motivations.

At the same time, all of the characters are introduced clearly, and their hazy backgrounds and motivations aren’t getting in the way of the story at this point (of course, the story so far is only that Cable and his team wants to stop Stryfe and his team). Not having followed the Liefeld issues of New Mutants, I wasn’t confused or thrown out of the story at any time. As a new reader, the mysteries actually drew me into the book and didn’t distract from my enjoyment at all.

Fabian Nicieza has made it clear on several occasions that he was not plotting the book at this point and was only put words into the characters’ mouths. His scripting is occasionally melodramatic , but is fine for most of the issue. Most of the characters have natural speech patterns and we do learn about their personalities through their words, so it succeeds on that level.

Two of the X-Force members, Shatterstar and Feral, are outright bloodthirsty; both of them comment on how much they wish they could just kill their opponents. Cable makes clear that the team should be prepared to kill, but only in self-defense. In a dossier that appears later in the issue, Cable states that he's very pleased by Feral's willingness to kill. I have to think that the ruthlessness of the series was a major appeal to many fans. If Wolverine was the most popular X-Man, here was a team filled with Wolverines. Not a single character in this issue gives you the typical Claremontian view of not dragging yourself down to your enemy's level. This type of mercilessness really is the book's moral point of view.

A series of dossiers in the back of the comic are actually called “Cable Guide”. I can’t tell if this is an intentional joke or not. I assume that Nicieza wrote these, and they’re actually not a chore to read. Some of them are fairly humorous, and they do help to flesh out the characters and conflicts of the series.

All in all, this is far from the worst comic ever published (the majority of Image's early input is much worse than this at least). We basically have amateur artwork, a mediocre story, and competent dialogue. I'll give the very faint praise of "it could've been worse".