Last year on Epiphany, I ran through a few of the games that I’d been able to get to the table, and also briefly mentioned the first volume in the Uncanny X-Force series that I had picked up, The Apocalypse Solution. Over the course of that month, I actually read the first two books in the series, but came up against the brick wall of volume 3 being very expensive. Well, what a difference a year makes, as I’ve now been able to pick up not only volume 3, but also volume 4!
It’s the two-part Dark Angel Saga, presumably a riff on the Dark Phoenix Saga, though from my scant knowledge of Marvel Crisis Protocol, I think this is something to do with the fact they killed baby-Apocalypse in the first book.
Once I’ve finished my trawl through the 2020 Star Wars comics, I’m going to move on to these and catch up with everything, before then making a start on the second book in Brandon Sanderson’s Stormlight Archive series. So that’s my reading plans taken care of until, oh, probably Easter…
Hey everybody, Over the weekend, I finished reading the first two books in the Uncanny X-Force (2010) run. After playing X-Force so much in both Marvel Champions and Marvel Crisis Protocol, I wanted to see what these guys were all about, and had some suggestions from reddit for this particular run. From what I have been able to pick up prior to reading the books, X-Force is the wetworks branch of the X-Men that would perhaps be damaging to the public face of Xavier’s mutants, so they’re not-quite a black ops team, but they’re close to it. Anyway, with this particular storyline, Wolverine had promised Cyclops to disband X-Force, but he lied. Angel, who has learnt of a secret society that has resurrected Apocalypse, has sent Deadpool chasing leads as to where they might find this society, and Wade has found them.
The team, which also includes Psylocke and Fantomex, battles the Final Horsemen before they eventually make their way to Ozymandias and the resurrected Apocalypse himself, but initially nobody is able to kill him because, unfortunately, he is just a boy. When it looks like the mission is going to end in failure, Fantomex shoots the child in the head.
This then plays into the next arc, Deathlok Nation, where Psylocke and Deadpool in particular are still conflicted over how the mission ended. However, in the French Alps, Fantomex calls for help when he is attacked by a disturbing group of cyborg superheroes who are attempting to recover The World, a secret laboratory where Fantomex was created as part of the Weapon Plus program. X-Force eventually go inside The World to eliminate the mastermind behind all of these cyborgs, which is all very confusing, but ultimately they are victorious when Deadpool kills the leader, and the cyborgs dissipate.
This is the first Marvel comics stuff that I have read since those heady days of 2005-6, when I was collecting stuff almost entirely at random. It is very weird at times, though due to my playing these Marvel games, I’ve found that I have enough of an understanding of the background to get by, fortunately! I think the driving factor here was wanting to see more of who Psylocke is, and my goodness, the artists rarely waste an opportunity to show us more… blimey! After playing with the Cable deck for Marvel Champions, it was particularly nice to see who Fantomex is, as I only know him as an ally card who comes with his own support card, and as a result can survive far longer than the average ally in that game!
I think there are 7 books in this run, with something like 35 issues in total. As such, I was a bit disappointed at first to discover that the mission to go after Apocalypse was over within the first four-issue arc, but I hope that we get to see more of this as the series goes on. Something else that attracted me to the series is the next two books are the Dark Angel Saga, which I’m guessing is something to do with Angel losing control over the Archangel persona, but I guess I’ll have to pick those books up and see for myself!
Whether Marvel Monday becomes a Thing will remain to be seen, of course, but hopefully as I read more of these comics, there will be more to enjoy!
spalanz.com