Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews
Uncanny X-Force #10
Marvel Comics
Remender, Tan, Elson & Mounts
The X-Men franchise has many, many books on the market these days. Ideally, you would want to cover a wide range of stories and characters providing something for everyone. However, generally what you end up with is a lot of comic books that all seem similar and none seem to be very compelling. However, Uncanny X-Force is the beacon of hope. Issue after issue we get a fast moving, dense read that provides complex character relationships and complicated plots while sprinkling in some action to keep the whole thing moving. This issue is another excellent read.
The basic plot of this issue is that Warren is fighting off his split personality of Archangel. Generally, he becomes Archangel during times of stress and conflict and Psychlocke has been around to help him balance out how much he turns into the bloodthirsty demon. This issue appears to launch a storyline bringing this Archangel subplot to the forefront.
A pesky reporter comes across some information about the X-Force group which will not only expose the individuals on the team but also the groups they associate with, such as the Avengers. The reporter is ready to act on the information when the wealthy paper owner, Warren, becomes aware that this story is about to break. Warren is then overcome by the Archangel persona and springs into action to forcibly stop this information before it sees print.
The remainder of the issue is X-Force trying to come to grips with how out of control Warren aka Archangel has become. They don't want to just put down their long time friend so they recruit someone to assist them – someone that is generally not a friend of the X-Men – to help Warren get rid of the Archangel persona.
The issue is a very good read. It's fast paced and introduces the relevant characters quickly and moves them into place in a natural and fluid way. The issue doesn't waste any time or dialogue, such as random jokes from Deadpool, and it works well in the issue.
Add in that this issue provides the full issue of Iron Man 2.0 #3 and you have a very solid read, even at the four dollar price point. You'd think it would be odd to include issue #3 but it seems fairly straightforward that having not read the previous two issues wouldn't be a problem when reading this one.
The artwork is good but it does suffer somewhat from the multiple artists and styles. Generally I would rather have a book on time with patched up art so I can't really complain. I do think the issue captures the reactions of the characters well matched to Remender's dialogue.
If you are looking to get into this series then this is a great issue to jump in on. It's the beginning of an arc and you get two issues for the four dollar entry fee. Overall I was very entertained by this book and I am finding this series to be one of Marvel's most consistent books with each read.
4 out of 5 Geek Goggles
