In the Marvel universe you will find a lot of teams fighting against evil. Avengers, X-Men and Defenders are just a few of them. Always the righteous seek to punish criminals in accordance with the law. Sometimes, however, more drastic measures are needed. This is where X-Force comes into play.
There is no judge, only cat
X-Force is a team consisting of the so-called antiheroes. Its members usually don’t catch criminals and put them behind bars. They also don’t have time to read laws and judge. Usually they apply the highest sentence and execute sentences on the spot. In the first volume of Uncanny X-Force , published in Poland by Mucha Comics, the band consists of Psylocke, Archangel, Deadpool and Fantomex. The founder and leader is Wolverine. The comic itself consists of several parts. The main book on which the story is based is The Apocalypse Way . In addition, the reader can get acquainted with Reavers and the Deathlock Nation. Our heroes have their hands full in each story. They not only cut their enemies to pieces, but also fight their past and make very difficult decisions. It turns out that even they may have trouble killing someone.
Attack!
The scriptwriter of all the notebooks included in the first volume of Uncanny X-Force is Rick Remender. adventures of X-Men, Punisher, Venom and Captain America. However, it is with X-Force that he is most associated. No wonder – he devoted many years to it, and he created an extraordinary plot. Nobody will complain about boredom here. The action is chasing the action, and the team every now and then comes across new, more and more dangerous opponents. In The Apocalypse Wayafter all, they have to deal with the new Riders of the Apocalypse, as well as their own weaknesses. The blood is pouring thickly, but so that the story is not only based on fights, Remender enriched it with disputes between the characters and their relations. Deadpool is still treated as a fifth wheel on a cart, Fantomex experiences internal dilemmas, Psylocke and Archangel try to rebuild their relationship, and Wolverine stop the team from breaking up. At some point, however, a serious moral dilemma arises that could put an end to X-Force. Admittedly, all this causes the reader to be drawn into the world of comics and also has to consider what decision he would make. Against the background of this notebook, the stories told in the Reavers and the Deathlock Nation are much weaker. While there are still tense connections between the band members, some major problems are missing here. Logan and his team deal mainly with fighting and killing other opponents. Apart from the last page, therefore, we are dealing with a typical “murder”, which does not reveal too much.
Different visions
As many as four artists worked on the first volume of Uncanna X-Force. Leonardo Manco only made the first few pages. Admittedly, it’s good for us. His drawings look quite sloppy, lacking details and appropriate expression. Perhaps the cartoonist knew that he would not get too much of a chance with this title and did his best? Another artist is Jerome Opeña. It was he who worked on The Apocalypse Methodwhich is why the album contains most of his paintings. The Filipino is doing very well. He can add dynamics, but also calm the action when needed. It perfectly shows emotions on the characters’ faces. He can capture the described relations between them. You can see that his cooperation with Remender was excellent and both men knew what they were striving for. The author of the illustrations for the Reavers part is Rafael Albuquerque. His pastel drawings look worse than those of his predecessor. The less distinct line, however, does not interfere with the reception. In this part of the comic we have a lot more fighting than talking, and the bloodshed by the Brazilian looks pretty good. The last cartoonist is Esad Ribić and his Deathlock Nation. The Croatian has been a respected cartoonist for years and has not disappointed once again. If he had tried a bit more detail in the background, his work would have looked as good as Openia.
A plus
Just like the script and drawings, the Polish edition has many advantages, but there are also some disadvantages. The Mucha Comics publishing house should be praised above all for a very interesting addition included in the album. On the first pages we find the history of both X-Force and its individual members and opponents. It is a great way to introduce the reader to the adventure. By the way, even those people who do not know the team or heroes can easily reach for this album. Also in the middle of the notebook when we move on to the events of the Reavers and the Deathlock Nation, provides information about other enemies, such as Lady Deathstrike, and explains who Deathlok is. In addition, as always from Mucha, we get a hardcover that is more durable than the cardboard one.
The downside is, unfortunately, the translation. The publisher decided not to add anything from himself and we get the Polish version translated almost word for word from the English language. Don’t worry, no weird and nonsensical sentences come out here. But Deadpool’s jokes conveyed to us in this way are no longer funny. In fact, we don’t even realize these are jokes! It’s a pity, because it makes Wade much weaker than it should.
Above the norm
The first volume of Uncanny X-Force is an engaging and interesting comic book. The authors took care of the fast-paced action and willingly bring further threats to the members of the group. This is the perfect album to get to know this antihero team. Unfortunately, it has several disadvantages. Not all pictures are refined, with time very interesting relations between the characters recede into the background, and the translation fails, but there are more advantages here. So if you like bloody carnage and moral dilemmas, you will surely be satisfied with the comic book with Wolverine and Deadpool in the lead roles.
