2.199 (564) X-Force vol 1 #10 ... Marvel ...

The really, really good issues of X-Force that we enjoyed occurred in the first year of its publication because of Mr Liefeld. Like it or not, he brought a certain energy to his work that is hard to copy and when deadline looms or when he is preparing for his departure from the house of M, we have guest artists and in this issue, they featured someone named Mark Pacella

Mark ain't half bad but again like our earlier reviews on Khoi, we have no idea if the problem is Mark or inker or colorist. SPOILER ALERT. Our bitching here is that there is just waaaaay too many lines everywhere. A great example is page 16 where we get a scowling Kane opening his mouth in a growl at a standing Stryfe and the look on Kane's face is ridiculous. We are not talking age lines or shadows but simply that his entire face is full of lines and even Stryfe in his metallic uniform is inundated with lines to the extent that they no longer look metallic and shiny

Other artistic bits that make this a really jarring reading experience includes pages 19 and 20 when Sam aka Cannonball has his little heart to heart with Tabitha aka Boom Boom. Look at his creepy ass eyes! They are blue and without any eye balls. I am sorry but what the heck is this scene supposed to convey with eyes like that? The tale is supposed to show emotion, worry, sadness but that pupil less eyes? Sure we have all enjoyed it when it was Storm but here? It is so inappropriate

And then let's not forget the background lines! The worst example is page 22 final panel with Rictor. Look at that scrawl above his head. It's supposed to represent shadows. We know. So why not do it all in black instead of what looks like a lazy ass marker pen scrawl? Sigh!

As for the tale, this is basically the end of the first 9 issues of build up and setting the foundation for the next few issues except that with changes in creators, many of these issues will not be followed up properly or at all SPOILER ALERT

We open the first few pages with a messy artistic try ... where pages are split into halves with one tale focusing on Gideon and his little chat with fellow long living mutants called Externals ... while the other deals with Kane leaping after a fleeing MLF to their lair only to discover Stryfe

After this, the artist probably realizes it wasn't working and switch to more conventional storytelling and we get to see Cable acting mysterious and tough as usual explaining away why Sam returned from the dead and subsequently we close this issue with Weapon X Kane manage to escape alive from Stryfe and immediately called up a recruitment exercise ... and the first new member is Rictor. Come on! Is that supposed to make Kane's team tougher? Really?

Finally, we have the man in shadows who supposedly have been setting Cable up for no apparent reason and this time, he is setting loose Deadpool to go after the mole in Cable's operation and that mole is none other than ... Domino! Sigh!

Ratings: 5/1
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