Why You Should Be Reading UNCANNY X-FORCE
I’ve just finished reading my copy of Uncanny X-Force #4, and I feel compelled to sound out for you just how awesome a comic it is. This book gets better with each issue that hits the stands. The concept is beautifully simple for an X title; five of the most bad ass X-Men are attempting to straight-up assassinate the reincarnated En Sabah Nur, better known as Apocalypse (which is why I should have just called him that in the first place, but then how would you know how nerdy I actually am?). Great so far, right?
In the books leading up to this fourth one, Wolverine, Deadpool, Angel, Psylocke, and Fantomex have battled their way through the new Four Horsemen. You know, War, Pestilence, Famine and Death. Angel himself once occupied the role of Death as Archangel, so he’s got some mixed emotions about the mission. We see him mulling over shit in his head and really trying hard to NOT murder his teammates, as the voice of his Apocalypse programming attempts to take over. In issue 3 we saw that his fellow X-Forcers have actually taken preventative measures by training in the Danger Room to take Angel down (which really ruffles his feathers when he walks in on it. Imagine walking into a room full of your friends exploiting your weaknesses in order to bring about your death? Like Junior High all over again!). This is a pretty great example of how this book works all of the more interesting angles.
The previous issue left us on a cliff hanger note where Psylocke was positioned to snuff out the child-like, newly reincarnated Apocalypse, Angel had been taken out by Famine, while Fantomex and Wolverine had just avoided being killed thanks to Fantomex’s control over the realities of his opponents. This new issue opens with Fantomex and Wolverine facing off against endless scores of “goons” as Logan calls them, leaving him to wonder if “this is the band of faceless goons that finally take us out.” This great moment in issue 4 exemplifies Fantomex’s power to a greater extent, when he utilizes his reality distortion and deception skills to confuse Pestilence, Death and Famine. The three horsemen are tricked into thinking they have just killed Wolverine (in a pretty gruesome panel) when they have actually been transported to another planet altogether! Fontomex’s misdirection not only fools the Horsemen, but the reader as well, as the illusion has actually continued from the previous issue! This is Inception level mindfuckery going on here! The heroes (read: assassins) reach Apocalypse’s chamber, where they hope Psylocke has already done the dirty deed, only to find her defending the boy! Oh Snap! They had been so concerned about Angel that they hadn’t counted on the psychic ninja chick’s maternal instincts to kick in upon meeting the doe-eyed would be destroyer of all things! Needless to say, Angel is pissed, and wants him dead. After some in-fighting, they all finally decide that it is kind of bullshit that they’re there to kill a kid, so they decide to bring him back and rehabilit…BLAM! Just like that, Fantomex shoots the kid in the head! End of issue. Just when you thought that all of the bad-assery you have witnessed was about to come to a happy, hippie, “We are the World”, typical X-Men conclusion, a masked mutant shoots a blue kid in the head! What are you reading that’s better than that?
I forgot to mention the amazing artwork by Jerome Opeña AND how Deadpool revives Angel by feeding him his own flesh, so the pick below should take care of both of those items. Enjoy.
Here's a pretty awesome page with Deadpool feeding himself to mend a wounded Angel.
