X-Force: A Force To Be Reckoned With

X-Force by Fabian Nicieza #1

by Rob Liefeld, Fabian Nicieza (Contributor)

Collects New Mutants #98-100, X-Force #1-4 & Spider-Man #16. Cable has taken over the New Mutants and molded them into a precision strike force and they're determined to shut down Stryfe and his Mutant Liberation Front! And when the Juggernaut and Black Tom take hostages, X-Force needs Spider-Man's help! Featuring the first appearance of Deadpool!

Genres: Comics, Marvel, X Men, Graphic Novels, Superheroes, Fantasy, Comic Book

200 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 19, 2011

About the author

Rob Liefeld is an American comic book writer, illustrator, and publisher. A prominent artist in the 1990s, he has since become a controversial figure in the medium.

In the early 1990s, self-taught artist Liefeld became prominent due to his work on Marvel Comics' The New Mutants and later X-Force. In 1992, he and several other popular Marvel illustrators left the company to found Image Comics, which rode the wave of comic books owned by their creators rather than by publishers. The first book published by Image Comics was Rob Liefeld's Youngblood #1.

He is married to actress Joy Creel.

Reviews

[Nicolo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Originally reviewed on The Raving Asgardian

Rob Liefeld has produced comic books that accurately represented his personality, big, bold and brash; and nothing captured his inimitable style more than his work on X-Force.

If you have been reading comic books for the better part of the last two decades as I have, one would surely have heard of the industry’s bad boy. He has had critics and supporters and any comic book fan would have heard how he botched up anatomy, his books shipped late and that how he was expelled from the company he co-founded. I admit, I’ve read my fair share of these stories since I was a voracious Wizard reader. The publication seemed to have a vendetta against Liefeld and its articles initially shaped my opinion of him. I was judging the man before I got to hear his side.

Recently I have had changed my assessment of Liefeld. Wizard highlighted the bad stuff but conveniently ignored the good; like how his studio was able to discover and develop new talent and that he paid his freelancers on time. I am impressed by the way he was able to weather the criticisms, which would have been toxic to anyone else.

He is one of the most fan-friendly creators and he makes it a habit to interact with them on social media or on his web site. Full disclosure: I follow him on Twitter and he often has the most interesting tweets about his opinions on the industry, fellow creators and Lakers basketball.

This volume of X-Force is probably the best way to start his reading his run on this branch of the X-Men franchise. In his stint with New Mutants and X-Force, he introduced a lot of concepts and characters that are still being exploited by Marvel. He introduced Cable, Deadpool and several other characters that have garnered their own significant following. This was Liefeld’s most productive period and every issue in this collected edition had more new ideas than some of the other comic books had at that time.

I admit that his art is an acquired taste. Liefeld maintains that his style is influenced by Jack Kirby and Art Adams, two cartoonists whose art can be described as cartoony but dynamic. The play on anatomy is to encourage dynamic action poses that would leaps off the page. But the enthusiasm and energy pours into each page is undeniable. It just bleeds excitement.

In this collected edition, the mysterious mutant cyborg Cable is a forming a mutant paramilitary strike-force from the remnants of the New Mutants and some new recruits. Cable has seen the future, and if Charles Xavier’s dream for mutants and humanity is to survive, it would have to be with the methods that would run contrary to Xavier’s teachings.

Though the setting and references may be a little dated, the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center still stand here; it is perfect for comic fans who yearn of 90’s nostalgia. It was my birthday purchase for this year and it was fitting because I started truly enjoying comic books during this period.

The slick paper doesn’t hold then coloring well and I wish Marvel recolored it to take advantage of modern printing technologies. The original newsprint holds its better. Still, that isn’t much of a reason not to enjoy it. This book is a great example of how exciting comic books can be.

[Baba · Rating 2 out of 5]

The New Mutants comes to what feels like a rushed end, with so many new characters and plots, and is reborn as X-Force, driven by Cable to be a more clinical force against wrong. A brand new twist of Xavier's dream as it appears Cable is promoting vigilantism 'with a heart'? Worth reading just for the sensational art of Todd MacFarlane in the Spiderman crossover story, set around a terrorist attack on the Twin Towers a decade before 9/11. Cable, Stryfe, the MLF, Domino, Gideon, Shattershot, Sunspot, Feral and all go over to the X-force title, as well as Cannonball and Boom Boom being the only New Mutants to come over to the new team/book. In this volume Siryn also joins. 5 out of 12.
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Collects The New Mutants #98-100, X-Force #1-4 and Spider-Man #16.

[Malum · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's funny how the team of teenage heroes is the one that ended up morphing into a paramilitary killing machine. After years of the X-Men treating all of their enemies with kid gloves, it was also nice to finally get an X team that wasn't afraid to shoot bad guys in the face once and a while.

[Derek Moreland · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oh man. The ridiculousness of Rob Liefeld is sublime.

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection includes New Mutants #98-100, X-Force #1-4, and Spider-Man (1990) #16.

I loved the New Mutants, but never really got into the X-Force craze of the early 90's. I hated that my favorite New Mutants characters were written out of the title, leaving only Cannonball, Boom-Boom, and Cable as familiar members of the team.

With this re-read, I found that I liked it more. The writing was pretty shallow/terrible, but the characters and the overall concept was fun. Also, Deadpool's first 3 appearances are in this volume (New Mutants #98, X-Force #2, and #4). Mr. Pool wasn't quite the character we know today, but reading his lines with Ryan Reynolds's voice made it pretty funny.

I am starting the next volume right away...hoping that Liefeld's art gets better or that Nicieza brings the scripting up to the level of his other books (New Warriors, Nomad).

Here's to the early 90's at Marvel...Guns, Teleporting, weird body shapes, 1 bazillion X-titles, and the Image artist team of Liefeld, McFarlane, and Lee. It gets bad from here on until about 1996, but I am going to read my way through it all!

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 3 out of 5]

The End of the Beginning (NM #98-100). Back in the day, I wasn't fond of this arc because it totally deconstructs what was left of the classic New Mutants team. Reading it again, I can better appreciate it as the start of something new (though it still has scripting issues). But, there's lots of nice setup for all these new characters, highlighting potential character arcs for them. I can even appreciate the dynamism of Liefeld’s art over the standards for the time [4/5].

The Beginning (XF #1-2). The first couple of issues of X-Force are strong character pieces that also remind us of the core fight between X-Force and the MLF [4/5].

Spider-Man (XF #3-4). Unfortunately, X-Force's second (short) arc brings everything to a screaming halt. The dust-up with the Juggernaut is dull and overly long. Worse, two of the three issues are printed sideways instead of up and down. They're sufficiently annoying to read that I usually skim them when I get to these issues [2/5].

[Matthew Ledrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great start, but the "sabotage" arc brings it all down a whole star.

[Ray · Rating 1 out of 5]

How I ever even liked this a little as a kid, I'll never know.

I guess there is something about Liefeld's art that 11-year old boys think is cool, and that's about as much credit one can give.

There really isn't much story in the first four issues of the New Mutants' evolved/devolved iteration as X-Force. After rushing to introduce a bunch of new characters, they then just fight a lot with no characterization. There's a crossover with Spider-Man, which results in Todd MacFarlane drawing Cable and Juggernaut, so at least that's something kind of worth looking at.

(Those pages are drawn sideways for multiple issues. Like two panels a page. Therefore, it's as little story as possible while they just fight and pose and look cool.)

Deadpool also shows up, which is a bit interesting historically-speaking, but overall this is just awful... Especially when compared to the high quality of Jim Lee's X-Men which was out at about the same time.

Sigh, why on earth am I bothering to reread this again?

[ribbonknight · Rating 3 out of 5]

Love the appearance of Deadpool, as well as the jumpstart to the lingering New Mutants. That said, I really didn’t like the endings given to Dani, Rahne, Warlock, and (for a time at least) Sunspot.

The art is all gratuitous muscle. It is...very 1991. Still, at least one last-page reveal had me widening my eyes in shock. I’m eager to see how Cannonball copes with all this intense change, whether Sunspot hangs around, and how Cable’s methods are viewed by all of his current “soldiers,” but also the X-men or x-factor, if they ever team up again.

[Matt Aukamp · Rating 3 out of 5]

I toyed with a 2-star rating here, but I actually thought the book was kinda breezy and pleasant to read.

But goddamn, this is stupid. Everything here is stupid. Very little of it makes sense. The plots, the characters, the costumes, the moment-to-moment action, the motivations, the overall concept... all utterly stupid and inconsistent.

I should have hated this, and given it a 1 or a 2... but something about it was captivating. I wish I knew what.

[Ian · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s a really cool book with a cool premise and some fun new characters, but man, oh, man is Rob Liefeld’s art bad. There are a few instances when it’s not terrible, but when you see it next to the one issue of Spider-Man with Todd McFarlane or even worse, a special poster with Mike Mignola, it’s just embarrassing.

[iTZKooPA · Rating 2 out of 5]

It has Cable and some Deadpool. Otherwise, meh.

[Μιχάλης · Rating 3 out of 5]

Βάλε τον Rob Liefeld παρέα με έναν καλό συγγραφέα, και το αποτέλεσμα είναι ένα κόμικ που δεν είναι αρκετά κακό για να περάσεις καλά μαζί του...

[Kyle Pennekamp · Rating 3 out of 5]

Worth it for the Mcfarlane crossover Spider-Man issue.

[Giuseppe JB · Rating 4 out of 5]

In realtà ho letto il volume n 27 della serie X-Men le storie incredibili intitolato X-Force: sabotaggio, che contiene all'incirca le stesse storie.

[Bob · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gems include the 3part Sabotage crossover

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ridiculous fun!

[Robotato · Rating 1 out of 5]

Violently ugly art with characters and story that feels plucked from the mind of a five year old.

Format: Digital single issues through Marvel Unlimited

[Q. · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the early 90s Rob Liefeld, Jim Lee, Todd McFarlane, Erik Larsen, and many other artists broke off from Marvel and DC due disagreements over creative control and right's to characters in order to form their own company Image Comics which exists to this day. Several great series came out of Image including Spawn, Savage Dragon, Invincible, Saga, The Walking Dead, etc. A seasoned comic fan will notice however none of those series have anything to do with Rob Liefeld.

Don't get me wrong Liefeld has done a lot of work over his career, it's just that most of it is notable for all the wrong reasons. First off Liefeld isn't a good writer; "Supreme: Madness", "Youngblood: Baptism by Fire", & "Extreme Sacrifice" are just plain badly written. Secondly Liefeld's ability as an artist is higly debatable as the editorials "The 40 Worst Rob Liefeld Drawings" & "40 MORE Of The Worst Rob Liefeld Drawings" point out. But I've come here to praise Liefeld not bury him, because I honestly think Liefeld's run on the X-Force series is the best work he's ever done (the remander of Liefeld's run on the series can be found in "X-Force: Under the Gun"). Whether that's a decent achievement or incredibly sad is open to interpretation, but I digress.

Firstly the idea for the series is rather original and intriguing (although it was polished considerably by later writers) . The young and idealistic New Mutants are leaderless and scattered but are brought together by the mysterious no nonsense Cable to form the X-Force which actively seeks out harmful mutants and operates much more like a strike-force. While the plot is relatively simple the characters are enjoyable and the action scenes dynamic. It is worth mentioning that I do like Liefeld's artwork most of the time. I don't mind the excessive lines, white eyes, bulging muscles, giant guns, or many pouches; every artist has a style right? What I do mind is Liefeld's inability to properly draw the human body at times. The editorials I mentioned before show numerous examples of characters that are ridiculously disproportionate; parts of the body that are too big or too small and women's torsos that are so tiny they should collapse under the weight of their upper body, among other things. Thankfully there only a couple instances of that happening in this volume or the book that proceeds it.

I guess the point I'm trying to make is even a guy that's been called a talentless hack (not without good reason mind you) was capable of making one good series. So before you jump on the Liefeld sucks bandwagon do yourself a favor and check out his run on X-Force. You might just be pleasantly surprised.

[Joseph Gagnon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not much Deadpool to be had in these first appearances. Not much to interest me in these stories either. I mean, I guess it's cool to see the 90s era comics. Not really my cuppa, but I'm glad to be exposed to it ... I guess. Ah, it's fair enough as a form of research. It'll get better and more focused on the Merc with the mouth as I keep going.