X-Force Omnibus, Vol. 1

X-Force (1991-2002) #1-15

by Fabian Nicieza, Rob Liefeld (Illustrator), Todd McFarlane (Illustrator)

Beset from all sides by a growing roster of vicious foes, the New Mutants and their mysterious mentor Cable have no choice but to transform into a proactive, butt-kicking, take-no-prisoners mutant strike team! But can the new X-Force survive head-on clashes with Deadpool, the Morlocks, Proteus, Stryfe and his Mutant Liberation Front, the Juggernaut, the new Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, and...S.H.I.E.L.D.? COLLECTING: New Mutants (1983) 98-100, Annual 7; X-Men Annual (1970) 15; X-Factor Annual 6; X-Force (1991) 1-15; Spider -Man (1990) 16; Cable: Blood & Metal 1-2; material from New War - riors Annual 1, X-Force Annual (1992) 1

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Graphic Novels, X Men, Collections, Comic Book

848 pages, Hardcover

First published September 8, 1992

About the author

Fabian Nicieza is a writer and editor who is best known as the co-creator of DEADPOOL and for his work on Marvel titles such as X-Men, X-Force, New Warriors, and Robin.

His first novel, the Edgar Award-nominated SUBURBAN DICKS, a sarcastic murder mystery, is on sale now from Putnam Books.

The Dicks will return in THE SELF-MADE WIDOW, coming June 21st.

Reviews

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars
Liefeld has always left me cold. Never liked anything he's done. Think he's about the worst of the worst of the 90's. And the worst Marvel name artists.

But this has been a big gap in my X-Universe knowledge so... I wanted to read it. It's okay, story-wise if a bit simple. Cable's character is a bit weird. Seems like they had him mapped out to be one thing. Then they utterly changed him. And what we know him to be now is still a bit different.

The highlight is Deadpool. Had not realized he showed up here. Second highlight is art by Mike Mignola and Greg Capullo! Gods. Wot a treasure this would be had Mignola done the art for the first 15 issues. *sigh* If Marvel was smart they hire Mike to redraw those first fifteen for a new anniversary edition! How cool would that be!!!

[Vicente Ribes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un tomo genial. En los 90 hubo un bajón creativo acusado en las colecciones mutantes pero salieron algunas cosas buenas y este Factor X creo que a pesar de su sencillez es muy divertido. Factor X es el grupo que sale al finalizar la colección de los nuevos mutantes. Unos adolescentes que ya estaban para salir del nido y se juntaron con Cable para crear un grupo fuera de la ley que protegería a los mutantes. Algo como lo que vendría ser el opuesto a Factor X(estos siempre me parecieron un coñazo). Este grupo con mutis tan carismáticos como Feroz, estrella rota, Domino, bala de cañon o Bum Bum vivirían aventuras junto a Cable y nos dejarían el buen sabor que tenian los cómics clásicos de los nuevos mutantes.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's a lot of innovative material in this volume, stuff that is foundational for the modern X-comics. The writing's not always the best, and the '90s artwork is an acquired taste, but it still is an interesting read.

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].

Kings of Pain (Annuals). This is an intriguingly timed annual crossover, set just before the start of X-Force, in the middle of the X-Men's Muir Island Saga, and near the end of the original X-Force run. It also makes good use of continuity, reusing X-Force's Alliance of Evil and offering what was then the first big return of Proteus. With that said, it's a kind of "meh" story. The majority of it is a long MacGuffin hunt, as an entirely flat and dull character called Harness uses another called piecemeal to reconstitute Proteus, followed by a dull fight with Proteus. The reality-warping of Proteus as he creates a mathematical dimension was probably interesting at the time, but now has been seen in every Proteus resurrection, most recently the newest Astonishing X-Men [2+/5].

The Killing Stroke (Annuals). Freedom Force was a fun conceit for the X-comics in the late '80s. This is a good last stand for them [3/5].

Shorts (Annuals). The shorts in the annuals are generally good, because they touch upon peoples who weren't getting enough attention in the main comics. It's thus great to see a final few appearances of the "X-Terminators", even if the stories are shallow. However, it's Mystique's story of laying Destiny to rest that really knocks it out of the park [3+/5].

(And despite their general mediocrity, it's great to finally have these "Kings of Pain" annuals in a collection.)

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].

The Brotherhood (XF #5-7, 9-10). This new Brotherhood story is surprisingly strong. That's in part thanks to the return of old villains, as we got a mash-up of the Brotherhood, the Morlocks, and Sauron. It's in part due to the surprise of Cannonball's death and rebirth (and the fact that it's part of a larger plan). But it's also that we get X-Force's brutality on full display, as both Sauron and Masque are killed, marking a real change from classic X-comics. Of course, both those deaths have been reversed, severally undercutting this comic; the Masque resurrection is the more annoying of the two, as Chris Claremont just decided he wanted his character back and didn't even try to explain it. Still, back in the day, this was pretty bad-ass [4/5].

Flashed Before My Eyes (#8). The Cable backstory dropped into the middle of the Brotherhood story is a kind of dull heist plot, but it does have several interesting elements: it shows the Wild Pack back in the day; it reveals Cable's mercenary tendencies; it shows him as a a time traveller come back for Cannonball; and it has great Mike Mignola art [3+/5].

X-Tenuating Circumstances (#7, 9-10). This Weapon X story has no depth, just a bunch of fighting. It also doesn't go much of anywhere, other than Kane (whoever that is) learning who Stryfe is: and back in these early days of X-Force it seems like Liefeld was suggesting that Stryfe was a future Cable [2/5].

Know Your Enemy (Annual). This Dan Slott short from the first X-Force annual is a dull listing of possible enemies that doesn't really deserve to be called a story [1/5].

Everything Hits The Fan (#11-15). This story, which marks the bridge between Liefeld and Nicieza's plots is interesting because it's so multi-faceted. We get a new "Weapon Prime" stalking X-Force and a climatic battle with Tolliver and some interactions with the Externals. There's a lot of good foundational stuff here, even if the scripts sometimes suffer. With that said, I find the Tolliver stuff generally weak. He's got a dumb name and he's a villain's whose renowned mainly for the fact that he wears a big hat. Compare this to the introduction of background villains like Sinister in this era and you see what Liefeld was trying to do and falling far short of. Also, the fact that the Domino introduced in the waning days of New Mutants was an imposter is ... entirely bizarre. Clearly, this is something that came out of left field, not out of careful plotting. [4/5]

Cable: Blood & Metal. Cable's initial mini-series is one-part flashback to the Wild Pack (now the Six-Pack due to trademark concerns) and one part modern hunt after Stryfe. And none of it's particularly interesting. The big confrontation between Cable and Stryfe should have been fundamental, but it turns out to just be minor setup for the X-Cutioner's Song a month or two later, which addressed the question of who these characters are at a much deeper level. Still, there's some nice development for Kane [2+/5].

[MoonKnight · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this! First time reading these stories .. I loved some of the page layouts and the art was amazing and dynamic!

[TK · Rating 2 out of 5]

I miss my poor New Mutants. So many great characters lost in favor of this bizarre rag-tag group. And the ones that remain are unrecognizable. The Fabian Nicieza issues are more tolerable than the Rob Liefeld ones, but overall this continues down the "worst parts of the 90's" route. There is just so much going on and very little of it works for me.

Also, I know people complain about Rob Liefeld's art a lot... and those people are right. The art in this is so all over the place. There are really no feet, characters change size from panel to panel, human proportions don't exist in this world, and there are so many guns!

[Bob Bird · Rating 5 out of 5]

I know a lot of people hate Liefelds work, I'm not one of these people. This is a great omnibus with great characters (Cable, Deadpool, Cannonball).

[Jason Luna · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book for fans of just all about superhero comics can offer: likable characters, quippy dialogue, dynamic action, great color artwork...and Deadpool and Cable too!

The story is a solid and surprisingly reliable mix of easy enough to get into, but complex enough to maintain suspense and intrigue: basically, The New Mutants (more or less Charles Xavier's third attempt to form a team of mutant heroes/students) gets swept up under the tutelage of Cable, the time travelling worried about the future guy.

He pushes the team to be more of an aggressive problem solving task force than Xavier's vision, which leads to some pretty explosive battle scenes:

"New Mutants #98" gets the action going strong work. Great artwork from Rob Liefeld (arguably the best part of the entire book) as well as constantly immersive story/action from him and Fabian Nicenza.

Cable and the New Mutants have to defend themselves from an onslaught of attackers at Xavier's school, including the first appearance of Deadpool, who is a milder version of his modern self, but still vicious in combat and funny in banter, which is nice.

Shatterstar joins the team, and his futuristic swordplay is cool, as does Feral who's not terrible, kind of generic werewolf woman.

A great intro. And the best part is that even with the massive amount of issues here, it stays pretty consistently great.

"X-Force #1" keeps the same energy going as when they were called New Mutants, as Cable and his Force of X battle Stryfe, the really cool futuristic bad guy and Cable's mortal nemesis, and some minions. Same high quality action and intrigue and nice art from Liefeld and Nicenza (sic?)

Lots of plot twists and changes to the team follow as Cable tries to change the future by taking care of things in the present. All accompanied with fun violence and explosions and weird characters and stuff. Surprisingly novelistic for issue-by-issue comics, I must say.

"Cable: Blood And Metal #2" is the last part of a two part mini-comic that basically follows Cable and Weapon X (not old-school Wolverine, apparently at this point Weapon X was a dapper Canadian guy with cybernetic arms and stuff) as they track down Stryfe and try to end his threat to the future forever.

Without the X-Force team it lacks a little of the team charm, it's a little more dour, but still a well paced and interesting adventure and by this point you've seen so much story it's hard not to be captivated.

Fabian Nicenza by himself on story, and it's a little less imaginative but still good. John Romita Jr. on art, maybe a little drop off from Liefeld, but still good X-action stuff.


All in all the story is complex enough to keep you hooked, and that X-action and X-characters are really well rendered here. This falls in the line of Claremont's prime on X-Men regular.

5/5

[Gary Rhodes · Rating 3 out of 5]

This gets 3-stars from me, and honestly at least a half star of that rating is due to the nostalgia effect. Liefeld’s art is always going to be decisive, but I remember it being part of that era and so for me I can stomach it even if I don’t feel
it’s aged all that well. He doesn’t even stick around too long once the book is retitled X-Force so we get a few different artists in this book. I forgive his uneven writing less, but then again the guy was an artist first and a writer second. Despite that it’s a fun book overall, and it chronicles the sad end of the New Mutants team and their being used as a military style strike force by Cable. It’s sad to see the old team go, but we get to see some reunions along the way and the X-Force team that emerges from this era is definitely more interesting that the team that began it. This leads right into X-Cutioners Song, so if you want to continue the adventures of Cannonball and crew you can pick up that story.

[Lance Grabmiller · Rating 2 out of 5]

Collects New Mutants #98-100 (February - April 1991), New Mutants Annual #7, X-Men Annual #15, X-Factor Annual #6 (all 1991), X-Force #1-15 (August 1991 - October 1992), Spider-Man #16 (November 1991), Cable: Blood and Metal #1-2 (October - November 1992) and lots of supplemental material.

Most of the New Mutants are rather unceremoniously dumped in the last few issues of that comic to set up for X-Force. Never cared much for Rob Liefeld's style and some of the writing is pretty atrocious, but the story-lines and concepts are taking the it in new directions beyond the repeating cliches that seemed to bog down the New Mutants line. Ambitious in scope (perhaps a little too much) and more directly violent than any previous X-title, it is rather interesting, even if it doesn't always win me over.

[Brandon L · Rating 4 out of 5]

I know it’s easy to make fun of Rob Liefeld, and he deserves some of it, but some of the more egregious pencils aren’t by him! I’d argue McFarlane was worse in this era. But it’s interesting to see how heavy the tone is for the X-Force overall, but also the light little jabs overall, especially by the female characters. Feral, Boom Boom, and Domino all get both their physical and verbal jabs in. It’s also casually horny! For as much cheesecake that we get with those three, we also get remarks about Shatterstar’s butt, and Domino seems to be into Cable, and there’s some implied off page flings. I remember picking up with X-Force slightly later than these, but it’s good to see where this all came from, and goon mutants like Sumo are getting knocked off left and right. Real wild time.

[Lee · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a terrible start, all things considered. Ignoring the 90s silliness, Nicieza is able to mine depths into at least Cable’s characterization that I never realized before. I was less enamored of the Weapon X/Kane subplots but once Liefield left, hopefully that will fade. I do have to say that seeing Mignola doing a flashback sequence in the midst of Liefield’s work was a) not smart of Liefield and b) really showed how frentic and basically noisy Liefield’s art was (is?) comparatively. Lots of lines =/= good pacing.

[Crazed8J8 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Detailing the origins of X-Force, the newest members as the New Mutants come down to a close, watch as Cable leads this band of fighters (Domino/Copycat, Shatterstar, Cannonball, Feral, Boom-Boom, and Warpath) into battle. Plenty of flashbacks too, showing the history of Cable and Domino, plus, the introduction of Deadpool.
Solid read, great artwork, and lots of guest appearances (even Spidey makes a visit).

[CuteAsAMuntin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m a die-hard Deadpool fan and I live for every Spider-Man cameo in other hero’s comics, but neither of those was enough to make me get through this. Cable is still intolerable here, it takes far too long to get to the interesting parts about Domino and Copycat, and Nicieza can’t make me care about the X-Force brats and their questionable character design and execution (thanks at least in part to the infamous Liefeld, of course) no matter how hard he tries.

[OmniBen · Rating 2 out of 5]

(Zero spoiler review) 1.5/5
I have no idea how the collective talent in this book came together to create something so monumentally terrible. Seriously, it would be impressive if it wasn't so pathetic. I'd rather slowly crush my testicles in a vice than subject myself to the modest amount of this I was able to tolerate this time. I wonder if a lobotomy would scour this from my memory? 1.5/5


OmniBen.

[Jeff · Rating 2 out of 5]

All flash and little substance. Lots of over the top bombastic looking art hyped up on testosterone. Thin stories of intrigue and fist-a-cuffs, but not much to recommend beyond the eye candy visuals. Kind of sad to see Chris Claremont and Louise Simonson’s great characters and work going this direction.

[Damian Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a headfirst dive into nostalgia, there's very little better than an Omnibus of early 90s Marvel comics. There's no denying the crudeness of a lot of it, but there's also no denying the energy and excitement of it all as well.

[Craig W · Rating 1 out of 5]

I couldn’t care any less about these characters - so poorly written, and the art is scratchy as hell.

[Daniel · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's beating a dead horse, but Rob Liefeld's art grates.

X-Force is a slapped-together team led by Cable spawned from the scattered remnants of the New Mutants' final issues. The team consists of a disillusioned former Hellion, a fleeing Morlock, a shadowy figure named Domino, and a future warrior who appears out of thin air. Cannonball and Boom Boom, members of the original New Mutants team, stick around mostly out of habit, with a flexible sense of right and wrong.

Cable's relationship with the young mutants had been built over 14 issues of the preceding series (New Mutants) only to be thrown away with the start of X-Force. With the new team assembled the immediate dive into over-the-top 80s/90s action movie plotting unfolds chaotically and is nothing but a spectacle with little substance.

X-Force starts strong for the first and most of the second issue only to diverge into an arc that can only be described as a drawn-out interruption. Issue 6 acts as a soft reset for the book.

Issue #7 is a lot of fun and is a high point of the book. The stakes are high, the action unfolds excitingly and clearly, plus the ending shows how high-stakes things are for the X-Force team.

Issue # 8 is mostly a flashback for Cable. It does a great job of establishing some context to his character, which is much needed. Combined with the art of Mike Mignola this is a nice respite from the disorder of prior issues. Even then, this entry begins with the ridiculous concept of "High Lords" which comes out of left field in jarring fashion while being tonally removed from the rest of the narrative. It's at this point the premise of X-Force falls apart. There's simply too much going on. Like Liefield's art, the story tries to fit too much stuff into a limited space.

The next issue expands on the concept of High Lords and focuses on "Weapon X" while regulating the titular crew to the background. Rictor, a former New Mutant returns in the strangest circumstances with ZERO context and a motive that makes his prior interactions with Cable absurd. Then Deadpool shows up. It's too much.

The narrative settles down and becomes less chaotic in the last 3 issues. It should be noted that these are the only three Liefeld doesn't have a hand in as a writer. The book becomes much more palatable and less chaotic at that point save for some strange developments around Domino that oddly work because they add some intrigue around her, and even frame Deadpool as something more substantial than being a loudmouth cool guy. The ending of the 15 issues does set up some interesting threads to explore in future issues but it’s too little too late. While this segment of X-Force stumbles out of the gate, it starts to find its footing toward the end of the first 15 issues, and there's enough intrigue to keep me reading the series in hopes it improves.

[Nadia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretty forgettable so far but I really liked the one annual in here.