X-Force post-game: part three

CHARACTER DAYYYYYYY

Okay, so I'm a pretty big fan of good characters. I really would read a book that was just well-written and well-rounded characters sitting about and enjoying themselves. Okay, maybe I would do that. I don't know. I probably have done that. Whenever the Illuminati appears, it seems like they're doing that (or launching Hulk into space or whatever) but I like them well enough (NOT YOU, REED).

Look, the point is I prefer good characters to good story. This book had both in great amounts. LET'S TALK ABOUT THE CHARACTERS THOUGH.

Wolverine-
Wolverine, in many ways, had the most static arc of anyone in the book. I think this might come from the fact that he has, I would hazard to guess, appeared the most times in the Marvel Universe. He's not older than everyone (looking at you, Angel), but he's certainly been the most popular of the team for the longest time (I'd say Deadpool has recently challenged him to some extent in popularity, but he's not really reliable "favorite character" material, normally). He still goes through some big events, if not huge changes. Uncanny X-Force 9 features a stand-alone book where he aids Magneto (who has just discovered their existence) by hunting down and killing a former Nazi, highlighting his "used as a weapon" background. He goes through some big parental events with Daken and, I would say, is probably the one most taken out of the fights. That was always interesting to me, watching as Wolverine quickly gets thrown from the plot by fielding the biggest attacks. It says something about Remender's confidence in the team that he'd toss his biggest character to the sidelines when certain big stories came through. Otherwise, Wolverine played the hotheaded leader of the team and filled the role aptly. It's hard to say Wolverine is a weak character because, when written well (as I think he was in this series), even weaker appearances are stronger. That said, he felt a bit weaker than the typically very strong rest of the team. I did like the challenges he occasionally struggled with when realizing that the team felt very much like an excuse to let his animal side out. Nice to see heroes question their own motivations.

Archangel-

Archangel came in with the most exterior problems and left with the fewest about halfway through the book's run. He struggles with keeping Apocalypse's form down in his head, an eventually insurmountable task originally given to Psylocke. I would say that the strengths of Archangel's characters were usually depicted either through his few memories or through other characters talking to or dealing with him. There are some endearing moments when we see his history with the first class X-Men and when he meets Betsy for the first time. Most everything else was hidden from us and he was largely the quietest member of a team consisting of Deadpool and Fantomex. When he appeared, it usually wasn't bad (well, in terms of his character. Sometimes he was really bad, like destroy Montana bad, but you get what I'm saying), but he wasn't a particular favorite. He also had less time to develop in the series and has a well-defined history already in the Marvel Universe.

Psylocke-
I hadn't seen too too much of Psylocke prior to this series. I was familiar with her abilities and a tiny bit of her history (especially as it pertained to Captain Britain), but it was largely through X-Men and as a minor part at that. It was certainly nice to see her here. She was one of the more complicated characters contained to the book (I'd put it between her and Fantomex. Deadpool ranks really high there too, but largely owing to his existence outside of this book but WE'LL GET TO THAT) and we saw her, at various times, love Angel, hate Archangel, hate Fantomex, love Fantomex, depowered, repowered, power-boosted, as a future dictator, without sorrow, with family, against family, and many other with/against emotions. She was the one most ready to point out Wolverine's brutality obsession leaking through in the team and the one often least happy with the missions or the outcomes or the costs. It makes her more interesting, then, that she appears to be leading the new X-Force book by Sam Humphries on its way. Her stories in Otherworld and with her brother Brian always seemed to be the most interesting to me. There were many parts of her story in X-Force that I loved and I think she would have been a strong contender for favorite character in the series if not for the next two.

Fantomex-
Fantomex was the least known commodity in this book. I had gone back to find his appearances in New X-Men and I had seen him originally in his Dark Reign appearance. I remembered liking him there, though being completely unfamiliar with him. He has since pretty easily transformed into one of my favorite characters in the whole of the Universe. A very complicated character by his very existence, Fantomex had three brains, including one of a Sentinel programmed to hunt mutants. He battled against it through the entirety of the series and was largely flippant and witty with the team. I liked him already, but the watershed moment was in X-Force 19, pictured to the left. On the exterior, I absolutely loved him throwing the beer can at Wolverine. Just an amazing moment. But it was the explanation of cloning Apocalypse, the "I needed to know if there was hope for me," that sold me one hundred percent. Everyone loves a redemption story and it was nice to see one had been developing behind our very backs. He was always well-written, always strong, always acted the way you understood he'd act, and throw beer cans at Wolverine's head every 19 issues or so. If he's not a favorite of yours, you're not doing comics right (sorry).

Deadpool-
Despite my adoration of Fantomex, Deadpool was the happiest surprise for me. A relatively new character being good is exciting, sure. But an already established and major player in the Marvel Universe (at least in terms of units sold) acting within character but so far outside of it at the same time? Brilliant. My favorite moments with Deadpool have always been the surprise serious moments, like when he admits to Cable that he's not just picking up anti-Registration heroes for their bounties (as he'd let on), he believes in what he's doing. This series had its share of Deadpool being off-the-hook crazy, for sure, but he had more character-defining moments like that than I've ever seen. Not to say they got old because they never did. They were always refreshing, they were always heart-wrenching, and they were always as much a part of him as any crazy thing he spoke. I'm not sure how Remender was able to keep so true to Deadpool's character while also defining him so emotionally, but I hope if I ever have an opportunity to write a character with those insane tendencies, I'll be able to treat him half as well as Remender treated Deadpool. His scene I mentioned in this post, walking out of a meeting he called to talk about their actions, was the first and earliest sign that this book was for real. Like, more for real than killing a kid for shock value. Deadpool, one of the most deranged and deadly characters in the Marvel U, was suddenly the conscience of the team. It defined him, it defined the team, it defined the series. Throughout the series, he grappled with low self-esteem, working on a team, tough moral choices, morals at all, plenty of things I hadn't seen Deadpool deal with before, but Remender handled them all beautifully. I think Daniel Way was a really good writer for Deadpool's solo series in the way Remender was for his team series. I'm excited to see Way handle him with the Thunderbolts. So far, I'm very unimpressed by Deadpool's new solo series, so we'll see where that goes. The point is that I think Deadpool is a hard character to write well. I credit Way with a good run at a hard time for the character, but I think Remender's run added more layers in 35 issues than most writers add in twice that, especially on a team book (I don't know any layers that were added on to anyone in either of Bendis' Avengers titles that just ended).

Nightcrawler-

I think I said all I really needed to say about AoA Nightcrawler in this post, so I won't say much here (especially after Deadpool's really long entry. GUYS, I have more to say so LET ME KNOW WHO WANTS TO HEAR IT). I loved the idea behind him and I'm sad we couldn't see more of him. His inevitable eventual betrayal of the team for his own needs (he always said as much) was still fairly shocking, though not completely unexpected (as I said, it was inevitable). Still, it was a very different Nightcrawler than the one in the main universe while still keeping some of the heroic tendencies of ours. A nice look.

Deathlok-

He was kind of on the team for a little bit? We didn't see much of him, but when we did (and when he wasn't reverted back to his psychopathic serial killer host), he was always hilarious. Deadpool's love for him was great. Magneto holding him in the air after breaking in with him explaining to the team "I attempted to eject him but I am at a...disadvantage" was pretty great. He's good dude, Deathlok.

EVA-
Was fine. Never got a huge grip on her. She was Fantomex's nervous system. Some stuff happened. She became a full body. She didn't have a huge role after that. I had no beef.

Ultimaton-
Just...whatever. He hung around in the World, guarding Fantomex's lab. It was...cool? Sure. It was cool.

LOOK, it was a great book, you should read it, I might do another post or two about it because I still have a few days until new comics come out and MAYBE I shouldn't have started this blog on a week where only two new comics were released but I had stuff to say about ASM 700 and they certainly weren't to wait around in my brain for a week and my plan overall is to update this near everyday so I MIGHT AS WELL START NOW. I'll talk to you tomorrow.