X-Force #1-7

X-Force #1-7

Originally released in 1991

Written by Fabian Nicieza

Art by Rob Liefeld

A lot of the comics that I've read this week have been from the 1990s, so I'm going to cover the most 90s comic that comes to mind. (From Marvel, at least; I feel like there are more extreme examples out there) X-Force has everything you'd expect from a 90s comic - ridiculously muscled-up characters, massive guns, loose morals, a ridiculous amount of pouches, and an inability to draw feet. (Maybe those last two are just Liefeld)

Liefeld's work must have been popular at the time, as he's credited before everyone else and in much larger font, but I don't see why.  The character designs are wildly inconsistent at times, with Cable losing about half of his muscle mass within the first issue.  The art doesn't flow well - there's a point where Warpath lands behind an enemy that's got a tight grip on Cable, only for the next panel to have him punching the enemy when they're face-to-face and Cable's broken free.

X-Force has a darker, edgier, and more cynical viewpoint, as was the style at the time.  Cable at least shows enough concern to avoid killing when news cameras are around, but later, he has no problem with trying to kill long-standing X-Men villain Black Tom Cassidy. (Cassidy survives, thanks to Deadpool, who was hired by a third party to keep Cassidy alive)

However, this mindset is called out in the story as hurting the perception of mutants, so Cable's trigger-happy nature is seen as a bad thing in-universe.  Most of his team shares that mindset - the main exception seems to be Cannonball, and I'm not sure how long he'll stay on X-Force.

An overarching goal of X-Force is to hunt down Stryfe, an evil clone of Cable who was created in a time where the mutant villain Apocalypse rules and survival of the fittest is the closest there is to law. (I think I've got the details right; Cable's personal history is complicated)

However, the team has other threats to deal with - so far, it's mainly been X-Men villains like Juggernaut and the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. (Characters in these issues question why the group calls themselves "Evil Mutants", though it's not really answered) Among the group is Sauron, an energy-draining pterodactyl man who had regained human form, only to be turned back into a dinosaur by Toad.  For added cruelty, Toad killed the love of Sauron's life to intentionally make the transformation happen. (The name is not a coincidence; Sauron intentionally named himself after the Lord Of The Rings character)

The character writing is all right, though the overall plot is paper thin - most of the team doesn't get much development, and it mostly comes across as a series of fight scenes, training sequences, and thinly-veiled sexual innuendo loosely attached together. (Liefeld was also credited with the plot, while Fabian Nicieza was credited for the dialogue)

To be fair, that likely describes a lot of comics, but the characters don't really feel fleshed out here (Domino is seemingly Cable's second in command, but she hasn't really done anything), leaving the book to be carried by the action.  When the action is as poorly-drawn as it is here, that doesn't leave much to go on.