I’m still not totally blown away with this event but I recognise it will be of lasting importance to the X-Line and have faith in Kyle and Yost to do great things, and this issue didn’t disappoint, so am happily onboard awaiting crazy action and mutant bloodshed (as I’ve come to expect and love from X-Force). Read Full Review

So far, Messiah War has kept a tight focus, doing well to replicate the gravity of its predecessor, Messiah Complex, while having only a fraction of the page-time to work with. Each chapter is a speedy read, but when it looks this good and tries this hard, it's all adding up to a crossover that's going to be fondly remembered. Read Full Review

There are a lot of flaws in this issue (dark, muddied art, continuity, time travel discrepencies, etc) that prevent it from being an outright Must Read, but I really did enjoy a lot of the things Yost and Kyle brought to the table and this story is finally starting to come together. Let's see if they can continue to build on the momentum of this issue. Read Full Review

So, the good news: "Messiah War" feels like it finally started, and the pieces have begun gelling. But the bad news: X-Force #14 isn't so great as a standalone issue or as part of the ongoing series, with a number of glaring problems popping up as it moves along. The biggest disappointment, perhaps, is that this installment seems to have abandoned the book's grasp of fun and, as much as it pains me to say, issue #14 is probably a perfect example of what everyone was afraid a project like this would turn out to be - dumb, heartless action with very little point. X-Force really is better than this. Read Full Review

Before I close this review, I have a few comments that occurred to me. As an aside, there were a number of readers and reviewers on the web that criticised Geoff Johns regarding the "Sinestro Corps Wars," stating that it was an opportunity to highlight an "ends justifies the means" approach to war. If those readers are enjoying the slaughter of this book, I would challenge them to look very closely at these two series and contrast/compare the approaches taken. While I will agree that the SCW story line seemed to glorify that approach, usually the character motivations behind that approach were presented. The "Messiah War" story arc does not even make clear that these characters have emotions. They simply appear, revel in bloodshed without reason or consequence, and exit stage right. As a result, this reader and reviewer cannot find much redeeming to say about this individual issue, or the series as a whole. Read Full Review