The cons of this issue are heavily outweighed by the pros of it and by the end of the book the reader is left with a wanting that is intrigued and starving for more from this, surely to be great series. Read Full Review

Will Spurrier be able to work his magic twice? I'm hesitant to say but he's already gotten my curiosity with a few dangling story lines that he's laid out before us and I'll be eagerly following the series as it progresses. Read Full Review

The individual previous X-Force titles had a little more personality than this, which almost seems to be overcompensating for what might be perceived as a somewhat drab visual look. I think the murky, muddy watercolor vibe works with what they have here, with the character designs all resembling violent G.I. Joes, but I can see where it wouldn't be for everyone. I'm not totally sold, but I was entertained, and as long as Dr. Nemesis has someone to talk down to I'll keep coming back. Read Full Review

Overall, X-Force #1 is promising because of Spurrier, who manages to make us care about characters we ordinarily wouldn't – like David Haller in X-Men Legacy. It's a start not without its bumps (a phrase I chose instead of saying 'it's a bit of a Rock-He start,' so be thankful at my restraint), but I'm still on board. Read Full Review

Marvel's latest X-Force project isn't a bad revamp of the franchise. The direction of this series is pretty basic, but it allows Spurrier to focus on elements like humor and epic action he does so well. It's a solid and entertaining jumping-on point. But can the series succeed over the long run without more emotional heart and a deeper sense of purpose? Time will tell. Read Full Review

Overall, the first issue of X-Force is a prime of example of how you can set up a new reader friendly direction for a group of characters without ignoring what has happened to them in the past. Introductions are made, questions asked, and the action started. The mutant black ops team has been done before, but not to this extent, and the concept, as presented by Spurrier's script, has a lot of potential to tell some great stories on the fringes of the Marvel Universe. The only things holding the book back are that the art is very muddled and hard to follow in places, and that after one issue the enemies come off as generic black ops baddies. In the end we are left with a solid, unique addition to the X-Men line of comics, but if Kim's art is given room to breathe, and the antagonists developed into something interesting we can be looking at the start of something great, albeit not for everyone. Read Full Review

So there's all that. Decent writing, below-average art, but still a decent enough read in the final count. Aside from the premise of the series, the story here is a decent one, and features a bit of a standard mission, but it gives the characters an opportunity to each show off their skills, and that does have value in the end. Read Full Review

The new X-Force is off to an OK start. It's got a strong cast of characters, and Spurrier uses them well together, but he pushes a few of them beyond their usual personalities. It's a little weird, but not a deal-breaker on the comic. Spurrier seems like he knows how to write a good action scene, backed up by Kim's unique art style, but I'm a little wary on Spurrier's understanding of his own premise. His Cable seems to think it's a pretty big deal that mutants should have their own black ops team, but nearly every character in the book just came from a team exactly like that. Still, a mutant black ops team is as solid a premise for a new X-Force book as any, so this might just be a solid title – until Marvel randomly decides to change X-Force again. Read Full Review

The art probably won't be for everyone. I didn't think I'd like it at first, but it definitely works for the series. It's all angular and visceral, and it plays nicely with the black ops setting. The colors work too. But who's to say how long we have with this particular team? Marvel seems to be in the mood to reboot X-Force over and over these days. Read Full Review

ssue #1 is a solid read, but it remains to be seen if this title can pack enough development to last longer than twenty issues. Read Full Review

What has got to be Marvel's eighth X-Force team in four years marks its debut in "X-Force" #1! Will they be able to stand out a monist the crowd of renegade mutants? Read on to find out!Written by Si SpurrierWritten by Rock-He KimAlmost every sovereign state in the Marvel Universe makes use of sanctioned superhumans to protect national interests and pursue a covert agenda. The United States has the Secret Avengers. The United Kingdom has MI13. And mutantkind has X-FORCE. In this dirty, secret, no-holds-barred, deadly game of superhuman black ops, veteran X-Man Cable and his team will spy, torture, and kill to ensure that the mutant race not only has a place in the world"but also a stake in it.As I mentioned in that little intro blurb at the top of the review, there have been a TON of X-Forces to the point that a lot of them seem to just blend together. Hell, it was only a few weeks ago that there were two separate X-Force titles running simultaneously before concludin Read Full Review

Cable remains an uninteresting leader that save for the initial physical conflict at the onset of the issue has very little to do or say. Its a shame for a character with such a robust history to be outshined by those around him, but as it stands right now his voice is the least developed of Spurriers team. I look forward to seeing more of this jovial X-Force and perhaps this new take is exactly what we need to see in the world of mutants, Im just not entirely sold as of yet. Read Full Review

X-FORCE is off to a bit of a slow start. The story is a good deal of fun and shows an immense amount of promise, but the art is incredibly rough in numerous aspects. He-Kim's colors are fantastic within the issue, but the layouts, set-ups, and figures are muddled and tough to read. Cable looks a bit silly, and everyone's eyes are gigantic. It's hard to take anyone really seriously. Spurrier does give the reader something to really look forward to, though. He gives us a book that is very new reader friendly and a story that shows potential to be something epic. While I wasn't the biggest fan of the narration coming from Marrow, the rest of the dialogue was great, and I'm looking forward to what they have in store for us next. Read Full Review

This issue starts off simple enough: the team meets for a briefing, discusses their next mission and then carries it out. This is what any reader would expect from an issue of X-Force. The problem is, that through all of this, we wonder why they even need to do any of this anyway? We still have yet to understand why what X-Force does is in anyway helpingmutantkind. That and the inclusion of Marrow's confusing narration makes this issue hard to grab a hold of. Read Full Review

I didn't love this book as much as I was hoping, but I understand #1′s can be rocky before the creative team finds its groove. I know Si Spurrier is a talented and imaginative writer who can handle oddball humor and "explodo" action as easily as technospeak and high concept skullduggery, so I give him the benefit of the doubt on the vision of this title. An excellent start towards goodwill from me would be to pass over the POV voice to ANYONE else and keep Marrow in the background. Read Full Review

There is potential here in terms of themes, characters and action, but the over-emphasis on explaining its premise combined with the rather weak artistic direction makes this book a rather uneven opening to a series. Read Full Review

We just had two interesting X-Force series, each with a distinct personality. Here, all of that personality has been sucked away, leaving us with a dull version of what once was. Read Full Review

None-the-less, X-Force #1 succeeds in presenting a more classic incarnation of X-Force. This is a team that has a clear mission that won't be mistaken for any other X-men team. Cable provides the classic, hard-nosed leadership to set the tone for a team of this nature. And its newest member Marrow provides an entertaining, albeit immature perspective. That perspective may not resonate with everybody, but it's a concept that still works. It also proves that no matter how dirty a job may be, there will always be someone who finds a way to have fun with it. Read Full Review

How Marrow is used to take down a ridiculous looking plane is completely absurd and unrealistic even for a comic book. Kims art is very sterile and metallic looking and doesnt suit the book. Being a bit of a fanboy of X-Force and Cable I was really disappointed with this book as I found it to be one of the poorest issues of X-Force ever. There is a lot wrong with this book from the plot holes strange characterization to the art. If you are new to X-Force I would give this book a miss, as it is one of the weakest of Marvel's recent launches and bears little resemblance to X-Force of old. I really hope his book improves because I don't want to have an incomplete collection. Read Full Review

That's what this is telling you. What's old is new is old is new again. A remake/reboot/remix/sequel of all the others that have come before it, I'm not sure what else is coming next. I'm not sure what to expect from the rest of the series but I hope it's more than this. Si Spurrier is a talented writer (one of our Top 10 Writers of the 2013), so I hope it's not a rehash of the millionth fight with Stryfe or the billionth fight with Apocalypse. Read Full Review

This book starts with a good concept, but instead of using it as a focus it becomes an excuse. There is no clear goal for the team and they do not have the same star power as the previous X-Force to keep you around until they get one. As much as I love Fantomax and Marrow, they are written as over exaggerated parodies of themselves leading to some odd and unintentionally funny bits of dialogue. I wish I could recommend this book, but sadly I would pass on it in favor of something better. Read Full Review

In the end, Spurrier's concept comes across as a weak marriage of Generation Hope's "find new mutants first" impetus and Remender's "defend mutantkind against the threats it doesn't know are there" motives. It might be a worthy cause for Cable and his crew but it's not grounded in anything except itself. Kims art has its strengths but they don't come through enough in this one. Hopefully, Spurrier can find an original direction to right this ship and take advantage of his artist. Otherwise, there's not much more reason to care about this iteration of X-Force than there was the last two. Read Full Review

Stating the mission of the team multiple times (including the front text piece) doesn't make "X-Force" #1 any more interesting. There's a paper-thin, stale plot pushing the story, but it isn't very compelling and the characters seem to be checking boxes in order to slog through another issue. The debut issue does little to distinguish itself from any other iteration of Rob Liefeld's brainchild. In fact, "X-Force" #1 feels more like a mismanaged remix of the Craig Kyle, Christopher Yost, Clayton Crain title without any interesting characters. In addition to providing hollow characters and a complete lack of heart, "X-Force" #1 brings nothing to justify the cancellation of the two previous "X-Force" titles, instead giving readers flat, uninspired writing and art that is every bit as murky and uninspired. Read Full Review

There is simply no way around it, were I allowed to rate a book a zero, X-Force #1 would be that book. These characters, Marvel, and the readers should expect more. Read Full Review