Editor's Note: X-Force #14 arrives in stores tomorrow, April 22.

Steven Bari:
Christopher Power:

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Steven Bari

Plot: Cable and X-Force are ambushed by hordes of cybernetic mercenaries, Bishop reiterates his desire to kill the Messiah child, Hope, and Stryfe kicks ass. Fun!

Commentary: Although I was slightly unimpressed by the last chapter of "Messiah War," the creative team of Kyle, Yost and Crain bring me back on board. This issue sees our heroes come face to face with the '90s villain Stryfe, who has never been so cool. Yes, the freaky clone of Cable (yawn) with the ridiculous hyper-realistic costume (snore) and desire to kill his doppelganger (zzzzzz) is rendered exciting (huh!), dangerous (oooh), and powerful (really?).

Most of the thanks belong to Crain, whose rendition of the character makes him look truly fearsome and opulent. For those of you who don't know, Stryfe was created by Louise Simonson (awesome!) and Rob Liefeld (…urgh), first appearing in New Mutants #87. Even as a kid I could never make sense of his outfit: spikes on the outside of the thighs, an indefinitely long cape, two sets of boots (one thigh high, the other knee high), and of course, armed nipples. And that stupid helmet. It may look cool at a glance, but on closer inspection you almost sense Liefeld's derivative methodology. "Wolverine's mask is really popular. How about I add an extra set of fins on the side. No, nine sets of fins. Yeah! And it's made of metal. Sweet!" It's really surprising how Liefeld overlooked giving Stryfe a single pouch or pocket.

But Crain takes this silver and crimson eyesore and makes him intimidating. Crain transforms that ridiculous helmet by whittling the up-teen layers of fins down to six, augmenting their shape to resemble shining axes. He removes the functionless spikes and replaces them with curved blades. Two of these curved blades located on his spaulders create a halo-like space around his head, evoking the story's title as well as Cable/Stryfe's history as messianic figures. Crain adds depth and seriousness to the character without completely overhauling the cheesy '90s design.

Unfortunately, Yost and Kyle create a far more dramatic story for Crain to visualize than the dialogue that accompanies it. As Stryfe descends on Cable and Hope, he scoffs, "Cable? Stab your eyes, Nathan. You've ruined this. Look at you! You're old. You're weak. Killing you like this is almost meaningless. Almost." The cliché-laden, strangely disjointed verbiage pulls the reader out of the scene. Thankfully, Crain's art is there to keep you occupied.

"Messiah War" may not be the best crossover written this year, but each chapter makes a big revelation that pulls you into the next. X-Force #14 does not let you down.

Final Word: Great Art. Good Story. Okay Dialogue.

Shameless Plug: www.Stevenmbari.Wordpress.com

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Christopher Power:

You know, when the "Messiah War" started, I had a real hope that X-Force would turn into something more than it has been. Back when the book started, I commented that I had hoped it was going to be Rainbow Six for Mutants, and instead I ended up with a nightmare of blood, guts and torture, with none of the subtlety or, dare I say, honour, I have come to expect from many of the characters in the book. Honestly, I left the book behind when I saw Wolverine heating up his claws and torturing people with them for information. In following the story leading up to the Messiah War, I have had trouble seeing Warpath, despite the irony of his name and the statement I am about to write, killing without thought or remorse. Finally, I do not see Cyclops creating a team as cold-blooded as this one is now. I bought into the idea of Cyclops creating a covert team designed to fight behind the scenes. I expected that team to be sent by Cyclops to rescue mutants out of the media eye, and kill when necessary, but only as a last resort. Instead, the boy scout of the X-Men has created a team that is depicted as murderous psychopaths with no covert operation methods about them at all. Typically, covert teams do not drop into situations and destroy everything in sight, leaving a trail of death and destruction behind them.

Just to clarify, I accept that this team was created to make tough choices, and on occasion kill in the line of duty, as soldiers sometimes need to do to protect the innocent. I had hoped that, unlike the early issues, I would see the team make these tough choices. Apparently, my slim hope was in vain. Clearly, sales have been good enough leading into issue #14, and the third issue of the Messiah War, that the status quo remains. This story is not about trying to save the child Hope, or displaying the intelligence and cunning of X-Force to save the Messiah of mutants. Instead, it appears to be about throwing as many enemies as possible at the team to see how much havoc they can wreak. When that is not good enough, the power level of the enemies gets increased, and we are thrown back into the fray for more blood and gore. There is no thought. There is no plan. There is just "fight to protect the girl." I actually feel like I'm reading a side scrolling beat-em-up video game from the 1980s.

The only moment in the book that seems legitimately reasonable is Warpath being put in charge of Hope; however, Logan neglects to give any specific strategies or words of wisdom regarding how to accomplish this task. It is simply "Protect the girl." Again, to clarify: it is not that I am expecting Wolverine to be a brilliant strategist on the battlefield, but he has been through enough, been around long enough, fought enough battles and fought enough wars, that he should be more than what we have seen in the panels of this series. He should be the grizzled sergeant, not the blood-thirsty thug. Even in the defining encounter with Stryfe, Logan immediately descends to jumping through the air, screaming "Kill him." While Stryfe did not laugh, I certainly did. It is simply ridiculous.

While the violence is satisfying for some readers, even with the humour of an aged and insane Deadpool cannot salvage a shred of enjoyment from this reviewer at what is completely depraved indifference and immoral behaviour from those who were/are heroes.

Another gripe, echoing my Uncanny X-Men comments from last week, when all of this fighting and bloodshed is going on, we once again have a story with Warren Worthington III interrupting the flow of the scenes in the comic, to have a side sub-plot out of nowhere. What has been done to Angel in the last year is one of the few faults I can find with the current X-Universe. A misstep of massive proportions that could have been used in interesting ways, but sadly the writers have not delivered.

As a final blow to this book, I am in the situation that after even multiple readings I am unable to make sense of the sub-plot attached to Bishop and Stryfe. The book is simply inconsistent in its story, and the ending seems to contradict the other scenes connected to the Bishop/Stryfe alliance.

This book, quite simply, does little or nothing to further the story of the Messiah child Hope, aside from putting her in danger yet again from Bishop.

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.

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