PLOT: This issue jumps ahead six months, where we find X-Force undercover in Buenos Aires, and in a rather shocking change in the status quo, the team has changed its tactics once again, as they are now willing to blow up buildings & kill everyone inside, in order to combat threats that endanger mutants.
After seeing them blow up a lab that was experimenting upon mutants, we see that their activities have attracted the notice of a mystery group, who send in a super-powered killer to exterminate X-Force. After seeing this hired gun wipe out a plane full of people, in a bid to kill X-Force, we see the team is quick to strike back, and thanks to a torture session, the team is able to learn who hired this woman to kill them.
We then see that with the final issue arriving next month, X-Force is going to go out with a bang, as they are going to take on the group that has been after them since Pete Wisdom took them under his wing.
COMMENTS: I'm thinking that if one came onto this title when it debuted as X-Force, then you're going to be more willing to see the cast of this book become uncompromising killers, but if you're like myself, and were on this book back when it was New Mutants, then this issue is like kick in the stomach. I mean, I've watched Sam grow as a character since he was a skinny kid, who couldn't turn while in flight, and even when the team around him became ruthless, Sam pretty much stuck to his guns, even when it would've been far easier for him fall in line & comprise his moral code.
Now we're asked to accept a character who has a Magneto-like attitude, when it comes to the death of innocents, and unless this story is revealed to be a dream, then Ian Edginton has forever tarnished Sam, and the story that he's come up with to justify this change is nowhere near entertaining enough to make me overlook this grievous error.
Given the rather helter-skelter shipping schedule X-Force has been sporting over the past year, I initially thought that I had somehow missed an issue, but after a quick perusal of my collection, it appears that I have them all. This does leave me a bit confused, as the last issue ended with X-Force consumed by an explosion, and this month's issue opens with the team undercover in Buenos Aires, and no mention is made of this explosion, or how the team managed to survive it.
I realize that Ian Edginton may have been caught off guard by his removal from to book, and he still has another issue to explain this little mystery, but right now it looks like he simply decided to move on to the next arc, while skipping the climax of his previous one. To be honest, I'm not dying to know how they survived, but it's still a bit troubling to see such a blatant disregard shown toward fans who may be following this book more closely than I am.
Jorge Lucas turns in a fine looking issue, and it's his art that kept me from giving this book my very first 0 rating, as the story he's asked to draw has me truly annoyed. Still, the story is not the fault of the artist, so I'll use the column to praise his work even though the story it's detailing is utter trash. The explosive opening is excitingly rendered, though it does leave one to ponder why Sam & Tabitha didn't attempt to blend in a little more, as their calm reaction to the chaos around them would send out all sorts of red flags to any observers.
The page where the plane encounters the killer hired to exterminate X-Force is also nicely done, as the character drips with menace. Jimmy's rage as he confronts this woman is also captured quite well, as is the calm behaviour of Jesse as he tortures the woman. My only real quibble with the art is that it's not exactly clear what the opening page has to do with the rest of the issue.
FINAL WORD: I rarely come across an issue that leaves me this annoyed, as this issue fundamentally alters a character that I've actively followed since he was introduced into the Marvel Universe way back in 1982. Now I'm not against changing a character, if it serves a purpose, but turning Sam, and the rest of X-Force into a group of terrorists, who will indiscriminately murder innocents to further their cause is just wrong. Ian Edginton has moved right down the list, as he is simply writing to shock the reader, rather than entertain, and turning X-Force into a cast that makes the Punisher's moral code look saintly, is a huge mistake. This is an issue that I hope is ignored by future writers, as it is unworthy of the characters that it has just ruined.
