Hope meets Uncle Stryfe!
X-FORCE/CABLE: MESSIAH WAR #15
Publisher: Marvel
Writers: Craig Kyle and Christopher Yost
Artist: Clayton Crain
Letterer: Cory PetitCover A: Kaare Andrews Variant Cover: Clayton Crain
Summary: The War heats up! As Stryfe gets even closer to learning the secret of Hope Summers, Bishop has no choice but to make his move. X-Force has split into two strike teams… but only betrayal and death await them. And the choice Archangel makes will change everything. Plus, the battle a millennia in the making… CABLE vs. STRYFE. Part 5 (of 7).
Review: Some people really dread family reunions. You would too if you had an evil demented clone sibling showing up to crash the party when things already suck. At least Daddy Dearest, Scott Summers doesn’t show up in this issue. Stryfe versus Cable versus Bishop is quite enough for the Messiah child Hope. She witnesses Stryfe pulverize Warparth nearly to death all the while believing Stryfe to be her guardian/father figure Nathan.
Artist Clayton Crain does some things really well, but he’s seriously lacking in how to draw a child. If this were a silly comic strip, I’d expect children to have large heads with small bodies but this is X-Force. Crain consistently has trouble with Hope and if it were just some kid in the story that only popped into a few panels, it wouldn’t be a big deal. However, Hope is the main character in this giant crossover saga. On the other hand, what Crain does exceptionally well are the darker panels with a bloodied Warpath bound and struggling. Crain gives the adult warriors fantastic texture to their skin, clothing and environments. His extreme exaggeration of men’s arms is way over the top but it does convey the power behind the characters of Bishop, Stryfe and Cable. When one arm is mechanical, any critic could easily explain it away, but the other arm shouldn’t necessary match it in that case.
The portions of the issue following Domino, X-23, Deadpool and Vanisher feel like they should be in a different book; I’m just not getting what the tie-in is with this group. Yet, Angel’s confrontation to Apocalypse foreshadows plenty of importance in the main storyline with Stryfe. Wolverine does get in a critical hit but thankfully he’s neither on the cover nor a major part of this issue.
June 2nd, 2009 at 11:01 am
I still have a hard time believing Scott Summers is anyone’s dad, let alone Cable’s.