Uncanny X-Force

My interest in comics is generally pretty variable. I always enjoy them, but whether or not I'm willing to keep up with them monthly is another story. If I am reading a monthly series or two, it's probably something involving the X-Men. I made the unfortunate decision in the early-mid 2000s of reading Chuck Austen's Uncanny X-Men instead of Grant Morrison's New X-Men. My decision was based entirely on which characters I liked more at the time and on the fact that I was 15. At the time I was into the stories too, but I reread some recently and had to stop when Juggernaut had sex with She-Hulk. At the end of Austen's run (which really isn't so bad, just a little over the top and soap opera-y), I kind of stopped reading comics monthly. I've revisited X-Men occasionally (especially through the magic of trade paperbacks), but never got all the way back into it. There are so many X-books that it's hard to get it right when you're looking at a rack that often requires you to literally judge a book by its cover.

I had a bit of a misstep by deciding it would be worth my time to read the first story arc new volume of X-Men (with no Uncanny or Astonishing or New attached to it). It was a fun enough read, but nothing too memorable aside from bringing Dracula back from the dead. I did a bit of research and discovered that Uncanny X-Force is the buzz book these days, so I picked up the first 4 issues. I think I finally hit it right. The characters play well off each other, the action is intense and the first story arc has already set an amazing tone for the series.

The basic concept is that Wolverine, Archangel (who can turn from Angel to Archangel at will but loses some of his humanity as the blue-skinned, metal-winged Archangel), Psylocke, Fantomex and Deadpool are the new X-Force. They handle the dirty jobs the X-Men stay out of, specifically missions that will likely require them to kill. The 5 characters all serve distinct roles on the team and compliment each other well. They have the perfect amount of history to incite the right amount of drama and tension without going overboard. The first story arc is about as comic booky as they come (Apocalypse is back from the dead in the body of a child and has recruited his 4 horsemen from throughout history), but it's handled with a sense of humour and driven by strong characters. Deadpool using his healing factor creatively to nurse Angel back to health was a particularly memorable moment. The final decision as to what to do with the child Apocalypse was one of the most unexpected sudden twists I've seen in a comic in a long time.

Issue 5 continued with the same delightful weirdness of the first 4 and I look forward to following Uncanny X-Force for months to come. Being reintroduced to the pain of waiting a month for another few minutes' entertainment kind of sucks though.

As a side note, I'm just now starting to read Astonishing X-Men and it's awwwweeesoooooooommmeee. I kind of ignored it because I'm meh on Joss Whedon, but I have the first 3 trades and they were all great.