X-FORCE #119
"What's One Life?"
Recommended (8/10)
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Marvel Comics
Writer: Peter Milligan
Artist: Michael Allred
Colors: Laura Allred
Letters: Michael Allred & Blambot
Editor: Axel Alonso
Price: $2.25 US/$3.50 CAN |
These days, it's not hard to see where Milligan is getting the inspiration for X-Force. One need only look to Hollywood, where people like Robert Downey Jr. and Ben Affleck are collapsing under the weight of their own celebrity. Stardom and wealth are elements of power, and that power has corrupted. The sad thing is that it's human nature. We all think we'd do better in the same situations, but we've never faced the prospect of living a life practically devoid of rules and responsibility.
That's what X-Force is about.
The team manages to rescue a young boy named Paco from a life as a scientific guinea pig in a land without freedom, but their victory comes at a high price. The Orphan faces a tough decision when it comes to Paco's future, and U-Go-Girl's chemical dependency becomes too serious to ignore. All the while, an unusual element finds its way into the team: loyalty.
Though some have expressed disappointment with the contrast, I love how Allred's simple style is used to tell a thoroughly adult story. The members of X-Force are living in a nasty American subculture and corporate structure, yet Allred's oddball art conveys it perfectly. His cartoony approach is quite emotive, and it really brings out the human side of this cast of self-absorbed heroes.
Milligan's script -- and his new take on mutant super-heroes -- is deliciously cynical, yet he still makes room for more hopeful ideas. The Orphan's protective attitude toward Paco, Saint Anna's reconnection with her family and her homeland... they make for a nice balance with the darker elements of the story. Milligan is dangling the enticement of redemption, and it adds a stronger degree of drama.
Milligan and Allred's satirical look at the world of celebrity is hardly one of the most subtle concepts to come along in comics, but the message is an important one. Super-hero comics usually look at the better qualities of the human spirit, but this one delves into the darker ones.
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