It's about the time to close the Fall TV season, and that means a lot of surprising deaths have been going on in most of my favorite shows. X-Force has been centering on this cliche, the predicted death of a character, for the last couple issues, and this issue we finally learn the answer, in a scene that was surprising despite the blatant foreshadowing and sad but at the same time enjoyable to read. The unpredictability that has made this book so much fun for me continues, and though I'm sad to see one of my favorite characters go, I'm happy to see that the fearlessness of approach it takes to kill off a major character remains in the book.
Usually, when you get a story about death in comics, it's an overwrought exercise in futility, as the characters are unaware of their own upcoming fate and the readers know full well that the character will return to life when the event ends. This issue features the characters examining the prospect of death, facing up to it and showing their character as a result, and the end result of the death is not one that leaves me thinking the dead character will be returning. Instead, the death (as all good fiction deaths should) moves the other characters into an interesting place, and serves up some pretty nifty drama as well.
There are plenty of reversals and storytelling tricks used this issue to keep the suspense up. The flashbacks in the midst of the story almost felt choppy at first, but as I read on, I realized that I was enjoying the heightening of suspense that resulted. In addition, it allowed Milligan to sort of change the rules of the story as he went along, going back Usual Suspects fashion and revealing that one scene played out differently because of one character's hidden abilities.
The artwork remains a selling point of this comic for me as always. I believe that the paper on X-Force was upgraded with this issue to a shinier and sturdier stock, and it makes the iconic designs and bright colors of Mike and Laura Allred really pop off the page. I'm constantly amazed at how well this retro classic style of artwork works with such an obviously post-Silver Age style book, but the contrast is very effective, and the violence and odd powers would not work as well with any other artist.
There's a self-awareness at work in X-Force that is charming and effective, as the creators are mocking the genre even as they're pushing it into new and interesting territory. Some of the dialogue is purposefully goofy and melodramatic, but it helps to take the edge of some of the tense moments of real character conflict, and there's a genuine sweetness to the death scene that shows of Milligan's ability to write sincere dialogue when it serves his purposes as well.
