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The X-treme Holo-Foil Edition: Force Works #1
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- Published on Wednesday, 02 March 2011 12:15
- Written by Jordan
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Force Works #1
Creative Staff:
Writers- Dan Abnette and Andy Lanning
Penciler- Tom Tenney
Inker- Ray Garcia
Colorist- Joe Rosas
Letterer- Jack Morelli
Force Works #1 is something else. Let us start with some facts about what this comic is, first. It is a first issue of a new team book. It is also a follow up to the West Coast Avengers. It is a book that stars most of the aforementioned West Coast Avengers. It is from the early 1990’s. It is written by Dan Abnette and Andy Lanning (DnA for those who don’t follow the Modern Marvel Space Epics). Now, let us continue with what this book is not. It is not an X-men book. It is not a DC book. It is most definitely not an Avengers book (it goes out of its way to establish this.) Finally, it is not a good comic book, far from it actually.
Force Works #1 starts off with a stealth Kree ship observing two targets (The Vision and Wonder Man) from orbit. They are after the duo after a Recorder claims they are the ones responsible for the destruction the Kree home world, Hala. While the Kree lurks in the shadows above the Earth, the former West Coast Avengers are left picking up the remains after their branch being terminated and Mockingbird seemingly killed. Iron Man invites them to form a completely new team independent of the Avengers complete with a new base, The Works. Reluctant at first, the heroes agree to join the new team after being shown the new amenities.Once they all agree to unite under a new banner, the team decides to go back to the remains of the Avengers West Coast Compound and get what is left of their personal effects. There they run into Vision and Black Widow and begin to argue about the nature of how the west coast division was disbanded. In the middle of arguing, the Kree finally make their move on The Vision and Wonder Man by attacking the Avengers on the ground and from the air by bombarding the team by with a unique ionic beam. The ionic beam was specifically designed to disrupt The Vision and cause Wonder Man to explode destroying the Earth in the process. Wonder Man learns of this plot to use his body against the Earth and takes to orbit to disable the ionic beam. The battle between the Kree and Wonder Man to stop the beam results in the craft to hurdle dangerously towards the Earth. In a final act of heroic sacrifice, Wonder Man takes the ionic cannon to a safe distance from the planet for it to explode safely as the heroes on Earth watch helplessly as their friend is scattered across the atmosphere in a release of ionic particles.
The death of Wonder Man is one of the weaker parts of this already weak comic. It felt forced as if the editors tacked it on. The entire first half of the comic goes about establishing the team and their new set up but by the second half the comic switches to a choppy action mess with unexplained plotlines (the Kree?) and unnecessary deaths. Comic book deaths are a complicated thing to handle properly. On one hand, they often come off as forced and cheap. On the other hand, they can be touching and eloquent. The death of Wonder Man is the former. The comic was solicited with a death of a character and it had to deliver. It would have been better if the death were the focus of the comic and not the B-plot.
However, Wonder Man’s death was not the weakest part of Force Works #1. That belongs to the art. The art has to be the some of the worst used in comics and this is including Image, Valiant, and the various independent publishers. The faces are not human and detailed in the wrong way. The proportions do not match up. The lighting was done poorly throughout the comic. One example of this poor lighting has to be in one panel Iron Man’s faceplate is crosshatched in a way that throws off the depth of the panel. The faceplate looks to be set inside the helmet and not on the front of the helmet. This work is amateur at best. The fact this was a major comic at the time is off putting. How they let a comic with such shoddy art be released is amazing.
This is one of the worst comics I have read since I started doing this project a few years ago. The writing is scattered and suffering from poor editorial decisions. The art is amateur at best and considering this series followed up an Avengers title this is just plain embarrassing. I will not recommend this comic to anyone even with the DnA credits. This is a joke.
X-treme Holo-Foil X-tra!
This comic features a unique cover gimmick. The cover has a pop-up insert that displays a three dimensional fight. While it does not affect the quality of the comic, it is still a cool gimmick. You can read more about it over on the website from the pop-up's creators: VanDamn Unfolds.