Review: Uncanny X-Force #8

This is a great time to be an X fan! Not only are we graced with the amazing talents of Rick Remender, but we are doubly blessed with back-to-back issues of Uncanny X-Force this month — who could ask for anything more!

I have to say, when Craig Kyle and Chris Yost left at the end of the regular X-Force series — they left some mighty large shoes to fill. But as Remender churns out each new issue, it appears to me that the shoes left for him have become too tight — he has simply outgrown them.

The newest installment of the fan-favorite series, focuses on the team trying to track down a psychic anomaly, one that will bring them to the doorstep of one of the most powerful X villains ever — the Shadow King! As her friends succumb to the tantalizing power the Shadow King weaves, Psylocke is left to confront the man she once held prisoner in her mind — alone. It is a battle she is not prepared for, and one of her own must make a decision that will come with some devastating ramifications.

I have not been this excited to pick up an X book since the early Chris Claremont days! Remender has a way of mixing fresh stories with splashes of nostalgia to make for THE BEST X book on the shelves each month. He brings forth elements from long ago stories that not only make sense, but also work to improve upon the depth of character. He takes characters that have always been forced into the background by more charismatic figures, and puts them center stage in all of their flawed glory. Angel and Psylocke, two heroes that have always been plagued by convoluted histories, have become the forerunners of a book that boasts the most over used characters in comics history — and it is amazing! The amount of character development Remender is putting into these two characters is more than anyone ever has, making them finally become the characters they should already have been years ago.

Though the art and story are both tremendous, the thing that really makes me excited about this book, is how much X history Remender folds into his tale. In only nine issues, we have already taken a trip down memory lane with Apocalypse, checked out the Brood and Nimrod in the X cave, had the Reavers slap the taste out of our mouths in #5.1 and now we get to be manipulated by the Shadow King! Not only that, but how cool is it to see Psylocke wear her costume made for her by the Mandarin from Acts Of Vengeance?! I'll tell ya — pretty (insert Samuel L. Jackson's tagline here) cool!

X stories for X fans by X fans, ya can't get any better than that folks!