Ben Hutton
Feb 22, 2002, 05:40 am
<a href="http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/covers/xforce-123.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/covers/xforce-123t.jpg" align=left alt="X-Force #123"></a>Reviewer: Ben Hutton, bhutton@froggy.com.au
Quick Rating: Great!
Story Title: Tick Tock
Surreality ensues as the heartbreak of adult acne results in some inter-dimensional hijinx for X-Force in this 'Nuff Said silent adventure!
Written by: Peter Milligan
Art by: Michael Allred
Lettered by: Doc Allred & Blambot
Colored by: Laura Allred
Assistant Editor: John Miesegaes
Editor: Axel Alonso
Editor-in-Chief: Joe Quesada
President: Bill Jemas
I really liked this issue. It was probably one of the more successful 'Nuff Said event issues, which seem to work best when the story has been designed specifically for the gimmick, and not when a writer tries to work his pre-existing arcs around it. The basic premise of the X-Force 'Nuff Said is that our wacky X-Forcers are sucked into another dimension, which seems to exist in Doop's head (literally), with each one confronting one of their fears. Sounds ridiculous? Well, it works. I can't tell you how or why, but somehow it works.
We start off with a little insight into each X-Force members' downtime. Vivisector likes to read, no surprises there, Phat plays with remote control toys, Edie and Guy flirt it up on the couch, Spike checks out some pornography (which takes on more significance later) and Tike indulges in what appears to be some voyeurism. I'm not sure what we're meant to think he's doing, but he's looking out the window with binoculars, and the notes that come with all the 'Nuff Said titles don't seem to specify.
From this mundane beginning things take a turn for the strange when Doop notices a zit in the mirror and squeezes it, creating a hole in his head and sucking the X-Force team inside. I kid you not.
The next sequence gets even weirder. Realising what has happened Doop begins to prod the hole in his head, finally turning his body inside out so he can work himself into the hole in his own head!
Once inside we are treated to a vignette of each X-Force member in Doop’s insane internal dimension. Surreal is the only word I can use to describe the art and landscape here, and it’s a real visual treat. Thumbs up to Allred for his work on the title, in general, but particularly this month.
Phat is the first X-Force member Doop and we encounter. His fear is very logical, but it wasn’t something that I expected. Basically Phat is being chased through a neighborhood by weapons wielding African-Americans. Though he puts on a good show, deep down our ‘brother’ knows he isn’t one of them, and never will be. No matter how hard he tries to be black. And if you look more into the imagery being presented here one could infer that Phat doesn’t really want to be black. Deep down he’s scared of African-Americans, and they’re probably more than a little resentful of the white boy who got somewhere by turning their trials and culture into a show.
Once again, this is really a book that takes a deeper look at race relations. It isn’t always on the surface, but it’s there, and it isn’t taking the cop-out route of easy answers.
Doop of course, saves Phat, but it isn’t in the manner that you might expect. After fighting his way through clones of himself, Doop rescues Phat only to... eat him! It’s priceless! But I guess the little green guy must know what he’s doing.
Our next member is Vivisector. He’s browsing a vast library where all the books are blank. Roaming this landscape is a demonic vision of his father, bent on destroying his son. Doop, sprung for a Pop-Up book, saves the day, eating Vivisector.
Now, I’ve thought a bit about this one and this is what I cam up with. Bear with me. The blank books could represent Vivisector’s fear of losing his knowledge and intelligence. Of losing himself in the beast he becomes. This seems pretty logical. Except that he doesn’t seem that scared of the blank books, more puzzled. It’s his father he fears.
So on second inspection I started to wonder if maybe it’s his father, who personifies detached knowledge that he really fears. The blank books are actually a relief to him because it means he doesn’t have to try so hard, and worry so much, to prevent his failure in his father’s eyes. Or maybe it’s the classic “Daddy never loved me, he loved the books more scenario”. I’ll leave it up to you to decide. The 'Nuff Said notes in the back, while interesting, only describe the action and not the motivation behind any of these nightmares.
The Spike gets the least attention of the issue. He’s the cover boy for a book on cross-dressing. So is he a cross-dresser? Interesting stuff, which makes me wonder was it the girl he was looking at in the pornography, or was he simply admiring the kick-ass lingerie. Doop eats the book and hightails it away from some truly disturbing, cross-dressed, Doops.
The most disappointing feature in the issue comes next. It isn’t bad it’s just predictable. Tike’s fear is losing control of his sweat/energy/vaporization powers. What are his powers anyway? I for one would really like them to be defined a little better. But I digress. Fears of your own power stories have really been done to death, and I really don’t see it being in Tike’s character. If there’s anyone that seems to enjoy his abilities it’s Tike. Doop saves him and we move on.
Edie’s scared of having her tongue cut out? Is she scared of not being able to speak? Or maybe it’s that she secretly feels like a freak, fearing she’ll be taken and experimented on. I really can’t decide, and that’s what I liked about this. Edie’s too complex for her fear to be so transparent. Doop saves her and we’re off to Guy.
I’m not sure exactly what Guy’s fear is either. But I think it’s a play on his extreme sensitivity. Really, there’s no way this can’t be Guy’s fear. It’s so intrinsic to what we’ve seen of the character that anything else wouldn’t fit.
This time Doop saves him by tearing his head off, which Guy seems please about, and then races for the hole back to reality. The clock is about to strike another second and from Doop’s urgency it looks like failing to get back before that happens could spell disaster.
Doop pulls himself back outside, X-Force with him, and stops the clock before a second has passed. No one seems to be aware that anything has transpired. It all ends with a sheepish Doop fondling the bump on his head where the zit was and shrugging at Edie.
What a ride it was!
This was an enjoyable issue, with the added benefit that it was completely self-contained. The art was top notch and Milligan really let his imagination run wild. In any other book the premise would have bothered me, but here it’s oddly fitting. Who knew that the X-Force of old would one-day transform into this? Not me, but I’m certainly glad it did.
ART:
http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpg http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpg http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpg http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpg http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpg
STORY:
http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpg http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpg http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpg http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpg http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xnone.jpg
OVERALL:
http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpg http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpg http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpg http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpg http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xhalf.jpg
Buy this issue online now from X-World Comics (http://www.x-worldcomics.com/x/bstore/newbooksmain.html) and save!
Quick Rating: Great!
Story Title: Tick Tock
Surreality ensues as the heartbreak of adult acne results in some inter-dimensional hijinx for X-Force in this 'Nuff Said silent adventure!
Written by: Peter Milligan
Art by: Michael Allred
Lettered by: Doc Allred & Blambot
Colored by: Laura Allred
Assistant Editor: John Miesegaes
Editor: Axel Alonso
Editor-in-Chief: Joe Quesada
President: Bill Jemas
I really liked this issue. It was probably one of the more successful 'Nuff Said event issues, which seem to work best when the story has been designed specifically for the gimmick, and not when a writer tries to work his pre-existing arcs around it. The basic premise of the X-Force 'Nuff Said is that our wacky X-Forcers are sucked into another dimension, which seems to exist in Doop's head (literally), with each one confronting one of their fears. Sounds ridiculous? Well, it works. I can't tell you how or why, but somehow it works.
We start off with a little insight into each X-Force members' downtime. Vivisector likes to read, no surprises there, Phat plays with remote control toys, Edie and Guy flirt it up on the couch, Spike checks out some pornography (which takes on more significance later) and Tike indulges in what appears to be some voyeurism. I'm not sure what we're meant to think he's doing, but he's looking out the window with binoculars, and the notes that come with all the 'Nuff Said titles don't seem to specify.
From this mundane beginning things take a turn for the strange when Doop notices a zit in the mirror and squeezes it, creating a hole in his head and sucking the X-Force team inside. I kid you not.
The next sequence gets even weirder. Realising what has happened Doop begins to prod the hole in his head, finally turning his body inside out so he can work himself into the hole in his own head!
Once inside we are treated to a vignette of each X-Force member in Doop’s insane internal dimension. Surreal is the only word I can use to describe the art and landscape here, and it’s a real visual treat. Thumbs up to Allred for his work on the title, in general, but particularly this month.
Phat is the first X-Force member Doop and we encounter. His fear is very logical, but it wasn’t something that I expected. Basically Phat is being chased through a neighborhood by weapons wielding African-Americans. Though he puts on a good show, deep down our ‘brother’ knows he isn’t one of them, and never will be. No matter how hard he tries to be black. And if you look more into the imagery being presented here one could infer that Phat doesn’t really want to be black. Deep down he’s scared of African-Americans, and they’re probably more than a little resentful of the white boy who got somewhere by turning their trials and culture into a show.
Once again, this is really a book that takes a deeper look at race relations. It isn’t always on the surface, but it’s there, and it isn’t taking the cop-out route of easy answers.
Doop of course, saves Phat, but it isn’t in the manner that you might expect. After fighting his way through clones of himself, Doop rescues Phat only to... eat him! It’s priceless! But I guess the little green guy must know what he’s doing.
Our next member is Vivisector. He’s browsing a vast library where all the books are blank. Roaming this landscape is a demonic vision of his father, bent on destroying his son. Doop, sprung for a Pop-Up book, saves the day, eating Vivisector.
Now, I’ve thought a bit about this one and this is what I cam up with. Bear with me. The blank books could represent Vivisector’s fear of losing his knowledge and intelligence. Of losing himself in the beast he becomes. This seems pretty logical. Except that he doesn’t seem that scared of the blank books, more puzzled. It’s his father he fears.
So on second inspection I started to wonder if maybe it’s his father, who personifies detached knowledge that he really fears. The blank books are actually a relief to him because it means he doesn’t have to try so hard, and worry so much, to prevent his failure in his father’s eyes. Or maybe it’s the classic “Daddy never loved me, he loved the books more scenario”. I’ll leave it up to you to decide. The 'Nuff Said notes in the back, while interesting, only describe the action and not the motivation behind any of these nightmares.
The Spike gets the least attention of the issue. He’s the cover boy for a book on cross-dressing. So is he a cross-dresser? Interesting stuff, which makes me wonder was it the girl he was looking at in the pornography, or was he simply admiring the kick-ass lingerie. Doop eats the book and hightails it away from some truly disturbing, cross-dressed, Doops.
The most disappointing feature in the issue comes next. It isn’t bad it’s just predictable. Tike’s fear is losing control of his sweat/energy/vaporization powers. What are his powers anyway? I for one would really like them to be defined a little better. But I digress. Fears of your own power stories have really been done to death, and I really don’t see it being in Tike’s character. If there’s anyone that seems to enjoy his abilities it’s Tike. Doop saves him and we move on.
Edie’s scared of having her tongue cut out? Is she scared of not being able to speak? Or maybe it’s that she secretly feels like a freak, fearing she’ll be taken and experimented on. I really can’t decide, and that’s what I liked about this. Edie’s too complex for her fear to be so transparent. Doop saves her and we’re off to Guy.
I’m not sure exactly what Guy’s fear is either. But I think it’s a play on his extreme sensitivity. Really, there’s no way this can’t be Guy’s fear. It’s so intrinsic to what we’ve seen of the character that anything else wouldn’t fit.
This time Doop saves him by tearing his head off, which Guy seems please about, and then races for the hole back to reality. The clock is about to strike another second and from Doop’s urgency it looks like failing to get back before that happens could spell disaster.
Doop pulls himself back outside, X-Force with him, and stops the clock before a second has passed. No one seems to be aware that anything has transpired. It all ends with a sheepish Doop fondling the bump on his head where the zit was and shrugging at Edie.
What a ride it was!
This was an enjoyable issue, with the added benefit that it was completely self-contained. The art was top notch and Milligan really let his imagination run wild. In any other book the premise would have bothered me, but here it’s oddly fitting. Who knew that the X-Force of old would one-day transform into this? Not me, but I’m certainly glad it did.
ART:
http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpg http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpg http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpg http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpg http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpg
STORY:
http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpg http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpg http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpg http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpg http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xnone.jpg
OVERALL:
http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpg http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpg http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpg http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpg http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xhalf.jpg
Buy this issue online now from X-World Comics (http://www.x-worldcomics.com/x/bstore/newbooksmain.html) and save!