If I'm not mistaken, this is my first comic book review on this site. I've really enjoyed Peteparker's video blogs (but don't count on me doing video), and GrnMarvl14's as well. So I figured I'd give them a try. But before I tell you of the comic, I'll tell you a little of something else. Now, I don't buy too many new comic books. Two-maybe three-a month for me is well enough. And my closest comic shop is still roughly a 30-minute drive. However, I am taking two summer classes (and even those don't slow me down), and the junior college is close (closer than from my house) to the shop. Therefore, I can go weekly, which will presumably cause me to buy more.

Anyways, I did something I hardly do: purchase a limited-series. First off, I despise one-shots (unless they are a chapter to another big story). I don't feel like they are long enough to tell an entire story, therefore I render them entirely pointless. Limited series are pretty close, in my opinion. Obviuosly, a series such as the current Alpha Flight I hardly consider "limited" as it is 8 issues (9 counting the 0.1). But Fear Itself: Uncanny X-Force, I would consider a limited series (and, uh, it obviously is).

However, I love X-Force. Granted, I passed on the Deathlok issues, I am right back with the current AoA storyline. Since this limited series won't really be tied in with the current X-Force storyline, I at first didn't see the point of it. Not to mention I am a little annoyed with all other books of Fear Itself. Deadpool and Wolverine have their other books and this, and still other Fear Itselfs issues dedicated to them, and Wolverine is probably still with the X-Men and Avengers at the same time. All this makes it extremely confusing to decipher when he is doing which task. But alas, that is just Wolverine... And Juggernaut is supposedly fighting the Thunderbolts, the Uncanny X-Men, as well as everyone in the Youth in Revolt series. Too much!

Finally, to the actual book. Rob Williams wrote this, and to be honest, I'm not familiar with his other work. Simone Bianchi did the art, and it is amazing. Bianchi is the kind of artist that makes you want to buy a book- just because of the art. And then there is another Simone (Peruzzi) doing the color. So all art is a definite 5 out of 5.

Now, the story. It starts off with Deadpool being crazy. I like Deadpool as much as anyone else, but I do prefer the insane side of him, like this book explicity states he is. Then, Wolverine and Archangel (somehow normal) discuss how a supposed purifier blew up an airplane. At first, they are baffled (and so was I) as to why. I mean, there were no mutants there. Psylocke and Fantomex later kidnap a member of the Purifiers, and the rest of the team interrogates him. Long story short, he spills the beans.

Then, the story is told from the pov of the "leader" of these Purifiers. He sees Fear Itself, and blames the hell on Earth as all super-beings' fault. So he wants to kill all super powered ones. Also, he sees the world as hell, and tells all humans to "kill all your loved ones and yourself", which is a little weird, but whatever. X-Force then fights the Purifers, who look to have powers themselves which defeats the purpose of everything he stands for, or so I thought. My guess is it is just armor and weapons, similar to how Donald Pierce extremely hated mutants, and used bionic limbs instead and such. I guess.

So the Purifier leader assassinates some unknown superhero on the internet live, and is clearly insane. In the meantime, X-Force tried to save the hero, but were sent to the wrong location. The Purifiers they just killed weren't even related to the leader's main group. So now I await two more issues of were they kill this guy, or he kills himself first.

All in all, I enjoyed this book rather much. You didn't need to know a single thing about Fear Itself to buy it, because it isn't really related at all to the major event. Which was great for me, as I'm not really following Fear Itself. There were a few annoying parts, like Archangel being perfectly fine here, Wolverine and Deadpool even being here, etc. But I guess this wasn't really the writer's fault. Still, it annoyed me. The story was good, but I was annoyed at how a pointless unknown superhero died. It didn't have much of an affect on me, because I had no idea who the hell they were. And they looked to much like Havok.

Of course there were good parts. Artwork is superb. Deadpool being crazy and funny was good. Psylocke and Fantomex always seem to be fighting together, which works for me. So... the book was good-great-but still could have been better, if only slightly. That being said, I just have to give it a 4 (strong 4) out of 5. But maybe I'm being too harsh. It's a great book, and I would recommend it. So there you have it. Hopefully I get a chance to do more of these in the future.. Until then...

Weekly Video ReviewEdit

This review is of Fear Itself: Uncanny X-Force #1, and I gave it a 4/5.