Issue(s): X-Force #2
Cover Date: Sep 91
Title: "The blood hunters"
Credits:
Fabian Nicieza - Script
Rob Liefeld - Plot
Rob Liefeld - Penciler
Rob Liefeld - Inker
Bob Harras - Editor

Review/plot:
This is probably the strangest way possible to start off a review of an X-Force comic, but let me do it anyway. In Alpha Flight #22, the backstory for Pink Pearl was that she had taken over a circus by causing accidents to the regular circus crew, and one by one she would suggest a replacement, and eventually the circus owner found herself surrounded by a group of strangers that all knew each other. That's got nothing to do with the plot of this issue, but it's how i feel about the cast of this book.

This issue introduces a new Weapon X, Garrison Kane...

...who knows Deadpool...

...and G.W. Bridge.

And of course everybody knows Cable.

It's like, suddenly i look around and there are hardly any New Mutants left in the book. Just a bunch of all new characters that all know each other.

Before we get to Weapon X, a few things about Deadpool. First, Kane is a cocky young kid, so he thinks to himself how Deadpool is an older guy. "He's gotta be pushin' 35 by now." It's also definitely the case that Deadpool is meant to be a "mile a minute" talking chatterbox (as opposed to his dialogue just being an artificat of Fabian Nicieza's scripting). Kane has to keep reminding himself to not get distracted by Deadpool's chatter because "That's how he suckers his opponents. Lulls them." So Deadpool is very much stealing his schtick from Spider-man. Deadpool also says that he's always "hated Department H. Hated the Weapon X program". And hated Kane. It's later stated directly by Kane that Deadpool was part of the Weapon X program. Deadpool's comment about the Weapon X name being trademarked, especially after Kane's dialogue bubble displayed the phrase in the logo that was used for the Wolverine story in Marvel Comics Presents #72-84 seems contradictory, then, but it could just be a sort of fourth-wall breaking meta joke.

As for Kane, well, obviously he was part of the Weapon X program too, and is the current Weapon X. His special attack is a Snap-Back Living Hand, which is presented like it's a big deal but seems kind of silly to me.

I assume it's a completely robot hand, so it's probably not as "gross" as Deadpool says, either.

I call it the Snap-Back Living Hand because that's how his it was described on the package for his action figure. And the toy is also why i tag him as "Kane" instead of Weapon X. It turns out that Kane was important enough to have merited a second figure; i never had that one.

Deadpool was in Quebec trying to pick up a weapon of Japanese software that was going to NATO. Kane stops Deadpool from collecting it, but when G.W. Bridge shows up and distracts Kane, Deadpool is able to teleport away. Bridge doesn't seem too concerned about that, since he's more focused on hunting Cable, but Kane isn't interested in helping Bridge.

As for the nominal stars of this series, all they do in this issue is have a training session. We do learn that Boom Boom is giving up her unique time bomb power for some generic wrist blast abilities. The colorist didn't get the memo that the new wrist blasters were supposed to clash with her outfit, though.

We also learn that Feral is psycho.

I love that one of Cable's soldiers gets nearly disemboweled, and Cable's main concern is whether they should all be like that, not if Feral belongs on the team.

It's also worth realizing that this isn't a unique development. Wolverine's psychotic behavior was a focus of Claremont's early issues, with him losing control in training sessions as well. And Marrina disemboweled Puck in a training session in Alpha Flight #2. So it's really kind of a tradition.

Meanwhile, Black Tom is still holding people hostage at the World Trade Center, and he uses technology to bring Juggernaut back to Earth.

This book continues to plow along thanks to the continued introduction of new mysterious characters. In retrospect i guess it was inevitable that this would eventually collapse under its own weight, but for now it just feels like a continued build-up to some big stuff. And of course a Juggernaut appearance promises more excitement.

Quality Rating: C+

Historical Significance Rating: 3 - first Kane

Chronological Placement Considerations: Despite the fact that Cannonball should need time to heal, next issue starts not too long after this one due to the Black Tom/Juggernaut plot.

References:

• Deadpool says that his mouth was wired shut for "two months" after New Mutants #98.
  
• It's not specifically mentioned, but the Juggernaut needed to be brought back to Earth since he was last seen in another dimension in Thor #429.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

Considering your comments about Deadpool's "Weapon X" line, it does feel like the first time he breaks the fourth wall, even if it wasn't that intentional.

But yeah...no one who was really associated with the New Mutants even a few issues ago is left. (maybe Sunspot due to Gideon but since there are a ton of stories going on simultaneously, he's not that often either) It really does feel like a completely different book and it doesn't help that we just keep getting more and more "mysterious characters of mystery" being added one after another.

I see Juggernaut is channeling his inner Foolkiller.

One thing to note- Deadpool quips that he had his jaw sewed shut for two months. Now, the context is him trying to distract Kane, so obviously there's no reason to take it seriously, but that does seem to suggest that at this point Deadpool wasn't intended to have a healing factor.

Haha... Ok confession time. I was 16 when this came out. I was soooo excited. My first X-Force issue! Technically I had #1, but it was in the sealed bag, and I had to protect this precious investment. retirement baby!

So I read it... "Who's this? Who's that? My god what did I miss?!?"

Lost, I splurged, and opened up my priceless #1, just so I could follow along to all the happenings of issue 2...

I'm still lost.

The page with Cannonball recuperating from his injuries was inked by Erik Larsen.

I love that they just colored Tabitha's bathingsuit thong purple alongside all her clearly intended to be bare skin bits. Poor colorists, always having to turn titillation into jumpsuits.

Also poor Sam, why did Liefeld gut him all the time? And Cable is just trying to teach his back then intended younger self to be a better man, I guess, by not killing or kicking out Feral?

So Cable's been lying about his "soldier" past (and everybody else who refers to it has lied as well.) In the military, the leadership really looks at how people might be hurt, even in training, and takes steps to ensure proper medical evacuation is available, before they even start the training. It's kinda believable that Cable wouldn't just shoot her dead on the spot - this is Cable, after all - but not that he would think Feral has any place on his team after willfully trying to kill another of his soldiers. The military itself recognizes that they have a tendency to attract 'bad apples' and developed a Uniform Code of Military Justice to get rid of them as soon as they reveal themselves.

But! But having someone who might kill another member of our group makes us more EXTREEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1!!1!!!

Without starting a debate on the merits of his art, this issue is a perfect example of both why I liked Liefeld and why I hated him. Those early splashes of Kane and Deadpool are magnificent, as his splash of Juggernaut, even if he's like 12 feet tall (in the scenes where he's not in costume in UXM 178 and 217, he's more like 7 feet). But that panel of Kane and Bridge talking is simply terrible, showing his complete lack of perspective.

This might be the only issue where I enjoyed Deadpool. Granted, part of what I enjoyed is that Bridge shot him because he wanted to and because that hand is choking him.