A couple of issues ago, right after The Great Opena left X-Force, I was ready to drop this book like a hot potato, saving myself $3.99 once or twice a month and pruning my dangerously bloated pull list.
Then iFanboy ran a couple of preview pages from Greg Tocchini’s first issue and I was immediately sucked back in. I really can’t understand the hard time some of the iFanbase are giving thus artist right now. Sure, he may not be on the same level as Opena (let’s face it, who is?), but my God, the last two issues of this book have been gorgeous, and as well as looking great, Remender has, in my humble opinion, really stepped up a notch with the scripts. This is the first arc of the entire run where I’ve felt that the story has been totally absorbing and exciting, living up to the standard we have come to expect from the writer of Fear Agent and Franken-castle. This issue feels epic, with battles taking place on a huge scale, but also has room for character development (I’m thinking particularly of Betsy, but also the alternate Nightcrawler) and smart touches of humour (the newly decapitated but still ever-so-chatty Deadpool- never thought he’d grow on me, but he really is). Great, great stuff, nicely paced and sharply scripted.
Of course, as a Scottish comics fan raised on Moore and Davis’ Captain Britain strips, it goes without saying that I’m thrilled to see the Captain and his Corps play such a big role here, but really I just feel that this book has changed from one I had to try really hard to like into one whose next issue I eagerly await. Hell, on this evidence I’m even going to give Remender’s Secret Avengers a shot. ‘Cause really, there’s no such thing as too much Captain Britain, right?