Marvel have an incredible roster of writing talent right now.  Think about it.  Bendis, Brubaker, Aaron, Hickman, Fraction, Parker, Spencer et al.  Rick Remender fits right in there with these great scribes, but somehow he's kind of off to the left somewhere, doing his own thing.  I think that's what makes his work so interesting, because it's kind of out of the spotlight, out of the restraints of big picture storytelling.  It's individual and unique, marching to the beat of it's own drum, and X-Force is very much in that vein.

In part 3 of Deathlok nation the team infiltrate The World with the intention of killing, in the present, the creator of a future destroyed by Deathloks constructed from superheroes.  Got that? Good.  It's classic "mission" storytelling, the X-Force team split into three pairs (including the one "good" Deathlok) to locate and assassinate "Father", the man who shaped the minds of Logan, Deadpool and Fantomex.  There's action aplenty and for those that crave that sort of thing, you'll not feel let down.  At the same time however, Remender develops character constantly.  Archangel and Psylocke talk about what's going on with them, at the same time as fighting killer cyborgs.  The thing is, because Remender is so skilled at conveying emotion with economic speech, it still moves fluidly and never feels clunky.  Eventually it's Deadpool who locates Father and the confrontation is creepy, funny and, more than anything, a brilliant analysis of the Weapon Plus programme.  It's a reminder of the commonalities between three members of this team, at the same time as it looks at what makes them so different.  Somehow this is a fast, vibrant, pulsating action comic that constantly feels rich in character and steeped in the craziness of continuity without ever threatening to lose you.  It's a comic book in every wonderful sense of the word.

I would grant you that the art is still not as gorgeous as those early Jerome Opena issues, and I had hoped the great man would be coming back with the next arc, but it looks like that's not to be.  That said, I do kind of like the sci fi Frazetta style that Ribic gives the story.  It's very much in keeping with the tone set by Opena, probably assisted by the colour work, but with fewer lines.  It's still got that rapid sense of motion and constant action, and The World is fantastically rendered.  It's certainly still a feast for the eyes.

There were big releases this week and last, and it's easy for a title that's busy doing it's own thing to kind of fade into the background, especially once it's no longer "new" as such.  The thing is, much as I love a good blockbuster, sometimes the real magic is happening somewhere else, somewhere off to the side where no one's really watching.  That's usually where you'll find Mr Remender, and I tell you he never disappoints.