Someone get Dean White a medal.  It’s not often that a review begins with kudos for a colorist, but I think, in this case, it’s more than deserved.  Readers of the Marvel Universe proper have probably read something drawn by Billy Tan at some point.  I fall in the camp of “he’s not great, but he’s not that bad either” when it comes to his art.  After stellar art duties by Ribic and Opena, I was worried about this art shift because his style is usually very clean and shiny when it gets colored.  But Dean White does a sensational job of keeping the coloring consistent and “dirtying” up his art.  Gone are the clean lines and lanky figures.  Instead, we’re treated with texture and life in each pose with figures that look different from each other.  There’s a grit and darkness to the images in this book, and it’s absolutely great.  I think this is some of Tan’s best looking work to date, and Marvel should consider coloring and inking him like this.  Now, I do have to throw some credit Tan’s way.  He provided the images (and may have adopted a different style for the story which adds to the coloring), and his storytelling in this issue is fantastic.  It’s tight but dynamic and each panel just feels packed and meaty.  It’s really very excellent.

I guess I should touch on Remender’s writing, which continues to be lean and mean.  He’s mentioned in interviews that he was focused on cutting away the fat from his stories in Uncanny X-Force, and frankly, he’s a stronger writer for it.  Instead of drowning this story in two or three issues, we’re given this excellent one and done story that continues to move the over arching story while also providing a fun single adventure for the team.  Each character is given their moment to shine, and there’s some great dialogue in this adventure.  I can’t say enough just how much he’s rocking the story in this series, and I can’t wait for the next one.