Counter X - X-Force Part 1

"Games Without Frontiers" (X-Force#102-105) - Warren Ellis, Ian Edginton/Whilce Portacio

Counter X was a last ditch effort to salvage three flagging X-spinoffs in 2000 - X-Force, Generation X, and X-Man. Warren Ellis was pegged as sort of a plotmaster who redefined the concepts behind the three series, leaving the scripting to other individuals (who eventually took over as full writers). This launched in March of 2000, the same month of Chris Claremont's ill-fated return to X-Men and Uncanny X-Men, an event branded "Revolution." All in all, it was a pretty dire time for the mutant books. Outside of Fabian Nicieza's strong work on Gambit, a stellar arc on Wolverine by Steve Skroce, and a well-received run on Cable by Robert Weinberg, Revolution was basically panned. A blight on the X-franchise that required a further creative reshuffle in May 2001.

A few years back, Marvel released the first eight issues of each Counter X title in a series of trades (each book went on to have one further story before concluding). I thought it was an odd decision given their legacy. They’re not seen as Warren Ellis' strongest work. They really struggled to come into their own and do anything interesting with their redefined concepts. The art was of wildly varying quality. Still, I took it as an opportunity to finally read these stories. Prior to this, my collection of these issues was pretty spotty.

So I'm starting off with the first story in the Counter X: X-Force trade. Ellis plots, with a script by Ian Edginton and art by Whilce Portacio. It's worth noting that the second arc of each Counter X title was devoted to filling in the gap as to how the characters changed - the first arc threw us into a new status quo, hinting at what had changed. I had been a fan of X-Force prior to this and thought John Francis Moore did a great job on the book. This new status quo was a complete re-imagining of his approach - it wasn't bright and fun, it didn't have warm, considered characterization, and it was almost deliberately alienating. So how does X-Force's first story hold up?

Well, it wasn't awful, which is what I was expecting. Its heart is actually in the right place, in terms of the new concept. Part of the problem is that you can see where Ellis' concept stops and Edginton's weak attempt to do anything with it starts. Choppy characterization and plotting, weak art, and a fairly bland story are the other problems. Still, some of the ideas here aren't bad.

The story involves a streamlined X-Force roster (Cannonball, Jesse Bedlam, Meltdown, and Proudstar), now led by Warren Ellis creation Pete Wisdom, acting as a covert mutant squad who police scientific groups that have perpetrated crimes against humanity. In this story, Wisdom leads them to dismantle a bioreactor buried beneath San Fransisco that activates the mutant gene in latent mutants, causing their powers to emerge violently as they mutate physically. The reactor is leftover from a decommissioned project called Cuckoo from the 1950s. Meanwhile, as the team do this, Wisdom himself is pursued by a mysterious man, who may be the mutated remnants of Cuckoo's creator, Dr. Niles Roman.

It's a fairly standard story, from the sci-fi tropes at its core to its execution. I do like the high concept Ellis brings to the book. It's not that innovative or unique, but this book needed a concept. Since Age of Apocalypse, the book has been fairly directionless. An often great portrayal of a group of young mutants? Yes, but one without a core concept in sight. I like the idea of paring down the roster and giving them a purpose. The idea that Wisdom has made them test their powers in new ways is also good. The problem is that the cast don't connect to this premise - Pete Wisdom knows everything about the case and the team just listen to his stories and follow his orders. They don't seem particularly motivated to right the wrongs of underground scientific activity. Ellis builds on a tradition that includes Black Air from his run on Excalibur and the Captain Britain Warpies story. That stuff all gets lips service here. The problem is that those stories play into the lengthy Marvel UK traditional and history, and Sam, Jesse, Tabitha, and James have nothing to do with that.

The other problem is that the story presented here is pretty basic stuff. To the creative team's credit, they pull off some wordless scenes, where powers erupt out of people in San Fransisco, which are pretty good. But the story doesn't go anywhere. The final issue is a big fight scene in San Fran that is kind of dreadful in spots - full of the team using their powers in new ways and congratulating each other, as the background visuals get sparser. And there's a weird plot problem here - Wisdom says mutants can't deactivate the bioreactor because going near it will cause their powers to go out of control. Then X-Force go off to deactivate it. Ok. The story also has an utterly bizarre ending. The mysterious man pursuing Wisdom finds him, kills him off panel, and then the team abruptly discover his body in the final panel. It's choppy, arbitrary, and not pulled off effectively. There's no effect from it - it happens and there's no chance to react. So this book, which has no unique qualities outside of the Pete Wisdom character, just lost that character?

At the same time, I think Pete Wisdom is kind of the problem here. Ellis has been allowed to bring in the prototype Ellis character – the chain-smoking, wise-cracking, cynical trouble-maker with a hardened worldview. Hell, Ellis created Wisdom when he was writing Excalibur! That’s all good, but Wisdom completely overshadows the rest of the cast. He has some amusing lines, but it’s almost as if the writing team go out of their way to marginalize the rest of the team. In the first issue, the most they do is exhibit new uses of their powers. Proudstar doesn’t even speak. This continues in the rest of the story, with nary a shred of personality shown by the four X-Force members. Besides a single scene where Sam and Tabitha argue about Sam handing leadership over to Wisdom, the four characters are complete ciphers here.

It feels deliberate. We’re being alienated from the characters we’re comfortable with and thrown into a world where Pete Wisdom has all the answers, gives all the speeches, and sets all the priorities. The old cast do no more then marvel over their powers and gripe at each other. It makes the book feel unwelcoming and unpleasant, and not in an effective way. It’s not like the villain or black ops squad concept is so strongly conveyed that this doesn’t matter. It makes for a hollow product.

Whilce Portacio is a polarizing artist, but I tend to like his work when he is really on. The true energy of his work back in the day is no longer there, but there are some strong set pieces and character expressions. Unfortunately, the rest is pretty weak, with choppy storytelling and dropped backgrounds. I don’t know if he’s the artist for this type of story. His depiction of the battle scenes and underground stuff is so bland that he doesn’t sell it as a strong new direction for the book.

And, at least in this opening story, this Counter X revamp kind of flunks. The concept has legs, but Edginton doesn’t take it anywhere. His attempts to mimic Ellis poking fun at superhero comics (Wisdom constantly calling the team “My X-Men!”) fall flat, and he brings no life to the cast or their mission. Each issue opens with a splash of the team horsing around like kids. Fine, but why didn’t we see any of that in the issues? All we got were four ciphers who stood around waiting to hear Wisdom’s stories and instructions. With Wisdom dead, where exactly can things go from here?