Here is my week long tribute to a fun period in X-history. In 2001, Peter Milligan and Mike Allred revamped the failing X-Force into a post-modern, satirically-themed title. Though critically acclaimed, the new team failed to garner the attention of enough fans to make it last longer than 40-some issues.
I however did enjoy a lot of what this book had to offer. It was rife with spot-on social commentary and superb character development and interaction. And even though the intention was to be more sardonic about the X-Team franchise, I couldn’t help but feel the same about these guys as I did about about the more traditional mutie characters.
The premise was that this superhero team, moreso than the desire to do good, was in it for the fame and money. They had a reality show filmed by the mysterious Doop, a floating green blob who was at times depicted as universally omniscient. The team members would go on to promote X-Force merch and even themselves as individual celebrities, sometimes vying for separate television, film, and music recording deals. This was at a time in Marvel history where mutants are a race and a culture. As Morrison introduced over in New X-Men, there were mutant schools, neighborhoods and nightclubs (and over in Uncanny, mutant brothels, courtesy of Chuck Austen.) It was only natural that a mutant reality TV series would spring up.
Originally calling themselves X-Force, the group changes its name to X-Statix, in a very thinly veiled reference to Rob Liefeld partially owning the name X-Force and thusly needing to be paid whenever it’s mentioned.
A selling point of the book was it’s high character mortality rate, but if you really study the run, there is a core group of 7 who are alive for much of the series. First up, I give you ORPHAN!
At first glance, Guy Smith seems like the only character in the series without a huge ego, since he seems to have all these heavy morals. But he is also suicidal and written with such melodramatic inner pathos, you start to realize he’s just as self-obsessed as the other guys. What’s great about him is that his power, to be super sensetive to everything in the world around him, further emphasizes that deliciously emo personality.
And more something even more delicious… and thick… and turgid… and PURPLE… check him out in the fanboy section of the members gallery!
