X-Statix Presents: Dead Girl #5 of 5

Peter Milligan // Nick Dragotta & Mike Allred
July 2006
****

A charming conclusion to the X-Statix title, lacking teeth but giving the protags closure (except Doop!). It also reveals a love for Ditko, slipping several of his characters in. Allred pencils the hell out of them, esp. Dr. Strange in a fabulous duel of magic with his late mentor.

last issue: X-Statix Presents: Dead Girl #4 of 5

also indexed for Jul. ’06
Annihilation: Nova #2 of 4
Annihilation: Ronan #2 of 4
Annihilation: Silver Surfer #2 of 4
Annihilation: Super-Skrull #2 of 4
Civil War #1 of 7
Daredevil #85
Nextwave, Agents of HATE #5

X-Statix Presents: Dead Girl #4 of 5

Peter Milligan // Nick Dragotta & Mike Allred
June 2006
***

Dr. Strange & Dead Girl carry a nice flirtation on as they lead a team of dead superheroes into hell. It contrasts well with the too-wimpy Mr. Sensitive getting on U-Go Girl’s nerves. Moments like these show Milligan’s fondness for his characters as he gives them a real ending instead of satire.

last issue: X-Statix Presents: Dead Girl #3 of 5
next issue: X-Statix Presents: Dead Girl #5 of 5

also indexed for Jun. ’06
Annihilation: Nova #1 of 4
Annihilation: Ronan #1 of 4
Annihilation: Silver Surfer #1 of 4
Annihilation: Super-Skrull #1 of 4
Astonishing X-Men #14
Daredevil #84
Nextwave, Agents of HATE #4

X-Statix Presents: Dead Girl #3 of 5

Peter Milligan // Nick Dragotta & Mike Allred
May 2006
****

Hard to say why Dead Girl’s in the title—it’s more like “The X-Statix reunion tour featuring Dr. Strange”. Romance buds in the nether realms, as 1940s heroine Miss America gets over her racial prejudices with Tike Alicar. Also cleverly, some of Marvel’s late women are happiest in a man-free heaven!

last issue: X-Statix Presents: Dead Girl #2 of 5
next issue: X-Statix Presents: Dead Girl #4 of 5

also indexed for May ’06
Annihilation: Prologue #1 of 1
Daredevil #83
Iron Man #6
Nextwave, Agents of HATE #3
The Pulse #14
Young Avengers #11

X-Statix #10

Peter Milligan // Philip Bond
June 2003
*****

Death doesn’t stop Edie Sawyer from getting an origin issue—she’s haunting this mag just like Jean Grey did Claremont’s mid-era X-Men. It’s a sour Hollywood tale even once she invents herself to become an X-star. Bond, w/ a thick-lined cartoon style, continues the run’s roll of superb bullpen artists.

continued in Wolverine/Doop #1 of 2
last issue: X-Statix #9
next issue: X-Statix #11

also indexed for Jun .’03
Alias #21
Daredevil #46
Fantastic Four #68
New X-Men #139
New X-Men #140

X-Force #128

Peter Milligan // Mike Allred
July 2002
*****

As foreshadowed, one of the heroes gets killed in action, tho’ the creative team expertly wring tension & drama from feints & red herrings. Even better, Allred lays out several lovely pages—not just Edie’s death scene or funeral either. In a nice contrast to #116, this death is genuinely moving.

last issue: X-Force #127
next issue: X-Force #129

also indexed for Jul. ’02
Alias #9
Avengers #54
Daredevil #33
New X-Men #126

X-Force #127

Peter Milligan // Mike Allred
June 2002
****

Cleverly, this mission into orbit stems from Mr. Sensitive’s decision to save a kid from corporate organ harvesters, which gives X-F‘s first year a sturdy arc. W/ the main triumvirate (& Doop!) shot into deep space, the b-team must foil a rogue CIA operative—not noticing their most rebellious member has been replaced!

last issue: X-Force #126
next issue: X-Force #128

also indexed for June ’02
Alias #8
Avengers #53
Daredevil #32
New X-Men #125

X-Force #126

Peter Milligan // Mike Allred
May 2002
****

A formulaic plot—rocket to a space station, save the crew from monsters—gets jazzed up by X-F‘s creative team. There’s Dead Girl, the new teammate whose power, it seems, is to resurrect (rather gruesomely). Plus Phat & Vivisector come out of the closet! And those monsters have a nicely Kirby look.

last issue: X-Force #125
next issue: X-Force #127

also indexed for May ’02
Alias #7
Avengers #52
Daredevil #31
New X-Men #124

X-Force #125

Peter Milligan // Mike Allred
April 2002
****

This cover nods to 1950s horror comics while paying homage to the early Silver Age. Even better, it actually stages a moment in the ish! It also raises the stakes—who will die on a CIA-planned Big Pharma-sponsored mission into orbit in a mag where even the main chars are expendable?

last issue: X-Force #124
next issue: X-Force #126

also indexed for Apr. ’02
Alias #6
Avengers #51
Daredevil #30
New X-Men #123

X-Force #124

Peter Milligan // Darwyn Cooke
March 2002
*****

A one-off covers the backstory to Edie Sawyer (AKA U-Go Girl, a great moniker). She’d abandoned a kid back home, & her power to teleport stands in for her escapist denial. It’s bold & played for comedic pathos, not melodrama. Cooke’s jazzy ’50s retro is a perfect sub for the mag, hot to Allred’s cool.

last issue: X-Force #123
next issue: X-Force #125

also indexed for Mar. ’02
Alias #5
Avengers #50
Daredevil #29
New X-Men #122

X-Force #123

Peter Milligan // Mike Allred
February 2002
****

Feb ’02’s “Nuff Said” gimmick: dialogue-free comics. Milligan echoes Morrison in New X-Men by penning a surreal adventure within someone’s head. But instead of character reveals, X-F goes gonzo: a popped pimple opens a vortex into Doop’s noggin, so the tator folds itself inside out to rescue the team!

last issue: X-Force #122
next issue: X-Force #124

also indexed for Feb. ’02
Alias #4
Avengers #49
Daredevil #28
New X-Men #121

X-Force #122

Peter Milligan // Mike Allred
January 2002
*****

Slapstick satire! An aspiring X-Forcer causes havoc on the set of Larry King, netting her own talk show. Meanwhile Tyke Alicar admits he doesn’t want another African-American to join—not because the rookie is ‘more street’ but because pop culture (EG comics) won’t allow two black men on one team!

last issue: X-Force #121
next issue: X-Force #123

also indexed for Jan. ’02
Alias #3
Avengers #48
Daredevil #27
New X-Men #120

X-Force #121

Peter Milligan // Mike Allred
December 2001
*****

Arcs about drafting new teammates can be dire, but Milligan revises the trope by pinching lurid voyeurism from reality TV (newly popular in the UK & US). A pair of wannabes apply for membership, a flibbertigibbet and a street tough, while the team’s second-tier goof-offs look to raise their profiles.

last issue: X-Force #120
next issue: X-Force #122

also indexed for Dec. ’01
Alias #2
Avengers #47
Daredevil #26
New X-Men #119

X-Force #120

Peter Milligan // Mike Allred
November 2001
****

No surprise the manager (modeled on J. Kirby!?) was manipulating the new X-Force, or that he’d arranged their deaths. But the execution’s superb, w/ guest-star Wolverine playing the cavalry as a favor for Doop, that weird, spud-like cameraman who speaks in alien font & has sinister plans for the team!

last issue: X-Force #119
next issue: X-Force #121

also indexed for Nov. ’01
Alias #1
Avengers #46
Avengers: The Ultron Imperative #1 of 1
New X-Men #118

X-Force #119

Peter Milligan // Mike Allred
October 2001
****

After the team racks up another dead member, it turns on its manager for trying to harvest a mutant kid’s organs. The twist leaves U-Go Girl (a Holly Golightly type, incl. Ozark upbringing) in an ethical quandary. Surprisingly X-Force turns out to be moral about superheroics, even sentimental!

last issue: X-Force #118
next issue: X-Force #120

also indexed for Oct. ’01
Avengers #45
New X-Men #117

X-Force #118

Peter Milligan // Mike Allred
July 2001
****

Another member bites the dust mid-mission (rescue an Elian Gonzalez-type from a banana republic’s mad scientists). Much of X-F‘s appeal is the with-it tone, so rare in Marvel comics (esp. ’90s X-mags). But it also returns to the craft of Claremont, w/ soapy conflicts deriving from personalities.

last issue: X-Force #117
next issue: X-Force #119

also indexed for Jul. ’01
Avengers #42
Daredevil #18
New X-Men #114

X-Force #117

Peter Milligan // Mike Allred
June 2001
*****

Having killed off the whole team, Milligan gives a new set of mutants the reality-star treatment. The focus is on Mr. Sensitive, so hyper-delicate he’s got super-senses & an emo attitude! In a twist on an old Marvel formula, the former New Mutants challenge the team over the trademark for “X-Force”!

last issue: X-Force #116
next issue: X-Force #118

also indexed for Jun. ’01
Avengers #41
Daredevil #17

X-Force #116

Peter Milligan // Mike Allred
May 2001
*****

Another excellent premiere issue in Marvel ’00s radical re-envisioning. Since the ’90s, Marvel’s mutants have been ubiquitous & cool; here they’re treated like athletes & celebrities. Allred provides a great ironic-pop style. And the subversive twist: the team gets offed, & viscera everywhere!

last issue: X-Force #115
next issue: X-Force #117

also indexed for May ’01
Avengers #40
Daredevil #16