#XSpoilers the weirdest thing about FALLEN ANGELS is that it's X-FORCE 2: MORE X-FORCE. This was the title we knew the least about, & we speculated SO MUCH about it. We all seemed to agree that it was going to be about characters who, thanks to a history of cloning/other selves,

#XSpoilers were not comfortable with Krakoan society, broke with Krakoan society in some way.

Nope.

They're a black ops team on a secret mission.

I have no idea why promotion for this series was so vague, so cagey. There is, at least, nothing in issue 1 to demand that.

#XSpoilers note that being Another X-Force isn't actually a mark against it; the universe is big enough to justify two Action Squads, and they both occupy their own niches. X-FORCE now is devoted to international intrigue type stuff; this book is focused on technology

#XSpoilers (or, put another way, X-FORCE is the X-Force team spinning out of HoX, and FALLEN ANGELS is the X-Force team spinning out of PoX. Both of those books can justifiably exist in DoX. There are unique, interesting stories to tell in both)

#XSpoilers And,hell,if I were picking 1 to stay on my pull, Id have a tough time choosing. Both have weird art, but 1 is weird in a "give all the women gigantic racks" way,& the other is weird in a "zoom in on gross mouths for 15 panels during this uncomfortable conversation" way

#XSpoilers Both have weird narrative choices, but 1 is "let's tell an ultra-decompressed story where the cliffhanger is exactly the shit this entire reboot was designed to avoid," the other is "this character is regressing 15 years, pointlessly"

#XSpoilers in both those cases, I personally prefer the latter.

(The problem is, well, FALLEN ANGELS is also a book with three leads. The man is: Violent Teen. The women are: 1. defined by their father and 2. defined by their womb. That's: NOT GREAT.)

#XSpoilers (That problem also can be resolved in later issues. But if this team-- a great writer, working within a great writers room, working with good editorial-- can make that mistake in the first issue, I don't know if we can expect any kind of course correct.)

#XSpoilers (I got away from my original point there, because I think any critical conversation needs to at *least* mention those issues. They shouldn't be ignored.

Again, more here: https://twitter.com/wwacomics/status/1194603095638134784?s=20 )

#XSpoilers when looking at the two thematically, well, FALLEN ANGELS is just doing far more interesting stuff than X-FORCE: https://twitter.com/SaintJune91/status/1194560635440205824?s=20

#XSpoilers and that thread doesn't even get into the interesting stuff being set up with the TETRAGRAMMATON, and the new tech-god Apoth[eosis].

#XSpoilers thematically, X-FORCE is about how... safety is bad? If you like chill for a second, neo-nazis will skin your friend, staple that skin to their own chest, and shoot your prof in the head.

#XSpoilers maybe it's unfair to compare the two, but the premises invite the comparison. And they're the only two of the 6 books that aren't easy, instant recs, that aren't "READ THIS! SOME OF THE BEST ON THE STANDS!!!!"

#XSpoilers the comparison in the end just makes both look worse. But I don't think that makes the comparison any less useful-- it highlights further the problems in both.

#XSpoilers

X-FORCE, at the very least, features a Jean Grey that feels fleshed out, that doesn't cower in the corner of a space ship while she fearfully struggles to be a walky talky. For all the problems with the art, the script treats its female characters well.

#XSpoilers actually, damn it, it does begin with one of those female characters being, again, skinned alive and worn by neo-nazis, so I take that back, it treats *some* of its female characters well.

I'm rambling.

I'm getting coffee.

#XSpoilers If you enjoyed either or both, great! I found a lot to enjoy in both. That doesn't erase their ethical or aesthetic or narrative problems. Sometimes we enjoy things with problems.

And, as I said yesterday, I don't assume malice here. Good people can make harmful art.

#XSpoilers ok one more thing, maybe the WEIRDEST thing of all is that of the two series that are X-FORCE, the one with all the characters that sell books was named X-FORCE, and this one, that could have used the name recognition boost, was named for the lobster comic.

#XSpoilers why did we get FALLEN ANGELS and X-FORCE instead of X-FORCE and XIA