By Ayo

The cover is by Jerome Openã but the inside drawings are by a lesser-known fellow named Julian Totino Tedesco. He’s got a knack for doing everything in this issue. He executes the climactic scene extremely well and he handles the human moments of the story with ease and finesse. I am not familiar with the name but he is clearly a seasoned professional. The colorist is fantastic but also a mystery. The cover indicates “White” which could only mean “Dean White” but the credits page indicates “Justin Ponsor.” Whoever it is, terrific job.

The story of Number 28 is the exact story of “The Minority Report.” Future world with precognitive anti-crime police carrying out preemptive executions. Punisher has found gainful employment. One wonders why Punisher isn’t a cast-character in this iteration of X-Force to begin with. Anyway:

The middle of this dystopian future story pauses to have a scene in which the characters stop running and start talkin to each other. There are six characters in the protagonist side. Wolverine talks to Deathlok about the situation at hand. E.V.A talks to Psylocke about the death of Fantomex in the issue previous. Age-of-Apocalypse Nightcrawler talks to Deadpool about why Deadpool is on missions after losing his powers. Everybody gets their own “moment.” That is usually all I can ask for.

When I was a kid, reading the original X-Force, all I could have wanted is for the characters who I like to have a “moment” in each issue. Just one where they acknowledge that they know one another and that they all risk their lives together.

There is also a moment in this current comic where we see the human victims of this precognitive, “preventative termination” in progress. Just a moment to capture both sides, and just enough for us all (readers and characters alike) to get the idea.

Also observe—

Deathlok: MURDER for any reason is still MURDER!

Wolverine: Sometimes murder’s the price we pay to protect innocents.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

By Ayo

Oppenheimer mowing down invaders. Giving zero fucks of any sort.
“Infinite Oppenheimers”
The Manhattan Projects, No. 1
Drawn by Nick Pitarra, written by Jonathan Hickman.
This comic book is batshit bananas. In high school, this is the type of comic book I would have bought the first issue of, respected its gangsta but not returned for another issue. Hickman combines cerebral plotting with visceral violence in a way that appeals to many intellectual comic readers, but I’m more of an emotional reader. This comic is good but it has no heart.

That said, I’m going to likely read more issues soon because I’m not solely an emotional reader, I have grown to like the cerebral stuff. But this story needs to grow an empathetic character at some point or I won’t enjoy it in the long run.