Posted in: Comics, Marvel Comics, Review | Tagged: Domino, frank d'armata, greg pak, lady deathstrike, Marvel Comics, nuke, old man logan, sabretooth, superheroes, Warpath, weapon x, x-men, Yildiray Cinar

Weapon X #14 Review: Big Vapid Action Sequence with Nothing to Offer

The Nuke soldiers have the Weapon X team pinned down, and Acero's group is waiting just outside the compound. Left with very few options, Sabretooth suggests Weapon X take Nuke's pills to gain the strength and ferocity to take out the soldiers. However, there is also the psychological cost. Will Weapon X be able to come back from this?

Weapon X #14 shows the series' weak points writ large across a tediously empty issue of uninteresting action scenes and zero redeeming characterization or plot development. The ending stinger suggests something on the horizon, but it does nothing for the vapidity of the issue itself. There's not even a consequence or payoff to the fact that Nuke's pills have a psychological effect.

This is an instance where a "Parental Advisory" label could have really saved this comic. This has all the making for a solid B-movie bloodbath, but the comic is just filled with so many empty action shots of our heroes leaping above the Nuke horde with little in the way of satisfying slicing, beatdowns, or shootings.

I don't know why this comic couldn't swing a higher maturity label. It seems obvious given the cast and how many knives they have sticking out of their bodies. It's a waste of Yildiray Cinar's talents.

The cover-spoiled romance between Warpath and Domino culminates in a leaping kiss in the middle of the issue-long battle. While I am far from one to condemn comic book romances (in fact Warpath and Domino make a weird amount of sense as a couple), it typifies how completely devoid of tension this conflict is. We have a group of healing heroes given countless cannon-fodder enemies to go through with no redeeming humanity to make this fight even slight moral complexity. Nuke's knife is apparently hard to heal from, but he's just one of the dozens of flag-faced psychos.

Cinar's art is good, make no mistake. The detailing is good, the depth of field is there, and an occasional panel brings that visceral element the majority of the book is missing. Frank D'Armata brings some solid color work that makes some panels visually interesting enough.

Weapon X #14's big empty fight scene keeps the comic from even approaching the realm of engaging, and the finale doesn't explore its ideas enough to redeem the book. Give this one a pass. Check out X-Men: Red instead.

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