A-Force 10 review

It’s always sad when such a fun series ends, and this is no exception. I didn’t even realize this series was ending until I reached Kelly Thompson’s thank you letter at the end (definitely worth a read by the way). But if this all-star female team book needs to end, then it might as well end with a bit of everything that made it work in the first place.

A-Force 10 begins where the last issue left off, with A-Force and guest star Elsa Bloodstone surrounded by bug monsters. Well, that’s one way to set apart your Civil War II tie-in. Seriously though, this story would work just as well without the Civil War II name, yet the tie-in material doesn’t harm the story one bit. Nico is the real star in this issue, especially since most of the team is now turning into these bugs. It forces her into a dilemma that was at least partially predicted by Ulysses, but nobody understood the real context behind the events.

Despite the dark nature of the story, there’s a lot of great humour thrown in. The narration boxes always find a clever way to describe characters’ powers and attitudes. Probably the best line comes from an exchange between Singularity, Medusa and Dazzler in the first few pages. Although we know the end result of the last page (the team visits a comatose She-Hulk, who woke up in Civil War II 4), the emotional impact doubles as an effective way to end the series.

The art by Paulo Siqueira and Joe Bennett is great. The first half of the comic is more detailed than the second, but the styles mix well enough that unless you pay attention, you might not notice. In any case, the bugs look appropriately creepy, and there’s just enough clothing and human parts to remind you that all the bugs used to be human. Although the facial expressions are a bit repetitive, they do a great job at conveying each character’s fear and determination. The backgrounds are well detailed with debris, house decorations and support beams (in the mine). The colouring by Rachelle Rosenberg is also great.  There’s the perfect mix of dark environments and Dazzler’s light beams during the bug scenes, while the day after is bright and colourful.

This has been a fun series from start to finish, and although it’s ending for now, the letter expresses hope that it will return at some point. I hope it does. This is an easy recommendation to anyone remotely interested in an all-star female team book, whether you pick it up in single issues or trade. Like I said, this story arc is easy to understand even if you’re completely ignoring Civil War II.

9/10

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