A-Force #8 Review and *SPOILERS* - Marvel Monday

WHY DID YOU SAY THAT NAME!?

Written By: Kelly Thompson
Art By: Paulo Siqueira, Rachelle Rosenberg
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: August 10, 2016
Publisher: Marvel

*Non Spoilers and Score At The Bottom*

A-Force is a book that I’ve heard a lot of people talk about but yet none of them seem to really know what it’s about other than the fact that it is an all-female team. I’ve heard praise and hate for this book but still haven’t heard any specifics so when I saw this book pop up on my pull list for being a part of Civil War II, I can honestly say I was intrigued. I honestly had little expectations of what I was going to get with this book but I was of course familiar with the Civil War II crossover. That said, I had no idea what I would think of this book when I was finished with it. It was the true definition of a blank slate. So, would I be singing this book’s praises? Would I be cursing its writers? Or would I simply put the book down and move on unaffected? Well, let’s dive into issue #8 and find out.

The issue begins with a familiar scene as we see the fight at Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S. with Thanos that occurred in Civil War II #0. We see She-Hulk injured and then stricken down by Thanos before we cut to the hospital in which Jen lies unconscious. The A-Force team has gathered to see how she is doing and to hope for her recovery. Nico decides to step out for a second as she slightly blames herself for being unable to save her friend when she was needed. While she is outside, someone comes up to her to compliment her mechanical hand. She initially begins to lash out at this person until she realizes that it is Misty Knight. The two talk for a moment about She-Hulk before ultimately going their separate ways.

When Nico returns to Jen’s room, she finds her fellow teammates arguing. Captain Marvel is planning on continuing to use Ulysses’ powers in order to stop crimes before they can be committed but clearly Dazzler isn’t too happy about that. Turns out that Ulysses’ had a vision about Nico killing a woman named Alice. Nico freaks out and when Captain Marvel attempts to arrest her, she unleashes her power and pushes her back before teleporting away to her safe house. Unfortunately for her, the town in which her safe house resides is under attack from giant insects which immediately begin their attack on her.

Luckily for Nico, Elsa Bloodstone is in town and stops her from attacking the insects. Turns out that the insects are actually people that have been transformed. Meanwhile, back with the rest of A-Force, Dazzler and Singularity abandon the Carol and Medusa. They secretly plan on going to the coordinates of Nico’s safe house which Dazzler was able to overhear due to her powers. Similarly, Carol and Medusa choose to look for Nico as well by searching for the girl named Alice. Back in Colorado, Nico and Elsa fight of the bugs as they escort the survivors into safe spaces. While in the house of one of the survivors Nico talks with the owners of the home who reveal that their daughter Alice has been missing and they fear the worst. Nico is shocked to hear the name Alice as it was the girl she was predicted to have killed and it is at this moment that Carol and Medusa show up once again to convince Nico to let them bring her in. This is where the issue leaves us.

So how was the issue? Was it amazing? No. Was it terrible? No. It was just kind of in the middle somewhere. Perhaps regular readers of the issue will enjoy it more as they are more familiar with the characters but as for me, a reader who jumped on for Civil War II, this is kind of “meh”. It was a story of no consequence for me. The book attempted to do things that other books in this crossover have done. There’s nothing wrong with that except for the fact that this book did it worse and in an unmemorable way. After reading this book, I felt very little reason to look back on anything or think about what could happen in the future. This book was just boring. If I was being optimistic, I’d say that they could set something up, but as for now, this book is just kind of there.

Bits and Pieces

Aside from some nice art, this book has little to offer. It’s not a terrible read but it’s also nothing to get excited about or bring in new readers. Crossovers are a great chance for a book to pick up new readers who liked what they read during the crossover. Unfortunately, this book has stumbled out the gate to entice me. Ultimately, this book receives one of the worst descriptions that I can give a book: Unmemorable.

4.0/10