A-FORCE... To Be Reckoned With... Appreciation/Celebration!!

[RLAAMJR.]

Crystal was next to Meggan during the shark fight.

Yeah. Sorry. I know now.

[comicfan298]

Pencil preview of A-Focre from this week's Axel-In-Charge.







I wonder what a Sentinel is doing in Arcadia?

[RLAAMJR.]

Pencil preview of A-Focre from this week's Axel-In-Charge.







I wonder what a Sentinel is doing in Arcadia?

Yehey! I see Storm. :-)

[Songbird/Diamondback]

I wonder who are in the photos?

[harashkupo]

Pencil preview of A-Focre from this week's Axel-In-Charge.







I wonder what a Sentinel is doing in Arcadia?

Looking at those images makes me wish Molina was coloring his own work like he did in X-force.

[Starfish]

I wonder who are in the photos?

At least some of them look like other Runaways to me. Maybe they're Nico's friends from school in this reality. Which makes me wonder, is she exempt from school because of her membership in A-Force, or does she still have to graduate in her spare time? Because Nico taking Singularity along to class seems like a fun scenario.

[Heroine Addict]

So, turns out the last time I was at my LCS wasn't as long ago as I thought... only about 3 years, since 2012 I guess - they reminded me, lol. I had like 2009 in my head for some reason, XMO: Jean Grey & Polaris returning from space maybe, but I digress. I took off early from work to make the already lengthy, almost hour-long drive, knowing it would be made longer due to the warmer weather, which always equates to construction, detours, & bottlenecking traffic up here in the NE. My objective was the sooner the better, to have max copies to choose from for quality purposes, 3 of which (for now, lol) I found, selected, & bought. I was also able to nab their last Dauterman variant for $15 (I think), as well as the last 2 copies on the shelf of Magneto: LDs #18 (after already reading & being pleased w/the digi version), both of which were luckily in good shape. I'm currently looking online to get the Molina & Young alts, for Jean & Wanda respectively, and possibly the Hans, Adams, & Blank ones too. Oh, and that sweet Midtown Pichelli Exclusive probably, for sure. Likely a half-dozen or so more Cheung regs also, to pass around to fam & friends if I want, and 1 or 2 professionally graded high-end/near perfect & sealed.

Whew, lol, NOW... onto A-Force #1, and my first impressions/observations/things that stood out to me:

• Lady Loki's sardonic wit & surprising sense of humor, I found it endearing, and it helped ease my innate aversion to her character concept... some.
• Medusa's touching moment on the opening page, done to make her sympathetic & perhaps provide her with motive for an upcoming power move (if the person whose forehead she's kissing is ill, and not just asleep)... ?
• OMG, their headquarters is called... The Hall Of Justice - LOL! This nod to nostalgia done with a wink, brought a smile to my face, as it it invokes the:
  
  
  
  
  
• CRYSTAL!... And Meggan, using their powers together for... fishing? Cute & clever, I liked it a lot, and LOVED seeing them... and just knowing they're around (for potential, more involved use in the future... I hope!).
• IDK, their first battle as a unit against the Megalodon - a GIANT, extinct shark - may seem kinda weird & silly, but I personally didn't have a prob with it, and liked it/thought it worked (served the purpose) well enough.
• Although it appears America Chavez may not be part of the proceedings moving forward, I felt she had a great & memorable showing, but still regret seeing her go.
• Liked the competent & righteous She-Hulk we got, just the way she should be... she's a natural leader, and is gonna be a good one for our A-Force.
• The Thor Corp. & Strange are all portrayed as jerkwads... wary of, w/both the Odinson & Stephen (and their accompanying mythologies) being favorites... now makes me even more curious about what's up w/the Invisible Woman tho.
• Miss A's banishment to The Shield was a fittingly somber affair, with some nice subtext alluding to the interpersonal relationships of the team members, and the friction that's developing. I don't trust Lady L, and now think she may be the traitor, not Medusa. The Queen of the Inhumans will still be problematic though, I figure, a thorn in Jen's side & challenging her at every turn. But that's OK, 'cause...
• ... JEAN GREY/PhoeniX is there! Even tho she only had one line of dialogue (but a possibly important one, I suspect, which I'll get to later on)... FINALLY seeing her again - like THIS, in this context - was AWESOME, and probably THE highlight for me! I really liked that she seems to be in some position of influence & authority (... on par with Medusa?), among what appears to be a sort of council A-Force operates with, informally or otherwise. Speaking up like she did, and compassionately advising on a difficult situation with her uniquely intuitive observations, is the Jean Grey I know & LOVE - it truly warmed my heart & made it swell just a lil' bit.
• I'm with Jen, something's not right, something's going on... and mystery abounds! I'm glad she's got Jean by her side (or not - trust NO ONE, lol) during these troubled times, as well as Carol, Jess, & Ororo. The 4 of them, along w/Medusa & maybe Lady L, seem to be She-Hulk's most immediate support. And it's a good thing, as they'll be much needed during the dark & foreboding events ahead, I'm guessin'.
• Monica Rambeau/Spectrum! And... the SUB-MARINERS! Yay & triple-YAY!!! The S-Ms were probably the second best thing for me, and something I considered (HOPED!) might happen shortly after previews w/the Megalodon were released, 'cause ya know... water, the oceans... it just seemed logical, lol. Can't wait to find out what Namora saw that scared her so - I'm worried!
• Nico Minoru garnered newfound interest from me, as soon as A-Force was announced, and I'm happy to report #1 only served to reinforce my natural inclinations towards her character. I'm definitely looking forward to the future development of A~F's Sister Grimm, no doubt.
• Singularity's arrival was brief, but momentous, and a made for a compelling cliffhanger - here's to #2 building on the solid foundation that's been layed!
• Oh, and while Dazzler may have not really done or said much yet (sadly, came away feelin' like she was the least realized/defined of the main cast/core 4)... she sure LOOKED GOOD doin' it!

Of course, all this is rendered rather moot & pointless, 'cause while reading A-Force #1... all I REALLY thought about was:

SEX! SEX! SEX!
And...
... PORN! PORN! PORN!

When NAMOR showed up, that is - LOL!

[Danileriver23]

So first off, I think A-Force was an amazing book. The characters, the plot, the art, everything came together in a nice fun package, and I plan on collecting the whole thing from Secret Wars, and depending on where it goes, I'll get it post secret wars too.

However, there is a problem that I have with this story (and I guess that kind of makes me a hypocrite for buying and supporting, but screw it, it's a good book so far.) With All of the other warzones, I kind of understand what that area is: The Greenland (Planet Hulk) is about a gamma irradiated wasteland, Egyptia(?) is the apocalypse zone, Kun L'un is an area where it's all kung fu all the time. Its kind of gimmicky, yeah, but it defines what each area is in regards to these being "alternate universes". My problem with A-Force is that (so far) its just a an area that has an all female Avengers. That's it. It's not even the fact that it's an all female zone, on the second page you can see what looks like Luke Cage pushing a stroller. THAT seems to me that Marvel is just kind of pandering to a female audience. I mean, you could easily say that they just formed a team that happened to be all female and I suppose that's possible, but I don't understand what makes A-Force special aside from it being only female characters.

We know now that A-Force is going to be in post secret wars. I'm going to assume it's going to stay all female, and if that's true, doesn't that make them kind of...sexist? I mean if they decline male superheroes just for being guys, they're sexist. If they do let men join, then they're just an avengers team. This, to me, is the underlying problem. Like I said, it's a great book, and I love that Marvel and DC are recognizing female readers and trying to push not only female characters, but female creators as well, because we need that diversity desperately, but is creating a sexually exclusive team really the way to promote diversity? At the end of the day, to me, I don't see what makes A-Force different from an Avengers team aside from them being all women, and X-men just did that and it wasn't a huge deal. In fact , in my opinion, it was pretty awful.

[Captain Wessex]

there are male heroes in Arcadia, the interviews have stated the women are, for whatever reason, the more prominent heroes. As you say, after SW ends, A-Force will likely wind up as the Lady Avengers comic in the same way Adjectiveless X-Men has been. I dunnoo why you think that as awful. I enjoyed it.

[MCBT]

I had the idea for an all female Avengers team funny enough. I never thought it'd come true though.

[RLAAMJR.]

So first off, I think A-Force was an amazing book. The characters, the plot, the art, everything came together in a nice fun package, and I plan on collecting the whole thing from Secret Wars, and depending on where it goes, I'll get it post secret wars too.

However, there is a problem that I have with this story (and I guess that kind of makes me a hypocrite for buying and supporting, but screw it, it's a good book so far.) With All of the other warzones, I kind of understand what that area is: The Greenland (Planet Hulk) is about a gamma irradiated wasteland, Egyptia(?) is the apocalypse zone, Kun L'un is an area where it's all kung fu all the time. Its kind of gimmicky, yeah, but it defines what each area is in regards to these being "alternate universes". My problem with A-Force is that (so far) its just a an area that has an all female Avengers. That's it. It's not even the fact that it's an all female zone, on the second page you can see what looks like Luke Cage pushing a stroller. THAT seems to me that Marvel is just kind of pandering to a female audience. I mean, you could easily say that they just formed a team that happened to be all female and I suppose that's possible, but I don't understand what makes A-Force special aside from it being only female characters.

We know now that A-Force is going to be in post secret wars. I'm going to assume it's going to stay all female, and if that's true, doesn't that make them kind of...sexist? I mean if they decline male superheroes just for being guys, they're sexist. If they do let men join, then they're just an avengers team. This, to me, is the underlying problem. Like I said, it's a great book, and I love that Marvel and DC are recognizing female readers and trying to push not only female characters, but female creators as well, because we need that diversity desperately, but is creating a sexually exclusive team really the way to promote diversity? At the end of the day, to me, I don't see what makes A-Force different from an Avengers team aside from them being all women, and X-men just did that and it wasn't a huge deal. In fact , in my opinion, it was pretty awful.

About your sexist point, it's just fine. Comics has mostly been dominated by men so much that we don't really need an all-male team. An all-female book ongoing series will be awesome. We've got Fearless Defenders led by Valkyrie before, then all-female X-men led by Storm and this time, A-Force led by She-Hulk.

But... I still really want to see another all-female teambook with a cast of Marvel's most popular/most valued/long lasting superheroines and see what happens. Maybe after A-Force? Cos I wanna see a team of Storm, Rogue, Captain Marvel, She-Hulk, Invisible Woman and Scarlet Witch. I know there are other popular heroines like Jean (but she's dead), Black Widow (but I think she's better to be on another team), etc, other superheroines can have cameos, or show up from time to time.

Then after that, another all female team book featuring the less used superheroines. I really want an all-female teambook ongoing one at a time.

[Sutekh]

But... I still really want to see another all-female teambook with a cast of Marvel's most popular/most valued/long lasting superheroines and see what happens. Maybe after A-Force? Cos I wanna see a team of Storm, Rogue, Captain Marvel, She-Hulk, Invisible Woman and Scarlet Witch. I know there are other popular heroines like Jean (but she's dead), Black Widow (but I think she's better to be on another team), etc, other superheroines can have cameos, or show up from time to time.

Then after that, another all female team book featuring the less used superheroines. I really want an all-female teambook ongoing one at a time.

A team consisting of a few characters from different franchises, such as an X-lady, an Avenger, someone from the FF, etc. could be a neat way to bring together the universe a little bit. (In the same sort of way that the floating poker game between Beast (X-Man), the Thing (FF), Wonder Man (Avenger) and Nick Fury (SHIELD) used to, back when superheroes didn't spend ten months out of the year fighting other superheroes...)

I'd want to pick some people from teams who don't get mentioned as much these days, like Valkyrie from the Defenders, Elsa Bloodstone from Nextwave, Darkstar from the Champions, Songbird from the Thunderbolts and / or Snowbird from Alpha Flight. The New Warriors (Namorita, Silhouette), Agents of Atlas (Namora, Venus), Exiles (Blink, Nocturne), Avengers Academy (Finesse!), etc. are also options lying around on the cutting room floor, Then toss in one of the less showcased women who've been an Avenger (Jocasta?), Inhuman (Crystal!), X-Woman (Monet, Dazzler), FF (Lyja the Lazerfist!), etc. Try to skip over women who are more likely to have their own titles, or appear in other books regularly, like Captain Carol or Emma Frost or Invisible Woman.

There are a few female characters who have hopped across a number of teams, like the Black Widow (Avengers, Champions), She-Hulk (Avengers, Fantastic Four), Mantis / Moondragon (Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy), Hellcat (Avengers, Defenders), Firestar (New Warriors, Avengers, X-Men), etc.

[Danileriver23]

About your sexist point, it's just fine. Comics has mostly been dominated by men so much that we don't really need an all-male team. An all-female book ongoing series will be awesome. We've got Fearless Defenders led by Valkyrie before, then all-female X-men led by Storm and this time, A-Force led by She-Hulk.

But... I still really want to see another all-female teambook with a cast of Marvel's most popular/most valued/long lasting superheroines and see what happens. Maybe after A-Force? Cos I wanna see a team of Storm, Rogue, Captain Marvel, She-Hulk, Invisible Woman and Scarlet Witch. I know there are other popular heroines like Jean (but she's dead), Black Widow (but I think she's better to be on another team), etc, other superheroines can have cameos, or show up from time to time.

Then after that, another all female team book featuring the less used superheroines. I really want an all-female teambook ongoing one at a time.

The reason I said A-Force was sexist is because the only thing that makes them A-Force is being all female. If I were to say I wan spiderman on the team, theres two options:

1) we add him, and then, its not a-force, it's an avengers team
2) you don't let him join cause he's a male, and now you have a team excluding members because of their sex

That is my problem with A-Force. I understand the appeal of an all female team, and I suppose you could just say that A-Force just happened to only recruit female heroes, but that seems kind of lazy. And I understand that a lot of women really appreciate a team book starring all females, and while I respect their opinion to have their thoughts on this book, but it just seems like a shallow way to appeal to a female demographic. I would MUCH rather marvel push more existing and new female characters, and put female characters in more prominent LEADING roles. I mean, with this cast, aside from She hulk, most of these characters have already been avengers (or on some kind of team), so theres nothing really different about them.

These seems to be reminiscent what the movies are doing with making white characters black. Now, I'm not gonna say Heimdal is any better because he's black, or that Electro was any worse because he was black. What I'm sayin, as an African American, is that I find it kind of offensive that these studios think that they can appeal to me just by taking something I recognize and the insert a black character there. It doesn't mean that the person will be bad in the role, or that the character or movie won't be good, it's just an insulting attempt to pull in a demographic, but I don't really blame studios for that, I blame people who fall for it.

But I still think A-Force is a good book, even if I think the idea behind it is misguided.

[Songbird/Diamondback]

http://www.scpr.org/programs/the-fra...male-avengers/

G. Wilow Interview.

Also, New Avengers has all men, don't see you complaining.

[Dopliss]

http://www.scpr.org/programs/the-fra...male-avengers/

G. Wilow Interview.

Also, New Avengers has all men, don't see you complaining.

I think his point is that A-Force, while a good book, is only set apart (in terms of premise) to others because of the all-female cast, i mean, and that New Avengers and any other all-male book would not be sold as "The sausage fest Avengers".