A-Force #1

When all that’s left is Battleworld, a small island simply called Acadia requires its best defenders. Those defenders are the A-Force. That they all happen to be women, purely coincidental. ;) 

Writers: Marguerite Bennett, G Willow Wilson

Pencils: Jorge Molina 

Inkers: Jorge Molina, Craig Yeung

Colours: Laura Martin, Matt Milla

Letters: Cory Petit 

Cover: Jim Cheung, Laura Martin

Publisher: Marvel

There’s been a lot of hype surrounding this title, amidst the Secret Wars event, an all-female team with Bennett and Wilson helming everyone’s favourite Marvel ladies, it’s certainly worth a lot of hype. Now the question comes of just how deserving A-Force sets out to be. 

Well, it’s pretty safe to say that A-Force is in fact incredibly deserving. For a first issue, it covers the premise well enough without bogging it down with backstory or long convoluted character history. Even for those not following Secret Wars, it’s simple enough to follow along, grasping at the relevant details of the event to set the space and context of the story. A story that is surprisingly (or not so surprisingly given the writers) fun. The force that threatens Acadia is a ferocious megalodon, and on cue a Sharknado joke is made at its expense, see— all in good fun. Naturally to tell a good story though there need to be some emotional elements, which are also delivered. One of the members of the A-Force is forced to leave and no one is pleased by it, what’s interesting are the characters who seem to be the most affected by it. Because there’s only so much that can be told in a single issue, some intrigue is left behind, for some it’s a reason to pick up the next issue, for others it could be a confusing point that some may choose not to pursue. 

Because of the large cast of characters in A-Force, that’s probably it’s biggest obstacle, covering all of its characters properly. For many, a majority of these characters are long time favourites that have been out of the spotlight for a while, though there are some who are currently still big Marvel players. Other than that it’s a solid team of amazing heroes and it’s awesome to see them working together.

What makes A-Force so strong is the fact that it’s an all-female roster. A reminder to everyone that there are some amazing characters out there in the Marvel universe and they’re capable of doing great things if you let them, instead of rehashing the same team all the time. Popular characters like Captain Marvel bring in the readers, but then the readers can experience someone like Nico Minoru and that’s what makes it all worth it. As for the art, it’s all tastefully done, the best part is they all seem to be rocking an iconic costume which is a great callback for current fans. 

Overall A-Force is a fun title so far which makes for a great first issue to warm readers up to the characters and premise, but it also leaves behind enough to show that a deeper story is being built here as well. Great cast, great art, great story.