It’s All In The Set Up

In espionage its all about proper planning and execution, as well with the covert side of the Marvel U, Rick Remender is showing how well he has planned ahead.

Uncanny X-Force by Rick Remender has been a critical and fan darling since it started up last year. The book has taken readers and retailers by surprise, issue #4 has sold for $100, and has numerous readers saying it’s the best X-book on the market. When it started, a few customers at my shop were upset at Wolverine and Deadpool both appearing in another book and the odd choice to include Fantomax, a character a few had never heard of. Expectations were low, however once readers saw the world building and character dynamics Remender was using, everyone wanted a copy.

The set up was key to the book, bubbling plot points and strong moments between characters made this book stand out in the market. Look at the current Dark Angel Saga being told in the book, its a whole epic of payoffs for things set up not only in this series, but in the last X-Force volume, Ages of Apocalypse, Grant Morrison‘s New X-Men and more.

By bringing in all these plot points the book has been a special feel to both old readers and new, interest in Fantomax is at an all time high. The Dark Angel Saga has been a melting pot of minor plot points, surprising character moments, trips to alternative dimensions and cosmic seeds. We meet new characters and different takes on familiar faces all the while getting an amazing story.

The new characters mentioned are the “Final” Horsemen of Apocalypse that, over the course of one page each, get compelling origins that make them different and interesting to the reader. These horsemen are different from the traditional ally-turned-enemy take on the minions of apocalypse and are just some of the peices Remender has added to the X-Men universe over his 18 issues on the book.

Set up and using what you have is the key to any mainstream work for hire story. You can add some pieces and move stuff around to better tell your story, but the set up is where the story finds its meaning, where the readers get invested and it sets the tone.

But Remender is not limited to just the X-Books for the pawns in his game, he has a unique opportunity that other writers do not; He also writes an Avengers title as well as a Spider-Man title. Each focuses on a black ops pre-emptive strike set of characters that play right into the clandestine territory X-Force lives in. Between Venom and Secret Avengers (starting in January) he is able to pick up on his own set up’s in those books. He has talked about his own covert corner of the Marvel U he can play around in. Venom is joining the Secret Avengers as is Captain Britain, who will be in Uncanny X-Force starting with issue 20. The main plot of Secret Avengers had its roots in Uncanny X-Force 5.1, and there are bound to be more connections between books focusing on the covert side of the universe.

All of these books are getting fans and reviewers talking about how fun and well planned the stories are, how they draw from old stories and plots left in the wake of a creator moving on, as well as adding new pieces to the board for the battle to come. That is the magic of the set up, that is where the planning starts to shine through and you start telling stories that resinate with long time readers as well as new readers who are picking it up as they go and getting into the heart of the story being told.

If you’d told me a year ago I would be reading an epic about Angel going mad and cross dimensional voyages to retrieve a Celestial seed and that Fantomax and Deadpool would be on the same team I would have called you mad. The same would be said if you’d have told me Flash Thompson as a James Bond Venom would be one of my favorite books on the market. But by setting up all the pawns Rick Remender has been able to play a masterful game with the shadows of the Marvel universe that leaves me a dedicated reader to anything he writes, because I know no matter how small or off hand a comment is, that it will return at a latter time and reward me for paying attention.