One of the great things about Agent X, at least for me, is that it's really early in the alphabet.  And that means that whenever an issue comes out, we get a happy, shiny start to the X-Axis.  Because this is a good comic.  And that makes me happy.  Simple, isn't it?

For the second issue, we have a long established technique for holding up sales.  Yes, it's a guest appearance by a more popular character, namely the Punisher.  As usual with Gail Simone, the issue has a self-contained single issue story, with plenty of subplots simmering away in the background.  The Punisher is kept very firmly to the single issue plot.  And it's a good use of the character for these purposes - he has a prominent enough role to satisfy anyone who bought the issue for his appearance, without actually taking over the book.

Having said that, the Punisher does seem to be in an unusually forgiving mood towards self-proclaimed mercenaries this week.  I'm not entirely convinced that he's got a motivation here to depart from his normal, and highly successful, policy of shooting everyone in sight at the earliest possible opportunity.  Of course, that would end the series with issue #2, but it's still a touch out of character.  Nonetheless, I'm prepared to let these things slide when I enjoy the rest of the story this much.

While the Punisher is the sales focus for this issue, the real point of the story is to build up Outlaw's character and establish her as a love interest for Alex.  Outlaw has been floating around the fringes of this series and Deadpool since Simone took over, without ever getting all that much prominence.  This time round she gets around half the book to work with, all of which fleshes her character out nicely.  It turns her from a moderately amusing cowboy-gimmicked mercenary into an interesting, three dimensional character.

As usual, it's a consistently funny comic as well, without the comedy distracting from the plot.  Simone has a great turn of phrase which allows her to carry off characters delivering lines that ought by all logic to be utterly ludicrous (such as Agent X telling people who are trying to hire him that they're "destroying my vision of a cashless society").  Somehow it manages to come off as a character whose mind is regularly jumping a track, rather than gratuitous weirdness.

Udon's art is still a touch on the bland side for my taste, but they do tell the story well, and they're hitting a tone which fits with the comedy/drama mix of the story.

You really should be buying this book.

Rating: A

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