For basically the entirety of its run, I’ve been an X-Force defender. From Xavier’s assassination, to Beast’s crazy descent into fascism, and the general vibes of an imperfect Krakoa, I’ve not just been on board, but eager to see where it goes and how it gets there. It’s gotten harder and harder to defend the book since X Lives/Deaths of Wolverine, but still I bravely stood, Percy’s greatest, most dependable soldier.
To which I have to say: please let the Krakoa era end, so I can relinquish this incredible honor.
Now, this isn’t me failing to stand by what I said before. I still think X-Force is a fine book, and it’s got interesting bits in it. I like that the mutant CIA is a force of corruption, generally. The core storylines are also mostly good. Typically, each volume has at least one morsel in either of the main storylines to feel satisfying. It’s been a slow burn, but it does feel like Percy has paced it out to be worth following, even if it’s a little too decompressed.
Up til now. This volume is the slightest yet, which is probably a given, with it covering only four issues.
Most frustrating is that there’s actually some meat here! Sage takes her place as the rightful leader of the team! Laura joins as the new obligatory Wolverine on X-Force! Quentin comes back. Piotr joins the team! There’s a lot here to like. Unfortunately, we end up focusing on yet another future ran by Beast, fascist edition, which is only the second time it’s happened this year.
Probably a pretty standard baseline, really.
Marvel Comics
With Sins of Sinister still on the palate, the future where mutants subjugate humans felt extra dry, and stuck out as an odd choice. Why run with this kind of storyline so soon after an exhausting crossover all about it? I can’t be sure, but it does point to the weird nature of the current X-line, which, even while coming together for Fall of X, still feels as siloed off as it’s ever been.
X-Force is particularly impacted by that by being the last of the launch titles still running. It feels like it’s overstayed its welcome because it’s still savoring that HoX/PoX flavor, but the rest of the line has moved on from it. X-Force is still pondering whether mutants can run a country or not when S.W.O.R.D. is asking about planets, and Inferno already said “no, they can’t.”
I don’t even think X-Force is wrong to ask those questions, or to still be asking them, but it increasingly feels like a book that’s being left behind by the rest of the line. Which is a shame, because the things it’s tackling—while maybe a bit ungracefully—are the stuff I wanted to see covered more by the Krakoa era. Unfortunately, people can only care about the X-Men when they’re paragons of good in the flattest sense possible.
Marvel Comics
While this volume of X-Force has me thinking back to the early days of the Krakoa era, I have to bring up, yet again, the fabulous work that Joshua Cassara put into this book. It really was fantastic in a way that I don’t think any of the other artists on the launch titles were matching. Cassara looked at what Silva and Larraz did in HoX/PoX and found an angle on it that was horrific and gorgeous. No one’s done it like him since.
And doesn’t that suck? Cassara got to define what this book looked like, and while he had some fill-ins, this was clearly something he connected with, and built alongside Percy. I don’t know why he isn’t working on the book anymore, but it’s just not the same without him. It’s a very clear example of how Marvel Comics isn’t built for artists, or to put out the best art possible.
This really isn’t meant as a slight to either Robert Gill or Paul Davidson, who both did work in this collection. And I’m happy this does seem to be regular work for them. and fine work is being done. But the reality is that I’m not sure this version of X-Force should exist without Cassara working on interiors. His work defines the book for me, it’s just not the same without him, and everyone else that’s worked on it has just served as a reminder of how much this book needs him to really cook.
And that’s really my bottom line on this. X-Force is a book that I’m happy exists. It’s a needed book amidst the Krakoan age, and, of the launch titles, I’m happy it’s the one that’s stuck around. But it’s time for it to stop sticking.
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