X-Force is a bonafide horror comic in its latest story arc with a sentient Cerebro roaming Krakoa looking to kill. Or at least that’s what it appeared to be up to, but in X-Force #28 out today, we learn a little more about its goals while Wolverine attempts to save lives. Problem is, how do you stop a force that gains powers from those it eats?
It’s a race against the clock in X-Force #28, opening with Cerebro saying to itself “hell” while tentacles spill from its helmet. The red glow of his helmet is ominous to be sure, but when he crafts a kind of simulation of Forge after eating him things get even more creepy. The opening salvo of the issue puts every mutant in his crosshairs, including Kid Omega.
Robert Gill draws a great issue when it comes to environments. The Healing Gardens for instance are angelic and wonderous. Colors by GURU-eFX add to the green hues that play off the stark purple splashes of color in smash cuts of mutants being strangled and eaten by Cerebro. Gill makes you believe this is a horror story from the word go and it’s not a ghost, but a slasher narrative.
This issue isn’t opposed to having a little fun, like Kid Omega having a bit of a dream in Juggernaut form. Kid Omega may steal the issue – he’s most peculiar and has a few skeletons in his closet to reveal too. A data page email related to Kid Omega’s antics is also well done and shows the curiously bizarre in Krakoa.
Run for your LIFE!
Credit: Marvel
If you’ve been reading Ben Percy’s run on this series, this issue continues to pay off. Previous relationships, villains, and even callbacks to jokes are present. Wolverine ends up feeling like the main protagonist even though this is a team book. That’s because there are cutaways to developments with characters, but also there’s no chance the team can get together. As a slasher-style action comic, the violence can get unnerving. Pair that with the fact that Cerebro is a bloodthirsty monster with little character and it ends up being hard to care so much about the monster.
X-Force #28 is a good slasher narrative with some plot progression here or there with supporting plot threads. At this point it’s not quite the X-Force team, nor is Cerebro all that scary, but it gets the job done for its purposes.
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