In a perfect world, X-Force wouldn’t be necessary. But mutants keep dying so this world is far from perfect. In X-Force #5 by Ben Percy, Josh Cassara, Dean White, and Rachelle Rosenberg, Kid Omega and Wolverine are in pieces after rushing to stop a break in at one of Professor Xavier’s facilities. Now with two members on the brink of death, we find ourselves asking three important questions. 1. Will Domino make it in time to stop these invaders? 2. What exactly are the capabilities of half a Logan? 3. Why is Forge so cool?
Ari Bard: Alright Kenneth, X-Force #5 is the second half of the X-Force debut mission and we left off in a pretty dire situation, especially when speaking about second halves. Nevertheless, the team is fully formed. You can tell because they’re reliably using intercoms now and also because Sage says so. What do you think Kenneth? How’s our team looking?
Kenneth Laster: Well at the start they aren’t looking great whatsoever, but this issue really has a certain mountain dew fueled action that makes this a proud “X-Force” title. So much of this one felt like playing with action figures and I’m not mad about it. Let’s get into it!
X-Force Assemble!… Oh Wait
AB: Alright so it wouldn’t be the end of an X-Force issue unless someone died, and that’s exactly what we’re looking at when we pick things back up in issue #5. I thought Percy did a great job establishing the tone of composed urgency. The X-Force needs to retaliate quickly but they aren’t stupid enough to have any more mutants rushing to their deaths, luck or no luck. I love that all the regulars get involved somehow, even if it’s just to retrieve Gateway.
The element that stood out to me in this initial section was just how much Percy seems to love Black Tom Cassidy. I’ve never had that much attention to the character, but you can’t help but notice how much Percy loves writing him and Cassara loves drawing him. The way his head grows out of the water and yells at Gateway was a delightfully ridiculous scene. I just wish the first data page was drawn out, as it’s really just a description of his abilities and life on Krakoa written in prose. I think everybody sees the purpose of the data pages differently. For me, comics are a medium where you can visualize a narrative in an infinite number of ways, and so for prose to be the style or mode of choice, it would have to be a scene so different or abstract that it’s impossible for an artist to do it justice on the page, so readers have to imagine it in their own heads. For some, however, data pages are a nice and convenient way to control the pacing and break up the story, and this Black Tom Cassidy data page certainly accomplishes that. How cool would it have been to more of what Black Tom Cassidy can do? It seems like they want to build up to it a little more though, but I’d like to hear your thoughts Kenneth. Is there a such thing as too much Black Tom Cassidy, especially in this time of peril?
KL: Never too much Black Tom Cassidy! I agree with you in that I do wish that the data pages were actually visualized in the story. I’m still not sure how I feel about them being essentially just prose pages that flesh out the narrative since that just seems so far away from how they are being used in other DoX books, but honestly without the context of the rest of DoX I wouldn’t be apprehensive about them.
Domino also got some good airtime during this lead up section as well. I’m not incredibly familiar with her and it took her a little while to actually show up in the book but this issue in general makes it seem as though she was worth the wait to see her in action. Also it is kinda wild how Gateway is making a comeback in DoX, having appeared in X-Force and Marauders in recent months. Good for Gateway! [Ed. note: We have no choice but to stan.]
AB: I definitely agree with you on Domino. She really takes on a great leadership role as she’s recovering, and it’s great to see the situation through her perspective. I would really like to see her leading the “brawn” side of the team, because I think she commands the most respect and can remain level-headed on a relatively consistent basis. Unfortunately, as we saw in this issue, this is not one of those times. Onto the main event!
Sweet, Sweet Revenge
KL: Since this is X-Force we have some #BigAction and boy is it kinda wild. It’s hard to get into it without just describing what happens but big highlights are Torso Logan [Ed. note: TorsOgan], Forge’s weird organic mech suit, and the Forge smashing Logan’s two halves together so to heal him. Which is so so dumb and perfect. That panel specifically is what I meant when I said this fight was just like playing with action figures and Cassara, Dean White, and Rachel Rosenberg are such interesting fits for this type of action. A lot of this fight looks truly gross but in the best way possible and that really ties into the main theme of brutality with this fight and Hank trying to reel X-Force in and the fight getting more and more out of control. Thoughts on the big fight, Ari?
AB: I whole-heartedly agree with you Kenneth. This retaliation of sorts was a blast. TorsOgan stabbing a mercenary from behind with that stupid grin on his face actually made me laugh out loud. Percy is so good at writing believably stupid hired mercenaries that underestimate Logan, and Cassara is equally good at drawing their dumbfounded expressions.
My favorite part though was Gateway getting involved in the fight! He’s usually not much of a fighter from what I’ve read, so it was a lot of fun to seem him kick some ass this go round. That helicopter pilot had no idea what was coming. Part of what really makes this fight stand out is Dean White’s earthy tones. All of the browns and greens are a departure from the fiery and explosive warm colors we might expect in a battle like this one.
Make ‘em Talk
AB: Once we’ve glued our action figures back together and come down from the sugar high, it’s time for the serious questions, and I gotta say, this part confused me a little. I love Beast, I really do, but he is not the best interrogator. Did Jean have to get warmed up or something? Now doesn’t seem like the time to debate the idea of mental torture, and all the hair-pulling in the world isn’t going to be as effective. Maybe he knew what questions to ask or something, but it just seemed like your classic mediocre cop and bad cop situation.
KL: I don’t really think the interrogation methods were the focus of this scene, what gets said. I think this interrogation brought up something our very own editor, Zack, brought up on Twitter a few weeks ago. There are a ton of billionaires leading Krakoa.
I know he gave Mutants a Homeland that actually works and everything but since Charles Xavier is apparently the richest man in the world now we do need to take him to the guillotine and redistribute his wealth to all Mutants.
— Xavier Files ? (@XavierFiles) December 21, 2019
Let’s finish what the Reavers started.
They may be the mutant one percent but they are still the one percent and…hey I like these fictional billionaires but in the real world billionaires are not great! [Ed. note: They are bad, actually.] Once again I really enjoy Percy bringing up the moral complications of Krakoa and state-building. I am not entirely confident it will go anywhere in the long run but it sparks a good conversation. But the real takeaway of this scene is the reveal of the man with the peacock tattoo who I think is more clearly meant to be the big bad in this book.
AB: You might be right, but interrogation is a part of the mission, so I’d like it to make some sense. Great points about the state building though. While we are obviously pro-mutant here, if an entire population suddenly had this much power and stake in the world economy, I think there would be justified uproar. Espionage is a part of sovereignty and it’s good to see that Percy is forcing the X-Men to adjust to that. There are limits to the amount of commentary that’s going to be made in this book though. If we’re being real, X-Force has proven to be the Fast and the Furious of the Dawn of X line, but that’s okay. Everyone secretly loves those movies anyway, even if we can all admit that it’s mostly full of ridiculous action.
KL: The only thing I know about Fast and Furious is beefy people and the word “family” and I can’t think of a better way to wrap up this coverage.
X-Treneuous Thoughts
- Do you think Logan can heal onto the bottom half of another person? Just asking.
- There were some choice sound effects in this issue. “Sklunch”, “Kunch”, and “Doosh” were fun to say in my head.
- I really want a Muppet that’s just Black Tom’s plant head.
- Alright so if we’re matching up Fast and the Furious characters with X-Force characters, Logan is Dom, Forge is Tej, I guess Quentin is Brian but he feels more like a Roman to me, got any others?
- Krakoan reads: “Lo A Beast Is Born” which is the same as the cover blurb from the Amazing Adventures comic where Hank becomes fury.
Ari Bard is a huge comic fan studying Mechanical Engineering so he can finally figure out how the Batmobile works.
Kenneth Laster writes, draws, and studies Film and Gender Studies so he really hopes you’re hiring!
Ari Bard is a huge comic fan studying Mechanical Engineering so he can finally figure out how the Batmobile works.
Kenneth Laster is a critic, cartoonist, and cryptid with a movie degree.
