In a perfect world, X-Force wouldn’t be necessary. Unfortunately, we aren’t so lucky. In X-Force #9, we take a load off and have a little fun. It’s a tiki bar party and everyone’s there except our old pal Colossus. On an unrelated note, Domino is suddenly feeling a lot better after her resurrection, almost as if her trauma never happened. Why could that be? Ari and guest writer Zachary Jenkins will attempt to answer this and debate whether or not Beast or Quentin is the bigger a-word hole (it’s Beast) in X-Force #9 by Benjamin Percy, Joshua Cassara, and Dean White!
Ari Bard: Whew! I for one am tired of all the violence and trauma, time to take a load off am I right? How ‘bout a Tiki Bar Ken— wait. You aren’t Kenneth! Do we need to call in the X-Force?
Zachary Jenkins: I’m not! It is I, your fearless leader debasing myself to write with the common folk. Frankly, this is a great week for me to sub in because, Ari, I love two things, obscure mutants and ecological horror. And brother? This issue has both in spades.
Tiki, Tiki, Tiki, Tiki, Tiki Bar
AB: Speaking of obscure mutants, they’re all here at this Tiki Bar! Can you name everyone in this double-page spread? I sure can’t. I can, however, recognize the artistry going on here. I would say that this scene is by far the most intricate and complex scene we’ve seen so far in X-Force, and it pays off. I have already spent a lot of time on that page trying to figure out who everyone is and what they’re doing, and I suspect others will do the same. As some of my favorite critics have stated, there’s something really special about superheroes doing non-superhero things, and this scene is the break from all the action and drama we and the members of X-Force all needed.
ZJ: I love superheroes being casual and this tiki bar has it in spades. There’s a lot of great bits of character work built into this that makes the entire X-Men line feel inner connected. You can see Emma, Calisto, and Jumbo Carnation turn heads as they strut in fashionably late, just as Christian Frost sneaks out with a mysterious man in black. Apocalypse is notably out of place and uncomfortable at a table with Jean and Scott. Blob and Anole are living it up as bartenders. All the credit in the world to Joshua Cassara and Dean White for this Where’s Waldo style masterpiece of a spread. I’ve been thinking about it all day.
AB: Wolverine family bonding over what is essentially Russian Roulette with no blanks is exactly the kind of stupid shenanigans I love to see from these guys. A normal father and son might play catch, have a beer or two, watch some sort of ball game, not test the limits of their healing factor over a drunken game of spin the bottle.
Overall, this entire opening scene was a welcome load off from all the very real stuff we’ve been dealing with for the past eight issues. The only thing that didn’t sit quite right with me was when Jean tells Scott she doesn’t know if she can be on X-Force anymore and that it’s screwing up her moral compass. I know that everyone on X-Force probably has some idea of everything going on, but Jean feels so excluded compared to every other member of the team that her statement here doesn’t ring as true or as powerful as it should. We’ve really only seen her participate in the interrogation and autopsy side of things, and maybe I’m just used to the rest of the team being a lot more comfortable with morally questionable actions, but when I read that exasperation my gut reaction is, “Really?” Then again, I don’t want to invalidate anyone’s experiences or anything, so I’m not sure what to think.
ZJ: Jean, despite her comically large body count, has always been adverse to killing. Her recent stint in X-Men: Red was about uniting people against a common evil, not battling it head on. We know she was mad at Beast for downplaying what she had to do to those Terra Verde plant soldiers back in issue #6. I can see Jean struggling to reconcile the violence she has put into the world with her generally pessimistic demenur. Though, she isn’t the only one feeling just a little off.
Mind Eraser, No Chaser
ZJ: One more sinister aspect that crops up in the background of this boustrous bar is Domino talking about the trauma she went through during her last rebirth. Or, more specifically, the lack of trauma. In our last issue, Domino specifically told Colossus she wanted to remember to pain, the horror of being killed. It seems like he didn’t exactly communicate that to The Five.
AB: No he did not. Memory erasure is a serious offence, and this is more than just another strike against the massive silver man. Trauma has ownership. It belongs to the person who experienced it just as much as, if not more than, any physical part of their body, and Piotr stole that from Domino. I don’t typically get very angry at fictional events in comics, but if this simply results in a massive argument and we all move on, I will get angry. Colossus needs to confront his systematic pattern of abusive and manipulative behavior toward women and hopefully, Percy will face this head on in an issue or two instead of kicking it further down the road. Someone has to have Domino’s back, and it might be Logan of all people.
ZJ: it wouldn’t be the first time Logan made sure Pete got the s-word kicked out of him because he was a jerk to a girl. There’s been a lot of discussion on our writers Slack about Colossus as a boyfriend. I enjoy him and Domino in a relationship because it feels removed from the baggage and expectations of his relationship with Kitty, always Kitty to him, Pryde. Remember he was the 19 year old kid who decided to date the new 13 year old student in school who was just so much more mature than her age, you know? He was the guy who dumped her because he “fell in love” with a dead alien who he never actually said a word to. He was the jealous ex who put Kitty’s new boyfriend in the hospital for no reason. He’s the one who used godlike powers to intimidate her into going on a date with him and he’s the one who got violent when she rejected him.
Pitor Rasputin represents a specific, patronizing brand of toxic masculinity. He’s everyone’s friend, he’s such a nice guy, and because of that, he never has to be held accountable for his actions. He is constantly making decisions because he thinks he knows better. No matter how explicitly Domino explained her desire to remember the hurt, Colossus thinks he knows best and that makes it alright for him to take her agency. It’s some nuanced, and bold, character work from Percy and I am fascinated to watch this play out.
O Green World
AB: Speaking of playing out, Beast’s meddling with Terra Verde has finally produced some consequences, a whole lot of them. Of course, it couldn’t be Beast’s fault right? Nevertheless, these consequences manifest themselves in a big way. I’m talking, plants taking over the country kinda way. In a broad sense, Terra Verde and the coup of the plant people is a solid, more long-term arc to explore. It’s a great excuse for Cassara and White to flex their ecological horror muscles, and there are some absolutely gruesome panels in this issue, particularly related to President Cocom. It also approaches the same broad concerns and themes threatening all of the mutants of Krakoa from a new and exciting angle. I, for one, am excited at the potential this new Terra Verde development holds. What do you think, Zachary?
ZJ: I was a fan of Ben Percy’s one-shot Weapon Plus: World War IV featuring a Man-Thing with a machine gun reenacting the film, but not the book, Annihilation, so I’m pumped to see him explore that space a bit more. For starters, the flaura, the rot, the dirt, the entire environment is a great fit for Dean White’s luscious colors. Having X-Force battle a proxy Krakoa is a real opportunity to challenge the concept of the island, without burning down the society. I want more of this!
AB: I do too! And it looks like we’re about to get a lot more as our Beefy Boys™ come to back up the team. We know Colossus will have his moments in the next couple of issues from what Percy has teased, and Beast literally throwing Black Tom Cassidy into the battle had me laughing for awhile. The tall and narrow panels at the end were a really interesting way of presenting what was going on too. Quentin, Logan, and Domino seem to have gotten themselves into a situation way above their heads at this temple and I’m excited to see how it all plays out in X-Force #10!
X-Traneous Thoughts
- Can you name all the mutants in the Tiki Bar photo?
- Alright, you get to name the sacrifices to Krakoa this year, who do you pick?
- Beast’s mug says “Morning Sunshine” in Krakoan
- Maggott and Penance are now my OTP
- I wanna be clear, I love Colossus but also, one of the best X-Men issues of all time is that time Wolverine takes him out to a bar and gets Juggernaut to beat the s-word out of him because he was a jerk to a girl, so I am here for this energy.
- Krakoan reads: Malignant Growth
Ari Bard is a huge comic fan studying Mechanical Engineering so he can finally figure out how the Batmobile works.
Zachary Jenkins runs the Xavier Files Media Empire and is a co-host on the podcast “Battle of the Atom.” Shocking everyone, he has a full and vibrant life outside of X-Men.
Zachary Jenkins runs ComicsXF and is a co-host on the podcast “Battle of the Atom.” Shocking everyone, he has a full and vibrant life outside of all this.
Ari Bard is a huge comic fan studying Mechanical Engineering so he can finally figure out how the Batmobile works.
