Which Articles Of The Geneva Convention Does Beast Break In X-Force #15?

In a perfect world, X-Force wouldn’t be necessary. And the perfect world of X of Swords has concluded and our band of morally malleable mutants are back right where we left them. Beast abusing the powers of the state, Colossus rebranding to be a pillar of morality, and Forge just vibing. All that and sea monsters as Benjamin Percey, Joshua Cassara, Guru-eFX, and Joe Caramanga bring us X-Force #15.

Kenneth Laster: Ah…X-Force…it’s just like how we left it. Not a thing out of place.

Ari Bard: Right you are Kenneth, our team of messy, violent individuals remained safe and sound on Krakoa (except for Logan) while their lives were saved. I wouldn’t expect anything to be different.

Everybody Hates Beast

AB: Speaking of nothing out of place, it appears Beast is back on his bullshit once again. Will he ever learn? Absolutely not. We can only hope he suffers along the way. Where would you like to start Kenneth, the many, many secrets, the pleasure he gets out of forced interrogation, using other mutants for his own schemes without them knowing, selfishly, and needlessly overriding standard Krakoan protocol, the possibilities are endless!

KL: Oh, Hank… This guy is really foaming at the mouth trying to get to interrogate his former team mate! It is quite wild to see the new depths Percy has taken Hank and I feel like I thought the same thing last time. To recap his new list of crimes he has: Killed Omega Red, taken the Carbanoid Synthesizer that was already primed to kill him and put surveillance tech in, resurrected him with no memory of his death, and then used him as an unknown triple agent. That is just excessive.

In the past I really expected there to be some kind of redemption for Hank down the line, but I am really just hoping for the pit but at this point I really don’t know what line he’d have to cross to be officially too far. The Krakoan era does enjoy it’s morally grey men in leadership because Jonathan Hickman is Head of X, so I do have my fears that Hank is not going to actually get any real punishment any time soon. It’s a very black and white solution but in 2020, to see a morally bankrupt man with state sanctioned power who constantly oversteps the civil liberties of his fellow citizens getting what’s coming to him is the escapist fantasy I’m hungry for. What are your thoughts on our Bounding Blue Menace?

AB: I’m not sure I can put it any better than you just did Kenneth. I’m right there with you that it’s time Hank McCoy visit the pit. As far as renegade, off-the-books special forces operations go, however, Percy doesn’t seem too far off the mark with the long list of crimes against the population. Hank isn’t even doing this in complete secrecy either. As we saw in the data page with The Five, Charles Xavier is backing Hank up on this. Talk about a dynamic duo. I do enjoy the brief teases of Beast’s suffering that we’ve gotten to witness so far. Whether it be Jean’s mental and emotional punishment before leaving the team due to Hank’s manipulation or Kayla’s slow dehydration, it’s the little moments like that which bring me joy.

Colossus Is Also Here

KL: Just as we predicted, Piotr Nikolayevich Rasputin is being poised as the next moral compass of X-Force, after Jean got tired of dealing with Hank’s state sanctioned violence. This seems like a bad idea yeah?

AB: You got that right, Kenneth. Colossus may not be Beast, but he’s no paragon of moral sanctity either. I have no idea what to expect from this other than tensions within the team to skyrocket even further, and let’s be honest, they’re already pretty high with Quentin. Logan and Hank just being themselves. How Sage and Domino maintain their sanity around this rambunctious dudefest is beyond me. Who knows, maybe the only thing that’ll come out of this addition is a little less death and some awesome Krakoan paintings. [Ed. note: Baby steps]

KL: We have been tracking this Beast and Colossus plot for a bit and it really seemed that both of them were getting taken to task but based on how Piotr has been framed the past few issues, it’s hard to tell if we aren’t just getting back to business as usual. In particular Cassara’s artwork really frames him as a hero and friend to all, on top of his self sacrificial nature pre-XOS is a big departure from the shit he pulled with Domino’s resurrection. It’s strange. But you are right, Ari. The drama this will bring will be excellent and what are X-Books for if not top shelf drama. Any other thoughts on Piotr the Painter?

AB: I really hope it’s not just forgive and forget with Piotr. Even if we ignore all of the other disgusting things before the Hickman era, it would mean seeing the whole Domino’s memory thing dropped and I’m not sure I could really stand to see that. I’m also not sure that he’s really “clean” as Jean said. Piotr is a resourceful person who isn’t opposed to messing with another person’s memory, so maybe he messed with his own to bring himself peace? Our underwater plant zombies also technically seem to be his fault.

Look, I guess what I’m saying, is that Piotr clearly wants to move on, but I am looking for excuses to make him suffer just like Beast. It doesn’t have to be an either/or situation here. Is that so wrong?

KL: There’s always room for two in that pit! Speaking of Pit Threats? Omega Red!

Slavic Blood Suckers

AB: We have another subplot on our hands! Following up on the subplot that Logan managed to get into over in his own book, it appears that Dracula is using Omega Red. Now a sane person might look at that and decide to keep the virtually indestructible death machine with life absorption powers restrained until they figure out how to defeat Dracula, but Beast, being the incredible galaxy brain that he is, decides to quote The Godfather and say, “No, no, no, we can use this”. Surely this is an incredibly well thought-out plan with no chance of backfiring.

KL: I am caught up on Wolverine but I really enjoy the idea without context this plot reading like that old meme about Blade begging the Avengers to help him kill vampires.

But this time, Beast is all too ready to help kill vampires, or at least spy on them. However it seems that vampires aren’t the only unseen predators set up in this issue as there are Krakoan bred sea monsters popping in throughout. I’ll be honest I nearly missed that these were a part of the island because that sequence is peppered into Colossus hanging out with the youths. This weird sea parasite seems to be the more immediate threat coming if the cliffhanger is to go off of but we may be playing russian roulette on which plot is followed up in the next issue. (get it?) What are your thoughts on the Sea Parasites, Omega Reds, and Vampires (Oh My)?

AB: Isn’t it weird to you that without Jean, Beast is undoubted the leader of this team? Like where is Sage this issue? She is absolutely the mind we need to bring some sanity back into the scheming that is Hank and Logan. You’re definitely right though, which is the main plot and which is the subplot, nobody knows. Beyond the three you just mentioned, I’m not sure we’re quite done with Terra Nova stuff yet, and there’s still matters to be dealt with when it comes to the Cerebro sword. Now with this sea parasite, we have yet another threat. I’m glad it was identified by Black Tom Cassidy after commenting on how much the Krakoan earth appreciates Rufus’s healthy stool as fertilizer. That was certainly something I needed. Percy’s juggling a lot right now and keeps adding more to the X-Force plate. I hope he catches them all.

KL: For sure! Not to mention Quire being half dead in a ditch somewhere in Russia (I am embellishing). It’s weird to think that the Domino/Reverse-Domino story was two issues back-to-back with how long it feels like a lot of these other plots are picked up and dropped. I agree it’s weird that Sage is not more of a presence. I feel like there’s been a lot of character bits to go around in this series and she hasn’t really benefited from that. Being Hank’s foil could be a good spot for her to move into. But alas we must wait and see if Sage even appears in the next issue. X-Force! You never really know what you’re gonna get.