The assassin being Cable himself is a very obvious twist that ultimately leaves the reader feeling neither satisfied nor fulfilled due to its execution. The reveal of Catharsix controlling Cable, forcing the mutant to kill Kamala Khan, makes the twist very underwhelming. Rather than have Cable try to kill Ms. Marvel himself, he’s possessed by a biochemical creature that manipulates him. It removes any responsibility or intrigue.
The best part of this issue is Kamala Khan; however, the worst part of this issue is Kamala Khan. In regard to the former statement, Kamala acts as the narrator and the catalyst for the plot. She spends the majority of the issue reflecting on the team and their development as characters (of course, this would be more effective if these characters actually developed over the course of the comic). Seely captures Kamala’s inner voice well. She sounds like a teenager who is in over her head, not quite fully comprehending what’s happening around her. Given that Kamala has been thrown into a time-travel assassination of her future self, this tracks. Regarding the latter point, Kamala undergoes very little character development. Despite joining a team of a former horseman, a former street thief, a time-traveling assassin, and a literal demon, Kamala’s worldview stays largely the same as it was at the start of the series; this isn’t taken as her reaffirming herself.
Michael Sta. Maria’s penciling in the final issue of this series is… fine. In this issue (and across the series in general), the artwork lacks any defined style. The comic is neither visually impressive nor unique. It’s quite the opposite. Inglorious X-Force’s interior pages look extremely generic due to their lack of detail. Facial expressions, particularly on the human-looking characters, are extremely flat; take the words off the page, and the reader would have no understanding of the emotions these characters feel. The combat looks incredibly awkward and stiff; leading lines are employed ineffectively, drawing the eye all over the page rather than toward the characters.
The series ends with a relaunch. A few months ago, Marvel announced Fugitive X-Force, the successor series that follows an X-Force without Cable. It’s a blatant attempt to renew interest in a series that never quite found its footing.
