X-FORCE #15: I’ve Got Everything Under Control… Sure You Do Hank.

There are several plot points dealt with in this issue as Percy comes back to and adds to two previous storylines as well as setting up the next X-Force drama to come.

The first is Colossus and his involvement with the Russian threat and his brother Mikhail. If you had told me when I would ever see Jean Grey psychically interrogating Colossus for an X-Force investigation a few years ago I would have laughed at you…but here we are. Beast continues to be objectively terrible as Percy leans into the whole “I am justified to do terrible things even to my own in the name of my nation” and honestly while Percy has Beast apologize to Colossus after he is cleared of no wrongdoing, even having Kayla meat out a little payback (also glad I know what her mutation is and why she would be in the Savage land with Peter, it makes it a bit less creepy tbh), Beast’s other actions make the apology feel empty (I don’t hate Beast, by the way, he’s playing a role and he plays it well) as he continues to follow the wrong things for the right reasons methodology that’s always got consequences and not two seconds after that apology he wants something from the mutant he has wronged.

The second plotline Percy comes back to is Omega Red and the vampire nation and honestly, it might be Arkady who is terrible in his own right but what Beast does and what Xavier ALLOWS Beast to do, despite the objections of The Five ( that data page really shows the divisions and differences in thinking between Krakoan hubs like THE FIVE and Beast and Xavier) is horrifying. Here is an individual devoid of his own will thanks to Dracula and Beast just decides despite objections lets just continue to use him as a mindless tool even going so far as to kill him and bring him back all in the name of intelligence gathering! It’s clever but terrible all at once. I mean when Wolverine has to play conscience in the story well then you know. It questions the nature of the morality or the idea of X-Force through the lens of Beast’s actions which is for me an interesting take instead of focusing on the violence (which there still is in spades) and it’s not the Wolverine show which I also like.

Lastly, there’s the new plotline as something sinister (haha no relation) emerges from the everchanging Krakoa and drops into the sea setting up the new strange threat that X-Force has to deal with. We get some hilarious Black Tom dialogue with Domino ( Domino is a dog person, I love it) on the beach as this new threat that took out a full ship emerges onto the Krakaon beach and attacks them. Percy is very much setting up an Abyss like underwater caper as evidenced earlier in the issue with Forge and his deep dive suit using Fleurocarbons (ps that’s a real thing. if you ever watched The Abyss where they put the rat into the pink breathing liquid, that was filmed in real life)

The art is once again stellar from the team as Joshua Cassara, Guru-eFX and Caramagna bring their A-game to every single page. Cassara just goes from strength to strength From literal cover to last page. That glorious body horror feel is always there adding that grittiness to the feel of the story. There are three fantastic splashes in the issue involving Jean and Colossus, the new threat from the depths, and then the cliffhanger page at the end. Cassara also uses the four vertical panel layout to excellent effect in at least two places and there’s also a fantastic tightening on Omega Red for some cinematic menace. Guru-eFX on colors once again delivers brilliant atmosphere and mood with rich dark reds and blues to vivid psychic pink to brilliant metallics (his coloring of Colossus in this issue especially the interrogation splash and the immediate panel thereafter is superb) while Caramagna on lettering continues to show conciseness and economy in his lettering placement ( interesting to note…there is only a single sound effect in this issue a RUMBLE) as X-Force continues to be the most stylish book in the line in my opinion.