X-Force #3: To Me My X-Force!

In another excellent issue, Benjamin Percy and the X-Force creative team drive the plot forward on three fronts with a mix of action, philosophical debate, and deepening mystery as we learn a little more of the shadowy organization that seeks the destruction of mutantkind.

Logan and Quire find and free a badly-injured Domino while fighting off the remaining half-formed super soldiers in the lab, the dialogue between Quire and Logan really serves to demonstrate interestingly how Logan trusts in Xavier versus Quire’s more adversarial attitude to the new laws of Krakoa. There’s definitely more butting of heads coming in the future.

This is an interesting issue on several fronts because while Percy advances the main plotline he uses the issue to also address the nature of mutants’ attitude toward their new “immortality” status. That’s very fascinating because it’s been a hotly-contested topic amongst X-fans following the books on social media. Percy uses a conversation between Beast and Jean deep into their work to bring back the lost Xavier to discuss this. I like how Jean makes her argument for the benefits of not having to fear death.

Percy adds a look at Magneto as a leader through character interaction as well as the data pages. I get the strong impression of a man trying to follow the mission and nature of the new dream but struggling internally with having to make decisions that go against his gut instinct… this isn’t fleshed out but it’s the impression I took from the issue.

Percy adds to this is a deepening mystery revealed with another death as well as a formal coming together of an X-Force team making for a very compelling third issue from a writing point of view.

The art by Joshua Cassara continues to impress me. I don’t think this is as strong an issue as issue two for him but it’s still an excellently-drawn issue with great dynamism in the action sequences and good facial expressions. Page one and particularly the paneling leading into and the last splash at the end as well are two really great highlights in the issue which continues to have that gritty body horror feel.

I won’t lie I didn’t realize it was a different colorist till I reread the issue a second time. Guru-eFX coloring is on-point and does an excellent job of maintaining the consistent feel of this third installment alongside the previous two.

VC’s Joe Caramagna doesn’t set a foot wrong with the lettering and Dustin Weavers cover is striking.