X-Force 33 Review/Spoilers: Well I Guess We Know How Judgement Day Ends

[Rift]

I'm glad the Progenitor is dead. He sucked.

[gonnagiveittoya]

Also to be clear for those who didn't see the page: the progenitor in the Arctic is clearly damaged from the events of this series, so it's not like time was reset to before they chose to turn it on, it just happens to be back in the Arctic again

[Jwyatt]

I joked that Kraven would get his butt kicked when he faces Wolvie, and it was that simple four issues later. What a waste.

Oh, and 'mutant CIA'

[TheOneManRiot]

X-Force is supposed the team that defends Krakoa but it's just the same handful of mutants on every "mission".

Not only that, but they're utterly terrible at their job. Krakoa is an insanely powered nation with virtually unlimited resources and power levels at their disposal but the literl geniuses in leadership positions decided to entrust their protection and safety to a clowncar full of failure. This "mutant CIA"/security force consists of a pair of nerds with desk jobs, two dudes who legit lose every single fight and only survive and ultimately prevail due to their healing factors (for example, in this issue Kraven handed Wolverine his ass and delivered a fatal killing blow IN HIS FIRST TWO MOVES!), an omega level brat with an embarrassing track record of taking Ls one after another, two mentally unstable villains (only one of whom could be considered generously classified as 'reformed') and Dom, who's just plain awesome and warrants zero criticism lol.

I'd be down with a rotating supporting cast but I'd limit it to a few members rather than have the entire team be interchangeable other of the two you mentioned. LOVE the idea of Ewing on the book if he's interested but I'd only be in favor of moving those characters from Red IF he no longer had plans to use them there, because that's my absolute favorite current bo
wants to tell.

[Jackraow21]

Yeah, I don’t disagree that the team isn’t really the problem here so much as the writing. Under another writer this team of Beast, Sage, Black Tom, Wolverine, Domino, Deadpool and Omega Red could probably be quite interesting. Especially if they better leaned into the whole mutant CIA concept. I’d probably ditch Beast at some point though. Maybe Black Tom too, as he’s more island security and this team needs to be focusing on external threats. Like the CIA.

Make Logan and Sage the heads of it. Lean into mutant CIA heavily using X-Corp as legitimate cover (i.e., when they’re operating on foreign soil they pose as X-Corp employees/executives). Logan as the Nick Fury of the mutant world, calling the shots as the spymaster in chief. Sometimes he’s in the field with them, sometimes he’s just directing the others (Domino, Deadpool, Omega Red) along with Sage. Sometimes he’s gathering intel solo or doing solo missions, which he has his solo book to cover. That could be cool IMO.

Or… move Cable over to replace Logan in the spymaster role above (since Logan does have his own title after all), and replace Omega Red with Thunderbird. Maybe add Manifold too as team transport. That would be quite cool as well. And let Ewing have two books, Red and X-Force.

Either way. Just give it to another writer please.

[Uncanny X-Man]

What was the point of this exactly? And I'm asking as someone who kind of enjoyed the start of this arc. It was always going to end up with Kraven vs Wolverine with Kraven on the losing side so I'm not sure why we spent 4 issues on this. Also, the whole cast has become annoying, even detestable, and the book is in dire need of a new writer. Really hoping that Ben Percy is done after the Xeno arc.

[Uncanny X-Man]

Just re-read that run recently. It was definitely very solid all the way through.

Having re-read it semi-recently myself, I have to agree on how the title was consistently good from beginning to end. It had some very high moments, like the Messiah War arc, and also ended on a very high note with the Necrosha event, but never really had any lows, it was such a good read from start to finish.

I compare that to Rick Remender's Uncanny X-Force, which I also adore, and feel like that was a bit more uneven. Uncanny had some wonderful peaks but also some weaker arcs, and the finale was OK but nothing amazing. I'd still take both Remender and Kyle & Yost back in a heartbeat, mind you.

Love your new new new avatar, btw!

[TheOneManRiot]

I joked that Kraven would get his butt kicked when he faces Wolvie, and it was that simple four issues later.

The whole arch (and much of the book, is definitely a waste lol, but for other reasons IMO. Wolverine is a terrible fighter and the most overrated dude in comics. Kraven delivered a killing blow literally TWO moves into the fight. Without his heling factor Logan would've been dead (same as like 80% of his fights)

[Jackraow21]

It depends. At times Logan is shown as one of the most highly capable fighters in the MCU (e.g., he beat Iron Fist in hand to hand combat in an issue of New Avengers). At others, he clearly doesn’t seem to bother since he knows he will heal and gets lazy, as he did in this issue. Which I really don’t get because that still has to hurt, getting stabbed in the gut. I wish writers were more consistent with how they depicted his fighting prowess. He’s a Level 7 fighting ability after all, as per the old Marvel trading cards. And is constantly touted as one of the MCU’s best fighters. That’s just fact. But he should act like it and be written that way more! Completely agree on that point.

Now if they maybe gave an explanation for his sloppiness, such as it being intentional and a tactic, then I could get behind that. In this case, some narration boxes that tell the reader he allowed Kraven to bury his knife deep in order to disarm him. Despite knowing it would hurt like hell. Something like that would be acceptable. At least IMO.

[ARkadelphia]

So when does the “Infiltration of the Deviants” crossover start?

[kidfresh512]

I finally finished reading this and my god what a waste of time. As others have said this was completely pointless. And the writing was terrible. They had to make Sage and Beast look stupid in order to even make Kraven a partial threat to anyone other than the non X-men kids of the Island.

Kraven can just waltz into the hatchery and destroy everything and NO ONE knows? No alarms, no video, or psychic evidence? Only clue was a tongue? That is absolutely stupid. He just walks right up to Beast and takes him hostage IN HIS OWN PERSONAL LAIR?

This was just insulting honestly. Even if everyone else was busy with Judgement day this is lazy writing.

[Mungho]

I finally finished reading this and my god what a waste of time. As others have said this was completely pointless. And the writing was terrible. They had to make Sage and Beast look stupid in order to even make Kraven a partial threat to anyone other than the non X-men kids of the Island.

Kraven can just waltz into the hatchery and destroy everything and NO ONE knows? No alarms, no video, or psychic evidence? Only clue was a tongue? That is absolutely stupid. He just walks right up to Beast and takes him hostage IN HIS OWN PERSONAL LAIR?

This was just insulting honestly. Even if everyone else was busy with Judgement day this is lazy writing.

Yeah, I've hated this whole run (almost). The first few issues seemed to be good, but then it fell into this pattern:

1. Beast does some stupid mistake that hurts or kills people or jeopardizes Krakoa.

2. He gets painfully humiliated by someone.

3. He refuses to apologize or learn from his mistakes.

4. The people who know about his mistakes just kind of forget and let him go on with his job while insulting him, either to his face or behind his back(though Beast lobs his own insults sometimes).

5. Repeat step 1.

This has been the most unpleasant X-book I've ever read, especially with all the gore. And if you like Beast, it's basically torture porn.

[vitruvian]

Yeah, I've hated this whole run (almost). The first few issues seemed to be good, but then it fell into this pattern:

1. Beast does some stupid mistake that hurts or kills people or jeopardizes Krakoa.

2. He gets painfully humiliated by someone.

3. He refuses to apologize or learn from his mistakes.

4. The people who know about his mistakes just kind of forget and let him go on with his job while insulting him, either to his face or behind his back(though Beast lobs his own insults sometimes).

5. Repeat step 1.

This has been the most unpleasant X-book I've ever read, especially with all the gore. And if you like Beast, it's basically torture porn.

Can we just find out already that this has actually been Dark Beast taking the real Hank's place for the last couple dozen storylines, please? I mean, that's probably about the only way to rehabilitate the character at this point.

[Mungho]

Can we just find out already that this has actually been Dark Beast taking the real Hank's place for the last couple dozen storylines, please? I mean, that's probably about the only way to rehabilitate the character at this point.

After talking with others around the net, I've come to the conclusion they're making him BECOME Dark Beast naturally, as his character arc. They've been pushing him in this direction for 9 years(and gone into overdrive the past 3 1/2 years). I really hate that they're doing this if that is what they're doing.

[Agent Grayson]

After talking with others around the net, I've come to the conclusion they're making him BECOME Dark Beast naturally, as his character arc. They've been pushing him in this direction for 9 years(and gone into overdrive the past 3 1/2 years). I really hate that they're doing this if that is what they're doing.

To be honest, I'm not sure the current Beast is the result of a conscious or concerted editorial direction. It doesn't seem like a planned character arc to me as much as each writer just making him worse. I might be wrong but I really hope not, because that would suggest that we're not going to see him resolved of all this somehow and returned to being the character we know and love. He's unrecognisable at the moment and it isn't because of any engaging character development.