X-Force #47 - Review/Spoilers

[JB]

Great recap as always, JB!

I also really enjoyed this issue which I think featured Ben Percy's strongest writing in some time. I also loved seeing the Alpha Alphans join X-Force in giving shelter to mutants in need as well as the character work on Piotr and Quentin.

I also can't help noticing how a number of books now have characters voicing concerns over Krakoa and basically referring to it as a failed experiment. I'm looking forward to reading how Gillen and Duggan will approach the topic in Rise and Fall as, timeline resets notwithstanding, a narrative will have to be built to make leaving the Krakoa era behind believable for a lot of characters.

Thank you!

I found Piotr's words about Krakoa very interesting as well now that he's in control of himself.

"With that said, I am not pleading absolutely loyalty and fealty to everything Krakoa represented. If Mikhail had simply reached out to me, as a brother, and asked for help... would I have answered? I honestly don't know. Because I never had the opportunity to make my own decisions.

I suppose I could pose a similar question to you. How much of a choice did you have? Once the great Krakoan experiment was underway and your thoughts and whereabouts were tracked constantly? Did free will exist? And did you truly support the actions of the state? People are not nations. I think my brother forgot that. Perhaps Xavier forgot that as well."

That's deep. Percy had me setting my ipad down with that one as I pondered for a little while. Piotr is one of the purest of hearts so for him to say this is pretty powerful.

[Triniking1234]

I still think it's extremely disturbing how Percy decided to do a romance arc with the neo-Nazi school shooter kid while using the sister of the girl he used to stalk as a Damsel in distress to further his redemption arc. But I couldn't expect anything more from the writer who turned Beast into a 007 villain and who thought it would be cool to have a surfboard made out of metal (which was so stupid that it was at least funny)

I'm afraid the Cuckoos are going back to being 3 with 2 of them dead. Again, 3 is fine, but the other 2 should be doing something else. Being in otherworld, for example.

As for Colossus, I'm really sorry he was done so dirty. He'll probably have a pity party that hopefully will lead to something brighter.

The issue wasn't terrible, but it wasn't great as well, imo.

Edit:


I still think bad-Beast is a good development. But do we really think one of the smartest mutants would choose to aim at Wolverine's head out of everyone there? To me, this level of silliness is closer to Martinique Jason creating visual illusions to deceive Daredevil than it is to Reed Richards.

Again, not mad about him being bad. But why and especially how. And it is still justifiable for you to feel this way.

This feels like some high level hating because Quire learned the error of his ways in Aaron's X-Men and he was with Oye in that book and paired with Gwenpool in West Coast Avengers.

[The Twilight Mexican]

This feels like some high level hating because Quire learned the error of his ways in Aaron's X-Men and he was with Oye in that book and paired with Gwenpool in West Coast Avengers.

Yeah, Quire has definitely been thoroughly rehabilitated as a character at this point. No need to still begrudge the idea of someone improving.

[Rift]

I thought Quentin as a human was redeemed as far back as Wolverine & the X-Men. Overall, I think he's a good person. But I still think he's gross. And I still think it's cringe that they paired him up with a Cuckoo, after everything that had happened between them. And honestly, the relationship wasn't all that compelling, outside of their break-up. So I couldn't really be invested in it.

Somewhat related, but did the book ever follow up on those corpses Quentin kept in his room? That was pretty funny.

[captain Qball]

Overall I liked it. I likes what it was setting up with a war camp for the final showdown and a rallying point. Then it ruined it all with the beast and sabretooth stuff.

Though I roll my eyes at yet another group of mutants alone against Orchis with no idea about other mutant groups out there. That's been done way too much in this Era. Logan even teamed up with the other X-men in Latveria. And apparently "wonky powers" Quire can telepathically communicate to all mutants when other telepaths were getting detected right away.

[BobbysWorld]

Yeah, I am very confused as to where this is supposed to take place relative to the main X-Men title's current storylines because it kinda feels like that group that Logan's with there and this group that Logan's with here should probably know about each other if he is in fact, with both groups. But this does not read as though X-Force or their current add-ons are at all plugged into what's going on with the main X-Men team's resistance efforts.

[CGAR]

Just going by the reviews and the showed images I feel like I would like this issues.

But I will say I still find it weird when Laura curses lol

[MythicalChicken]

I know, I'm sorry for whining. I've just been bummed about the hate I keep seeing for him all over the internet. From now on, whenever anyone talks about Beast, they'll bring up Percy's run and say 'This disgusting monster(or sack of shit, I've heard both) didn't deserve to get reset'.

I really need much less internet.

To be fair I couldn't stand Beast since Fraction.

[Dante Milton]

Out of the hundreds of mutant characters Quire is my lease favorite of them all and yet, I kinda liked him here.

This is funny to me, because I have just about the exact opposite opinion. I think Quentin has a ton of (so far unrealized) potential as a character, but I completely hate Percy's version of the character. Instead of being used in an interesting way, writers keep doing the same half-assed redemption arcs that don't work for me at all, and Percy has done the same here in a truly insipid way that frames Quentin wanting to be better because of Sophie, a character he has no business being paired with romantically. And that actually describes a lot of Percy's work for me, rotten from conception.

I still can't get over how he has Omega Red, the guy who genuinely enjoys killing and has at least once been described as a pedophile, just walking around unsupervised, being a "good guy". There's a short list of characters who should never be attempted to be redeemed and OR is one of them.

Colossus the dedicated communist has doubts about Krakoa? Sure thing. It feels like there are a couple writers having characters voice doubts about Krakoa, or playing up the potentially sinister aspects now that it's over, to justify it being editorially dismantled, and it's the last thing I want to see right now.

The Wolverine disconnect between X-Force and X-Men could indicate that one of them is a Beast clone, but I'm probably giving the writers too much credit there.

[Alex.]

This feels like some high level hating because Quire learned the error of his ways in Aaron's X-Men and he was with Oye in that book and paired with Gwenpool in West Coast Avengers.

Yeah, Quire has definitely been thoroughly rehabilitated as a character at this point. No need to still begrudge the idea of someone improving.

How redeemable can a school shooting person be IRL? This is how I read him. While I think you can write cool and funny stories about Quire and his improvements, with the examples cited, I still believe there are lines that are not supposed to be crossed.

The romance between him and the sister of the girl he stalked, who happen to share a mind with each other, is as disgusting to me as a redemption arc of Jason Wyngarde having a romance with Jean Grey.

[JB]

This is funny to me, because I have just about the exact opposite opinion. I think Quentin has a ton of (so far unrealized) potential as a character, but I completely hate Percy's version of the character. Instead of being used in an interesting way, writers keep doing the same half-assed redemption arcs that don't work for me at all, and Percy has done the same here in a truly insipid way that frames Quentin wanting to be better because of Sophie, a character he has no business being paired with romantically. And that actually describes a lot of Percy's work for me, rotten from conception.

I still can't get over how he has Omega Red, the guy who genuinely enjoys killing and has at least once been described as a pedophile, just walking around unsupervised, being a "good guy". There's a short list of characters who should never be attempted to be redeemed and OR is one of them.

Colossus the dedicated communist has doubts about Krakoa? Sure thing. It feels like there are a couple writers having characters voice doubts about Krakoa, or playing up the potentially sinister aspects now that it's over, to justify it being editorially dismantled, and it's the last thing I want to see right now.

The Wolverine disconnect between X-Force and X-Men could indicate that one of them is a Beast clone, but I'm probably giving the writers too much credit there.

I don't think it was editorially dismantled if we go by some of the writers saying a lot of the upcoming ending was planned from the beginning including Duggan, Gillen, and Percy. Foxe said when he officially joined the X-office to write Dark X-Men he learned about the end of the Krakoa era and that was in fall of 2022, if not a little earlier. I think we're entering the planned endgame after a detour that went longer than originally anticipated.

I've been thinking about Immortal #13 lately when Doug told Xavier that the people no longer believe in Krakoa. That was the first time I thought perhaps the island nation wouldn't return. Then after what happened at the gala, I can see a large majority of mutantkind not wanting to go back even if given the chance.

[Technopriest]

Great recap as always, JB!

I also really enjoyed this issue which I think featured Ben Percy's strongest writing in some time. I also loved seeing the Alpha Alphans join X-Force in giving shelter to mutants in need as well as the character work on Piotr and Quentin.

I also can't help noticing how a number of books now have characters voicing concerns over Krakoa and basically referring to it as a failed experiment. I'm looking forward to reading how Gillen and Duggan will approach the topic in Rise and Fall as, timeline resets notwithstanding, a narrative will have to be built to make leaving the Krakoa era behind believable for a lot of characters.

I think the problem is that we are getting now the concerns that these characters should have had from the beginning. Problem is that it would have interfered with Hickman's grand plan for Krakoa, where the writer needed everyone to be on the same page.

[Technopriest]

Thank you!

I found Piotr's words about Krakoa very interesting as well now that he's in control of himself.

"With that said, I am not pleading absolutely loyalty and fealty to everything Krakoa represented. If Mikhail had simply reached out to me, as a brother, and asked for help... would I have answered? I honestly don't know. Because I never had the opportunity to make my own decisions.

I suppose I could pose a similar question to you. How much of a choice did you have? Once the great Krakoan experiment was underway and your thoughts and whereabouts were tracked constantly? Did free will exist? And did you truly support the actions of the state? People are not nations. I think my brother forgot that. Perhaps Xavier forgot that as well."

That's deep. Percy had me setting my ipad down with that one as I pondered for a little while. Piotr is one of the purest of hearts so for him to say this is pretty powerful.

I am not a fan or Percy, but it was indeed deep, and the main problem I had with Krakoa as much as I like a lot of it. A few of the X-Men should have had concerns, they have questioned and split from Xavier for less. If anything, they should have have doubts just starting from the fact that Xavier kept them in the dark and that he lied to them about the real reason he formed the X-Men (retcon none withstanding).

[Technopriest]

This is funny to me, because I have just about the exact opposite opinion. I think Quentin has a ton of (so far unrealized) potential as a character, but I completely hate Percy's version of the character. Instead of being used in an interesting way, writers keep doing the same half-assed redemption arcs that don't work for me at all, and Percy has done the same here in a truly insipid way that frames Quentin wanting to be better because of Sophie, a character he has no business being paired with romantically. And that actually describes a lot of Percy's work for me, rotten from conception.

I still can't get over how he has Omega Red, the guy who genuinely enjoys killing and has at least once been described as a pedophile, just walking around unsupervised, being a "good guy". There's a short list of characters who should never be attempted to be redeemed and OR is one of them.

Colossus the dedicated communist has doubts about Krakoa? Sure thing. It feels like there are a couple writers having characters voice doubts about Krakoa, or playing up the potentially sinister aspects now that it's over, to justify it being editorially dismantled, and it's the last thing I want to see right now.

The Wolverine disconnect between X-Force and X-Men could indicate that one of them is a Beast clone, but I'm probably giving the writers too much credit there.

We had Gorgon, a guy who feeds children to wild pigs, as one of the captains in this era. I am sorry, but there are lines that shouldn't be crossed and Gorgon being accepted was one of them. Don't get me started on Logan sharing a beer with him.

[Jackraow21]

We had Gorgon, a guy who feeds children to wild pigs, as one of the captains in this era. I am sorry, but there are lines that shouldn't be crossed and Gorgon being accepted was one of them. Don't get me started on Logan sharing a beer with him.

Agreed. Or Arkady, a known serial killer and now cannibal apparently, being allowed to join X-Force. And then there’s an Apocalypse, a genocidal warlord, on the Quiet Council. Sure. Why not? Fresh start. And didn’t Sinister collude with the Nazis during WWII? JFC.

That’s why I’ve always felt that Xavier or someone was manipulating these characters from the beginning of the Krakoan era. So much out of character stuff.