X-Force #2 – Review
Before I get started, I have to do the rare spoiler warning, because some of you might not have read X-Force #1 and/or know about what happened there.
With the Dawn of X, we saw some pretty shocking turns. None was more shocking than X-Force #1 and the murder of Professor X. Human assassins parachuted onto Krakoa and proceeded to massacre mutants, including their primary target, Professor X himself. Of course, it always looked like it wasn’t just the special five that were necessary for the constant resurrection of mutants, but Xavier himself and his Cerebro, which was also destroyed with the same shot that killed him. Surely, Xavier’s grand plan can’t be that fragile. Can it?
X-Force #2
Writer: Benjamin Percy
Artist: Joshua Cassara
Colorist: Dean White
Letterer: Joe Caramagna
Designer: Tom Muller
Cover Artist: Dustin Weaver
Variant Cover: Jorge Zaffino
Rated T+
In Shops: Nov 27, 2019
Solicitation:
THE HIGH PRICE OF A NEW DAWN!
X-Force is the CIA of the mutant world-one half intelligence branch, one half special ops. Beast, Jean Grey and Sage on one side, Wolverine, Kid Omega and Domino on the other. In a perfect world, there would be no need for an X-Force. We’re not there…yet.
Review:
It’s nice to see the premise of mutant immortality put on the table so soon. Otherwise, it might be a distraction from any story that needs to be told. Unfortunately, it threatens to put a book on a path to explain plot holes rather than tell engaging stories. The first issue sought to strike a balance with an invasion of Krakoa balanced against the perimeter of Krakoan security being explained.
We see that Xavier has backed up Cerebro and trusts another telepath to serve the role that he did in restoring the stored memories that Cerebro keeps. Unfortunately, there’s not enough balance with the tale of Wolverine and Kid Omega tracking down where the assassins were made. As you expect, it gets a little gross in a place where people are printed to order.
The artwork does its job, and makes a lot of analysis interesting. Black Tom Cassidy’s grief at failing in his job is conveyed well, but shunted to the background a little too much for my taste. There are moments that should play better, such as Jean probing the surviving assassin’s mind. There are moments where Joshua Cassara ignores some basics of anatomy. Sometimes those broken rules are justified by the action, and other times, they just distract me as a reader. However, that last page is a keeper, and does its job really well.
Final rating: 7.0 (out of 10)