X-Force, Vol. 7

X-Force (2019)

by Benjamin Percy

Collects X-Force (2019) 39-42.

It's a new era for X-Force - and a new era means new members! Laura Kinney, A.K.A. Wolverine, and Piotr Rasputin, A.K.A. Colossus, join the team. Let's just hope one of them isn't harboring a deadly secret that's set to destroy their teammates! The revamped squad must contend with Beast's plans, as well as a blast from the past - and future! The once-Kid Omega is back! But where has he been? What's different about him? And where is he taking the team? Mysteries will be revealed as Hank McCoy's dark agenda is fully exposed! But what will this revelation mean for mutantkind, and does X-Force still have time to stop what's been set in motion?

Genres: Comics, Marvel, X Men, Graphic Novels, Superheroes, Comic Book, Graphic Novels Comics

112 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 11, 2023

About the author

Benjamin Percy is the author of seven novels -- most recently The Sky Vault (William Morrow) -- three short fiction collections, and a book of essays, Thrill Me, that is widely taught in creative writing classrooms. He writes Wolverine, X-Force, and Ghost Rider for Marvel Comics. His fiction and nonfiction have been published in Esquire (where he is a contributing editor), GQ, Time, Men's Journal, Outside, the Wall Street Journal, Tin House, and the Paris Review. His honors include an NEA fellowship, the Whiting Writer's Award, the Plimpton Prize, two Pushcart Prizes, the iHeart Radio Award for Best Scripted Podcast, and inclusion in Best American Short Stories and Best American Comics.

Reviews

[Baba · Rating 3 out of 5]

X-Force gets a new leader/overseer, two new members, one of whom could be a double agent of doom and misery! As well has having to deal with the ever darkening Beast an X-Forcer is back, from the future! Another multi-timeline X-book story, but as ever with the likes of Deadpool, Kid Omega and Domino all OK written makes this book continue to shine (a bit) amongst all the Marvel drivel being made in the 2020s. A Three Star, 6.4 out of 12 read.

2015 read

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Percy does a mild shake up to the lineup and embarks on a series of increasingly outlandish missions across the far-flung future to have X-Force face off against a series of increasingly grotesque variants of Hank McCoy. I enjoyed the banter and the art and honestly just didn't try to think about logic or continuity or who was eviscerating who or what and as a result enjoyed myself for the most part.


When in doubt just serve up a Fastball Special.

[Matthew Ward · Rating 4 out of 5]

Continuing to really enjoy this one. The Deadpool moments are fun. Glad to have gotten some Kid Omega back! The Beast moments make sense and are just as good as he is bad. The Colossus storyline really has me intrigued to see where this will eventually go. Really good stuff here!

[Adam Fisher · Rating 3 out of 5]

After Sinister's chance in the spotlight (which ended up alright and had real consequences for the Ruling Council), I'm getting around to what I will refer to as Beast's Betrayal. Turns out his machinations have much longer lasting effects and have run much longer then we thought. With Sage now in charge of the team, and a new base being built, and Beast gone, you'd think things would go back to a kind of normal, but then Kid Omega (Quentin Quire) shows back up as an old man, after being presumed dead for a long time. Off they go through time to shut down the most threatening versions of Beast.
Overall, the story was entertaining enough to enjoy. Recommend.

[Tyler Jenkins · Rating 3 out of 5]

I guess I just don’t care about this Beast story anymore. Beast being the villain has almost completely taken over two whole volumes of two whole series. X-Force and Wolverine have been about the same thing for months now and I’m over it. At least X-Force seems to be moving on to a plot that has gone nowhere since they introduced it over a year ago.

[Frédéric · Rating 1 out of 5]

4 pointless episodes. The first sees Sage promoted to head of X-Force with Colossus as Party Komissar. I'm so excited. Nah, just kiddin’.
This is followed by a trip to different futures to kill Future Beasts. Completed in 3 episodes, this mini-arc leaves a strong taste of nothing in the mouth. After a 3* rating for the previous volume this feel more like the Percy I know.

Two interchangeable artists illustrate the whole thing. None of them are shameful, but none of them are memorable either.

[Dakota Morgan · Rating 2 out of 5]

With Beast subdued, if not defeated, you'd think X-Force would move on to a new storyline. And you'd be right! At least, at first.

Colossus is assigned the new head of X-Force, ideally to provide better oversight than Beast. Of course, we know he's compromised, being run by his evil Russian brother. So, you'd expect this volume to be all about that stuff, right?

Wrong. Instead, Old Man Quentin Quite arrives from the future so that he can take X-Force to various other futures to defeat Beast variants there. Yes, Beast again, this time weirder and more easily dispatched. There's plenty of fighting, if that's your thing. Deadpool is a member of the team too, so quips are constant.

Ultimately, this was a real wheel-spinner of a volume, especially with cool stuff like Fall of X happening elsewhere.

[Rahul Nadella · Rating 2 out of 5]

This volume just speeds through to its conclusion, never stopping for a moment to allow the characters to collect themselves, adjust to the new location or even come up with a strategy to beat Nimrod Beast. X-Force in this volume could best be described as just casual observers, watching the problem of Beast being solved rather than actually participating in his downfall. It's a move that not only destroys the image of Beast being a dangerous villain, but also makes the heroes look like they are incapable of solving conflicts. The plots potential was trumped by its goofy culmination and inadequate storytelling.

[Aisling · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5

[Bertazzo · Rating 1 out of 5]

Crazy that someone has paid Percy to write that.

[Michael Church · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was pretty bad. First know going into this that you need to read some Wolverine issues between X-Force Volumes 6 and 7 (I think Wolverine 30-32, collected in Volume 6 of Percy’s run). However, there’s not even an editor note calling that out. It’s extremely abrupt and makes no attempts to connect any dots between the issues.

We rush through some changes in the roster. Laura is back to be a rebel without a cause yet again. There’s a random battle and then Kid Omega shows up to tie up that loose end from ages ago. We see alternate futures where Beast is super evil. None of them are well explained. None of them are actually tied back to the present in a way that it makes any sense for X-Force to defeat them the way they did (instead, just find his stashes in the present and destroy them - how are we still messing up how the multiverse works in X-Men comics??).

There are a bunch of stupid Deadpool jokes and forced old man jokes from Kid Omega. The Robert Gill art wasn’t great, but Paul Davidson’s is even rougher and more off-putting. It all comes together to make a package that was so eloquently described on the Cerebro podcast as “older brother comics.”

I already have the next volume because I want to know how this Colossus story ends, but boy this is rough.

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 4 out of 5]

X-Force head across the timeline with new members Wolverine and Colossus, as Kid Omega returns and sends everyone into some truly gnarly futures in order to prevent Beast's long game from coming true.

Four issues is fairly short for a Marvel trade these days, but these are a fun little premise. It's probably nice to get X-Force away from Krakoa and its madness for a while, and the futures Percy throws the team into are just twisted enough to differentiate themselves from most of the other horrible futures that the X-Men find themselves in. Colossus' addition is also intriguing, given all of the other stuff that's been playing out with him elsewhere involving his brother.

Robert Gill starts off this volume before ceding the book to Paul Davidson, whose angular style I've always enjoyed since his days on X-Factor and X-Men Legacy. He's certainly a lot more distinctive than Gill, who I tend to have trouble recognising.

Short and sweet, but fun. Also, lots of Deadpool, which is nice.

[RubiGiráldez RubiGiráldez · Rating 3 out of 5]

Con la marcha de Logan de Krakoa y, por lo tanto, de X-Force debido a la conversión maléfica de Bestia que ha derivado en conceder el liderazgo total a Sage. Benjamin Percy trata de mantener relevante esta cabecera cuando se nota que lo mejor de todo este contexto se ha trasladado al comic individual de Lobezno. La X-Force trata de suplir ausencia con Laura (ex X-23), quien es normal que se sienta como un reemplazo de "uniforme similar". Pero poco se puede meditar cuando Quentin Quire regresa de forma más que curiosa en forma de un anciano viajero del tiempo que alerta de futuros post apocalípticos debido a cuerpos de reemplazo de Bestia repartidos por el mundo y que se activan de una u otra forma tras su muerte. Motivando otro conjunto de aventuras "Rated R" "al peso" que apenas epatan hasta llegar a lo que sí parece una trama a la altura de las circunstancias con la amenaza latente ligada a Coloso.

[Joey Nardinelli · Rating 3 out of 5]

I honestly enjoyed this better than volume six but I think some of the same problems were still in abundance. I don’t feel like this actually resolved anything going on with Beast, but it did give some resolution to Kid Omega’s disappearance back in the fourth or fifth volume of this current run. Still not loving the crossover requirements to reading these coherently (guess I need to start going through my Wolverine backlog for this), and this all still feels a bit too parallel to what just went down in Sins of Sinister. There needs to be more to disrupt or subvert the parallel than simply Charles waxing about how Beast is defending Krakoa where Sinister was self-serving. It just doesn’t square with the ideals, even given the Quiet Council as an increasingly bankrupt (or was it just always that way?) organizational head of state.

[Ross · Rating 2 out of 5]

Where to begin?

Wolverine has shown the Counsil just what Beast has been up to. He's dead at their feet. Their response is, 'Ehhh. Could be worse.' With Wolverine resisting a berserker rage across Krakoa, we get a team reset...sort of. Wolverine (X-23; not Talon) gets the call from new team leader, Sage. There's some sweet talking going on until a senile, bearded, no teeth having Quentin Quire shows up and rushes them all off to 'save the world'

Welcome to, IMHO, the worst time travel story of the modern era. There's Krakoa-Beast hybrids. We see a Krakoa the size of the moon. Even get the big bad of the story, in a Nimrod-Beast hybrid.

It's.
F#*@ing.
Awful.
----------
Bonus: Deadpool deep cuts the trivia buffs with a Threnody callback
Bonus: Don't play drinking games with Wolverine. She clearly cheats.

[Khurram · Rating 2 out of 5]

The best thing I can say about this book is that it is a quick short read. It was a very disappointing rushed book. I felt like a member of X-Force just being thrown head first from one thing to another.

Beast is out and on the run, with Wolverine on his trail. That I'd continued in Wolverine's book, this book runs alongside the Wolverine storyline. Now, with new leadership and a slight change in membership (I think the guest star summed them ip perfectly), X-Force must deal with the fallout from Beast's plots and plans. Ready. Set. Go!!!

I was expecting more from this book, X-Force is supposed to be the block ops, the bas@$$ not the jokes. The only redeeming things about the book is Sage working through her issues, Laura being on the team, and it is quick. The book finishes more or less where it starts and ends with a varient cover gallery.

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

I guess I read this and the latest Wolverine out of order, since this one begins in the aftermath of whatever happened between Wolvie and Beast. Four issues really isn't much to develop a story in and what we get is more warmed-over alternate futures, though this time, with Beast in charge (since he's gone and "seeded" versions of himself throughout the timeline, so they can rise up and serve as the mutants' savior in their time of need or something, though the Nimrod Beast of the far future just seems to be the ruling overlord of his planet/timeline). With all this seriousness, I'm not sure I want a joke-cracking Deadpool added to the mix. The art is decent throughout.

[Subham · Rating 2 out of 5]

This volume was a downer and starts off with Laura being recruited into the team and then becomes weird with the Beast storyline still going and them becomes whimsical or silly and we are supposed to take it seriously.. like X-Force has to defeat a bunch of Beast alternates who have taken over the world.. some places where he is a cthulu and others where he has become a Nimrod-beast of sorts and its just silly and wild and not in a good way.. It could have been a good story but man have they been dragging the story for the whole run now feels like. Not a good volume at all.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hey a 1-issue coda to the overly long Beast saga. That's nice a chance to wrap things up, and then Quentin's back ... and ... oh my stars and garters, it's another )*(@#$@ing Beast saga.

Honestly, not as bad as it sounds because Percy drags us through some really wacky futures which are fun and weird, but in the end it just feels like space filler to pad out the time between V6 and the Fall of X.

And even worse is the taunting of a resolution to the Colossus weirdness that doesn't go anywhere.

[Fiona · Rating 3 out of 5]

i'm genuinely interested to see what they do with the upcoming x-men movies and how they'll align with where the comics are at because beast has been such a villain for years now and it'd be so weird to see him on the main team

also omg i feel so bad for colossus where are his friends why is no one concerned about him being possessed lol. domino please do something!! also should we be shipping them??

[Alex Sarll]

Even for me, two time wars focused on Stonehenge in one day feels excessive. With the main plot of Beast's increasingly ludicrous turn to the dark side being resolved in Wolverine's solo book, a decrepit Quentin Quire returns to tell the rest of the team something terribly important, if he could only remember what, and lead them on a side quest through worlds that push the X-books' dark futures habit over the line into grim comedy. Enormous fun, in a gruesome sort of way.

[Trevor · Rating 2 out of 5]

ANOTHER "we have to stop alternate futures controlled by our enemy" story so soon after Sins of Sinister was already a bad idea, but this one especially pales in comparison to that because while Sins of Sinister had many issues to develop its timeline and worlds, this is a huge story poorly crammed into just a few issues. The story just moves too fast to ever really care about anything that is happening.

[Sean · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a slight letdown as we get the flip side of the Wolverine/Beast war and its pretty lackluster. The book was funnier than I expected but this was only four issues and felt slight. The development of Sage is nice to see and Laura joining makes a bunch of sense. There just wasn't enough meat on the bone here. I really did enjoy the artwork but a couple artists. Overall, an okay read, I guess, but just left me wanting.

[Chad · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ugh, I'm so tired of evil Beast stories. Even though Beast is out as leader, he's found a way to make himself a menace in the future. Hail the return of Quentin Quire so they can go to an alternate future and boringly stop the Beast. Do Percy's plots in his novels spin their wheels for this long? If so, every one would be 1,000 pages long.

[Micah Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s kinda fun while also being mostly meaningless and unoriginal. We get another story where mutants are fighting an alternate future, but this one actually has no bearing or threat on the past. We get a fun refresh on the character roster, but unfortunately Deadpool is still around and in the hands of a writer who has no idea how to use him.

[Charles Korb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Each issue is a fun little action adventure story, though the overall plot between them makes very little sense as to why kid omega would do things that way and it strains credulity that the threats, positioned how they are, could be defeated by sometimes a single member of x-force in a single issue.

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Turns a plot that was set up long ago into Beast monsters and a Beast robot in the distant future. It might be better. Like a story from Uncanny X-Force. But here it doesn’t have quite enough space for the plot to breathe. I still liked it. Not sure why.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a pity this terrific, creative run has been smothered under the weight of shite that forms the most of the rest of the Krakoan era books.

This is another excellent arc where we see Beast further descend into madness.

[Andres Pasten · Rating 3 out of 5]

Una historia entretenida, pero siguen sin poder salir de la madeja de Beast

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

An adequate pairing to Wolverine, but feels less urgent and exciting