X-Force, Vol. 2: Hide/Fear

X-Force (2014) (Collected Editions)

by Simon Spurrier, Mike Carey, Christos Gage

X-Force barely survived the superhuman arms dealer Volga - and with their secrets brought to light, they're barely surviving each other. How will Cable's team keep it together to carry out their mission? Will Domino's return help or hurt them? While pursuing the foe who killed one of their own, X-Force runs afoul of the UK's superhuman operatives: Pete Wisdom and MI13! Can X-Force out-spy the best spy there is? As the two factions come to blows, a third player secretly threatens to wipe them all off the board! X-Force targets ForgetMeNot, a mutant who may hold the key to defeating their greatest adversary!

COLLECTING: X-Force 7-10, X-Men Legacy 300

Genres: Comics, Marvel, X Men, Graphic Novels, Superheroes, Science Fiction, Fiction

120 pages, Paperback

First published February 3, 2015

Reviews

[Baba · Rating 4 out of 5]

With Volga escaping in the last volume, X-Force still has work to do knowing that time is a huge factor because of Cable's condition. This volume includes probably the best story from the second series of X-Men Legacy - the debut of ForgetMeNot. In X-Force #7 to #10, somehow the superb writing and art continues; Fantomex's shocking way of relieving stress has to be seen to be believed! The SAS story is phenomenal and guests some familiar faces! The interwoven plot with all the team's personal strengths and insecurities impacting at one point or another is priceless! This. Is. X-Force. A very strong 9 out of 12, Four Star, hugely recommended read for X-Force fans.

2018

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Simon Spurrier's unique bland of craziness continues as the X-Force team cross paths with Pete Wisdom and MI13, and the star of X-Men Legacy #300, ForgetMeNot.

Spurrier's long-term plot continues to grow as X-Force continue on their quest to stop arms dealer Volga from supplying the entire world with mutant-creating technology, and the cracks are beginning to show within the X-Force team themselves, especially Cable and Fantomex. The opening storyline with Domino is oddly forgotten, but I expect will be picked back up in volume 3 once Cable and friends go to save her, but the rest of the volume is great fun. I was saddened that they didn't collect X-Men Legacy #300 in Spurrier's X-Men Legacy trades, but at least I can own it in this trade instead. It's a little out of place here, but it does serve to introduce the character of ForgetMeNot who is then pivotal in X-Force's final arc.

The artwork from Rock He Kim in the first three issues won't be for everyone, but I really enjoy the realistic and angular style that he employs. Again, Tan Eng Huat's art in the final issue will also likely rub people the wrong way, but as a fan of his from X-Men Legacy, he fits the zany subject matter of the issue very well.

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

Spurrier's plot continues to be a mess and the switch from Rock-He Kim to Tan Eng Huat as lead artist doesn't help things (Huat's artwork seems to be devolving and getting less and less coherent as time goes on). Still, there were some good things here, like the interaction with MI-13 and the origin story of ForgetMeNot, who is sort of like those creatures on the new Dr. Who that you forget about as soon as you turn your back on them. I don't know what's up with Fantomex, but not sure I care for it.

[47Time · Rating 4 out of 5]

Meme is in reality Hope who is copying her power, but she doesn't want Cable to know. Marrow volunteered for Volga's experiments, which made her lose her pregnancy. Cable is kept in stasis because of Volga's drug and his clones are dying after a single day. The team has little going for it, so it's become more fun to see how they manage.

Cable intends to watch anyone that can lead X-Force to Volga. Meanwhile Domino is captured by a mysterious bad guy who is watching mutants, including X-Force. The parallel between Cable and the bad guy is beautifully done - they both invade privacies for different goals, so is one right and the other wrong?

X-Force infiltrates a squad of British soldiers working under MI13 in a war-torn desert country who turn out to be unregistered superpowered humans. X-Force teams up with them to go against Volga's mountain base. The soldiers also have powers given by Volga, but were unaware that they would die within a year, so they sacrifice themselves to defeat Volga's guards. X-Force discovers that Volga is tracking them via bugs and Dr. Nemesis uses one of them to find Volga's headquarters.

[C · Rating 4 out of 5]

Continuing the great x-read of 2017/18...

I can't help myself - I just really dig this book. On its own, this volume probably would have netted 3 stars from me but the inclusion of the really great forget-me-not origin story makes it jump up a star as it is just so very good. It is funny and even manages to tug at the heartstrings.

I don't feel like Spurrier is always sticking to the characters' existing history at all times, but it seems like he had a much better handle on the whole team in this volume than in the first.

Overall, the volume is a bit all over the place in terms of tone (and even genre) but Spurrier just nails all of them so well that it works. And just like he did in Legacy, he brings forward some great background characters we haven't seen in awhile.

I am just digging the whole series so far. Which sucks since the next volume is apparently the last of the series. I'm starting to get the feeling that Marvel post-2013 or so is pretty much littered with the bodies of series that weren't given time to grow...

[Adam Stone · Rating 1 out of 5]

Even worse than the first volume, Spurrier's messy, narratively dissatisfying, poorly rendered story devolves from "interesting conceits not executed well" to "boring conceits by a poor writer, illustrated by someone who is using a computer rendering program that they don't have a talent for."

There's really nothing here. The lifeless art is reflective of the two-dimensional characters and wooden dialogue. The art on Uncanny X-Men #300 is certainly several steps up, and the story of Forget-Me-Not is more interesting than the X-Force arc but it still lacks depth, and it creates what should be an interesting character idea and just drains it of any fun or emotional depth.

I don't recommend this book unless you like concepts over execution, particularly when it's illustrated poorly. This is in contention for Worst X-Book Ever.

[Tim B · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an amazing volume. Funny, the deeper story line with Domino and the villain spying on all mutants isn’t really what gets me. The first few issues are filled with tension, emotion, and revelation. MI-13 shows up consisting of Meggan, Pete Wisdom, and Excalibur (Hussein). That is how this wound up on my Captain Britain shelf, some old members of Excalibur, his wife, and the Age of Ultron Captain Britain are here. The last two issues are amazingly written. ForgetMeNot is such an intriguing, tragic character. It actually was almost hard to read because you really like the guy. Excellently plotted volume, dynamic writing, and decent art.

[Jesse · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting. They're going strange places with these characters. Fantomex is all murder-happy, and digital Hope is sleeping with him (that's one of the weirder choices, not sure how I feel about it). Betsy is sleeping with perpetually suiciding Cable, which works well enough for me. An entire issue was told from the POV of soldiers being attacked by X-Force, that was real different and cool. Then there was the seemingly unconnected X-Men Legacy 300 story, whose main character went on to star in a truly bizarre X-Force issue. Yep, overall, lots of crazy ideas being thrown around in this book. I mostly love it. Good stuff.

[Villain E · Rating 3 out of 5]

The ideas aren't bad but the writing and art aren't great. Continuing from the previous volume, X-Force is in a rivalry with the mad genetecist Volga. First, Volga captures Domino. Nothing more happens on that story. X-Force goes after some Volga-enhanced soldiers in the Middle East and somehow run afoul of MI13. Then the introduction of ForgetMeNot, a mutant with the power to be forgotten when no one is looking.

There are some clever moments in this, but they don't balance the mostly weak dialogue, one-dimensional characterization, and hard-to-look-at art.

[Brandon Daniels · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another solid trade. This one is a bit more fun and games than plot progression. There is a short arc featuring some British heroes ( it’s a Spurrier book, so of course there is) with more great art from Rock-he Kim. The last two issues featuring Forgetmenot are amusing.

[Sean · Rating 1 out of 5]

Simon Spurrier just doesn't understand X-Men comics. This was an awful read. A terrible plot, incredibly bad dialogue. Poorly written characters with worse dialogue. Somehow the art was worse. Overall, the worst X-Force book I've ever read.

[Nate]

There are a few stories here, though they all feed into the main plot of X-Force going after Volga. I enjoy how Spurrier uses outside characters to narrate or look in on X-Force. The ForgetMeNot arc especially is fascinating (and beautifully tragic). What a great idea for a character.

[Race Bannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very cyberpunk-y but such interesting concepts!

A bit hard to follow but overall very enjoyable.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's always fight first, dialogue later. I guess it wouldn't be much of a superhero story if they just talked all the time. Quasi-mutants are new to me.

[Frans Kempe · Rating 3 out of 5]

The team try to find a cure for Hope and Cable, while finding out that there is a secret organisation spying on all humans. They need the help from Forget me Not

[Keith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay, so wait, this series suddenly got really good.

I know the first book is a little bit terrible, but there was something about it, something cool and kinda, I dunno, winky about the way it was terrible, and I decided I wanted to keep going with it. AND OH MAN.

I love me a good funny X-Men comic. The last masterful X-comic I was into was Wolverine and the X-Men, and boy howdy did that get me back into X-comics like possibly no other X-comic has. And while I am fairly indiscriminate about what X-titles I will at least try, it's so rare that they're as weird and funny and smart as this X-Force run turned out to be. It's just hyperviolent Looney Tunes, and while it's too bleak to actually be 'feel-good,' there's something totally charming about its hopeless nihilism. I feel like Spurrier was legit just trolling the reader for the first five issues, and so the fact that this book got cancelled after 15 issues is both unsurprising and probably his fault. I'm not sure that there's anything about this series that's memorable or worthwhile to the X-verse at large, but it is totally charming and I'm good with that being enough.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bodies (7). A great little done-in-one that does a solid job of characterizing our crew, particularly Nate. [8/10]

Soldiers (8-9). A good expansion of the continuing plot, and it's always terrific to see M13. However, there's too much fighting in the latter part of this story for it to be gripping. A somewhat surprising disappointment [6+/10].

Forget Me Not (XML 300). A fun story about an interesting character and a wonderful return to the Age of X. However, it's all so meta that you have to wonder if it's really in continuity. I would have been unsurprised if this character never showed up again, but ... [7+/10]

Track Me Not (10). Unsurprisingly, Spurrier finds a great use for his new character over in X-Force, which allows not only hi-jinks, but also an interesting look at Spurrier's X-Force from the outside. Overall, an issue that runs the gamut from funny to shocking [7+/10].

Spurrier continues to write good stories here, but the center is weak and feels like it bogs done the overall plot, which just barely moves along in this volume. Still, it's worth reading as a part of the larger whole.

[B · Rating 4 out of 5]

How would the kids describe this today? "It hit me right in the feels" ?

These are all deranged, ultra-violent sociopaths, but they're also very sympathetic.

And the "new" / "old" character -- it's a "twist" power we've seen plenty of times, e.g., Deadpool Classic, Vol. 9 Spider-Girl, Volume 10: Season of the Serpent

Still it works here.

[Mitchell Friedman · Rating 2 out of 5]

Books like this make we wonder if I should just give up reading general Marvel books. Pointless with not especially good art. The guy who everyone immediately forgets is kind of interesting. But that story went on too long and ended up being meaningless as well. No focus on the characters, just on the plot. And the plot is too uninteresting and too slow.

[Lukas Holmes · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought I would give vol. 2 a shot after my disappointment in vol. 1, but it was almost exactly the same. Convoluted stories, confusing artwork, endless monologues and characters that have been altered so much to fit the writer's needs that they are totally unrecognizable. The only plus was a new character introduced toward the end, only to be killed right at the end. Boo.

[Alex Sarll]

Characteristically, when Spurrier wants to write about surveillance and "out-of-touch bastards making violent decisions on everyone else's behalf", the outcome is half Ennis-style war story and half Loony Tunes. This was never likely to find a broad audience, but it's an exhilarating read.

[SmokingMirror · Rating 2 out of 5]

Confusing and not engaging; the team and their characterization are not my favorites. X Men Legacy #300 is fun, though. What a surprise! Fantomex ruins issue 300 and turns out to be a bad guy. I'm not sure why I put this fact in a spoiler section.

[Willow · Rating 4 out of 5]

yus. good. marrow and dr. nemesis bonding over a love of coffee. I can get behind this.

[Daniel Butcher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall really a two.

but the ForgetMeNot origin story really saves the volume.

[Chad · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is everything I hate about comics. It's unnecessarily angsty and nihilistic.