X-Force, Vol. 5

X-Force (2019)

by Benjamin Percy (Writer), Robert Gill (Illustrator), Joshua Cassara

Enter Cerebrax! As Wolverine returns to Krakoa, a mind-melding new threat grips the island via a security flaw that X-Force will have to patch — with extreme prejudice! Where does Cerebrax come from, and what does it want with Forge? Its hunger for minds is insatiable — but when Cerebrax absorbs the consciousnesses and powers of Krakoa’s most powerful mutants, X-Force will need to step it up, big time! But just as Quentin Quire starts to live up to his potential, Cerebrax targets the biggest mutant of all…Krakoa itself! A fight this big is going to take all the power X-Force can muster. Can the team triumph against the island that kills like a man?

COLLECTING: X-Force (2019) 27-33

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

192 pages, Paperback

Published January 17, 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]

The first and better half of this volume features the team trying to induct Omega Red (for his own good) and Deadpool (he whined for a try-out for months); and of course the good is the attempt by Omega Red to work with X-Force. The much weaker second half via Judgment Day as Kraven the Hunter gunning for X-Force! Drivel! The worse thing is that so much iof the dialogue is really good, its yhe core concepts and plotting that are banal. Still a 6 out of 12 Three Star jam.

2024 read

[Oscar · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was good! 3.35 🌟

[johnny ♡ · Rating 3 out of 5]

deadpool SHOULD be allowed on krakoa and that's just facts.

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Points deducted for the second arc, Kraven the Hunter is just not a credible threat to the Krakoan mutants no matter how fixedly murderous he's presented. Also, the Deadpool Body Horror Show was a bit much, (self-aware) comic relief character or not.

[Khurram · Rating 3 out of 5]

The most dysfunctional X-MEN at their most dysfunctional. Could this be the end of X-FORCE? On the eve of Judgment Day and with mistrust for the mutants and Krakoa, there might not be anyone to save.

X-FORCE must save Krakoa from another hungry mechanical intrusion. However, this victory will come at a heavy price. Also, there is a battle for leadership of X-FORCE between Sage and Beast.

Kraven the Hunter has set his sight on Krakoa and the mutants in general. With Wolverine facing his trial in his book is there anyone who can stop him?

I think this team need direction, I hope the leadership row gets sorted soon as well as possible having the team work together and not try to kill each other. The book finishes with a variant cover gallery.

[Marco · Rating 4 out of 5]

Best arc so far.

[Chris Roundhill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Decent Kraven arc

Not in love with the X-Force lately but I did enjoy the Kraven arc here quite a bit. The rest was par for the course.

[Matthew Ward · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this series! Beast, Wolverine, Deadpool, Omega Red, and Kraven! What more should I say? Except I will say that Kraven’s desire to hunt the mutants kept me fascinated with this story. Great stuff!

[Alex Sarll]

As with so many other stories about the serpents in the garden of Krakoa, all currently looking far more interesting than itself, Fall Of X has rendered X-Force's central theme somewhat moot. Who cares about Beast's increasingly monstrous embrace of the end justifying the means if, when push came to shove, he couldn't achieve the end of protecting the mutant state? Still, as Logan says to Quire here, "Safety's an illusion, Kid. Life will kill you. X-Force is here to slow down the killing. That's all we can do." Which is to say, the stories here are still good, so long as you ignore the medium to long term, which is already pretty standard for corporate comics. The entertainment value is particularly surprising in the first three issues here, given they're a sequel to the same writer's misbegotten X Lives Of Wolverine and heavily feature Omega Red, but the new antagonist fits perfectly with the series' tradition of gruesome mad science.

The second half of the collection is considerably more diffuse and, bar the opening pages, completely ignores the problem with which the first half left the team. Though to be fair they have plenty of other problems to occupy them: AXE is happening, Kraven is being the sub-Nietzschean wanker he is in everything except Squirrel Girl, Omega Red and Deadpool are acting like the world's deadliest problem children, Sage is drunk... oh, and Beast is still being Beast. I'm not convinced any of it hangs together, but I'll forgive a lot for the very Evil Dead sequence with Wade.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little more team-book, a little more fighting against some tough enemies - a sentient Cerebro helmet? Kraven stalking the mutants? Deadpool being an ass?

Wouldn’t call this book FUN exactly, but it’s been a solid entry in the annals of melancholy - what if you get everything you want? And THEN what?

Beast is attempting to claim full supervillain status (10% discount on Armageddon weapons), Omega Red is almost a character worth noticing, and an oddly-thematic crossover doesn’t seem to have screwed with the story (or IS IT exactly this story, Eternals fucking with the Immortal X-Men)?

Deadpool getting digested by a bear, that’s pretty on-brand.

[Tiag⊗ the Mutant · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 4 out of 5]

First, a sentient Cerebro Drive attacks Krakoa - fear Cerebrax! Then, as part of Judgment Day, Kraven The Hunter comes to the island with only one thing in mind - the Hunt for X!

X-Force's adventures continue in two tales that bring new member Omega Red into the fold after the events of X Lives/Deaths of Wolverine. The Cerebrax story is clever, and is something that I would have expected to happen one way or another - those Cerebro drives are always going to be a problem until they're not. The Judgment Day story is a little less interesting, mostly because Percy's inner monologue for Kraven gets a tad repetitive.

All seven issues here are pencilled by series artist Robert Gill, which I think might be the most consistent the art's been on this book for a good while. Gill's always solid if not particularly remarkable, but that's not a bad thing as much as it might sound it.

This is probably more of a 3.5 than a full 4, but I'm in a good mood today so we're rounding up. X-Force is now the longest running X-book I believe, mostly because it's consistently enjoyable if not the best of the bunch.

[Ross · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oh look...ANOTHER 'Cerebro becomes sentient' story.

This time, it's even eating brains and developing mutant powers(?!). Enter, Cerebrax. It's Pac-Man'ing the powerful mutants on Krakoa and nobody is safe.

We still see that Beast is as self righteous as ever (but with one eye now). Sage is at her breaking point (and LOVING her flask). Omega Red officially gets a 'OOPS! Our bad'. Deadpool is even given access to Krakoa after the help he gave in recent Wolverine issues. This is a book of distractions, at the moment. We just had Piotr give his girlfriend a bearhug last series and NOBODY has gone to check on her?? A.x.E. is also going on concurrently and how does X-Force handle a battle with Eternals?

...Kraven. Kraven hunts Wolverine.

I...I just...*sigh*

Bonus: Quentin Quire ...so much for the Omega
Bonus Bonus: That's right, Omega Red...'it's just protein going to waste'

[Rahul Nadella · Rating 2 out of 5]

An odd and thematically anti-climatic end to the X-Force Judgement Day tie in as well as the story arc as a whole. The carnage and action feels mostly empty and we end where we began. Who cares about Kraven? His threat feels forced rather than organic. The ending also gives an interesting promise for a future conflict that makes me look forward to where the X-Men line in general is headed next.

[Aisling · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5

[Trevor Dailey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent trade. The Cerebrax portion was pretty gnarly. I liked the Judgment Day tie-ins better. Kraven is edge-Lord demented. Might be time for Percy to step aside.

[Adam Fisher · Rating 4 out of 5]

This Volume had A LOT going on, but was very good throughout.
Highlights:
- Altered by the events of X Lives/X Deaths of Wolverine, the Cerebro helmet that was used gains a life of its own. Specifically targeting X-Force, the entity dubs itself Cerebrax and begins searching for a host. With Omega Red joining X-Force on invite from Sage, the team has a new heavy hitter. All the stops are called out, but Kid Omega pays the price when his essence is erased from all Cerebro units as he dies helping take down Cerebrax.
- Wolverine confronts Krakoa himself, wondering why Kid Omega's being can no longer be sensed in the Cradle. Xavier redirects him to the stronger issues at hand.
- Issue 1: Krakoa's image. Since the secret of resurrection got out, the world is slowly turning against mutants again. In order to pull negative publicity away, Beast sends Omega Red and Deadpool to save a ship of trafficked mutants. Omega Red botches the mission because he sails the mutants to Krakoa instead of a strategically placed media crew. Deadpool botches things because he gets caught up in a hunt by Kraven (more on that in a min)
- Issue 2: A.X.E. and the invasion by the Eternals. While the main part of the battle doesn't show much here, Kraven plays a huge role in events happening on Krakoa during the battle (which I assume is elsewhere.... haven't read A.X.E. yet) Using Deadpool's head to be able to pass through a gate to the island, Kraven begins hunting mutants, seeking to prove himself the best like always.
- The final showdown with Kraven (involving Wolverine, Omega Red, and Beast) takes place in the Shadow Room, a place like the Danger Room that was set up by Sage for Omega Red to be able to let his feral side out. Kraven survives in the end, but seeing the corpse of the Celestial, he vows to get revenge on the mutants again someday.

On to Hellfire Gala AND A.X.E. Finally! Been really looking forward to it. This was a great book to stop on before it. What are we heading for with all these X-Books?

Strong recommend.

[RubiGiráldez RubiGiráldez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hay una subida de revoluciones con este nuevo volumen de X-Force. Benjamin Percy vuelve a pillar desprevenido al lector y aprovecha para integrar una curiosa consecuencia de una miniserie paralela con Lobezno. Lo cual lleva a que el casco Cerebro cobre una consciencia totalmente perversa en sus directrices de aprender y ASIMILAR que empiezan a convertir a Krakoa en un coto de caza (algo que posteriormente explotará en unos números bastantes curiosos desprendidos del evento Judgement Day). Algo que pondrá a prueba el método de resurreción mutante produciendo una primera gran baja en sus filas. Motivando una reestructuración de la X-Force que promueve el que Omega Rojo expíe parte de sus pecados más recientes al contar con el respaldo de Sage y la aversión total de la mayor parte de los demás miembros del equipo. Siendo Bestia alguien que empieza a ver comprometido su liderazgo y apuesta por la supervivencia. Pero por supuesto, el retorno de Deadpool es lo que termina insuflando gran parte de un nuevo caos que alguien tan comprometido como Kraven el Cazador (ojo, truco aquí con su identidad) aprovechará para encontrar nuevas presas en su interminable cacería.

Son un conjunto de capítulos que vuelve a defender cierto "Parental Advisory" en cuanto a la violencia gráfica en viñetas. Pero que espero que dejen a bien un próximo transcurrir de la cabecera que haga que Benjamin Percy mantenga el interés en la presencia de Omega Rojo o la división clara con Bestia.

[Subham · Rating 4 out of 5]

This volume was so much fun like we have so much happening and its wild how its building towards some big stuff like the initial story vs "Cerebrax" and whatever it became and the body horror of it and like what the team does to stop it, and yeah it feels like a repeat of other X-Men story which involves rogue cerebro but I like how it challenged the team and brought them together and like the big sacrifice of Quentin and I wonder where he is.

I also liked how it shows Quentin sacrifice and all that and like creates mystery, and then the next one showing Omega red and Deadpool joining the team and the mess of it, and then enter Kraven and him attacking the team and its just ruthless, I feel like his battle with Wolverine and beast could have been 2 more issues and show the actual ferocity of the hunter vs prey, but it was reduced and also Judgement day tie-in and all that, so a lot was going on.. if you haven't read the main event you don't need to but its fun seeing that battle and Kraven could be like one of Wolverine's main enemies.

But I really like how this volume handles so many story beats and shows our heroes being challenged like no other and the plots with Russia and all build, and I love the comedy with DP, Percy writes him so well and some art scenes while he is growing his body back are just gross lol, but overall really enjoyed it and highly recommend it!

[Michael Church · Rating 2 out of 5]

The magic on this one might have finally worn off. Neither of the two arcs in this volume did much for me. The first spotlighted Kid Omega a bit, before he was taken off the board. The second focused on Kraven the Hunter, of all people. As someone who has barely read anything about Kraven before, this story especially missed the mark for me. It was also right in the middle of AXE: Judgement Day, so it also felt really out of place having this weird adventure while the world is on fire.

I struggled to care about anything that was going on because it gave so much panel space to Kraven and his internal monologue. Meanwhile, Omega Red and Sage have a ton going on, are actual mutants, and hardly get any focus. Instead we get a weird moment of Beast talking about how he can still be in the field, and Wolverine getting pushed out of the book and then pulled back into it.

The art was pretty solid, at least, though a lot of the time it felt like it was more concerned with showing off the gore that Robert Gill can get away with than anything else.

I want to keep liking this book. Hell, it’s the only one that’s still in the original run from the HoX/PoX relaunch besides Wolverine, I think, but this volume nearly lost me.

[Jason Tanner · Rating 4 out of 5]

All in all, I thought this was pretty fun. Beast is still terrible at his job. But he still thinks it's everyone else's fault, so he's becoming increasingly authoritarian and unhinged. (Honestly, they'd be better off getting Dark Beast's floating head from Sinister to do the job. He's sadistic but at least he's self-aware.) Sage is countering Beast to the best of her ability, but she's having troubles of her own, struggling with stress and alcohol. Kid Omega left just as he was becoming interesting. Forge had a real bad day. Domino had less to do than usual. Colossus is still in thrall to his evil brother and the Author Wolverine is working out some feelings over the X Lives and X Deaths miniseries, so Omega Red and Deadpool are filling in...with some infighting between them. Kraven decided to hunt mutants because they are functionally immortal and he thinks that's lame. Also, he refers to himself as a clone more than once. Is this a clone of Kraven? Or is that how he's processing his resurrection now? I thought it was magical in nature? I'll have to look into it. Also, A.X.E. Judgment Day crossover stuff happens during the Kraven arc.

[Rick Ray · Rating 2 out of 5]

In this volume of Percy's ongoing X-Force run, the team confronts Cerebrax, an entity that absorbs the consciousness and abilities of all the stored mutant data found on Cerebro. Adding to the mix is Kraven the Hunter who looks to challenge himself by taking on X-Force. Rounding out this volume is another annoying Deadpool beat and more teasing of an evil Beast (just do it already).

Compared to his Wolverine run, Percy manages to strike a livelier beat with X-Force that prevents this series from being completely bad, but it's still not great here. There's a lot of wheel-spinning going on here, and the fact that half this volume is a tie in to A.X.E.: Judgment Day doesn't help either. The artwork by Robert Gill is generally nice though, and the light-hearted tone makes this a breezy, entertaining enough read.

[Dakota Morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another merely adequate X-Force volume. Cerebrax shows up and is just as quickly dispatched. You basically get enough time to say "what's the deal with this villain," and then they're discarded for the next opponent.

That next opponent happens to be Kraven the Hunter, who has decided that mutants are Earth's new apex predator. He picks Wolverine as the apex among apexes. Guess how that goes! It's a rather silly story oddly set against the backdrop of AXE. So like, the Eternals are decimating X-Men everywhere, but X-Force are very focused on keeping Kraven in check. Hmm.

It's all fine and fast-paced, but I long for Beast or Sage's big plan to come to fruition. It seems like those two are tugging a number of strings (Sage with Omega Red especially) and I'd like to see it amount to something.

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

Four issues devoted to a dumb story about Kraven the Hunter stalking mutants on Krakoa is about 3 1/2 issues too many. Kraven's one of the dumbest and least interesting characters in the entire MCU. The rest of this focuses on a Cerebro backup unit that somehow becomes sentient and starts to kill and eat mutants, absorbing their powers. I wish we could get back to some of the more serious threats facing the mutants, like Orchis. Still, it's almost unheard of to have the same artist on a run of seven issues, so that's something...

[Joey Nardinelli · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nothing here is really all that appealing, likely a result of needing to cram some of the Eternals plot like into the back half. Omega Red is mildly interesting here, as is Kid Omega (who somehow haven’t had a team up yet to my knowledge), but everyone else including Sage and Beast feel flat. Deadpool remains a gimmick. I also just couldn’t care less about Kraven, who feels unnecessary and forever into the back half of this volume just to have an antagonist in play. Also, to run four issues as the back half and have no resolution to the earlier plot threads feels unnecessarily convoluted.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 3 out of 5]

This volume starts off slightly better than the last few because we get great follow-up to the Omega Red situation, highlighting the cancerous problems within X-Force (mainly: Beast). There's also great characterization of Sage and Quentin (though the battle with Cerebrax is just that).

But then in the second volume, Percy decides that Kraven would be a great foe? And could actually kill a bunch of mutants. It's can't-suspend-my-disbelief ridiculous, even if we do get continued good work with Omega Red and Wade.

[Chad · Rating 2 out of 5]

Two uninspired stories from Percy. I think it's about time for him to go. First up a sentient Cerebro helmet craves brains. Then Kraven the Hunter comes to Krakoa during Judgement Day. Percy has some fun with Deadpool but this current Kraven (who's a clone) is very one-note.

What is surprising is Robert Gill and Guru-eFX do all the issues without a fill-in. I didn't realize Marvel artists could still meet a deadline for that many months in a row. Kudos to Gill.

[Micah Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

This volume suffers from the fact that Percy can’t write a 6-issue arc anymore (I don’t know if that’s by his choice or editorial). It starts strong with some rich character development for Kid Omega in what would have been a great exploration of his character with a little time to breath… only to waste potential and fizzle out so it can jump to another story… which is a lackluster event tie-in. Also… Deadpool is in it I guess?

[Adan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Remember when Hank thought Scott was too militant and he brought the original X-Men to the present so he could remind Scott of their innocence? Somebody probably needs to do something like that for Hank because that dude is way too militant.

The Crebrax story was some nonsense WTFery, but the Kraven story was pretty good. Not sure why they had to bundle it with the Judgment Day stuff, but here we are.

[Natalie (Rosie) · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5/5
I’m a fan of parts of the X-Force and the clear buildup and character arc of Beast but not so much a fan of the first story arc in this TPB - I would like to see more of Omega Red, Domino, and Sage (I know we get a good amount of Sage already but more can’t hurt) rather than Wolverine and Beast. A little of Beast goes a long way - maybe just because he irritates me so much…