X-Force #12
A new foe rears their head in X-Force #12, by writer Benjamin Percy, artist Bazaluda, colorist Guru-eFX, and letterer Joe Caramagna. Percy and company tie up many strings in this issue, getting things ready for whatever comes after X Of Swords.
In Russia, Mikhail Rasputin and Kid Omega have a discussion as Kid Omega lays dying. Rasputin makes off with Kid Omega, saying he'll find a use for him. The young mutant activates his powers. Back on Krakoa, Beast brings Sage a device from Healer to help with her concussion and has her search the gates to see if she can find out what happened to Kid Omega. Outside of the Russia gate, she finds the words Mikhail burned into the pavement. At a XENO lab, the man in the peacock coat tells those watching how they're going to combat mutants- by grafting parts of them to themselves, becoming more than human or mutant. Mikhail interrupts them. Back on Krakoa, Beast and Black Tom ambush Omega Red and take him into custody. At the lab, Mikhail makes short work of the man that was being augmented while telling XENO's leader that they need to work together against Krakoa. In the Savage Land, Beast, Wolverine, and Domino go to Colossus to take him back to Krakoa. Beast gives him cuffs to wear, and they take him through the portal… only to find most of Krakoa gathered at Beast's insistence to show what happens to people who may have betrayed the island. Wolverine and Domino take great exception to this, with Wolverine even attacking Beast. Back at the lab, Mikhail gifts the XENO leader with Kid Omega's body. Wolverine brings in Jean Grey to probe the minds of Colossus and Omega Red.
Benjamin Percy packs a lot into this comic, but one of the biggest takeaways is just how terrible Beast is when he has power. This is the second time in the series where Percy has shown how Beast's actions are ill-conceived and prone to backfire. He targets Colossus not because he believes Colossus did anything wrong but because he's Russian and Mikhail's brother. Over in Wolverine #3, Percy used the story to shine a bit of a spotlight on real-world Russia's actual tactics of subversion against its enemies, and he uses this issue to highlight another tactic that autocrats like to use- guilt by association. The gathering of mutants that greets Colossus once he gets to Krakoa was Beast's warped way of showing people what happens to traitors… even if they are merely suspected of treachery with no proof.
Wolverine and Domino, while onboard with taking Colossus in for questioning, are not cool with the rest of it and fight back, as is right. The whole thing, though, leaves a bad taste in readers' mouths in general, as they have to watch their heroes do things that are very uncomfortable… but also kind of necessary. X-Force, in the past, was always the extreme sanctions team, but now they're something more- they're an intelligence agency, and they have to do some uncomfortable things, but things can be taken too far, and this issue highlights that. It's easily the most interesting part of the book, as Percy keeps exploring the grey parts of X-Force's lives in new and interesting ways.
Bazaluda's art is okay. His figure work has some problems in places, and he doesn't get the proportions of the Cerebro Sword right at all in the issue, but there's some good stuff in the chapter, like the fight between Mikhail and the XENO soldier to keep the art from being mediocre.
X-Force #12 says some interesting things about intelligence services and the men who run them. Beast might not be the best person for this job- he has ideas, but they are terrible, and he doesn't think things through. Percy shows readers just how much X-Force is about the greys in this issue, and it's kind of fascinating. Bazaluda's art is nothing special- there are some problems, but it's not bad enough to jeopardize what is an otherwise great comic.
Grade: B+
