X-Force #1
Marvel Comics
Written By: Benjamin Percy
Artist: Joshua Cassara
Colors Artist: Dean White
I believe you would need to have been living under a rock for the past few months to not know the X-Books are being shaken up. With the conclusion of Jonathan Hickman’s Powers of X and House of X, we’ve launched straight into the Saga of X. With X-Force being one of the premier new titles. If you’ve been around the X-universe for any amount of time, you know to expect something a bit more gritty from an X-Force book. This new iteration seems to be setting us up for just that.
It seems to be the current m.o. of Saga of X to give the readers more questions, rather than answers, at least at first and X-Force #1, continue that trend in a big way.
The mutants have set up their new society on Krakoa, but of course, not everyone in the world is happy about this. The opening line of the book sets the tone “There is us, and there is them.” A very familiar theme throughout X-Men history. It continues the groundwork for the darker side of this new mutant nation with a peek into what the security of Krakoa looks like. On a delightful page that is set up like an instruction manual, we’re introduced to the “Security Features of Krokoa.” Earlier in the book, we get a memorandum from the desk of Professor Charles Xavier on the “official responses to non-treaty nations” as well as the “unofficial response of non-treaty nations” pulling back the veil just a little bit more on what direction this overarching story may be headed.
This issue is more weighty than the other titles that I’ve read from Saga of X so far, and Joshua Cassara really brings the grittiness to the art that is nearly required for an X-Force book in general, and this story in particular. This is perfectly displayed in early pages when Beast is attacked by a wild animal in the jungles of Krokoa, the almost chaotic wildness of the art lends itself to the organic and dangerous atmosphere of Krakoa.
After reading this first issue of X-Force, I feel like I’ve gotten exactly what I came for. It’s given me just enough that I want the next issue now, but I still feel very satisfied with where the story has already taken me. For the first time in a long time, it feels like there is a definitive plan for the X-Men and as a long-time X fan, that feels very good. I’ll absolutely be keeping an eye on this title from here on out.