X-Force #7

Someone is assassinating mutant allies in X-Force #7, by writer Benjamin Percy, artist Oscar Bazaldua, colors by GURU-eFX, and letterer Joe Caramagna. Can X-Force figure out who's behind the whole thing? Will they be able to stop them?

Sage briefs Domino on a series of impossible assassinations of mutant allies- events where it looks like luck more skill. Domino speculates that it is the people who skinned her and that ever since that happened, her luck powers have felt off. Unable to sleep, she goes for a job and finds another insomniac- Colossus. They bond over their recent trauma. After another assassination, Sage and Domino find a pattern and figure out who the next target is. Domino goes there to act as security and prevents the assassination, giving chase to the assassin, who loses Domino in a casino.

As with the last time Percy focused on Domino, he focuses on how her recent trauma has affected her, but in this issue, he expands that by also showing that Colossus has PTSD because of what's happened to him as well. Colossus was killed in Russia, trying to get some mutant children out of the country and is having trouble dealing with his trauma. Focusing on PTSD like this makes so much sense for a book about the mutants whose job it is to deal with the darkest threats to mutantkind. It's also a nice touch to show how the resurrection process affects different people differently. Colossus can never forget that even though he's alive, the children he was trying to save aren't because their minds aren't backed up on Krakoa. He has to live with the pain of failure in a way he would never have had to. Colossus has come back from the dead before. This isn't new for him. What's new is failing in such a way and having to deal with the consequences of it.

Domino's problems are compounded by the fact that her powers have pretty much stopped working since her capture and return. Her luck powers have always been a large part of who she is, and to lose them on top of the terrible things that happened to her makes the whole thing that much worse. That one moment, getting captured took so much away from her. Her mission failure led to what could have been a disaster on Krakoa and took away her powers. Percy's doing some great things with the character.

The art by Oscar Bazaldua is pretty good. The stand out sequence is Domino chasing the assassin down the mountain, the assassin on skis and Domino on a snowboard. It's a great sequence, exciting and kinetic, and Bazaldua captures it perfectly.

X-Force #7 is a great comic. Percy uses it to keep playing with his theme of PTSD that has been running through the book, using Domino and her tragedies to show readers that not everything on Krakoa is sunshine and rainbows and that being a superhero is hard work. The last page reveals a cliffhanger sure to keep readers invested in her story and the consequences of what's happened to her. Oscar Bazaluda's artworks for the issue aren't entirely perfect, but it does the job, especially on the action set piece at the end of the book. X-Force #7 works on multiple levels and is sure to get readers to come back.

Grade: B+