X-Force #26
X-Force hunt down the babies and their kidnappers in X-Force #26, by writer Benjamin Percy, artist Robert Gill, colorist GURU-eFX, and letterer Joe Caramagna. Percy finds an interesting way to pay off a rather improbable plot with this issue, and it’s better than meets the eye.
Pike and company make their way to the escape sub. One of the children, whose powers have already kicked in, starts to scream, and Pike says it’s just what they are there for. Wolverine kicks himself over, letting Pike and her friends get past him. As X-Force begins the work of tracking them down, Wolverine gives Kid Omega a pep talk about Phoebe leaving him. They eventually track down the sub and find it destroyed. Kid Omega senses Wolverine’s sadness over not finding Pike and the two have words as Domino finds the other two babies. Kid Omega takes them back to the Bower and has a conversation with Jean Grey. Later, Wolverine tracks down Pike to Alaska. She won’t give anything up, and Wolverine surfs after her. Kid Omega saves him, and Pike disappears into the surf. Meanwhile, XENO has another weapon to use against Krakoa.
Percy takes things in a very interesting direction with this comic. Here’s the thing- the actual story of the comic isn’t the main show. The main show of the last two issues is everything happening in the background. Percy reveals that Pike and her friends have larger adrenal glands, making them adrenaline junkies on one of the info pages. They live for their missions. In the last issue surfing, Wolverine doesn’t make a lot of sense until one realizes that he can’t be hurt. With Krakoan resurrection, there’s no danger. The thrill is gone, but surfing… well, that’s where the thrill comes in. He and Pike have that in common, and that’s where their connection comes in.
Kid Omega losing Phoebe plays into this issue. Wolverine gives him a pep talk about not giving, getting older makes heartbreak better, blah blah blah. Still, then he later senses that Wolverine is going through the same thing he is. It’s a great little moment, built up over two issues. He feels lied to and starts to go back to old ways in the Bower before Jean shows up and tells him that Wolverine cares, which is why he tried to make things better for Kid Omega. He cares. That’s why Kid Omega goes and saves him at the end because Kid Omega realizes that. This is wonderful emotional storytelling, played out over two issues. Many people say bad things about Percy’s writing on this and Wolverine, but they’re missing the forest for the trees. This is why these two books are so good right here: short arcs about the characters as much as anything else and still build the story Percy is trying to tell.
Gill’s artwork is pretty good. There are some great long shots, and he does a wonderful job with the scenes with the sub. He also captures the emotions of Kid Omega, the anger, the heartbreak, and the impishness. In fact, the best art in the whole book is from the sequence between Jean and Kid Omega. It’s wonderfully drawn, and he gives Jean an angelic quality that fits this scene. GURU-eFX’s colors are some of the best in comics, and this issue is yet another example of why.
X-Force #26 is so much better than it’s going to get credit for. Percy uses this two-issue story to talk more about relationships and how people help each other than anything else. It makes this story more than the sum of its parts and another example of why Percy is one of the better writers on the X-Men books right now. Gill and GURU-eFX make a great art team, gelling well. This issue shows why this book is versatile and adds more to all involved.