Review: ‘X-Force’ #17 Dives Into The Nature Of Immortality

Turning a running joke into an emotionally resonant exploration of a character is hard work. When that character is Quentin Quire, the Marvel Universe’s biggest heroic jerk? It’s about ten times harder.

Quire finally gets some much needed spotlight. With him dying all the time, it was only natural to focus on that. However, it’s much deeper than just exploring Krakoa’s immortality as we see from Benjamin Percy, Joshua Cassara, Guru-eFx, and Joe Caramagna.

They keep killing Quire. However, despite dying on nearly every X-Force mission, something is haunting Quentin, missing time leaving his sense of self… lacking. However, he better figure it out quickly before his most recent mission comes back to haunt him!

Quire is a great character. However, he’s always been a bridesmaid, not a bride. That means that Percy’s spotlight issue isn’t just critical for the character, but he also makes sure to put some time into the plot moving forward.

However, this is exactly what Quentin the person needed. To see him at his lowest, struggling with his immortality, it’s exactly what the character needs as we push through into the future for him. These are big questions that the Krakoa era isn’t asking enough and after this issue I hope we see that change.

Cassara continues his growth into stardom with this issue. The opening scene, depicting the many deaths of Quentin Quire is this gorgeous grotesque parade, running from horror to hilarity and back multiple times over just a few pages. He also makes subtle shifts in Quentin’s body language every time he’s around Phoebe Cuckoo, a small softening that’s barely noticeable but significant for the story told here. It’s paired with some of the best color work I’ve seen from the Guru team, which adds Quentin’s trademark pink as a tying element through every page.

This books continues to be one of the most consistent reads each month. It’s a stylistic throwback to the X-books of the 80’s and 90’s, with the modern themes and characterization that makes it a hit.

X-Force #17 is available now from Marvel Comics.