Review: ‘X-Force’ #39 Finds A New Mission (And A New Wolverine)

At this point, X-Force is the only remaining original Krakoan X-Men title. That doesn’t mean it’s been static though, and with X-Force #39 its headed in a whole new direction.

Benjamin Percy, Robert Gill, Guru-eFx, and Joe Caramagna pushes X-Force into its future.

Beast has gone rogue and Logan is out to stop him. That means X-Force needs new leadership and members. Enter Sage and Colossus, who take over the team and bring Laura Kinney in with them. It’s a good thing too, as a whole mountain of consequences of the team’s recent transgressions are coming home to Krakoa.

For the longest time, it felt like Percy’s X-titles were treading water. In the last couple months though, they’re broken into a sprint and they’re all the better for it. This issue nails the soft relaunch. Percy gets the characters at the foundation of the story, but he also drives several of his outstanding plots forward. Even with all the changes, there’s a lot of momentum both in plot and characterization and he makes it entertaining as hell along the way.

Gill’s art has a great mixture of grit and energy. His layout as the creative team introduces Wolverine paces the physical comedy just right, and he gives the moment a sense of motion and weight behind the punching happening. I also really loved how his figures all feel distinct. One panel included full body shots of Deadpool, Black Tom and Omega Red- all three were different heights, body types and even body language, telling the reader more about them than even the lettering could.

Guru’s colors make the pages pop. Each character gets their own palette that sets our tone for them, and they make sure the colors pop off the page. Caramagna’s letters are strong as always, with distinct fonts and styles that do more than just narrations and speech balloons.

X-Force #39 is available now from Marvel Comics.