X-Force #7 (Summary & Spoilers... OH HECK YEAH!)

[worstblogever]

X-Force (vol. 3) #7

In Japan, a man meets with the Vanisher giving him layouts to a secret laboratory, and assuring him that Mr. Sinister is supposed to be dead. The Vanisher of course, vanishes without paying him for the intel...

In San Francisco, a cell phone rings, andit's picked up by Hepzibah (who looks to have somewhat kept her "hippie" look. Rejoice, for those who requested Lady Kitten do so...).On the other end of the line, as Hepzibah begins shouting at the device, confused why she doesn't hear any talking, is Warpath, who doesn't know how to tell his alien girlfriend the crazy stuff he's been up to with the latest incarnation of X-Force. Logan walks in, and asks for him.

Warpath admits to Logan that he was right for trying to warn him off of the mission they went on, and he should've listened. Now he can't talk about it with any of his friends, or his girl. So, he's going to go talk with the one person he can... his dead brother, John. Logan asks him to tell his brother he says, "Hi."

Elsewhere in Angel's Aerie, X-23 has breakfast with Elixir (sporting a Michigan Wolverines hoodie... "Go Blue!") and he's telling them about how he doesn't want to use his powers to kill, but if they keep him there, knowing what he knows, eventually Alani (that hottie, Loa, of course) and the others will notice. As X-23 states, given his age and current romantic relationship, there's a very likely chance he'll tell someone. The tactical course of action will be that Cyclops will just kill him.

Before Laura can expand on this thought, Wolverine walks in and asks to see the both of them, and Josh never gets further explanation. Way to leave him in suspense, Laura.

Seems X-Force is going to be having a little experiment to see how well Rahne and Angel are coping with some of the changes they went through in the first arc. And they're doing so on the racquetball court in the Aerie. Rahne is asked to look at Angel as he spreads his wings...

And her brainwashing kicks in again, making her revert to her wolfen form, and charge forward at Warren from the other side of the racquetball glass (it keeps her away). Instinctively, Warren shoves her back... and undergoes a change himself, turning into Archangel. Of course, this is bad, since as a reflex, he fires off a whole volley of metal flechettes at the thick glass of the court that was keeping them apart, shattering it.



Now Logan's got to hold back Rahne, and Cyclops has to blast Warren back away before he kills her, too. Fun times.

While Rahne does start using Logan's arm as a chew toy, he and X-23 do hold her down long enough that Elixir can run up, and use his powers to force her to sleep (after all, a natural chemical in the body is melatonin, which he could manufacture in a very, very large dose to knock her out... nice new trick, however you did it, Elixir.)

Cyclops, meanwhile, deals with Warren, tackling him as he returns from being blasted out into the open air. (Note: Warren goes as far to proclaim, "I AM DEATH!" that's not a good sign.) Still, grappling him in the air, Cyclops doesn't let go, reminding Warren that he's stronger than this... and he calms... reverting to Angel (he's like a blue, winged Incredible Hulk now, it seems.)

Logan asks Cyclops how they're going to help treat Rahne and Warren's mental issues, and deprogram them, suggesting Emma... but Cyke refuses. He trusts Warren to beat his programming again on his own... but as he puts it, "Elixir is a problem. He'll have to be dealt with." X-23 pauses, looking like she's afraid she's right...

Meanwhile... at S.H.I.E.L.D. Administrative Offices...

An Agent Young meets with Agent Morales, the field agent who was investigating the Purifier Massacre, because he has information for her, and wants to work with her about it... he holds up a file labelled:
"For Nick Fury's Eyes Only -
Field Report: Captain America
Subject: X-23"

That can't be good.

Meanwhile... in the Southwest...
Warpath is shown in a car, deep in thought, driving across the border of Colorado, into New Mexico towards his family home...

Back at Angel's Aerie...

Wolverine walks into the main room as the sun rises, seeing X-23, Cyclops, Elixir, and... three unexpected guests...

THE STEPFORD CUCKOOS!

Logan's first instinct is to get in Cyclops' grill, and yell at him for mindwiping Elixir. Especially because it's the same sort of thing he kicked Xavier out of the mansion for. The worst part is that he's just a kid. And while Logan does rail for a bit, he's finally interrupted by X-23.



She tells Logan it was her idea to call the Cuckoos. She called them to help save Rahne (which was what Logan told her they were formed for back in X-Force #3, wasn't it?). The Cuckoos won't talk, either. They can keep their thoughts away from Emma Frost, and they're more loyal to Cyclops than her. And, they're erasing Elixir's memories of what's happened, because HE, in fact, is asking them to. If he knows who's on X-Force's hit list, he might want to tag along, and then he'd be a killer... again. He doesn't want that, but he won't stop the team from doing what needs to be done.

As Cyclops adds, "I haven't gone evil. I haven't been taken over. I haven't been replaced. We're entering new territory, and its dark. But we're still the good guys." (Note: I'm pretty sure this is meta-commentary from the writers to fans regarding Cyclops. HEED THIS.) Warren comes in, letting them know that the bad guys are making their move.

On television, live from Washington, D.C., the news is reporting that Graydon Creed, long thought dead, is alive, and giving a press conference. He claims he was marked for death by mutant terrorists, and thus, S.H.I.E.L.D. and the U.S. Government faked his death, and put him into protective custody, but he doesn't want to hide anymore, because mutants are still a great threat, and need to be dealt with. As X-Force starts to react, we can see the rest of those resurrected by Bastion are also re-assuming their former roles, with Stephen Lang and Bolivar Trask at the Department of Defense... with Donald Pierce holding up images of Dust, Rockslide, and Wolf Cub (NOTE: this means X-Force (vol. 3) #1-7 take place BEFORE Young X-Men #1-5, if you weren't paying attention.). We see Reverend Stryker, preaching to his masses again. We see the Leper Queen, assembling a new Sapien League. We see Cameron Hodge, going into a warehouse, and recovering the armored Smiley-Face suits of the Right. And Graydon Creed finishes his speech... which is being fed through him by the connection of Bastion.

All of X-Force is chomping at the bit to go after one of them, Angel thinking that Lang and Trask are the biggest threats, since they might start making Sentinels, but Cyclops lets them know they have another threat to deal with first... from the Vanisher of all people.

It's not that the Vanisher is the issue, it's what he's taken... in Japan, seven hours ago, we see that the old-school X-villain went and stole himself a strain of the Legacy Virus.



Somehow I doubt it's the same one that Colossus injected into himself, and cured. Because that wouldn't be anywhere near as much drama.

Thoughts:

Choi's art is astounding. I have to fight the urge that I have to scan the whole issue and post it all over the internet and gush about it. I will resist this urge, and post but 3 scans. That's all. Because damn it, people, you need to go out and buy this issue. Seriously, buy two, and give one to a friend who doesn't know what they're missing. It makes me want to geek out that much, seriously.

The writing? Man, does this continue to set the stage for every major X-conflict for the forseeable future. We find out that this was the prelude to Young X-Men #5, too. And while the team is headed all over the globe, after different threats, we can see S.H.I.E.L.D. and Bastion's crew angling to come right back after mutants.

The characterization is solid, poignant where it needs to be, and still funny in others. Every character is given a chance to shine.

I'll go 9/10, and not feel like I'm gushing. 8.5, I might say in a week, but I'm thinking I'll say 9. The only thing holding this issue back is that it's just part one of the next arc, and still acts as much of epilogue of the previous one as anything.

But what epilogue.

[LawGiver]

Now this was a great read. I love how X-23 took it upon herself to call the Cuckoos.

Did she call them because she cares for Josh and in her mind was saving his life? I've not seen Laura joke, so was she joking at the breakfest table?

I hope Warren gets it under control, from the looks of SI: X-Men #2 it looks like he will/has. Poor Rahne though.

I really am curious about what Cyclops thinks of the increasing circle that is finding out about X-Force, Warren, Josh, Cuckoos, it's not as tight knit as it use to be.

Also loved the move by Bastion using the resurrected villains, putting them back in their original roles, excellent, I love this type of story. These large encompassing tales are what makes books great i.e. Captain America.

As the final page reveal, wow, just wow. I wonder how that viral survived Colossus's fix all sacrifice? Can't wait to find out more. I was curious what it was that could possibly justify Cyclops going after Vanisher, I would definetly say the Legacy Virus warrants X-Force's involvement.

Great character notes, GREAT, LOVELY art! Choi is wonderful. My only complaint is that Angel's face looked a leeeeeetle too bright.

[Beast]

Ugh. Legacy Virus.

Let's hope we won't see that drag on again for years and then be quickly and badly wrapped up.

[LawGiver]

Originally Posted by Beast

Ugh. Legacy Virus.

Let's hope we won't see that drag on again for years and then be quickly and badly wrapped up.

Chris Yost and Craig Kyle are very capable writers, they know how to give stories proper, entertaining endings.

[Beast]

Originally Posted by LawGiver

Chris Yost and Craig Kyle are very capable writers, they know how to give stories proper, entertaining endings.

And usually it involves blowing up children.

[LawGiver]

Originally Posted by Beast

And usually it involves blowing up children.

Considering the quality of children this world is producing, I do not consider that a bad thing.

[Beast]

Originally Posted by LawGiver

Considering the quality of children this world is producing, I do not consider that a bad thing.

Good point.

[Seres]

Originally Posted by Beast

And usually it involves blowing up children.

All good stories end this way. I'm surprised Mike Carey hasn't done it yet.

[CMBMOOL]

I must say even though it a darker team, it still an underhanded secret, as Logan Pointed out, and that sooner or later Cyclops will have to answer for his reason even if he hasn't gone evil.

Nice to bring in the Cuckoos as they are more loyal to Scott, then to Emma.

Still I must say for the villains to appear in public and alive is going to be a lot of cleaning up for X-fore and S.H.I.E.L.D to do.

Speaking of the government agency, it seems that they have picked up X-23's report from the late Captian. I can't wait to see how they deal with this.

Also the return of the Legacy Virus, well they say that a formula like that can be change into a deadlier weapon. Remember Mystique's version of the Virus....

This is a great issue, but once again...I'll wait for the trade Paper back books.

[Cayman]

Good stuff again from Kyle & Yost, and Choi did a really nice job on the art.

[Cytokinesis]

How can anyone keep up this much concentrated awesome week after week?

It has a deep plot, great characterization, amazing art, and it actually connects to the Marvel World in a greater capacity then well... any of the other X-books (Not to mention some great violence :P )

To me, this is the main X-Book. Its the one where all the others truly revolve around, Uncanny is just a Soap Opera, Young X-Men is another one, and Astonishing is simple a few good arcs, but here, here is plot.

[DeniseXfrost]

Those three little brats!

[Swashbuckler]

I want to play raquetball with X-23.

[chickrockguitar]

Oooooo! I can't wait to get my copy!

[ExodusCloak]

Originally Posted by DeniseXfrost

Those three little brats!

One of them has taken after Esme and her dress sense.