Hey, everyone, jrpbsp here… Here’s the second review from last week, ‘X-Force’. Hope you enjoy.

X-Force #23 (preview)
Writer: Craig Kyle & Christoper Yost
Art: Clayton Crain

SPOILERS BELOW…

RECAP: The issue opens with Rahne flatlining due to her pregnancy.  Dr. Nemesis tries but cannot help her. Hrimhari arrives with Hela to try and save her but the goddess agrees to only save either Rahne or the child but not both.

Upstairs, the X-Men are facing the new invaders. Although many of the X-Men are in denial over their friends helping Selene, Diamond Lil charges forward and is immediately killed by Dazzler’s sister. X-Force moves to attack with Logan taking the lead but Frost distracts him and Lois and Wither take him down. Proudstar and Archangel jump in and get intercepted by Bard and Senyaka. Then Blink teleports Warren’s wings off.

On Necrosha, Selene gets more mutants delivered by Caliban. John Proudstar says that the X-Men will stop her but Selene is confident as it is almost time for her ceremony.

Back on Utopia, Hrimhari makes his choice. He chooses to save Elixir. When Josh wakes, the Wolf Prince barely has time to explain and get Foley a message before Hela takes him away. Elixir then jumps into action to heal Rahne while Vanisher asks for help.

The X-Men continue to fight Selene’s forces but are not doing very well. Cessily gets blinked into pieces and Onyxx is destroyed by Wither while Dazzler fights her sister and Wolverine stabs Senyaka to little effect. Proudstar has no luck fighting Bard but is told the attacks will stop if they are given the blade. He takes off for his room with the bad guys in pursuit.

Meanwhile, Rahne wakes up and Josh explains that he is transferring some of the strength from the baby to her so she can survive her pregnancy. He also has to tell her that Hrimhari has gone with Hela and that he would try and get back to her.

In Proudstar’s room, he finds the knife and is immediately attacked by Selene’s forces who are teleported in by Blink. She then takes them all off to Necrosha. The rest of the X-Men are mourning their losses. Scott orders the Cuckoos to find Wither and they locate the group on Necrosha. He tells Wolverine to go to Necrosha and stop her, while Frost adds in that all of her forces must be killed in order for this to end. Including their former friends and allies.

They are explaining the situation to Rahne while the Vanisher keeps trying to get Foley to heal him. Logan and the rest show up and tell Elixir to leave it in because he was taking them all to Necrosha.

MY TAKE: This issue starts to really ramp up the story and move the action along to the next phase. I am definitely glad that the Utopia piece of the plot ended and the action moves to Necrosha. The X-Men have looked pretty foolish so far and I am more than happy to see them taking the initiative and working to end this threat. Hopefully, they will get some redemption for their poor showing and revenge for the deaths and suffering that have occurred so far.

The plot was fine although it was somewhat spoiled by the fact that we were already showed Proudstar’s capture in another book. Rahne’s pregnancy was well handled although it still does not really fit in with the rest of the story. I am all for the X-Force finally being all back together again but I doubt they are going to let Rahne run off and fight considering her condition. It seems like a story that could have been handled post-event.

The only person that got any real character development here was Emma and hers did not make much sense. In diamond form she should not have felt any emotion so her semi-breakdown did not really work. Her pragmatism at the end did make sense considering how vicious their foes have been but should have been her position from the start.

To that end, I want to bring up the deaths in this comic. I understand wanting to make the story have more of an impact, but they killed off such minor characters that I do not see the point. I did not even remember Lil, and Onyxx was extremely underdeveloped and unused so his death will hardly even be noticed. I am glad that they did not kill off anyone I liked but I do not see the benefit to the deaths of such low-tier characters.

Still in the end, this was an entertaining and pretty well-done issue. It did a good job of advancing the story while keeping the threat level high for the final stage. It even makes sense that X-Force is being sent to Necrosha alone which is something I was wondering about. Hopefully the last couple of the parts to the event keep up the quality and give us a conclusion that is both entertaining and satisfying.

Thanks for reading my review for Wolverine Files. I will be keeping to this format for the most part but please keep the comments coming and I will see everyone again next time.