Review by Ian Keogh

While Benjamin Percy’s writing on the concurrent Wolverine title has generated an upward quality curve, his work on X-Force never entirely hits the spot, alternating between average or only slightly above. This is more of the same, and hardly value at just four chapters.

Under Percy, the Beast, formerly the erudite scientist, has become an ethical black hole who in Vol. 6 departed Krakoa along with a considerable amount of valuable data. The opening chapter begins with a frankly dull discussion that seems longer than six pages before establishing new X-Force leadership, team members and HQ on Krakoa. Wolverine and Beast are out, and X-23 and Colossus are in with Sage now calling the shots.

The threat is once again the Beast, who’s future-proofing himself by laying cloned versions in suspended animation to awake thousands of years in the future. He’s smart enough to plant several versions, and led by an aged Quentin Quire the new X-Force team are dragged from one future to the next.

Regular artist Robert Gill draws the opening chapter in his usual polished fashion before signing off until Vol. 8, leaving the remainder to Paul Davidson. He’s imaginative in the creation of assorted alien societies, while credit is due to colourist GURU -eFX for the distinctive pink effect utilised to show Quire at work. Davidson’s action scenes have a depth, and there’s effort in the backgrounds and locations, eventually meaning the art is stronger than the uninspired plot.

For a while it seems as if this volume will sort out a long-running problem with Colossus, but instead it’s as we were as the story ends. What a shame.