Writer: Benjamin Percy
Art: Robert Gill, GURU- eFX, VC’s Joe Carmagna, Tom Muller, Jay Bowen, Dean White, and Joshua Cassara
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Price: $4.99
Release Date: June 29th, 2022
One of the “extra” Cerebro helmets has gained sentience and now calls itself Cerebrax. But it gets far worse. Cerebrax realized that if it consumes a mutant’s brain, it gains its powers! Yet after barely escaping the last issue alive, WOLVERINE and Domino could use some help. Let’s dive into X-FORCE #29 by Benjamin Percy to see who’s on deck to stop this monstrosity before it’s too late.
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THE DISPATCH
The action most certainly heats up in this week’s X-FORCE #29. In a sense, it’s almost nonstop action. Readers finally see the Omega Red pay-off that Percy had been setting up alongside issue after issue of the Kid Omega-Phoebe drama. X-FORCE has been aligning the stars for months with these two side stories, practically dedicating entire issues to these plot threads. And now finally, Percy puts it together amongst the Cerebrax showdown.
Here’s the problem: Percy has been trying to make readers care about Quentin… and even though X-FORCE #29 puts the different story beats together… readers still aren’t going to care. What was more impactful was the Omega Red angle and “possible” introduction to the X-FORCE team. WOLVERINE and Omega Red working side by side just explodes with potential.
Additionally, Cerebrax went down way too easily AND with almost no explanation. If I was to guess, Quentin went all “Super Saiyan” alongside a virus implanted by Omega Red. But here’s the thing… that’s just a guess as to how X-FORCE took down Cerebrax because it wasn’t spelled out clearly enough. Therefore, another problem was with the story’s clarity as well as its integral plot points hitting with fans on a more contextual level.
ART
Robert Gill has a grand old time in this week’s X-FORCE #29. Cerebrax comes in a variety of shapes and sizes throughout this story while GURU- eFX brings a vibrant color palette that helps this issue explode off the page. The colors surrounding both Quentin and Cerebrax simply pop adding so much power and excitement to an issue packed with action. And let’s be real, if you’re looking at an X-FORCE issue that is mostly action, who’s going to have more of an impact telling that tale? It’s going to be this dynamic art team.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Percy finally puts his puzzle pieces together that he’s been aligning for months as X-FORCE #29 culminates with the final showdown against Cerebrax. New key players may be joining X-FORCE while others may be finally taking a backseat. And truthfully, it’s about time the team gets a shake-up anyway. Moreover, Gill and his art team provide the true “force” behind the issue this week and set the tone with the nonstop action down to the final page. However, as someone who’s followed Percy’s X-FORCE from the beginning and watched the build-up of Quentin, the emotional toll the character was supposed to deliver this week just didn’t hit home at all.
And frankly, the care and compassion for the character that has been pushed these past couple of months simply added nothing to X-FORCE, slowed down the overall narrative and were by far the least liked issues in Percy’s run to date. It’s time to move on from Quentin, refocus on Omega Red, and provide fans with new and creative stories decoupled from Kid Omega. Let’s get back to the feeling Percy orchestrated in those first 15 issues of this run. Let me know what you think, have a great week, and God Bless!