Posted in: Comics | Tagged: marvel, x-force, x-men, X-ual Healing - The Weekly X-Men Recap Column

…And Beast Learns Absolutely Nothing in X-Force #15 [XH]

Published Mon, 21 Dec 2020 17:00:48 -0600

Welcome to a X-mas week edition of X-ual Healing, the weekly X-Men recap column where we read the seventy-two X-Men comics Marvel publishes every month and tell you what happened. There were four X-books released last week: New Mutants #14, X-Force #15, Wolverine: Black, White, & Blood #2, and Deadpool #9.

Sworn to sell comics for Marvel executives who feared and hated the fact that Fox owned their movie rights, The Uncanny X-Men suffered great indignities. Still, thanks to a corporate merger, a line-wide relaunch, and Jonathan Hickman's giant ego, the X-Men can finally get back to doing what they do best: being objectively the best franchise in all of comics for lovers of soap opera drama.

[MULTINAV]

X-FORCE #15
OCT200569
(W) Ben Percy (A/CA) Joshua Cassara
SHATTERED TRUST!
Omega Red's harboring a deadly secret, and X-Force may have to cross a line to keep Krakoa safe. But nothing compares to the trust broken by the interrogation of one of their own.
Parental Advisory
In Shops: Dec 16, 2020
SRP: $3.99

X-Force #15 Recap

While Jean Grey interrogates Colossus to find out if he's been colluding with the Russians, Beast waits impatiently outside the interrogation room. He wants in, but Wolverine lectures him on loss of trust and accountability, literally the only time in the history of comics where I'm not annoyed by Wolverine lecturing someone. Jean emerges, revealing Colossus is innocent so maybe Beast shouldn't have had him publicly arrested for treason with no evidence. Colossus is seen later frolicking in the fields with some children as Krakoa's ever-shifting geology unearths a sinister black rock covered in vines that drops into the ocean and settles in a deep crevice.

Jean tells Beast he needs to invite Colossus to join X-Force to make things right. They visit Omega Red's jail cell where Jean explains that Omega Red is guilty of colluding with vampires but that he's been mesmerized. Beast says he also found a detonator hidden in the Carbonadium Synthesizer. He suggests they use Omega Red as a secret double agent.

In that crevice from earlier, vines emerge and grab a passing whale.

Beast visits Forge and asks him to build a new Carbonadium Synthesizer with tracking and spying capabilities. Omega Red has a giant hole in his chest where the old synthesizer used to be. A record of communications with the Five shows Beast place an order for a special resurrection messing with his mind so Beast can use him to spy on Dracula. The Five objects to this, but they're overridden by Xavier, who says X-Force has absolute authority to do stuff like this. Always a good idea.

In the ocean near Krakoa, the whale emerges and spews vines from its mouth that capture and sink a large ship.

Then Beast visits The Savage Land in an attempt to talk to Colossus and some fancy paint as a peace offering. Colossus's girlfriend, Kayla, is like "don't you mess with my man" and gives Beast the welcome he deserves, using her powers to suck the moisture out of his body. Do it, Kayla! Finish him!

Colossus intervenes and agrees to talk to Hank. He understands why Hank did what he did even if it was wrong. Beast is about to ask him about joining the team but we won't find out what he says this issue.

In a final scene, Domino is playing with her dog Rufus on the beach and hanging with Black Tom Cassidy when a bunch of zombies from the ship that was eaten earlier wash ashore. The vines spew out of their mouths, eat the dog, and grab Black Tom and Domino as the issue ends on a cliffhanger.

Wait, they killed the dog?! Okay, now this is serious business. Another good X-Book this week. It's fun to see all the titles getting back to their regularly-scheduled stories now that X of Swords is over. It's also nice to see Beast's dickish actions begin to catch up with him, though his recent failures don't seem to have done much about his arrogance.

There were two more X-books out from Marvel last week, but expect the recaps tomorrow. It's the holidays. Cut me some slack. Jeez.