Posted in: Comics, Marvel Comics | Tagged: deadpool, marauders, marvel, recaps, wolverine, X Of Swords, x-force, x-men, X-ual Healing - The Weekly X-Men Recap Column

X-Force #13 – Wolverine Finally Meets His Match [XH]

Published Mon, 12 Oct 2020 18:00:52 -0500

by Jude Terror

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Four X-books were released by Marvel last week: Wolverine #6, X-Force #13, and Marauders #13 comprised three parts of the X of Swords crossover. I also cover Deadpool here in this column, even though Marvel doesn't really treat it like an X-book (even though it is). I read them all, so you don't have to. You're welcome!

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.

X-FORCE #13 XOS
AUG200608
(W) Ben Percy (A) Viktor Bogdanovic (CA) Dustin Weaver
X OF SWORDS, PART 4
Stealth. The power within. The burden of knowledge.
Parental Advisory
In Shops: Oct 07, 2020
SRP: $3.99

X-Force #13 Recap

This issue picks up where Wolverine #6 left off, so go read that recap first. Or don't. It's not my problem if you want to read these things out of order. Anyway, Wolverine arrives at a temple in Japan looking for the Muramasa blade, but instead finds Muramasa himself dead inside a pentagram with a portal opened to hell. The Hand, who are now more powerful and part demon, attack, and Wolverine stabs them, as he tends to do, but they stab him too, and he ends up falling through the portal and into the lava, which is why his skeleton was seen crawling out in the last issue.

Muramasa, in hell too, looking a lot thinner and forging a blade, tries to rationalize making weapons for the Hand. He finishes forging his blade. Later, Muramasa visits Wolverine, who now has a little bit of flesh grown on his bones, and Solem, the cool new villain introduced in Wolverine #6. They're sharing a cell for some reason. Solem likes Wolverine. No surprise – they're both Mary Sues. Solen explains how he got here. He went to see an oracle, and she told him Muramasa is dead and in hell, but he could use his dagger, the Hellblade, to get there. She tells him he'll meet a mutant that will serve as his guide to Muramasa. And that brings us back to the present.

Wolverine wakes up. He and Solem figure out they're gonna have to fight each other. Wolverine takes a swipe at Solem with his claws, but Solem shrugs it off because it turns out his skin is made of adamantium. This guy really is the perfect match for Wolverine. I bet he has three dicks.

Anyway, they leave the cell and head off to find Muramasa. We get a prose page about Infuri, the Everforge, talking about a sword forged there by furries. Why the hell would furries have a sword? Oh, sorry. Furies. You know what, furries would have made this crossover more interesting, honestly. Anyway, that will come into play later, I guess.

Wolverine and Solemn get to the Hell Forge, but Muramasa isn't there. Wolverine gives Solem the low down on The Hand. It turns out that Muramasa is at a hell wedding, where a fat demon is marrying his daughter to a member of the Hand. He created two new swords for them as wedding gifts. Solem and Wolverine think this is cool because they can each take one and don't have to kill each other… yet. The newlyweds stab Muramasa with the swords to consummate the union. Solemn stabs the groom with his hellbalde and takes his sword. Wolverine is about to kill the bride (it's what he does best) when the fat demon grabs him. Solem kills the bride and offers to give one of the swords to Wolverine… for a price.

After a prose page explaining the history of the Muramasa blade, Wolverine arrives in Krakoa with the sword. We never do learn what the price was. he stands on his seal with Magik at the portal as the issue ends.

Funny how this issue and Wolverine #6 make one complete chapter, but you had to pay full price for both of them, isn't it? When you see how slow this story is moving (in terms of issues, not weeks), you can see why it needs 22 parts. Actually, I'm kinda wondering how they're gonna get swords for eight more champions before the crossover is over, at this rate. On another note, I was on the fence about this Solem guy at first, but he's out-Wolverining Wolverine, and you gotta respect that.