“Where Monsters Dwell”
Creative Staff:
Story: Geoffrey Thorne
Art: Marcus To
Colors: Erick Arciniega
Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramagna
What They Say:
A NEW PATH FORGED! The world is fractured. FORGE uses his powers of invention to devise the only fix: an all-new, all-different X-FORCE! Forge leads a custom-made, handpicked team of mutants – RACHEL SUMMERS, BETSY BRADDOCK, SAGE, SURGE and introducing TANK – in off-the-books missions so dire, so integral to the fate of the Marvel Universe, there’s no time to stop for permission! As Forge detects increasing threats across the planet, he will recruit a specialist for each target – first up: that regenerating degenerate, DEADPOOL! Be here for an X-Force like you’ve never seen them before, stick around to see who joins, who lives, who dies, and uncover the mystery of Forge’s discovery!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
A new X-Force launch is here and this book looks to be doing something familiar as we’ve seen over the years with a select group trying to solve all the big critical issues of the world within a single issue or so. This run comes from writer Geoffrey Thorne and they manage fairly well here while not going into the weeds or even the edge of the forest to explain any recent events for new readers. Marcus To tackles the art side with Eric Arciniega on the color design and it’s a pretty straightforward book that’s not overly detailed. It lays out the scenes well, flows well, and the designs are generally pretty good without being too stylized. It’s more a journeyman approach than the last time I read an X-Force book which was all style over substance, so I can appreciate it.
Honestly, I haven’t read an X-Force book since probably the original run and even then only for less than a year if I recall. And I’ve not read any Deadpool since he was first introduced either. This book, taking place after the radical changes in the world from the Krakoa event of whatever it’s being called at this time, is focused on Forge. He’s grappling with a lot of guilt and has a “Only I can fix it” mentality going on and is intent on doing right in the world after some painful losses. He’s managed to craft a device that he’s calling The Analog which basically plays with figuring out where all the fracture points are in the world with events. That has him teaming up with Sage after he helps her out of an institute so they can deal with these problems before they become bigger problems that threat the world. Again, we’ve seen the concept many times over in the comics and in Marvel in particular from aliens to magic so there’s no real surprise here.
What Forge and Sage are able to is bring on both Betsy Braddock and Rachel to the team with the promise that there’s no Deadpool on the team. He does, of course, make an appearance as a hired person and not a team member in order to keep Betsy from abandoning the mission. That mission is dealing with a small town in Japan that’s not acting normally as something is obscuring the real events going on there. It’s a simply thing to figure it out overall, and we get a new team member along the way as well, and some decent action alongside a chunk of Deadpool shenanigans. I do appreciate that Forge essentially uses Deadpool here to achieve the end through Wade’s actual regeneration ability and that it essentially keeps Deadpool out of play for a few days in order to get his money. But with it all happening in the space of a single oversized issue, it’s a lot of formula and not a lot of material to let us ease into this group. It’s more hitting the points than engaging with the characters, though we do get some decent narration and some helpful quips along the way.
In Summary:
All the pieces here fit but that’s because it’s a formula Marvel has used multiple times over the past decade to approach storytelling like this. It’s not bad but it’s just oh so familiar at this point. Nothing here really differentiates it besides it being about mutants this time and the fallout from the recent shakeup in the main books that allowed for a new launch. I actually like the cast of characters assembled here but I’m not expecting any kind of actual character storytelling of note to happen since it’ll lean more into the fracture at hand that needs to be dealt with more than anything else. It’s fallen so much into character by quips with so many Marvel books that the superficiality simply dominates. It’s fun but forgettable.
Grade: B-
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Marvel Comics
Release Date: July 31st, 2024
MSRP: $4.99
