Inglorious X-Force Review

Inglorious X-Force follows a group of Mutants, both X-Force classics and a few new faces, as Cable returns to the present after a failed mission in the future to prevent the assassination of the first mutant president with a list of mutant names burnt into his arm, a list he takes as suspects. The team, that is Cable, Boom-Boom, Hellverine, Archangel, and Ms. Marvel, find themselves up against wizards, remnants of NEXTWAVE, and an all-new all-different MLF as Cable seeks to rule out the potential assassins one by one.

Tim Seeley portrays a really interesting take on Cable, one less tied to our linear timeline. As he returns from the future, we see him quickly adapting to the present day, slipping into the physical and personal appearance to match expectations of him, which is a great way to show that man-out-of-time aspect of Cable. Cable is often portrayed as somewhat detached emotionally from his team, except for the New Mutants, and even then, it took a long time for him to connect to.  Seeley uses this detachment well, with Cable manipulating them into his own ways of proving their innocence behind their backs   

The best part of Inglorious X-Force, from the very first issue, is Boom-Boom. It’s what’s making me excited for the follow up, Fugitive X-Force, because Seeley almost seems to spend this book fighting the urge to make her the lead. From the very start she’s the most interesting; settled into a nice peaceful life, using her powers in a way that gives her a good lifestyle, yet she doesn’t even hesitate when Cable comes calling, putting on her classic “BOOMER” – era costume once more. The costume feels reflective of Boom-Boom’s arc, a desperate cling to a past that she can’t return to and needs to grow past. Seeley’s portrayal of Boom-Boom is someone clearly destined for something greater than what they’ve been given, preserving the ditsy white-trash that books like NEXTWAVE made such defining parts of her character, while still preserving the core heroism and kindness that’s defined her long before she was turned into a punchline. 

There’s a tactical intelligence to her as well, clear from the first issue where she recognizes the goal of their mission before the others. He makes her taking on leadership of X-Force in Fugitive seem like the inevitable next step, showing her as someone with all the potential to lead but just unable to believe in herself. A good reflection of this is her relationships in the book, teamed with Hellverine and Archangel, she’s clearly attracted to both but instinctively drifts into a primarily sexual relationship with Akihiro, the “bad boy” because she feels she doesn’t even deserve a shot with the literally angelic Warren. Even then, her relationship with Akihiro is kept largely hidden, something she’s ashamed of and doesn’t want the others, specifically Kamala, to know about. Her relationship with Ms. Marvel is another interesting one, both protective of the younger mutant and a little jealous of her, you can tell she wants her to think highly of her. Ultimately, the key relationship for Tabitha is Cable. She sees him as a father figure, and a bad one, but that only leaves her more desperate for his approval. Ultimately, that leaves her blindly trusting him and his goals, which backfires as the book goes on.

Ms. Marvel’s role in the team is two-fold, serving as the reason they get together and also the positive influence on the group. I’ve never been a huge fan of the retcon of Ms. Marvel as a Mutant, wrapping her in the X-Men makes her less unique and buries her in a world of other superpowered teens, whereas as an inhuman she was the only one of any note. Despite this, I do actually like her on X-Force here, her unrelenting positivity pushing back against the inherent grittyness of the rest of the team is a fun dynamic. What I was less of a fan of was the choice that led to Kamala joining the team, the future Cable saw in which she was president. It just feels like a retread of past stories, we’ve seen “the first mutant president has been assassinated” before, we’ve seen “Kamala Khan is president” before, and mixing the two does nothing for me, which is a shame because the core pitch of Cable coming back with a list to recruit for a specific purpose works great. As it shits more from background motivation to a real focus in later issues, it becomes increasingly less interesting.

Akihiro and Warren occupy a pretty similar space within the book, both are seeking purpose and redemption, but while Akihiro embraces the mission as a way to use the literal demon inside of him for good, Warren is a little more apprehensive. As mentioned above, the two are largely defined by their relationships with Tabitha here. Akihiro, seeking more intimacy with the casual hookups between them, hoping to form a real relationship after years of using his powers to manipulate people, it would land a lot better as an emotional beat if he hadn’t just broken up off panel with Aurora from X-Factor. That being said, Michael Sta. Maria captures a real sad longing in his expression when he draws him that goes a long way to selling the dynamic. Angel on the other hand is being similarly drawn to Tabby, albeit on a slower scale, but the chemistry is real. The real highlight of the pair is the dynamic between the two, the overly macho fighting between the two, the effect that Tabby has between them, it’s giving a real vibe that things would be a lot easier if the angel and demon kissed and made out. I mean up. While the two get a lot less to work with than the other characters, the books rotating PoV gives just enough insight into them to keep them interesting.

Unfortunately, despite some really strong character work, the book starts to lose steam in its back half once the team are absolved of Ms. Marvel’s murder and the books gets distracted in side plots. Kali and the new MLF are fairly weak antagonists and Kali herself isn’t a very unique or strong antagonist. After coming off a very Sinister-heavy era, it’s hard to not be a little sick of any story with him as an antagonist, and the Domino subplot feels a little too vague at first, and just a way to pad pages later on despite some really fun ways to show her powers. While it’s nice to see some classic X-Force members come in towards the end, the X-Force vs X-Force narrative feels a little forced. Also why is there a pug Flagsmasher? The character work keeps it enjoyable, but the first half of the book is definitely stronger and the overall mystery payoff is quite weak, both in the answer of who did it, and the why.

Michael Sta. Maria is the main series artist, with a few fill-ins from the like of Phillip Tan, and Maria does a great job throughout. There’s a particular design for Cable that I won’t go into too much detail on to avoid spoilers that’s particularly great, but I generally love just how grizzled he makes him, he feels battle worn without making him feel too old. While he draws the whole team great I love how well he captures the silhouette on Hellverine with all the flames. The transitions between Angel and Archangel are such a key part of the character work on Warren in this book and I love how disgustingly Maria captures it, like something bursting out within him violently. Any X-Force book needs to have some great action too of course, and the art once again delivers, it feels fast paced and explosive, sometimes literally – I love the direction on Boom-Boom’s bombs that make them feel less like little balls of fire that just appear and more like she draws together energy into a ball of pure explosive energy, it’s a small but great detail.

I did not expect to come into this run and fall in love with Boom-Boom, but it’s such a strong display of everything that works about her that I couldn’t help it. With her taking the lead in the Fugitive X-Force series spinning out, this has a real potential to be a definitive story for the character. Tabitha Smith aside, Inglorious X-Force is a book packed with some really strong character work and a plot that starts strong, but ultimately can’t live up to its potential. With some stellar art throughout it’s still well worth a read however, and I can’t wait to see where it goes.