X-Force by Benjamin Percy Review!

Krakoa – the new nation thatCharles Xavierannounced to the world inHouse of X#1 – was a fresh start for mutantkind. It heralded an era of mutant sovereignty and a unification of purpose that had never existed before among those with an X-gene. It’s a brand new world, but there are some things that no amount of mutant solidarity can change. InX-Force Vol. 1– which collects the first twelve issues by writer Benjamin Percy; artists Joshua Cassara, Stephen Segovia, and Jan Bazaldua; and colorists Dean White, Guru-eFX, and Rachelle Rosenberg – it becomes clear that mutantkind will always be hated and feared, and will always need a group willing to take sometimes unsavory action to protect their own. But is the brutality inherent in the nature of X-Force truly worth the cost?

A Necessary Evil?

X-Forceis the epitome of the idea that sometimes, bad things must be done for the right reasons. Since the team’s inception, X-Force has operated as the black ops arm of the fight for mutant survival, gradually taking on increasingly morally-questionable missions throughout its history. To be assigned to an iteration of X-Force is to do things that are not spoken of in the light of day. Preemptive strikes and the murder of baby Apocalypses (Apocali?) have become par for the course of X-Force membership. Right from the jump, Benjamin Percy’sX-Forcehighlights the continued need for such a team even in the relative paradise of Krakoa, at a time when mutantkind holds the most collective power it has ever enjoyed.

Threats begin to emerge on various fronts in response to the new mutant nation, and one in particular has an immediate devastating, and potentially catastrophic, impact on the fledgling society. Issue #1 ends with the assassination of Charles Xavier and the destruction of the Cerebro helmet the former Professor X has made so fashionable as of late (Don’t worry, he gets better!). As is revealed early in this first volume, an anti-mutant group calling themselves XENO is responsible for the attack. They have a very particular philosophy – that humanity can speed up its own evolution through extreme body modification and the splicing of forcibly-taken mutant DNA with their own. XENO’s grotesque methods – mutilating a captive Domino and grafting pieces of her onto the bodies of a strike team – allow them to infiltrate Krakoa’s security and nearly put an end to Krakoa before it has even begun. It is a horrendous series of events that requires an uncompromising response, and after Xavier’s successful resurrection, the Quiet Council takes its cue from the darkest side of human geopolitical history by authorizing the creation of X-Force as Krakoa’s own version of the C.I.A. Their mandate? Keep Krakoa safe by any means necessary.

接下来是建立一个情报部门和打击小组，负责任何和所有被认为是为克拉科阿利益服务的“可否认的行动”。虽然在最初的十几个问题中，消除XENO造成的威胁绝对符合Krakoa的利益，但同样清楚的是，这样做将以团队名单上的变种人付出非常高的代价。在一个又一个任务中，突击队——主要是金刚狼、昆汀·奎尔和多米诺——要面对变种人最坏的敌人。他们一次又一次地忍受着肢解、折磨和死亡(游戏邦注:特别是Kid Omega，他不止一次被杀，并对这一事实越来越不满)。

Even in the era of resurrection, it’s a heavy burden to bear for the cause of mutant sovereignty. It begs the question: Can Krakoa’s leaders truly claim the high ground over humanity when they’re willing to put a select few through unspeakable, repeated trauma? Where is the line that turns a militaristic team justifiably acting in the interest of national defense into an example of a country exploiting true believers no matter the cost?

By Any Means Necessary

Those questions have always followed X-Force as a concept, but they hold so much more import with the weight of a nation behind them. In this era, the embodiment of that question – “how far is too far?”- is Hank McCoy, the no longer bouncing, authoritarian blue Beast. The good doctor takes on the responsibility of head of Krakoan intelligence and all too easily begins pushing ethical boundaries. What begins with soliciting Forge for textiles crafted of sound-absorbent stone to then be sold to high-powered governments – and superhero teams – all over the world escalates to having Colossus publicly arrested in what he terms “the traitor’s parade” to interrogate him about his brother, Mikhail. It’s a betrayal of his team and his professed friends that would have once been unconscionable to the old Henry.

But all that is small potatoes compared to his greatest mistake. It’s Beast’s actions against the South American country of Terra Verde that epitomize the evils that can be perpetrated when a group – or even just one man – gives themselves permission to use any and all avenues to achieve what they believe is right. You see, Terra Verde has put all its resources into developing “telefloronics,” plant-based technology that responds to neural commands. But Krakoa’s similar technology has made Terra Verde’s obsolete, destabilizing the country and fomenting a rebellion that X-Force steps in to quell, in the process capturing the rebellion’s leader, the president’s son.

In the aftermath, in an effort to head off what he perceives as an existential threat to Krakoa, Beast secretly alters the code of the telefloronics that bonded with the young man so that they erase all neural activity in the host’s brain, then sends him back to his father. That’s when the unforeseen consequences come in to wreak havoc – the telefloronics take the First Son over entirely and spread throughout the country, bonding with and subsuming the entire population of Terra Verde. And just like that, Beast has effectively committed genocide, all the while certain that he was right, that he was justified in order to protect Krakoa, even if things went a tad off the rails. It’s a rationalization that would make the Age of Apocalypse’s Dark Beast proud.

Operating (and Reveling) in the Shadows

如果我告诉你，一本让大多数人物经历极端痛苦和苦难的书，同时又把另一位杰出的“英雄”直接引向充满暴行的道路，可能会让人读起来有点困难，这可能并不令人惊讶。My first time readingX-Force在它发布后不久，它就吸引了我，其中包括一些我个人最喜欢的角色，以及对Sage(一个我在这个时代之前对它知之甚少的角色)的有趣呈现。但第二次读的时候，我对这本书的整体印象不太好。

Benjamin Percy seems to really enjoy putting this X-Force roster through the ringer to see what comes out the other side – it’s no wonder he was given the reins of theWolverinesolo book as well. Of course, the brutality and violence has always been one of the draws of a series starring X-Force – after all, it’s the team of the mutants with claws and guns and metal arms! – but this book isdark.除了《野兽绝命毒师》和你的标准“金刚狼被自动武器火力撕碎”之外，大多数关键玩家都受到了非常非常大的“伤害”。达美乐加入这个团队的全部原因是因为她被绑架了，一半的皮肤和一只眼睛被切除了。《悲伤的巨人》在第一卷的下半部分都有。正如我之前提到的，昆汀·奎尔被以多种残忍的方式杀害了多次，令我恐惧的是，我甚至开始为他感到难过!各种各样的艺术家们都以令人钦佩的口吻描绘了珀西所追求的血、内脏、暴露的肌肉组织和压抑的内脏。这是一些沉重，沉重的东西，特别是与其他几本更冒险的氛围，在克拉考恩时代的x办公室。

I guess stories about a black ops team aren’t exactly supposed to make you feelgood. ButX-Force至少把更多的暴行留给那些真正应得的人，而不是把那么多的暴行堆在无辜的泰拉佛迪恩人和可怜的昆汀·奎尔身上(我不敢相信我要写下这些话)。