We’re now up to chapter 8 out of 13 in Messiah Complex, and the second act is drawing to a close. In this issue, X-Force track down Cable, just in time to end up fighting Deathstrike and the Purifiers while he makes his escape, Madrox and Layla get imprisoned in the future, and the remaining members of X-Men and X-Factor get their collective asses into gear just slightly too late to be of much use, it seems.

Again, while the Madrox plot feels horribly overstretched at this point – we’ve been getting drip-fed it for a good portion of the crossover now, where other threads wrap up after substantially fewer issues – the rest of the story is continuing its breakneck pace. Plus, from the next issue preview, it seems like the Madrox plot might be due an ending soon…

The biggest part of the issue consisted of X-Force fighting the Purifiers to get to Cable. Because it’s effectively the New X-Men book, the New X-Men characters are afforded slightly more focus than in the last few chapters, which will hopefully satisfy NXM fans, though at this point it’s hard to believe anyone who’s not buying the crossover would still be following it. X-23 in particular has an excellent fight scene with Deathstrike, and Surge gets a decent character moment too, lamenting the consequences of her unsanctioned attack on the Purifiers some issues ago.

Again, it’s very interesting to see Wolverine taking a leadership role – he doesn’t second guess his charges, and he’s quick to issue orders when it looks like someone’s losing focus – for instance, when Caliban is shot and probably killed, and Warpath blinks. It’s a substantially different style to Cyclops, and it impresses me that they’re managing to convey that so clearly. X-Force also manage to kill a whole bunch of people out of necessity - even Rahne manages to off at least one – showing the slippery slope that X-Force may well be on. I’m still not sure if it’s enough to make me interested in an ongoing title featuring an X-Men “Black Ops” team, but for this story alone they’re doing the job well.