Part of Christopher Yost and Craig Kyle’s mission statement for their third generation of X-Force was to counter criticisms of decompressed storytelling, promising to pack more plot into each issue than seen during their New X-Men days. True to their words, this first arc has proceeded with considerable pace, but even at the end of the fourth issue, there was still a feeling that we were only scratching the surface of the story: in the early stages of a yearlong epic, rather than a standard-length tale. With part five, however, the story takes a leftfield turn, bringing events to a true climax in time for the conclusion. The internal divisions within the Purifiers, an element of the book previously used merely for exposition, here take on a life of their own. 

While panel time is split fairly evenly between X-Force and their enemies, the opening battle between the team and a reborn Archangel is overshadowed by narration from the Purifier leader Mathew Risman, and it’s this character’s perspective and actions that dominate the issue. It marks a mature approach on the part of the writers not to feel compelled to place their protagonists at the centre of events, with the unstable edifice that the Purifiers have constructed collapsing quite convincingly of its own accord. However, not all of the Purifiers can justify the weight being placed upon then within this part of the story. While Eli is being intentionally shrouded in mystery (his engineering of Bastion’s resurrection makes it fairly obvious that he is only using the “Church” for his own ends), the Reverend Craig’s one-dimensionality is becoming an irritation. Wolfesbane’s biological father is too obscure a part of the X-verse for his return to engender any excitement, and the character is only interesting for the effect he has on Rhane. However, the time spend with Craig is sufficiently brief to avoid seriously detracting from the story. 

While Kyle & Yost are clearly at home in a mature-readers’ environment, Marvel plainly has some reservations about placing some of its more bankable characters in the blood-soaked world the writers have conjured. While the new X-Force’s battles have been not been suitable for children, none of Logan, Proudstar & Kinnery’s excursions to date have matched the Purifier-on-Purifier civil war for gratuitous violence. Clayton Crain cuts loose in a shocking double spread, making clear the full destructive potential of Risman’s Choir. The artist also deserves credit for being able to produce such high-quality work without giving cause for publication delays, although the writers are clearly helping him where possible- it’s hard to see the featureless white cell in which Wolfesbane is held as anything other than a device to reduce the amount that must be drawn. The focus on the villains’ internal politics means that this issue of the book is more to be intellectually admired than enjoyed, but the title’s earlier high standards are upheld.

Tags: Christopher Yost, Clayton Crain, Craig Kyle, X-Force
Publisher: Marvel