283: X-Force Vol 3 # 1 - 11 (Old Ghosts)
- Matt Campbell
- 6 days ago
- 6 min read
Updated: 14 hours ago
What’s Covered?
X-Force Volume 3 # 1 - 11, Cable Volume 2 # 1 - 5, King-Size Cable Spectacular #1
Roster Watch
Synopsis
X-Force Volume 3 # 1 - 6 : Angels and Demons
Writer - Craig Kyle, Christopher Yost
Pencils - Clayton Crain
Cyclops secretly tasks Wolverine with assembling a new X-Force team to eliminate the Purifiers, pushing mutant ethics into darker territory. Wolverine recruits Warpath, X-23, and Wolfsbane, warning them of the moral cost. Meanwhile, the Purifiers violently infiltrate a S.H.I.E.L.D. facility to recover Bastion, a techno-organic fusion of Nimrod and Master Mold. The issue sets the tone for a brutal, covert war in the shadows of mutantkind’s public image.
X-Force races to intercept the Purifiers, but they arrive too late. Rahne has already been captured during her undercover mission. In a violent clash, X-23 detonates explosives to halt the enemy, barely sparing Warpath and Wolfsbane from death. The escapee, Matthew Risman, flees with a wounded Rahne, while internal strife brews as Bastion asserts dominance over the Purifiers. Bastion begins his dark mission by seeking out the powerful techno-organic alien, Magus.
The Purifiers use the Magus to reanimate an army of notorious mutant killers: Donald Pierce, William Stryker, Graydon Creed, Stephen Lang, Cameron Hodge, Bollivar Trask, and others. Rahne, still under Purifier influence, awakens in a berserker state and viciously tears Warren’s wings off. X-23 has the chance to stop her but holds back, internalizing Wolverine’s message about sacrifice and the burden of protecting mutantkind.
Matthew Risman uses the severed wings—tainted by Apocalypse's alien technology—to engineer an army of false Archangels. Meanwhile, the trauma of losing his wings reawakens Warren’s deadly Archangel persona. The real and false Archangels are now set on a collision course.
Risman unleashes his Archangel clones against Bastion’s forces in a chaotic battle for control. As violence erupts between rival extremist factions, X-Force is caught in the crossfire of a war between ideologies.
Rahne escapes captivity and confronts her father, Reverend Craig, killing him in a feral outburst that leaves her emotionally devastated. Warren slaughters the false Archangels before regaining control of his Archangel persona. Brother Eli betrays Risman, revealing a monstrous form infected with the transmode virus. Bastion and his reborn army vanish, setting the stage for a greater war.
X-Force Volume 3 # 7-10 : Old Ghosts
Writer - Craig Kyle, Christopher Yost
Pencils - Mike Choi
X-Force reels from their last mission as tensions rise within the team. Warpath struggles with personal grief and avoids Hepzibah, while Wolfsbane still goes feral at the sight of Archangel, triggering his transformation. X-23 warns Elixir that leaving the team isn’t an option, Cyclops won’t allow it. Meanwhile, Bastion’s cabal is fully active, with Graydon Creed returning to prominence, and the Vanisher steals a sample of the Legacy Virus.
Scalphunter alerts the X-Men about the missing Legacy Virus, prompting Wolverine, X-23, and Archangel to track down the Vanisher. Domino unexpectedly reappears, working parallel to the team while hunting Vanisher herself. Archangel succumbs to his Death persona mid-mission, while Wolverine and Laura assault Vanisher at his hideouts. Elixir heals Vanisher but infects him with a terminal disease to ensure his cooperation.
The Vanisher reveals the Marauders stole the virus, including Sabretooth, Harpoon, Vertigo, and Scrambler. A bloody battle erupts between X-Force and the Marauders, with X-Force eventually overwhelming them. Meanwhile, Warpath is drawn into a spiritual battle with the legendary Demon Bear in the woods. Ghost Rider arrives unexpectedly, aiding Warpath in confronting this supernatural threat.
X-Force defeats the Marauders, but the smiley-faced Purifiers soon arrive to claim the Legacy Virus. Ghost Rider empowers Warpath to confront the Demon Bear, allowing him to draw out a dark blade that frees the trapped Apache gods. X-23 ingests the Legacy Virus and attempts to destroy herself in molten steel, believing it’s the only way to prevent catastrophe. Elixir catches her just in time, saving her, but she still ignites in flames before surviving. Meanwhile, Hrimhari, the wolf prince of Asgard, finds the feral and broken Wolfsbane.
X-Force Volume 3 # 11: The Origin of Eli Bard
Writer - Craig Kyle, Christopher Yost
Pencils - Clayton Crain, Alina Urusov
This issue dives into the backstory of Eli Bard, once a Roman senator who lost everything to political betrayal. In his lowest moment, he encountered Selene, the vampiric mutant, who promised power in exchange for sacrifice. Eli attempted to offer her the souls of 10,000 Romans to make her a god, but was thwarted and cursed by Selene with eternal, painful life.
Centuries later, still desperate for her favor, Eli presents her with a new gift: reanimated Purifiers and the corpse of Caliban. Using the Technarch virus, he proposes resurrecting dead mutants for Selene to consume, turning her hunger into power. Pleased, Selene begins to shape this dark offering into a new plan of godhood.
Cable V2 # 1 - 5: War Baby
Writer - Duane Swierczynski
Pencils - Ariel Olivetti
In the war-torn future of 2043, Cable protects the mutant baby believed to be the messiah of mutantkind. He navigates the hostile terrain while trying to stabilize their place in time. Meanwhile, Bishop—sporting a high-tech arm and burning with obsession—arrives in the same timeline to hunt them down. The chase begins across fractured futures.
Cable and Bishop engage in a brutal fight that leaves Cable seriously wounded. Flashbacks reveal that Bishop stole his new arm and a time-travel device from Forge, all in pursuit of the child he believes will bring doom. Cable's own time machine malfunctions, stranding him in a hostile, uncertain era with no clear path forward.
Cable recovers from his wounds with the help of a sympathetic nurse in a small settlement. Meanwhile, Bishop is captured by the local militia, the Turnpike Authority—but quickly escapes and massacres many of them. The chase resumes, bloodier and more ruthless than ever.
An aged Cannonball, revealed to be the last surviving mutant, tracks down Cable in the future. Hoping to aid his old friend, Cannonball confronts Bishop to buy Cable time. Their battle is fierce, but Bishop kills Cannonball, ending one of the final links to the X-Men’s past.
Cable decides to take the offensive and launches a surprise attack on Bishop using the stolen Blackbird. After a climactic battle, Cable discovers he can still travel forward in time—but not backward. With no other options, he jumps 85 years into the future, hoping to find a safe haven for the child.
King-Size Cable Spectacular #1
Writer - Duane Swierczynski
Pencils - Ken Lashley
Years have passed, and the baby has grown into a young girl—capable of speaking, walking, and surviving in the harsh future alongside Cable. Bishop continues his relentless pursuit, only to realize he can no longer jump backward in time. In a twist of fate, he arrives at the moment of Cable’s supposed death but inadvertently ends up saving both Cable and the child.
My Connections and Creators
Boring or Great?
This series is off to a pretty strong start. Wolverine has never really been a team leader before, but he's pulling it off here. It's fun to see that while Wolverine has no problem with killing, he's fast to criticize Cyclops for pushing it and "using" Laura for this end. Is this the beginning of a harder Cyclops? We'll see.
The roster is pretty strong. I've never been the biggest fan of Wolfsbane, but she's been far less annoying the last few years. Warpath had been coming on strong under Brubaker and that fierceness continues here, which is super fun. I'm a big fan of Laura's X-23, so it's great to see her here. You can tell that Kyle and Yost have a strong affinity for her. Warren has always been a bit vanilla to me, but he's always been his most entertaining as Archangel, so I'm down with it. I only just recently took Domino out of my top ten favorite characters, so I would love to see her be relevant again. Elixir seems out of place.
Thoughts on Art
Clayton Crain’s painted digital style dominates the first arc of X-Force Vol. 3 with a hyper-detailed, grim aesthetic that perfectly matches the book’s dark, violent tone. His use of deep shadows, saturated blood tones, and slick metallic textures elevates the book into near-horror territory, especially during action sequences and moments of body horror. While Crain’s layouts sometimes sacrifice clarity for style, the mood he sets—claustrophobic, savage, and brutal—is unparalleled for a black-ops mutant team.
With the shift to Mike Choi in issue #7, the book gains cleaner lines and more expressive faces, offering a visual breath of air while still maintaining the book’s emotional weight. Choi’s work particularly shines in character-driven scenes, offering a more intimate lens through which to view the team’s trauma and moral decay. The transition from Crain’s chaos to Choi’s clarity serves the narrative well, underscoring the psychological toll the mission has taken on X-Force.
Larger Impacts
Well, I can think of one. All of the fricken dead X-Men villains are alive again. I'm very curious to see if that sticks. Honestly, I like it when characters stay dead, so I hope this is short lived. Speaking of dead characters...Jean has been dead for quite some time hasn't she?