Inglorious X-Force #3
“Field of Booms”
Writer: Tim Seeley
Artist: Michael Sta. Maria
Colorist: Romulo Fajardo Jr.
I know Warren Ellis is persona non grata these days, and I completely get why. Some of his books still remain some of my very favorites, though - Planetary is an absolute masterpiece. What does Warren Ellis have to do with Inglorious X-Force #3, you might ask? Well, this particular issue pulls from a lot of characters and concepts that were part of Ellis's amazing book Nextwave.
90% Bimbo, 10% Hardened Black Ops Veteran
Cable is still working through his list of teammates/suspects. This time around, the focus is on Tabitha Smith, aka Boom-Boom. The issue opens with a day in the life of Tabitha, as she uses her powers to help with a demolition site, goes on a date with one of the workers, notices a strange mark on her chest in the restroom, then goes out to sea and detonates. Wait, wait?
The next day, Boom-Boom is hanging from the side of the Beyond Corporation's skyscraper in New York, doing what she does best - blowing things up. Oh, and her internal narration is exactly the same as it was the prior day. What the heck is going on here?
X-Force completes their op, working together to steal information from the Beyond Corporation's servers. Boom-Boom is the distraction, Angel (there under the guise of a CEO-to-CEO meeting with Maxine Danger) does the hack, Hellverine recovers Boom-Boom, and Cable drives the getaway plane. The plan actually goes off without a hitch, and soon they're on their way to a location revealed in the files: a place mentioned in context with the organization H.A.T.E. You know, the guys who fought Nextwave a lot.
After finding and unceremoniously (seriously, it was just one panel of all sound effects) defeating a group of "Unusual Weapons of Mass Destruction," X-Force finds themselves in a strange small town called New Axe Handle, Minnesota. It's decorated like it's Thanksgiving, even though it's Spring. This all feels really familiar to Tabitha... then they're greeted by Dirk Anger, the (deceased) former leader of Nextwave who was really the leader of H.A.T.E (go read Nextwave, Fleshy One. Seriously, go now. I'll wait.) and is now alive again. Clones, kids!
Standing with Dirk Anger is his mother, Momma Anger, who he apparently loaded with a ridiculous assortment of super-powers. That will become important later. Boom-Boom tries to do what she does best and blow him up again, but Momma deflects the boom and it throws her throught a nearby building! Inside, Tabitha finds a slew of clones of herself, all saying the same things - the same internal narration we've seen twice already this issue, this time externally. In stereo.
Cable, Ms. Marvel, and Hellverine all face down Momma Anger, while Angel (now in Archangel mode) goes to help Tabitha with her copies. Momma throws some ridiculous and hilarious powers at Cable and company, until they're able to finish her. Inside the house, Archangel uses the Death Seed inside of him to not kill the Tabitha clones, but rather to give them new life... as flowers. Weird, but totally in line with the Nextwave vibes of this issue.
Back at base, Boom-Boom wakes up in Akhiro's (Hellverine) bed - ooh, scandalous! - and can't sleep, so she goes wandering, figuring Cable is still up and they can talk. She does find Cable, but he looks an awful lot like he's dead - and their old teammate Domino is standing over him!
Tick, tick...
Boom
This was a blast (no pun intended). I knew this issue was going to be fun, given the focus on Boom-Boom, but the Nextwave ties caught me completely off-guard. You just know you're in for a good time when anything related to that band of lunatics is involved.
Tabitha spends so much of her time quipping, partying, and blowing things up, that it's easy to forget how much she has been through for someone who's so young. Like most of the original New Mutants, it's a wonder she's not in a corner somewhere drooling in the fetal position. Seeing the clones of her, and how they were all thinking/saying the same things as her even without the experiences she's been through since the Nextwave days, was a good look inside her head. You don't have to deal with your trauma if you don't ever move past a certain point in time in your head, right?
The rest of the team doesn't have a lot to do this issue, but the bits that they do all get all work perfectly. Hellverine is his father's son, whether he likes it or not. Angel/Archangel gets to play the rich CEO role, and also fight against his past as Death. And Cable gets to cross another name off his list of suspects. It's too obvious for the last name, Archangel, to be the future killer of Kamala Khan at this point. My guess? It's either Domino, since she's been in the proximity of the team every step of the way so far, or it's Cable himself. I guess time will tell on that front. For me, the real question is where the book goes once the mystery of the would-be killer has been solved.
Guess I Just Needed to Blow Something Up. I Feel Better Now.
Tim Seeley, who's a very busy man these days, continues to handle writing duties this issue. When you bring in characters and concepts from something as absurd as Nextwave, you better be sure you can do them justice - and here, Seeley proves he can do just that. Dirk Anger, Maxine Danger, the UWMD's... it all feels like I'd imagine a new issue of Nextwave itself would feel. And it's funny. The pacing is good, starting things off with you scratching your head, but making it all clear by the midpoint. Seeley is firing on all cylinders this month.
Series artist Michael Sta. Maria is getting more comfortable each issue, making this his best one yet. He capturers the absurdity of the characters and situations that X-Force encounters this issue, there are some plain hilarious panels. His facial expressions are very well done, which is especially important when you have a character like Boom-Boom who says one thing with her words and another with her face. The action is well-rendered and easy to follow, and he handles some heavily-paneled pages early on in the issue with aplomb.
Romulo Fajardo Jr. is our colorist this issue, and he gets multiple opportunities to do some cool stuff. The neon lights in the dance club at the beginning, multiple different chances to blow things up throughout the issue, the crazy variety of powers coming from Momma Anger... his colors make them all pop off the page.
Oh, and I'm not sure which member of the creative team to credit it to, but the panel of nothing but sound effects is terrifically done. Hilarious.
I Gave Him the Explodo Because I Am Clever
Inglorious X-Force #3 is easily the best issue of the series to date - not only does it bring in characters and elements from Nextwave, to great effect, but it has fantastic character work for the titular team, some great action, and it's funny as heck. It took a little bit of time to get the pieces in the right place and unlock the "secret sauce" for working with this cast, but now that they found it, this book is going to be on fire. More of this, please.