As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.

X-FORCE vol 6 #26
“Wipeout”
by Benjamin Percy, Robert Gill & Guru-eFX

COVER / PAGE 1. The rest of the cast look on as Wolverine dives into a live volcano after… well, who knows? Nothing much like it happens in the issue. There’s an eruption, but no diving into the lava with claws drawn. (And this looks to be a man’s hand, not Pike’s.)

This issue’s pretty simple, annotation-wise.

PAGES 2-4. Pike and her team bring the stolen babies to their submarine.

These are the Krakoan babies that they stole from the Bower last issue. The one that screams is Maximillian, who “nearly killed everybody in a hundred-yard radius” with his uncontrolled powers (according to Kid Omega last issue).

Pike’s unnamed employer is identified at the end of the issue.

PAGE 5. Recap and credits.

PAGES 6-9. X-Force investigate Pike’s attack, and Wolverine talks to Kid Omega about his break-up with Phoebe.

Last issue, Pike and her team entered Krakoa through the supposedly unmanageable Dead Mutant’s Cove, posing as Krakoan surfers, and Wolverine directed them to the Bower (not least because he was attracted to Pike, though he doesn’t say that in terms here).

Kid Omega and Phoebe broke up last issue, with the other Stepford Cuckoos reasserting their “one individual in five bodies” schtick (as also seen in Inferno #3).

Kid Omega’s “list of custom-made specifications for the Five”, with assorted alterations for each resurrection, was previously mentioned in issue #17. Although he doesn’t know this, his idea of having himself resurrected without the upsetting memory of Phoebe mirrors Domino’s resurrection without her traumatic memories after her death in issue #8 (which happened because Colossus lies about her final wishes).

The stuff with the waves here is really heavy handed.

PAGES 10-13. X-Force pursue Pike’s team underwater.

The Bluebird is new, of course. Despite the organic trappings, this is one of the rare examples of the Krakoan-era X-Men using broadly regular technology.

Evidently, Pike’s submarine was destroyed by Maximilian, but she escaped with him; her teammates died, and the two less powerful babies were left behind.

Kid Omega still isn’t paying much attention to the mission, and instead takes Wolverine to task for giving him a “forget about her” pep talk which, he realises, is actually displacement about Wolverine’s own guilt over falling for Pike last issue. He’s basically right about all that.

PAGE 14. Data page. Cecilia Reyes autopsies Pike’s two dead colleagues and finds that they’re a new kind of XENO post-human soldier. They’re also designed to be addicted to adrenaline (as Pike confirms later in the issue), which is apparently thought to be an advantage since it makes them more willing to take risks. As Reyes points out, that seems like something that could easily cut both ways.

PAGES 15-16. Kid Omega returns the two retrieved children to the Bower.

Consistent with his interest in helping the babies last issue, Kid Omega seems genuinely delighted to be returning the babies, and it seems to be the one point in the issue where he isn’t preoccupied either with his break-up or with his squabble with Wolverine. Marvel Girl – a former cast member dropping by for the final issue of this season – comes by to smooth over the argument with Wolverine.

PAGES 17-22. Wolverine and Kid Omega catch up with Pike.

Pike did indeed tell Logan last issue that she was planning to surf at an imminent volcanic eruption in Alaska. Whether that was a slip or a deliberate clue – or just a case of her courting danger because of her adrenaline addiction – is left ambiguous.

Logan suggests that while she initially presented her extreme-sports schtick as a philosophy of life, it’s actually just a biological urge for the rush. Not unreasonably, Pike argues that this is just another way of saying the same thing. That then leads her to argue that if Wolverine feels a connection with her, then by definition there must be one. This is the most interesting bit of the issue in terms of the ideas. Pike doesn’t explicitly disavow her creators or show any disloyalty, but does claim to have felt a connection to Wolverine when he suggests that he was “ruined by somebody else’s lab”.

Unfortunately, it then all get a bit silly with the razor-sharp metal surfboard being used to… well, it bisects a shark by, er, going over it. Reviews itself, really. Anyway, Kid Omega – duly reconciled with Wolverine – rescues him, and Pike goes her own way, either to return to her employers, or just to escape. Or to get herself killed.

PAGE 23. Maximillian in the hands of XENO.

We last saw the Man with the Peacock Tattoo in issue #23, when Mikhail Rasputin trapped him in a pocket dimension. Either he’s escaped, or this is an impostor.

PAGE 24. Data page. The Chronicler writes (and, per earlier issues, influences reality), explaining how Colossus has been a quiet and respected presence on the Quiet Council. He joined the Council in Inferno #2, and remains under the Chronicler’s influence.

PAGE 25. Trailer for the next season, which apparently isn’t coming until April.