{"id":9423,"date":"2023-09-13T22:39:04","date_gmt":"2023-09-13T21:39:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=9423"},"modified":"2023-09-13T22:39:04","modified_gmt":"2023-09-13T21:39:04","slug":"x-force-44-annotations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=9423","title":{"rendered":"X-Force #44 annotations"},"content":{"rendered":"

As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>X-FORCE vol 6 #44<\/strong>
\n“The Chronicles of Colossus”<\/strong>
\nWriter: Benjamin Percy<\/strong>
\nArtist: Robert Gill<\/strong>
\nColourist: GURU-eFX<\/strong>
\nLetterer: Joe Caramagna<\/strong>
\nEditor: Mark Basso<\/strong><\/p>\n

COVER \/ PAGE 1.<\/strong> Domino, Deadpool and Sage fight Orchis’ X-Sentinels in an alleyway. There’s what looks to be a poster of Colossus’s face on the right-hand wall. Astute readers will note that Deadpool isn’t actually in this issue. He wandered off on page 14 of the previous issue, and wasn’t with the X-Force members who followed Colossus through the portal to Mikhail’s base.<\/p>\n

However, the solicitation for this issue refers to X-Force being captured, with “Sage, Deadpool and Domino” trying to reach them before the Sentinels do. Evidently Deadpool got cut from the plot, perhaps because it didn’t make sense for him to be in this book and Uncanny Avengers <\/em>at the same time.<\/p>\n

PAGES 2-3.<\/strong> Domino watches an Orchis checkpoint in Moscow.<\/em><\/p>\n

Are we… are we seriously just going with the idea that Orchis are openly operating, with the blessing of the authorities, in both the USA and Russia, and that no further explanation is required for that? That’s…. um, well, gosh, that’s quite a choice we’ve made there, isn’t it?<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The X-Sentinels.<\/strong> We saw Orchis working on these things in\u00a0X-Men<\/em> #22. They’re based around the abandoned adamantium skeletons that Orchis got from the X-Force squadrons (including Wolverine) who got killed in repeated attacks on the Orchis space station, as seen in\u00a0Inferno<\/em> #1.<\/p>\n

PAGES 4-6.\u00a0<\/strong>Domino confronts Boba Golubev.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u0421\u043f\u0443\u0436\u0435\u0431\u043d\u043e\u0435 \u043f\u043e\u043c\u0435\u0449\u0435\u043d\u0438\u0435. <\/strong>“Utility Room.”<\/p>\n

Boba Golubev<\/strong> is a new character. There was a mutant called Mikula Golubev who was in the Bogatyri, a Russian group who debuted in Avengers West Coast<\/em> #88, but that’s probably just coincidence – it’s a fairly common name.<\/p>\n

PAGE 7.\u00a0<\/strong>Recap and credits.<\/p>\n

The title – “The Chronicles of Colossus” – obviously references Chronicler’s long-running control over him.<\/p>\n

PAGES 8-10.\u00a0<\/strong>Montage on the fate of X-Force.<\/em><\/p>\n

The narrator is Chronicler, continuing his narration of Colossus’s life. Basically, now that his plan to attack the Hellfire Gala has been pre-empted and he’s out of favour with the Russian authorities, Mikhail doesn’t actually\u00a0have<\/em> a plan and is sitting around trying to figure out what comes next.<\/p>\n

“[Mikhail] had tried to wrest control of Russia, Krakoa, the world, even the timeline…”<\/strong> In\u00a0X Lives of Wolverine<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Kid Omega<\/strong> discovered that his powers weren’t working properly in his new, younger body just after entering it last issue.<\/p>\n

Omega Red<\/strong> was simply defeated by Wolverine in\u00a0X Lives of Wolverine<\/em> rather than betraying Mikhail – in fact, Mikhail abandoned him, rather than vice versa. Obviously, Mikhail doesn’t interpret events that way.<\/p>\n

PAGE 11.\u00a0<\/strong>Data page: Sage catalogues the resources still available to her after the fall of Krakoa. Basically, the gates and the “singing stones” spy tech are all offline. Pacific Krakoa (the main island) is surrounded by Orchis, although they haven’t actually established a presence on the island, as seen over in Immortal X-Men<\/em>. The Atlantic Krakoa was appropriated by Mother Righteous in\u00a0X-Men: Hellfire Gala 2023<\/em> and is currently being used by her in the weird desert landscape where Exodus’s exiled Krakoans wound up, also in\u00a0Immortal X-Men<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Of the members of X-Force, Wolverine (Laura), Kid Omega, Omega Red and Colossus are completely uncontactable; Deadpool and Wolverine are apparently detectable but offline, reflecting their status as guys who are just out there in the wider world. Since Deadpool is hanging around with the Avengers, and Wolverine is alive and well, you have to figure that both of them disabled their communications devices to avoid being tracked by Orchis.<\/p>\n

PAGES 12-17.\u00a0<\/strong>Domino escapes with Boba’s ring.<\/em><\/p>\n

We’re not told what this ring does, but Domino asks how it works, and we’re told that Boba was a close ally of Mikhail Rasputin. So the obvious guess is that it’s some form of link to Mikhail’s hidden base. Sage tells us lately that it[s “connected to something very powerful”, i.e. Mikhail.<\/p>\n

PAGE 18.<\/strong> Data page. More of Sage’s logbook. Aside from the last two lines, this is a straight recap of the Colossus \/ Mikhail storyline. Specifically…<\/p>\n