Marvel Comics is releasing the long-awaited X-Force #10 on July 8 after the comic book Direct Market went on hiatus due to COVID-19 – and according to writer Benjamin Percy, the issue will scratch all kinds of itches readers may have for X-Force action.
With the team reconvening in Terra Verde to face down a dire mystery, Percy and artist Joshua Cassara will push the team to their limits both in the field and behind the scenes. Newsarama spoke to Percy ahead of X-Force #10's release to get the low-down on all the brutal, dramatic, and even "sexy" details of what's in store with the title's return.
Newsarama: Benjamin, it's been a while since we've caught up with X-Force. With #10 finally coming out on July 8, help set the stage for the return. Where is X-Force at right now?
Benjamin Percy: Help remind me: has it been six months—a year, a decade, a century?—since the last issue of X-Force came out? Time feels like it's slowed down and sped up all at once. Thanks for waiting patiently, friends. And hey, sometimes anticipation can get your nerves heightened and ready to flare, which is exactly the state you should be in for X-Force #10. We can promise you—as always—insane, nerve-shredding, top-volume storytelling.
Just to get your head reoriented: do you remember what Josh Cassara did in #9? When he introduced the Green Lagoon? Krakoa's watering hole and the world’s greatest tiki bar. That intricately detailed spread—which took him weeks of work—showcases his talent and our mutual, obsessive affection for this world we’re building. Show up to our table and we promise to fill you up.
X-Force is the mutant CIA, and our field operatives are heading to Terra Verde. Because—as you learned in the last issue—some bad shit is going down there as a result of Beast’s meddling. Bio-terror of the highest order. A dark mirror to the organic tech employed by Forge and the mutants. Wolverine, Domino, and Kid Omega have gone into the heart of the jungle—and encountered some 'Annihilation'-level weirdness.
And the only way they're getting out is with the help of those who don't normally leave the island: Sage and Black Tom are going to get a chance to shine.
Nrama: Getting more specific, the solicitation for X-Force #10 mentions one member's dark secrets being revealed. What can you tell us about that?
Percy: If Logan is the fist of X-Force, then Beast is the head. He has made many complicated decisions—in the intelligence office—that he considers right. Not morally right, but politically and militarily right. The greatest good for the greatest number of mutants.
When Jean finally learns what he's done…let's just say she’s going to be less than thrilled.
Nrama: The team's been on a mission in Terra Verde as you mentioned, facing a deadly and mysterious threat. What’s at stake right now?
Percy: Telefloronics are bio-based nanotech that Terra Verde has been developing—and it is very much a viable threat to Krakoa's defenses. We're learning in this issue not only how Beast's political and scientific meddling has unleashed something horrific in Terra Verde, but how some forms of teleflronics are pre-Mayan and have existed since the time of Olmec civilization.
Nrama: You're ten issues in to this new era and you've wasted no time kicking things into prime X-Force territory. How has your view of the team and the mission they have changed in that time?
Percy: We have continually upped the stakes with every issue. We've laid a lot of track—establishing antagonists such as XENO and the Mercs—but what you’re going to see next is an interesting synthesis. You'll start to recognize how interconnected some of these seemingly disparate global threats are.
We're also going to start testing the strength of the team. Whether they can trust each other and continue forward in the same capacity.
Colossus's story is a slow burn. But he'll begin to emerge from the background in a really compelling way.
There's so much drama ahead that it's hard to even know how to talk about it without spoiling the many plot points that have been set up. I've approached the storytelling to thrill on an issue-by-issue basis, but also to give the reader a novelistic scope when they look back on the run as a whole.
Nrama: You're working with Joshua Cassara, who's been part of the X-Force team since launch. What makes him the perfect artist for this book?
Percy: His high-octane theatrics. His ability to render emotion. His precise attention to detail. His sense of humor and sense of action and sense of drama. Every issue is better than the previous. He's constantly knocking me out.
Josh and I continue to talk on a daily basis—even through all this COVID craziness that slowed down comics (and everything else). We're in this for the long haul as a team. He's a good friend and a brilliant collaborator. I love nothing more than getting texts from him that show me pencils in progress or ask questions that begin, "Hey, this might be crazy, but what if we…?"
Even after our run on X-Force ends—in the year 2050—I know we’ll keep working together.
Nrama: X of Swords is on the horizon for later this year. How will that hit X-Force? What prep-work are you doing to set the stage?
Percy: The X-crew has been getting together virtually—for Bluejeans meetings—on an almost weekly basis for the past few months. X of Swords has been like one big ongoing summit. We're all producing in lockstep. This is a big, big deal to us, to Marvel, to retailers, to fans. Hickman said it clearly from the very beginning: we are going to create the biggest and best crossover in the past twenty years. We've been working our asses off on it. The spectacle of it all is next-level entertainment, and the whole X universe is about to get a whole lot bigger.
Nrama: With that on the way, what's next for X-Force? What can you tease us with as the book rolls on?
Percy: Murder, menace, mystery, mayhem! What's another M-word? Monsters? Misery? Mutants? Marmalade? Aside from the latter, we’ve got all of the above.
Nrama: Bottom line, what can readers expect with the return of X-Force? How does it feel to finally be back in action?
Percy: So damn good. We had an insane amount of momentum going—and now we’re finally back in action.
Also: attention, horny X-fans! The last few pages of this issue of X-Force are hot, hot, hot and sexy.
