X-FORCE #47-50 (1995-1996)

This arc has several stories. The main story concerns the return of Sebastian Shaw. We learn he is still alive, and wants to take back the Hellfire Club–and starts by taking control of Holocaust. With the help of Tessa, he captures most members of X-Force.

And so we come to the 50th issue and a big fight of Cable vs the mind-controlled X-Force. Cable wins, of course. There are some opportunities here for a more complex narrative tying this story to the Sabretooth tale (below), given the amount of rehabilitation/mind control at play here. There’s also the issue of Gamesmaster–who has worked to undermine Hellfire Club–being a player in the Siryn story (below) which also involved controlling her mind. But instead the stories are kind of kept separate.

The Shaw stuff is the main story here, but the substories, below, are actually more interesting.

Another major story here–the cover story for issue #47–has Deadpool busting Siryn out of the mental ward where she’s been held for several issues now.

Deadpool breaks into the Weisman Institute to free Siryn, but they both end up being captured by the institute’s super-powered keepers.

Meanwhile, Cable and most of the X-Force crash a plane to get home.

Once there, though, Siryn shows up and seems fine. We the readers understand immediately that something is fishy. Not sure why Professor X can’t detect it.

Deadpool is still captive at the Institute. And we see a yellow wordbubble and we see him acting silly–I think this is a big step forward in Deadpool’s journey to becoming the Merc with a Mouth. It’s also clarified at this point that Gamesmaster is behind all this.

As for Boomer/Sabretooth, Tabitha has been feeding Creed milk and trying to bond with him. The team finds out and confronts her. She makes some good points about how so many mutants have been rehabilitated throughout the years–including Caliban (who kidnapped Kitty Pryde and tried to force her to marry him) and Sunspot (who was the villain Reignfire), who are now on the team. Nevertheless, she loses the debate and stops seeing Sabretooth. From here, Sabretooth will escape and nearly kill Psylocke in Uncanny X-Men #328.

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