Exit Wounds

Summary

  Hey Kids! Look, no code!

  13 years ago, Axel was 14, about to have sex on the beach, when his power manifested. Flame out the mouth, and he fried girl's face. Now he leads X-Force, a (blood-thirsty) mercenary organization with a fan base and merchandising. Doop films their missions, including the recent one against North African rebels, when Sluk was killed. Axel reviews the tape while his two sex-kittens beg for it.

  Coach announces new member Tike, who exudes acid and attitude. Later, he blows the roof off the Four Seasons hotel in Beverley Hills, so his posse can cool off in the jacuzzi. He tells a reporter Axel doesn't want him; soldiers in helicopters try to arrest him, but he's X-Force.

  The X-Force Café opens another chain store, with a full-size replica of Sluk. X-Force is late because Bekah is drunk. On TV, Axel sees Tike is bad-mouthing him and wants Coach to cut him; over lunch, Edie says it doesn't work that way. She's on drugs and says missions are their way to achieve celebrity, with money, sex, fame, and power. She suggests he relax, and she could replace him as leader for awhile.

  Coach calls a mission, this time just to boost their image. A boy band is being held hostage in New York, so Axel has Edie port them in. X-Force kills many. Axel hates his fans. A helicopter arrives and shoots everyone; Axel's leg is cut off, and only Edie, Tike, and Doop are left.

  Rant: the letters page: "See, there's an unexamined question in the so-called ‘X-Universe': What if there were a team of super-powered mutants who actually did live Professor X's dream?" Answer: the dream is tolerance, not decadence. The champagne-and-savagery lifestyle has been examined: the Hellfire Club, Mystique's Evil Mutants, the Externals, the Upstarts, etc. Villains all.

  Joe Quesada: "There are inherent aesthetic qualities to the story that the code just objected to." Like the threesome while watching a man burn to death (p. 4)?

  Axel Alonso: "It`s almost visceral when people see this book." Maybe because of the viscera (p. 21-22)?