WARNING: The following contains spoilers for X-Force #2 by Benjamin Percy, Joshua Cassara, Dean White, VC's Joe Caramagna and Tom Muller, on sale now.
The events of X-Force have pushed some of the mutants on Krakoa into more dangerous situations, including Wolverine, who is forced on a mission of revenge after Charles Xavier is shot down by a group of assassins. Along the way, he must work with an ally he made in Wolverine & the X-Men: Quentin Quire.
However, their relationship in X-Force #2 doesn't reflect the growth they underwent in that series. Instead, the pair bicker as they did at the beginning of their time together -- erasing the growth of their relationship.
After the assassination of Charles Xavier, the united mutants on the island try to figure out what to do next. While Jean Grey and Beast try to figure out how to bring Xavier back to life and Sage and Cecilia Reyes focus on the autopsy of the assassins, Wolverine decides to target the group that sent the assassins after them in the first place. Initially, he trys to track them down alone but soon ends up being followed, leading to anassist from none other than Quentin Quire, aka Kid Omega.
Taking the attack on Xavier as an insult to all telepaths, Quire works alongside Wolverine as they make their way through the assailants' base. The whole time, both characters needle and mock each other. Quire is immediately insulting about Logan and his abilities, and casually violent with the humans they encounter in a way that even Wolverine isn't. He's even relentlessly turned back to his old mutant superiority ideals, something Wolverine is overtly not a fan of.
Generally, the pair come off as completely dismissive of one another and their ideals. It makes sense for Quire -- who has always been something of a jerk towards even his fellow mutants -- to be antagonistic, but having him be so purely against Wolverine kind of misses the point of their last interactions.
Wolverine & the X-Men gave Quentin Quire his first real chance to become a better person. Initially in the series, he was the same petulant and anarchic psychic that he was when he caused the riot at Xavier's. But even when the rest of the heroes in the Marvel Universe called for his detainment, Wolverine -- then the new headmaster for the Jean Grey Institute For Higher Learning -- insisted that he get the chance to try and rescue the young man from himself and, over the course of Wolverine & the X-Men, Logan was slowly able to do just that. Quire even started to open up to the ideals Logan was trying to preach to him.
By the time Quire graduated at the end of the series, he'd made peace with his fellow students; he started dating Idie and made peace with other heroes like Captain America. It's even revealed that in the future, a Quire who'd become a defender of the galaxy as the new incarnation of the Phoenix made sure to keep the Jean Grey School running by introducing a host of new students from across the galaxy. The development of the character was a primary thematic core of the comic and it crafted a strong bond between the two characters.
That's why it's just so disappointing to see Quire and Wolverine not working on closer terms in X-Force #2. It's like their relationship was knocked back to step one. Quire can -- and should -- continue to needle Wolverine. That's what he does to everyone. But without at least a sense of respect towards their previous relationship, it pushes Quire's important character development back only a few years after it happened.
X-Force #3 releases Dec. 11.