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Released by: Dark Horse Comics
Released on: Apr. 09, 2014
Mob boss Tango's right-hand, Ella, has wounded and captured Leigh, the ex-reporter friend of X. It soon becomes clear what they intend to do to her and, ultimately, to X, in this story titled 21 Days.
Leigh is tortured, injected and brainwashed over just about the entirety of the 3 weeks in the title. She parrots what's been drilled into her, that X is a psychotic killer and not a hero. Meanwhile, X is running about the city like a madman trying to find her. But, eventually, once she's broken, Tango lets X know where she is by posting her picture on his hideout's door.
X expects a fight but not one of the scale he encounters as Tango has Ella, a surprisingly not-dead Gamble and the X-created-creature Deathwish all gang up on him. They're able to overpower him, strip him of his mask, and dump him into a whole. There, it's Deathwish's turn to work him over, telling him the only way out of there is to grant his wish and kill him, finally.
The brainwashed Leigh writes down a confession that also frames the good cops led by Ruidoso and takes them all down in a masterstroke of the plan by Tango. But lying beaten and bleeding on his pit floor, X realizes one mission might be done and a new one is calling…
Duane Swierczynski's work with iconic, justice-obsessed characters takes unexpected paths here with X, seemingly now having eliminated everything that's defined the character thus far. But it's that freshness, that dedication to structure that really makes this series shine now. Eric Nguyen continues his work on the series and keeps getting better every issue, it seems, as he gets even more comfortable with the brutal world of the character.
