X-Force #125
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeX-Force #125 is the first appearance of Dead Girl — the undead mutant whose necromantic powers and darkly comic sensibility would go on to anchor the 2006 miniseries X-Statix Presents: Dead Girl and become one of the run's most enduring characters. Equally significant, this issue sits at the center of U-Go Girl's fatal story arc: shot by a member of the genetically engineered Bush Rangers posing as teammate Spike, a dying Edie Sawyer names the team 'X-Statix' with her last breath — a narrative hinge that directly prompted the title's rebrand just months later. The issue exemplifies the Milligan/Allred run's core provocation: that death on a superhero team is not a dramatic detour but the team's primary commercial product, a meta-commentary on celebrity, mortality, and the superhero genre's own relationship with loss. Unlike most of the X-Statix cast who were eventually revived, U-Go Girl has remained dead since this arc, lending her sacrifice a narrative weight rare in mainstream Marvel continuity.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
X-Force #125 was produced by the same tight creative unit — writer Peter Milligan, penciler/inker Michael Allred, colorist Laura Allred, letterer Blambot, and editor Axel Alonso — responsible for the entire Milligan/Allred X-Force run beginning at #116. That run itself was assembled by former Vertigo editor Alonso under editor-in-chief Joe Quesada's early-2000s X-Men line overhaul, with Milligan and Allred brought in specifically because they were given near-total creative freedom to tear the concept apart and rebuild it as satirical fiction about fame. Allred has recalled that Alonso called him after securing Milligan for the relaunch, noting that his prior collaboration with Milligan on a Shade the Changing Man story and the opportunity to create wholly original Marvel mutants made the project irresistible. The issue was later collected in X-Force Vol. 2: The Final Chapter (November 2002) and again in the X-Statix Omnibus (2011), and the entire Milligan/Allred X-Force run was eventually gathered under the subtitle X-Force: Famous, Mutant & Mortal.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First appearance of Dead Girl (real name: Moonbeam, last name unrevealed), created by Peter Milligan and Michael Allred; she had been mentioned as a possible recruit in X-Force #121 and #122 but does not physically appear until this issue.
- Dead Girl's origin: an aspiring actress murdered by a co-star, her X-gene activated at the moment of death, enabling her to resurrect herself with necromantic powers before taking revenge.
- U-Go Girl (Edie Sawyer) is mortally wounded in this issue by a member of the Bush Rangers — genetically engineered adversaries who infiltrated the team by impersonating Spike — marking the beginning of her death arc concluded in #128.
- As she lies dying in Orphan's arms, Edie Sawyer proposes the name 'X-Statix' for the team, the suggestion that directly leads to the title's rebrand and relaunch.
- Creative team: writer Peter Milligan; pencils, inks, and cover: Michael Allred; colors: Laura Allred; letters: Blambot; editor: Axel Alonso; editor-in-chief: Joe Quesada.
- Published March 13, 2002 (on-sale); cover-dated April 2002; 36 pages total per GoCollect / 23 story pages per Marvel's official listing.
- Reprinted in X-Force (2001 series) #2 — 'The Final Chapter' (November 2002) and in the X-Statix Omnibus (Marvel, 2011).
- Dead Girl went on to headline the five-issue 2006 miniseries X-Statix Presents: Dead Girl (written by Milligan, covers by Allred), which also saw the return of Anarchist, Orphan, and U-Go Girl in a story that itself parodied the comic-book revolving door of death and resurrection.
Cast · 7 characters
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Reprints
Reprinted in X-Force #2 (2002), X-Statix Omnibus #[nn] (2011), X-Statix: The Complete Collection #1 (2019)
Key issues in X-Force
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