X-Force #26
X-Force #26 marks the debut of Reignfire, a powerful new villain conceived as a dark mirror of Sunspot (Roberto Da Costa) who seizes command of the leaderless Mutant Liberation Front following the events of the 'X-Cutioner's Song' crossover. The introduction kicks off one of the more psychologically layered mystery arcs of the early-Modern era: readers were left to puzzle out whether Reignfire was literally Sunspot, a future version of him, or something else entirely — a slow-burn identity question that writer Fabian Nicieza built across dozens of subsequent issues. The issue also serves as a soft creative-era dividing line, arriving at the precise moment when longtime penciler Greg Capullo handed cover duties and interior art to new penciler Mat Broome, and the title transitioned away from Liefeld-era bombast toward Nicieza's more character-driven ensemble storytelling.
In "Shadows on the Rock," Cable struggles to recover from his wounds under Magneto’s wary watch, while Sam and Bobby race to deliver grim news to Karma about Illyana’s fate. Meanwhile, Reignfire makes a bold move, freeing the Mutant Liberation Front from captivity. Written by Fabian Nicieza and brought to life by Mat Broome’s dynamic art—inked by LaRosa and Scott Hanna, colored by George Roussos, and lettered by Chris Eliopoulos—this 1993 X-Force issue delivers tense, character-driven stakes. The cover, a striking piece by Greg Capullo, captures the moment’s intensity.
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By mid-1993, Fabian Nicieza had been steering X-Force as sole writer since Rob Liefeld's departure to Image Comics in 1992, working under editor Bob Harras with Tom DeFalco as editor-in-chief. Issue #26's story, titled 'Shadows on the Rock,' was scripted by Nicieza and drawn by incoming penciler Mat Broome — himself replacing Greg Capullo, whose final interior issue was #25. According to Wikipedia's Reignfire entry, Nicieza's original plan was for Reignfire to be an older, mentally destabilized time-traveling version of Sunspot; that concept was later overturned by successor writer John Francis Moore, who retconned him as a protoplasmic entity shaped by Sunspot's genetic material. The cover was rendered by Capullo (signed 'GC'), even though Broome handled interior pencils — a transitional arrangement common when one artist's run ends while another begins.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First appearance of Reignfire, created by Fabian Nicieza and Mat Broome, who debuted as the new self-appointed leader of the Mutant Liberation Front.
- Story title: 'Shadows on the Rock'; published with a September 1993 cover date (on-sale July 27, 1993).
- Interior pencils by Mat Broome (his first issue on the series); cover art by Greg Capullo, who had been the regular interior artist from #15–25.
- The real names of four MLF members — Forearm (Michael McCain), Tempo (Heather Tucker), Reaper (Pantu Hurageb), and Wildside (Richard Gill) — are revealed for the first time in this issue.
- Reignfire breaks the original MLF roster out of Whitman Maximum Security Prison and assigns their first mission: the assassination of anti-mutant government liaison Henry Peter Gyrich.
- The issue also serves as an interlude showing Cable recovering from injuries sustained fighting Magneto, with Cannonball and Sunspot departing to inform Karma of Illyana Rasputin's death (tying into Uncanny X-Men #303).
- Nicieza originally intended Reignfire to be a time-displaced, mentally disturbed older version of Sunspot; successor writer John Francis Moore later retconned him as a protoplasmic entity given Sunspot's genetic material by Gideon's scientist Dr. Joshua.
- The issue has been reprinted in the Deadpool & X-Force Omnibus (Marvel, 2017) and the X-Force Epic Collection Vol. 3: Assault on Graymalkin (2023).
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Reprints
Reprinted in X-Force #15 (1995), X-Force #16 (1995), X-Force: Toy Soldiers #[nn] (2012), Deadpool & X-Force Omnibus #[nn] (2017), X-Force Epic Collection #3 (2023)
Key issues in X-Force
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