X-Factor v10: Second Coming TPB

Ah, this is why I quit reading X-Factor. Crossovers.

Peter David does his best, but it is frustrating seeing outside crossovers become the main plot mover for a book that does so well hiding in the corner of the Marvel U. Having Bastion and his puppet Trask become obsessed with wiping out X-Factor might make for decent issues worth of conflict, but the motivation and resolution don’t exactly spring from this book.

Now, the other half of this conflict? The part involving Strong Guy and M taking on Dr. Strange villain Baron Mordo? Now that’s just fantastic. I love seeing non-powered family members interact with super-heroes, so seeing M rescue her Dad, followed by the interaction and discussion on what to do next? That’s my cup of tea.

The problem is that this collection is just so darn slight. Reading all the issues in arrow, I found myself much more interested in the things that happen right before and right after this story. Other than the Mordo stuff, this is a crossover chapter, a palate-cleansing exercise that lets David set up his enormous cast as he launches in to much more character-based stories over the next issues.

Valentine De Landro’s continues to tighten up. His take on the characters gets stronger and stronger as he continues working on the book. I also wonder if he’s photo-referencing at this point, because the faces in particular look much stronger in this GOOD collection. 

X-Factor v9: Invisible Woman Has Vanished TPB

My second trade back and I’m loving Strong Guy. Again, I’m shocked that Peter David has made me root for the losers that make up this team. I mean, I know they are the stars of this book, but when the Thing starts going after Shatterstar and Strong Guy, there was not a moment of doubt in who I was cheering for. This era of X-Factor is a delight.

To celebrate the return to New York City, David has the X-Factor investigations team taking a case from Franklin and Valeria Richards. With Madrox and Layla Miller returned to the present, you can only imagine the sparks that fly between Layla and Valeria. It’s a testament to David’s writing that they can maintain their separate voices while exhibiting so many similar characteristics.

I don’t think I’m spoiling anything to say that Reed Richards isn’t really turning into an evil monster. And while the explanation is a bit of an overused cliché, that main plot is only there as a MacGuffin. Once again, characterization is the engine for this vehicle. Seeing the budding relationship between M and Strong Guy as he makes his feelings for her more and more obvious is a classic comics (and soap opera!) storyline, and I know I loved seeing it again. Siryn/Banshee gets rehabilitated and ready for duty in a nice scene involving Jamie Madrox’s most likable dupe.

And again, Layla Miller is playing all the angles as she teams up with Dr. Doom to deal with the Reed Richards problem. The best line of that interaction is undoubtedly Doom’s wish to protect the sanctity of the Richards’ marriage. Even mega-villains have their limits!

The three artists in this collection all do a decent job, but I found myself liking Bing Cansino’s art the best. His work had a pleasing texture to the figures that made them seem more three dimensional, and while his characters had a tendency to fluctuate between cartoony and beautiful, the acting is clear. Valentine De Landro’s work already looks better than in the last trade; more backgrounds and tighter pencils on characters’ faces have done wonders. Karl Moline’s work looks a tad rushed in his short story, with figures a bit more balloon-y and cartoony than I’m used to in his work.

This comic is the strongest ensemble book I’ve read in years. How in the world did I ever stop reading this GOOD comic? 

X-Factor v8: Overtime TPB

I’m not sure why I fell away from Peter David’s X-Factor. If I remember correctly, I don’t think I liked the Secret Invasion crossover with She-Hulk, and that convinced me to switch to the trades. I had a few of them sitting on a bookshelf for the last few years where they sat unread. It took my X-Factor project over the Christmas break to inspire me to pick up this collection and get started again.

And while this is a good collection, having read a whole bunch of books in a row, this is more about where the book is going than where it is in this story. Madrox and Layla Miller are in the future, assisting Cyclops, Ruby Summers, and a few others in overthrowing a tyrannical anti-mutant government. The problem here is that the villains never come into strong enough focus for me. David does some character clean-up with Trevor Fitzroy that sets up some nice possible stories for the future, but other than the enigmatic Cortex, none of the other future villains have the gravitas to power the story.

No, where this book really pulled me back in was in characterization. I don’t know how it happened, but my old favorite Madrox has really fallen in my esteem. He’s mopey and sarcastic, and seems like he’d be just about the worst boss you could hope for. He’s a good tool in the story, but he’s not exactly likable.

You know who is likable? Almost everyone else. Guido, or Strong Guy as he’s known, is brilliant in this. His confusion and awkwardness over Rictor and Shatterstar’s new relationship is hilarious. Shatterstar? He’s tremendous! He comes off like an old-time Wolverine, always the first to charge into battle, disregarding safety and sanity. And M is that classic flying brick that knows she’s better than the rest of the team. I’m shocked that David can make me this fond of Longshot and Darwin, too. They have never been anything but background characters to me, but now I find myself looking forward to their panel time.The sequences in the present-day where Cortex is possessing different team members is much stronger than the portions of the book taking place in the future.

Valentine De Landro’s art is fine, but the work suffers due to a lack of background. Compared to the work he does in some later issues, this is clearly weaker. The faces can be lumpy and the acting is a bit hard to follow. It gets better in later trades though.

This is a GOOD series that becomes EXCELLENT due to the amazingly long run it is a part of. Fans of witty banter and solid super-heroics need to re-examine this series. 

12 Days of X-Mas: Day 12: X-Factor #1 (2006)

There is hope, folks. Our 12 days of X-Mas have taken us through some pretty great highs, and some truly awful lows. But the good news is that the best era of X-Factor started up in 2006 and only came to an end in November. Peter David returned to the characters he made great in the 90's. This post House of M era team featured Rictor as a depowered mutant, Strong Guy, Wolfesbane, Siryn, M, and Jamie Madrox. To no one's surprise, David nailed his pet characters and then proceeded to lay claim to the new folks too.

Along the way, the book added Darwin, Shatterstar, and a ton of X-Men guest stars.

David has been writing about this team through all sorts of incarnations. For awhile the team did low-level investigations, they teamed up with She-Hulk to fight Skrulls, and they tried to find Invisible Woman's murderer.

In all honesty, I have a stack of X-Factor comics to read (digitally) and I can't wait to dive in. The first 40 or so issues I've read are some of the most consistent comics I've read. I can't wait to see the return of Quicksilver, Havok, and Polaris.

The art is pretty fine too. Ryan Sook, Pablo Raimondi, Glenn Fabry, and more have worked with David to make some darn GOOD comics.

Best of all, David is relaunching the book with All-New X-Factor in a few days. Look for a bonus day of X-Mas this week...

I hope everyone enjoyed the 12 Days of X-Mas!

12 Days of X-Mas: Day 11: X-Factor #1 (2002)

DO NOT READ THIS COMIC. PUT IT DOWN AND BACK SLOWLY OUT OF THE ROOM.

THIS IS A BAD COMIC. IT COMES FROM THE ERA WHEN MARVEL WAS ASHAMED THAT IT WROTE SUPER-HERO COMICS.

AGAIN, PLEASE LEAVE THE ROOM AND DO NOT PROVOKE THIS VOLUME OF X-FACTOR.

EVIL.

12 Days of X-Mas: Day 10: X-Factor #122 (1996)

Things are getting pretty dire for our favorite government super-team now.

After bouncing through a variety of creators for the last dozen or so issues, this issue is the start of the last era of the first volume of X-Factor. Howard Mackie and Jeff Matsuda make some effort to amp up the excitment with some jumping around and dynamic art, but there is no way to salvage this book.

The biggest problem is the dregs that make up the roster. Val Cooper is now a gun-waiving agent, Forge, Polaris, and Wildchild are the only active members in this issue. Mystique is around, sort of being bad but still part of the team. And Sabretooth shows up, letting the others know that he'll be on the team too. Can you imagine a more boring group of leads to anchor a comic? Who were people coming to see? Mystique? Sabretooth? Ugh!

There are some offhanded comments about battling government agencies or factions, but there is barely any real plot to sink in to. The narrator lays on some purple prose about how the team really watches each other's backs, but that doesn't really come through in the dialogue or characterization.

As I said, Matsuda's manga-inspired art is fun. He's no Joe Mad, but his attempt to look similar pays off. the tech has a nice '90's look to it, and the "updated" costumes are ultra-modern too.

Unfortunately, with this weak team, it isn't surprising this book got cancelled. Probably for being EVIL.

12 Days of X-Mas: Day 9: X-Factor #100 (1994)

Talk about melodramatic covers. Ugh!

Look how far we have fallen since yesterday! 

This is still the mutant misadventures of the government super-team X-Factor, but now they are joined by 90’s paragon Random. Random is a bandana and sunglasses wearing tough guy who can shoot out of his shape-shifting arms. I don’t remember disliking him when this comic came out in 1994, but man, he’s just such a product of his time. It almost hurts!

The villain is no better. The ridiculously named “Haven” is a messianic figure out to decimate the world’s population in order to usher in a new golden age. She’s already got Wolfesbane and Val Cooper in her corner when the story begins, and the Legacy Virus-suffering Jamie Madrox throws in by the end of the issue. Now, not all three of them truly turn; one of those characters is too smart for that. I’ll leave it to you to guess who. (Here's a clue, it is not permanent dim bulb Wolfesbane.)

J.M. DeMatteis and Jan Duursema have taken over writing and penciling, but not for the better. DeMatteis doesn’t indulge his penchant for self-searching lead characters OR his gift for team dialogue, making this a pretty generic read. Duursema’s work has looked better in almost every book she’s worked on. Admittedly, she’s horribly handicapped by the awful, awful costumes and hair on these 90’s characters. Everyone has long terrible hair flowing out of each panel.

Jamie Madrox dies AGAIN at the close of this issue. The Kenny of the Marvel U can’t win. If you can make dupes of yourself, how can a death ever really stick? Especially when each duplicate can then make doubles of his own? It’s a literally never ending supply of cannon fodder!

As I flip through, the more certain I am that neither of the creators were too invested in this book. The story is too generic, there are too many wasted pages with go-nowhere plotting, and the resolution is pretty ridiculous too. (Havok blasts a satellite out of orbit. Just shoots straight up and hits it.)

This is an EVIL comic and an EVIL era of X-Factor. 

12 Days of X-Mas: Day 8: X-Factor #71 (1991)

Happy New Year! 

Now this is the start of the good stuff.

I’m proud to say I realized in 1991 that this was going to be a good run. Sure, it has a lot of oddball stuff going on here. There is a subplot about an un-openable jar of mayonnaise, after all. That is not even mentioning the totally insane art stylings of Larry Stroman. I’d never seen anything like his art before, and I’m not sure I have again. He’s not my favorite artist by any means, but there is no denying the striking impression of his art.

This is the era of X-books right after X-Tinction Agenda, where Havok is still empathically bonded to Wolfesbane after their time in Genosha. That naturally complicates things with Polaris, Havok’s normal girlfriend. Havok and Polaris are the core of the team, with Havok getting most of the panel time. Filling in the ranks are Multiple Man (Jamie Madrox) and Strong Guy (Guido). Val Cooper, long-time supporting player in the X-books is the government liaison. Cooper is a lot more central to the team than a lot of the government administrator-characters tend to be; it is clear that Peter David liked her.

The last guy to join is Quicksilver. Pietro is another character that David characterized from then on. Smug, superior, and ultra-confident, the Quicksilver we know and love today made his first appearance here. Quicksilver was sort of a favorite of mine until he got messed up during the Civil War era, and my affection for the character really started here. 

David has gone on to be the writer most associated with X-Factor. He’s written it for dozens of issues at this point. In this, his entry into the franchise, his focus on Madrox is not there yet. Madrox is the character I most associate with David now, and while Madrox does have something to do with the aforementioned mayo jar; the issue also ends with Jamie getting shot.

That’s right, the “they keep killing Madrox!” plot was right there in David’s first issue. While there is no real physical conflict in this particular issue, the potential set up here is clear enough to make this a GOOD comic.

12 Days of X-Mas Day 7: X-Factor #43 (1989)

Now how weird is this? This issue is actually BETTER than I remember!

First of all, Paul Smith's art is pretty fine. It is a bit cartoony, but the emotion on the faces is clear and the acting is strong. The alien planet is a bit on the generic side, but I'm not sure if that is Smith's fault or not.

It seems that X-Factor is required to always have one crazy person on the team. Jean Grey is up to the plate in this. It seems she's absorbed the memories of the Phoenix and of Madelyne Pryor, understandably making her go a bit bonkers. Of course, when she tries to rocket into space, killing her teammates, that is more than a "bit" bonkers.

One thing I'm pleasantly reminded of in this issue is the fun idea for Ship. Louise Simonson wrote X-Factor's new headquarters as half-puppy, half-servant. You couldn't help but pull for the sentient ship after the team freed him from Apocalypse. Ship's childlike responses made the entire team act more responsibly.

I also like that Warren Worthington is back and acting normally. Sure, he's got his souped-up Archangel powers, but he's clearly back to being the character we know and love. So overall, not a bad transition. He got new, better powers, a modern look, and in a few years the creators will reveal that he isn't even bald! That's just a skullcap that he wears for years straight!

As for the plot itself, it involves the team getting involved in some weird conflict between beautiful people and monsters. Of course, there are varied motivations and outlooks among these aliens, but that is to make sure the mutant metaphor is laid on pretty thick.

Maybe this story goes downhill in the subsequent issues, but as an opening chapter, this held up just fine. This is a FAIR comic.

12 Days of X-Mas Day 6: X-Factor Annual #3 (1988)

The best part of this annual is that sweet Walt Simonson cover. If you click over on that, then you've seen the best part of the issue.

So Angel is dead. Beast is dumb (and getting worse). And Louise Simonson has to write a middle chapter to a big crossover. That's a losing combination.

Making matters worse, almost all of the pages feature blank slate, flunky villains working for the High Evolutionary or moloids. The X-Factor team are practically bystanders in their own comics!

Terry Shoemaker's art is sort of loose and impressionistic. There aren't any pages with lines as tight and dynamic as that cover. I'll be honest, after about 5 pages, I just started skimming. There aren't a ton of backgrounds to give this story a strong sense of location and the choreography of the fights is pretty loose.

I do find it odd that I remember this issue fondly, but honestly, it is an EVIL comic. The only GOOD part is that cover.

12 Days of X-Mas Day 5: X-Factor Annual #2 (1987)

Oof. Losing the Angel really throws off the chemistry for this team.

I'm not sure if Jo Duffy was trying to clean up Quicksilver's villainous portrayals in the Marvel U or what, but this is a reclamation project. Of course it was Maximus the Mad causing Quicksilver to behave so badly. And of course X-Factor can handle the problem.

It is weird, for a story that is fixing Quicksilver, he sure doesn't get a ton to do here. He spends too much of the issue mind-controlleld!

This is the first meeting between the original X-Men and the Inhumans, and things go fairly smoothly. Triton has a role much more front and center than I'm used to, while Gorgon fades into the background. Karnak gets some work too, but this is mainly a Black Bolt and Medusa show.

The problem? The Inhumans are boring. This is perfectly serviceable, but I never really got interested in the conflict because it was Inhuman-based. Even worse, there is a ton of cutesy Franklin Richards baby talk to make this even harder to bear. When things break down and the action starts, business does pick up nicely. But it almost too little too late.

Tom Grindberg's art can't really compete with the other artists I've been finding in this flashback review. I will say the inking by Joe Rubinstein is noticably effective, especially on shadowed shots of the main cast like Cyclops.

Yeah, so this is just sort of there, not awful, not great. I think this might have been when X-Factor started to lose its charm for me.

12 Days of X-Mas Day 4: X-Factor #15 (1987)

And now we have one of the first comics to break my heart.

As a kid, I was never a huge Angel fan. His powers weren’t visually striking or really very useful in combat. Of the original team, my favorites were probably Cyclops, Beast, Jean Grey, Iceman, and finally Angel. I think I’ve gotten wiser about that order over the years, but as a kid I knew no better. Louise Simonson made me appreciate the character too late when she wrote this surprising issue.

This is the issue where Angel kills himself. During the Mutant Massacre, the two Marauders Blockbuster and Harpoon pinned Angel to the wall by his wings. As we find out in later issues, the secretly evil Cameron Hodge used this opportunity to have Angel’s wings amputated (after Thor’s great rescue in his own book).

Warren Worthington can’t deal with the loss, and the only one of his teammates to see him struggling is Jean Grey. Iceman and Beast are too busy dealing with the Mutant Massacre fallout with the Morlocks, and Scott Summers is moping in Alaska, deciding on revenge for his seemingly dead wife. Only Jean spends the issue trying to convince Angel he’s going to be OK. In the end, the team can’t stop him and Angel runs off and blows up his plane, attempting suicide. We all know that this just puts him in line for a sweet character makeover as Archangel thanks to Apocalypse, but at the time this came out, I was crushed.

Walt Simonson handled the art during this second year, and his dynamic, kinetic pencils were a nice fit. The characters aren’t individually as striking as in the earlier issues, but the sense of action is a lot higher. I’m also pleased to report that Angel spends multiple pages in his underwear as he escapes from the hospital. Seriously, what is up with that? Was that part of the character’s shtick back in the day?

Also, in a neat bonus, the letter column has fans writing in trying to figure out how Angel could remain a contributing member of X-Factor even without his wings. I don’t think anyone saw the Archangel swerve coming.

This is a sad comic, but a GOOD one. 

12 Days of X-Mas 3: X-Factor Annual #1 (1986)

Don’t you miss the days when annuals were just extra-length adventures? This annual doesn’t have any huge reveal, any huge crossover, or really anything to differentiate it from a normal storyline in X-Factor. Maybe having Bob Layton on both writing and penciling duties was enough to justify this going in an annual? Regardless, this is just another case-of-the-week procedural adventure for early X-Factor.

As a kid, I remember loving the stealth costume Angel is wearing on the cover. It isn’t that radical or awesome, and the story reason he wears it seems a tad unnecessary. You see, Russia contracts X-Factor to come give a talk on detecting and capturing mutants; X-Factor wants to go investigate how Russia is treating its mutant population. Everyone but Angel goes along by plane. Angel is the scout and has to FLY TO RUSSIA. Now, I know he didn’t fly the whole way, but dang, his wings are gonna be tired! (It is still worth it for this nicely toyetic new costume though.)

Since this is a story involving Russia in the ‘80s, the Russian mutant prison camp is guarded by Crimson Dynamo. I was sort of shocked to see Dynamo’s enormous scale compared to the mutants. And let me tell you, the original five X-Men vs. Dynamo is not a fair fight. Dynamo mops the floor with them. Seriously, was the disparity between mutant characters and Avengers characters always this strong? It is pretty neat seeing Iceman have to resort to subterfuge to win the day.

No one draws tech or armor better than Layton. Dynamo looks tremendous. Heck, even the mutant labs look striking and perfectly “comic-booky” to my eyes. (Since this was an early comic for me, that doesn’t surprise anyone.) I also love the way Layton draws Beast’s flattop as a near match for James Rhodes’ in Iron Man.

This Cold War throwback is GOOD!

12 Days of X-Mas 2: X-Factor #2 (1985)

So remember yesterday when I said Angel should have been my favorite? I still believe it. 

The guy is so confident that he strolls around his X-Factor headquarters in an open robe. IN HIS UNDERWEAR. Seriously, there are like 3 pages where you just have cut-Angel walking around chatting and drinking coffee in his tighty whiteys. If Jean Grey did that we’d say it was exploitative!

And poor Jean. So Angel and Cyclops are already in love with her, and therefore awkward around her, but now the new recruit Rusty is smitten too. He’s stuttering and stammering as she tries to get him to master his pyro kinetic power. Note that she does this by saying, repeatedly, “I KNOW you can do this crazy new thing with your power.” There was no actual training that I could find.

You have to love 80’s plots. This issue has Beast and Iceman hook up with an old girlfriend, introduces size-changing villain Tower, and has Beast abducted from a supporting character from his Amazing Adventures days. PLUS a re-match with X-Factor taking on Tower at the end of the book.

This issue introduces Artie, now famously appearing in the FF title. He seems to be exhibiting more mental-reading powers in addition to his illusions; I don’t remember that aspect of his powers in current books. And why has poor Artie not aged like Black Bolt’s kid or Crystal’s daughter?

Again, Jackson (Butch) Guice handles the art, and again I love it. The 80’s hair, the tight pencils on the x-uniforms, this is good stuff. What impresses me most is the choreography of the fights. Guice puts some great shots in the battles, reverse elbows, full-on optic blasts, and ice clubs.

The 80’s made GOOD comics. 

12 Days of X-Mas 1: X-Factor #1 (1985)

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope everyone is having a wonderful time during our X-Mas season!

Are you ready for the Twelve Days of
X-Mas! This year is all X-Factor, all the time! 

Oh my goodness. How the heck did I ever love Cyclops so much when I was ten years old? Scott Summers is living in Alaska with his wife, Madelyne Pryor and his unnamed son, and he’s the definition of a deadbeat dad. He’s never around, and when he is finally forced to go home after Storm beats him for leadership of the X-Men, he sulks around and moodily fantasizes about his dead girlfriend Jean Grey.

No, the clear favorite for my childhood should have been Angel. The guy LOVES being a mutant, is filthy rich, has a smoking hot girlfriend, and basically pays for his two loser buddies to travel from super team to super team. Warren Worthington is awesome! Plus, he gets in on the romance-angst that is to prevalent in this comic just after the return of Jean Grey.

Jean’s return was handled in some Avengers and FF issues, so her appearance here is sort of odd. She just kind of… appears. No huge dramatic moment for Angel or Cyclops when they finally meet up. I really liked how Bob Layton wrote Angel as being sort of protective of Jean after her return. He wants Jean for himself, so he really struggles with calling the other X-Men back on the scene.

And poor Jean. Half of her teammates are in love with her. Plus, no one will actually tell her that her ex-boyfriend, the guy she is throwing herself at, is now married and a father. Yowch. I’m also puzzled why Marvel wanted to remove her telepathy and stick with telekinetics. It weakens her a bit, although her powers are certainly more visual.

One thing that impressed the heck out of me was the introduction of Cameron Hodge, Angel’s old roommate and the head of X-Factor. Longtime X-readers know that Hodge is secretly the founder of The Right, an anti-mutant organization bent on genocide. Hodge’s plan is clearly whacko, and will just add to the mutant panic that is present on every page. But since Hodge was actually working undermine the mutant cause, it all makes sense.

The art is fantastic. Too much of Jackson (Butch) Guice’s pencils are covered up the 80’s era purple prose, but what is there shines through. The X-Factor uniforms are dynamic and striking. They might remain my favorite X-costumes for these characters. Angel’s red and white x-suit in particular is just tremendous. It is interesting that Guice gives new mutant Rusty the Quicksilver/Tyrannus hair cowlick, but that must just be a Marvel thing.

So basically, this Energy Analyzer review proves that ten-year-old Timbotron had good taste. This is a GOOD comic!

X-Factor TPB v6: Secret Invasion

All of my favorite elements of Peter David's X-Factor sort of get swept aside in the first part of this trade paperback. Secret Invasion was so pervasive, frankly, I have no interest in reading how the X-Factor team dealt with a skrull priest pretending to be Longshot. Factor in David's depressing and too-grumpy She-Hulk, and the first part of this trade is really forgettable. Larry Stroman's art is so odd and stylized that the bystanders and even some characters don't even look human.

I enjoyed the second story a lot more. The team sort of goes back its roots when hunting down Darwin. Making the whole story even better is the arrival of Longshot, who's unique power set and attitude make him a great addition to the team. With Siryn out of action and Rictor watching her, the team is a bit short-handed as they deal with the villain of the piece. I'm still interested in the odd aspects of Madrox's personality manifesting in his dupes, and there are some neat developments on that front too.

The art is much better in the closing chapters when Valentine De Landro takes over. I appreciate Stroman's style, but man, those people look weird!

Average