From January-March of this year, I took a look at the long, Peter-David-helmed run of what was, at that time, the current volume of X-Factor. Then in April, Marvel announced that the series would be ending with this month's X-Factor #262, and I thought to myself, "Jeez, I could have timed that better." But them's the breaks, I guess, so now that the book's final issue has been published (and there's an impending reboot in the future, I'm sure...please let it be Uncanny X-Factor) I'm going to throw up one last post in my Grand X-Factor Investigations Investigation series on the handful of issues I didn't cover the first time around.
Mostly, this just means the title's closing arc, "The End of X-Factor," since the storyline that preceded it, "Hell on Earth War," was part of my original discussion. It was only like half-completed back then, so I didn't talk about it in depth, but honestly the entire thing was sort of designed to arrive at its shocking final beat: Guido kills Tier, thus becoming King of Hell, and uses his new powers to undo everything else that happened during the story. It was legitimately surprising, and an excellent way to punctuate the slow-burning story of Guido losing his soul, but the journey there lasted for an issue or two too long, and looking back on it, all that really mattered was the ending. Well, that and one or two other character developments that played a role in "The End of X-Factor," so let's move on to that.
The thing about "The End of X-Factor" is that it's not so much a cohesive six-issue arc as it is six standalone stories that tell us where all the members of the main cast wind up once the Hell on Earth War is over. So rather than examining it as a whole, let's break it down issue-by-issue:
X-Factor #257: A frustrating issue, especially as the first in the "arc," because most if not all of it feels like filler. During "Hell on Earth War," Jamie Madrox was transformed into a speechless, possibly mindless demon, and that change was one of the few things Guido didn't undo. At the top of this issue, Jamie is lost somewhere in Marrakesh, and Layla (his wife) plans to retrieve him. He's being held by a young boy and his uncle who believe Jamie is a djinn and therefore capable of bringing the boy's dead mother back to life. That's an interesting enough set-up, but where it leads is confusing and ultimately pointless. For one thing, Layla knows where Jamie is because apparently the Marrakesh adventure was supposed to happen, and is therefore part of Layla's "I know stuff" knowledge of the future, it's just that Jamie wasn't meant to be in his weird demon form. Except that makes no sense, because if Jamie didn't look the way he did, the little boy would have no reason to think he's a djinn, and the whole affair would never take place. So that's a head-scratching moment that never really gets explained, and is only even brought up as a lame excuse to have Layla already know who's got her husband, instead of having a few pages of her actually looking for him. Once she gets to him, the rest of the issue is filled with the kid's uncle opening a gateway to the afterlife, then the mother from it emerging as a horrible, giant monster of some kind. The boy is thrilled to have his mom back, even as such a terrifying creature, but his excitement is short-lived because she immediately grabs him, melts his flesh, and flings his bones and organs across the room. Layla and Jamie then struggle against the giant evil mom beast for a while, defeat her without much difficulty, and leave Marrakesh together. End of story, end of issue, waste of time. Essentially the only important plot point is that Layla finds Jamie. Everything else that goes down is insignificant to the larger series. The art is by Neil Edwards and Carmen Carnero, two artists similar enough that it's not always clear who is drawing which page, but also different enough that the characters will have occasionally dramatic shifts in their appearance. To be fair, this is something that happens even when Edwards or Carnero are the only penciler (see below), but it's even starker when the two artists work together, because Carnero's lines are a little heavier and straighter than Edwards'. They do have some really stellar moments, like the mother's dramatic and horrific arrival, and the panel of the son's skin falling off his face. Basically they do the ugliest bits well, but the rest of the art is wobbly and unimpressive.
X-Factor #258: First of all, the same art team draws this issue, and basically the same thoughts I had above apply. Although I think this issue may just be Edwards for the first half and Carnero for the second. That (or the opposite) might be true with #257, too, but it's not as evident to me if that's so. This issue, Rahne's hair changes completely when she flashes back to her time in the arctic, and never changes back when we return to the present, which makes me think that's where the division occurs. Her wolf form looks skinnier and furrier starting with the flashback, too. So the separation of labor is more obvious here, but the two artists still go well together, and the consistency of Jay Leisten on inks and Matt Milla on colors must help that tremendously. In terms of where it leaves its central character, this is my favorite chapter in "The End of X-Factor." Rahne becoming a deacon makes sense; she's returning to her religion after the other major cause in her life—superheroism—hurt her one time too many when her son died. And she and Reverend John Maddox have always worked well together, so seeing them get one more chance to interact and connecting them to one another for at least the immediate future are both things I support. I'd quite like to see David write a mini-series focusing on the pair of them, actually. However, there wasn't really that much of Rahne and Maddox, because there was a needless sequence of her lost in the snow and hallucinating that an attacking polar bear was Tier's father Hrim Hari. Then Guido shows up (the guy who sent her to the arctic to begin with) and prattles a bit stiffly about why he can't bring Tier back but also won't kill Rahne before teleporting her to Maddox's church. That's all just as much empty filler as the issue that came before, especially the hallucination scene, which is admittedly only two pages, but that's 10% of the story and the page that follows is just a polar bear knocking Rahne on her ass, so it's not exactly a beefy script. It is a great conclusion for Rahne, and a surprisingly hopeful one considering how hard David's run has always been on her, so I hope she gets to keep this status quo for a while because I think she needs a good rest.
X-Factor #259: At once the thinnest and most complicated plot of all, this could really have been a one- or two-paragraph thing explaining that Shatterstar and Longshot are one another's fathers due to some time travel wackiness. It's predictable and unexpected both, because "Maybe they are father and son," is certainly an option everyone who read this series must have considered of at one point or another, so the real answer was close but still different. If you guessed the exact truth, my hat's off to you, because it really never occurred to me. However, all the Mojoworld stuff is too rushed to get invested in, and too inconsequential. That part of the book is drawn out when it comes to why it's there, which is so that Rictor can learn half of the Shatterstar-Longshot story, yet each individual scene feels too quick. And then Shatterstar's explanation of the other half of his and Longshot's relationship takes just long enough for him to barely get it all out before the issue ends. That makes the last couple pages feel weird, since the issue doesn't hit a natural closing point so much as it manages to get all of the necessary information out under the wire and then calls it a day. Also, it doesn't really give Rictor, Shatterstar, or Longshot solid wrap-up stories. It answers a question that has loomed over this title for a while, yes, but it's old information being revealed to someone who was unaware, not new developments. Rictor and Shatterstar escape Mojoworld and the past, and we know what they're going to do next (drop off baby Shatterstar in the future) but then what? What's next for them? What are their lives going to be like in the present day, whenever they get back there? These are the questions addressed by the rest of "The End of X-Factor," but the goal of this specific issue seems to be different than the others. It's David officially solving an old mystery, but that's where its efforts and accomplishments pretty much end. I suppose that makes it successful, but light. This is also Carmen Carnero's last issue as artist, and she draws the whole thing, but there's not a dramatic difference. People look a little more like themselves, but there are still some moments where their faces shift awkwardly. Again, it's the same inker and colorist, so they help give the title visual uniformity. Leisten's inks never get in the way of the pencils or make things overly dark, but they are firm, marking the borders between things clearly. And the panel borders are very strong, helped in part by Carnero's tendency to leave ample white space between panels. Milla's coloring is smooth, and where they work best here is with the bright screens and sci-fi tech of Mojoworld. He also does fire very well, making it bright white in the middle to display its intensity. Like it has been before (and will be for the rest of the arc) the artwork is good enough to tell the story but not especially powerful, memorable, or steady.
X-Factor #260: Here we have a teaser for the next volume of X-Factor, preceded by Polaris having a drunken nervous breakdown. Polaris has never been my favorite, nor is she someone with whom I'm especially familiar, but I liked her a lot in this issue as the petulant mutant hitting rock bottom. She made me laugh but also made me nervous, and it gave her some depth of character I think she's always lacked (at least the few times I've seen her in the past). Her fight with Quicksilver I could take or leave, but it wasn't bad for a minor superpowered spat between distant siblings. I do loathe this kind of ending, where it's all about the promise of a continuing story in some other book. But we all knew X-Factor wasn't going away for good, and if David is still going to be the writer of whatever new form it takes, I'm excited to see this damaged, self-destructive take on Polaris be further developed. She's the only character who seems to be carrying over into that series (based on this arc, anyway) so having her start from her lowest point could be cool, if it's done well. I'm not sure it's handled expertly by David in this opening gambit, but she's at least consistent in her total disregard for anyone's safety, including her own, and has the forced and depressing sense of humor that often comes with that kind of bottoming out. Her smiles and jokes are all insincere and hollow, which is human and familiar, and definitely the most evocative she's ever been for me as a character. I like X-Factor #260 for giving me that, though it maybe takes too long doing it, and certainly ends obnoxiously. Neil Edwards fully takes over penciling duties, and will be the only penciler from here until the end of the run, inked by Leisten and colored by Milla, and their art is similar for all three of the final issues. Edwards can do big, important moments well. Images that take up most or all of a page are well-chosen in terms of how important they are for the story, and far more detailed than the smaller panels. The characters' emotions are more layered in these places, too, where in the rest of any given issue the acting is flatter. Intense anger or happiness tend to lead to misshapen mouths, stretched uncomfortably far in one direction or another. There is, however, always total readability, with straightforward layouts and bold lines. And some of the large panels really kick ass, so every issue has some bits that really pop. Speaking of pop, Milla's work is classic superhero comics, brash and shiny and fun, which is what this book wants. Even at its saddest, X-Factor is a blast, with space for humor and humanity, so the colors have to be ready to brighten anytime. Really what Milla does well is to carefully choose the right group of colors for every panel. He has a wide-ranging palette, and uses it with intelligence. This is not the best artistic team in the title's long life, but they bring it home respectably.
X-Factor #261: I like Monet a lot as a foil for the rest of the cast, and Darwin had the best powers so I was always glad to have him around, but as whole people neither one of them ever did it for me. So even though this is an ok issue, and their hook-up is a long time coming, I care the least about this story. This is not because David did any less or worse work with Darwin or Monet than other characters, but her cold cooler-than-thou attitude and his jumbled sense of identity didn't resonate for me as strongly as the other characters' quirks and flaws. Monet's death hurt less for me than Guido becoming a villain (and a jerk-off) or Jamie absorbing his and Theresa's son. That's just me, but it's all I've got. From a story standpoint, this issue is well-structured, opening with Darwin so furiously determined to get rid of his death powers that he charges blind into an unknown situation with his giant gun drawn, and ending with him choosing to keep those powers and contentedly snuggling Monet. It's a tight arc for the character, and aligns 100% with what we've seen from him before. As for Monet, her return from death seems to have been as damaging as Guido's, so that does not at all bode well for her future. These ae characters I'd like to see more of, even with David as writer, but in a situation where they aren't as overshadowed by people I connect with more. Actually, they're the strongest candidates to join Polaris is the forthcoming reboot, assuming that reboot is targeted at me, specifically. It's like the three most fucked up members of the old cast, the saddest and most broken. Guido could be their nemesis. But now this is just fanfic. Let me finish by saying that Darwin and Monet have more than earned the tiny bit of pleasure they find in one another's arms, and even if I didn't love them, I never hated them, so I'm glad there was some sweetness mixed in with the bitterness of their final story.
X-Factor #262: My favorite thing about this issue is that Theresa comes back, paying off on the promise she made to Jamie back when she left the book to be a full-time goddess that he could pray to her for help. I'm just glad David got to do that before the series wrapped, because the work he did with her before her departure and the story of her choosing godhood was all excellent stuff. So yay for that. Mr. Tryp showing up one last time didn't seem totally necessary (and speaking of, why didn't the Isolationist ever get to do anything again? He was brought back in the lead up to "Hell on Earth War" and then flat out disappeared. I wasn't eager to see more of him, but it's even worse to have him teased and then dropped entirely). Tryp's conversation with Layla exists only so that we can be told why the cops are showing up a few pages later, and also so David can quickly and fumblingly kill Tryp off. Once he's out of the way, though, the whole issue runs smoothly and works very well. Layla is at the end of her rope, in over her head for the first time in her life, basically, and it's nice to see her hang onto her strength and resolve even when she has no idea what to do. Also her love for Jamie, which is what saves them both in the end, what finally gets through to his demon brain and gets him to pray to Theresa. Layla is pregnant, and that's an important and exciting enough event that even Mephisto's magic can't keep Jamie from getting to be part of it. It's sappy, even saccharine, but Jamie and Layla have always been a romantic comedy couple living in a superhero comic, so this is just right for them. Of all the things that David does to put away all the toys he's been playing with for the last seven years, having Layla and Jamie retire and move to his old family farm to raise a family is the one I'd be most upset to see another writer overturn. Let them be, let them have this. It's what this book has been building to since jump street. "The End of X-Factor" is a rocky ride at best, but this last chapter feels inevitable, and is therefore the perfect way to finish things.
Showing posts with label The Grand X-Factor Investigations Investigation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Grand X-Factor Investigations Investigation. Show all posts
Sunday, September 29, 2013
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
The Grand X-Factor Investigations Investigation Archive
For the sake of convenience, here's a handy list all the stuff I wrote these last few months about Peter David's current run on X-Factor:
Part 0. X-Planation & X-Tolment: A short introduction
Part 12. Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?: It could be about any number of other things, too
Part 15. X-Eunt: Some Final Thoughts & Praise
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
The Grand X-Factor Investigations Investigation Part 15
The last in a group of 15 posts on X-Factor volume 3.
X-Eunt
Some Final Thoughts & Praise
Though I don't spend my time obsessively writing about it (yet), my television addiction rivals my comicbook one. My fiancé and I watch and repeatedly rewatch every comedy series we can, plus a handful of the higher-end crime shows to round things out. We discover series we've been missing and burn through their existing episodes in a matter of days, then start again at the beginning because they're still fresher to us than the shows we've already gone through dozens of times. Right now, I have the fourth season of Gilmore Girls playing in the next room, a show I started rewatching for something like the fifth or sixth time a few weeks ago. Most of it still holds up. Kelly Bishop is amazing.
I also play Dungeons & Dragons, and have been part of at least one campaign whenever possible since middle school. I'm currently DMing one of the most successful and long-lasting runs in recent memory, consisting of a nice blend of experienced and brand new players, all of whom were friends before we started playing. The enthusiasm and ingenuity of the group are unparalleled, and it has made for some hilarious and unique gaming stories, both in-game in IRL.
My point is, I have always been and continue to be drawn to collaborative, serialized storytelling. Comics, TV, D&D---they all tell ongoing, sometimes never-ending narratives. You become attached to the characters and, in turn, the creators who are responsible for making you love those characters. There's no Parks and Recreation without a Leslie Knope, and there's no Leslie without an Amy Poehler. My D&D game would lose a lot if Tringus the kobold monk or Bee the pun-loving elf or loyal hawk companion Hotel California died, but it'd lose a lot more if Ed or Arthur or Joel stopped playing. It applies to comicbooks, too, and it's a significant part of why I'm so enamored of this series and it's only, extremely talented writer, Peter David.
What I like about serialization is that it creates an opportunity to provide payoff to the audience at varying intervals. The stroytellers can deliver a self-contained, single-issue (or single-episode or single-session) story, pause for a beat to explore or reveal something about a character, or take a year or even a few years to tell a sprawling epic with many players and multiple conflicts to resolve. And of course, anything in between is possible, too. The demands of each new narrative in the series can dictate the pacing and spacing they need, which provides variety and a sense of the unknown, even once you've become comfortable with the cast and/or world. David's X-Factor is a master class in using the serialized format to the fullest, telling any and every kind of story, weaving threads of every imaginable length and thickness into an ever-more-complicated tapestry. In the end, it is this that I most admire about the book, and it is the reason I continue to love it and think of it as a favorite of mine even when it's in the middle of a story I'm not crazy over.
Rahne showed up pregnant in X-Factor #207, and the storyline currently running in last week's X-Factor #253 is centered on her child. We've been waiting even longer than that for an answer to what Shatterstar and Longshot's secret connection is, something that David teasingly reminds us of every so often but has yet to fully reveal. And (unsurprisingly) my favorite example: Layla told Jamie she'd marry him in issue #9 when she was still a kid he'd barely met. Years later, it happened in #247, but only after a twelve-issue arc about her pulling him into the future, a later four-parter where he died and went on a weird reality-hopping journey in order to come back to life, and then a one-shot about Layla preventing the suicide of a woman who many years from now will become the doctor who develops the procedure that'll save Jamie's life. Several stories of many sizes that all also act as important steps in the much larger tale of their romance. This is why X-Factor keeps me coming back no matter what.
It may not be reliably amazing on a month-to-month basis, though few titles truly are. But X-Factor IS reliably amazing and rewarding in the long term. It is a series that always finds itself again when it gets a little lost, that never forgets the promises it makes to its readers, and provides satisfying answers to all of its biggest mysteries. David is clearly in his element on this title and with these characters, and he's earned my devotion for as long as he has new stories to tell.
X-Eunt
Some Final Thoughts & Praise
Though I don't spend my time obsessively writing about it (yet), my television addiction rivals my comicbook one. My fiancé and I watch and repeatedly rewatch every comedy series we can, plus a handful of the higher-end crime shows to round things out. We discover series we've been missing and burn through their existing episodes in a matter of days, then start again at the beginning because they're still fresher to us than the shows we've already gone through dozens of times. Right now, I have the fourth season of Gilmore Girls playing in the next room, a show I started rewatching for something like the fifth or sixth time a few weeks ago. Most of it still holds up. Kelly Bishop is amazing.
I also play Dungeons & Dragons, and have been part of at least one campaign whenever possible since middle school. I'm currently DMing one of the most successful and long-lasting runs in recent memory, consisting of a nice blend of experienced and brand new players, all of whom were friends before we started playing. The enthusiasm and ingenuity of the group are unparalleled, and it has made for some hilarious and unique gaming stories, both in-game in IRL.
My point is, I have always been and continue to be drawn to collaborative, serialized storytelling. Comics, TV, D&D---they all tell ongoing, sometimes never-ending narratives. You become attached to the characters and, in turn, the creators who are responsible for making you love those characters. There's no Parks and Recreation without a Leslie Knope, and there's no Leslie without an Amy Poehler. My D&D game would lose a lot if Tringus the kobold monk or Bee the pun-loving elf or loyal hawk companion Hotel California died, but it'd lose a lot more if Ed or Arthur or Joel stopped playing. It applies to comicbooks, too, and it's a significant part of why I'm so enamored of this series and it's only, extremely talented writer, Peter David.
What I like about serialization is that it creates an opportunity to provide payoff to the audience at varying intervals. The stroytellers can deliver a self-contained, single-issue (or single-episode or single-session) story, pause for a beat to explore or reveal something about a character, or take a year or even a few years to tell a sprawling epic with many players and multiple conflicts to resolve. And of course, anything in between is possible, too. The demands of each new narrative in the series can dictate the pacing and spacing they need, which provides variety and a sense of the unknown, even once you've become comfortable with the cast and/or world. David's X-Factor is a master class in using the serialized format to the fullest, telling any and every kind of story, weaving threads of every imaginable length and thickness into an ever-more-complicated tapestry. In the end, it is this that I most admire about the book, and it is the reason I continue to love it and think of it as a favorite of mine even when it's in the middle of a story I'm not crazy over.
Rahne showed up pregnant in X-Factor #207, and the storyline currently running in last week's X-Factor #253 is centered on her child. We've been waiting even longer than that for an answer to what Shatterstar and Longshot's secret connection is, something that David teasingly reminds us of every so often but has yet to fully reveal. And (unsurprisingly) my favorite example: Layla told Jamie she'd marry him in issue #9 when she was still a kid he'd barely met. Years later, it happened in #247, but only after a twelve-issue arc about her pulling him into the future, a later four-parter where he died and went on a weird reality-hopping journey in order to come back to life, and then a one-shot about Layla preventing the suicide of a woman who many years from now will become the doctor who develops the procedure that'll save Jamie's life. Several stories of many sizes that all also act as important steps in the much larger tale of their romance. This is why X-Factor keeps me coming back no matter what.
It may not be reliably amazing on a month-to-month basis, though few titles truly are. But X-Factor IS reliably amazing and rewarding in the long term. It is a series that always finds itself again when it gets a little lost, that never forgets the promises it makes to its readers, and provides satisfying answers to all of its biggest mysteries. David is clearly in his element on this title and with these characters, and he's earned my devotion for as long as he has new stories to tell.
Saturday, March 23, 2013
The Grand X-Factor Investigations Investigation Part 14
The fourteenth in a group of 15 posts on X-Factor volume 3.
PenultimArt
The Artists of X-Factor #200-253
Bing Cansino draws the entire "Invisible Woman Has Vanished" arc, and they are a dark and moody three issues. It works for the story, especially since much of it is set in Latveria, and Cansino handles a large group of characters quite well. He has his weaker panels, but generally keeps everything moving right along, even with the Fantastic Four family of characters guest-starring in an already crowded series. A lot of really good, hard-hitting action, too. Cansino draws great debris, and seems to know it, finding many opportunities to break walls and windows and sidewalks and such. And it makes The Thing look great, very alive and detailed. A solid showing all around, which has me wondering why Cansino never returns to the book. Seems like he'd be a good fit (though, admittedly, I have no sense of what else he may have been doing at the time).
For the next arc, X-Factor's loose tie-in to the "Second Coming" crossover, Valentine De Landro comes back. It's...weaker than his work has ever been before, and I'm not sure why. Things feel amorphous in these issues, particularly people's facial features. It's a little less stable looking than usual, like it might dissolve into a mess of colorful, abstract liquid on the next page. That's not always how it comes across, but it certainly looks that way more frequently than did De Landro's beginnings on the series. Of course, it never actually does break down into something incomprehensible, because even when wobbly, De Landro is a very strong visual storyteller. He can do action on the largest scale, and emotion on the smallest, and he does. He just doesn't do it as impressively here.
Sebastian Fiumara's one and only issue is #207, and he's another artist I'd like to see come back some time. In a lot of ways it feels like a stylistic throwback to the very start of X-Factor, when everything was covered in shadow. Even when Baron Mordo is washing a room in the bright green light of his magic, it all looks dark and creepy. I miss that mood sometimes in this series, and Fiumara is an especially powerful example of why it feels right.
It is Emanuela Lupacchino who steps in as the next primary penciler for the book, though De Landro pops up for some issues in between. Lupacchino is the artist I feel the most lukewarm about. She always delivers incredibly clear work that finds a perfect balance between realism and cartoonism, especially for a series that switches so regularly from the severe to the humorous. And there is a strong sense of fun infused in her pencils, like she wants to make sure the reader knows how much she loves her job as comicbook artist. So what is it I don't like about her work? I wish I could tell you. I don't think there is anything I actively dislike, it's just that, somehow, very little of what she's drawn has left a lasting impression on me. It serves its purpose, it's reliable, and it never disappoints. But it rarely astounds, either.
The exception to this is the arc surrounding Tier's birth. I have already talked about how unforgettable and heartbreaking the image of Rahne rejecting her son is for me, as well as the pages leading up to it, and credit for that goes to Lupacchino. So mad props for the single greatest scene in the history of the series, even if the rest of her pencils are middle-of-the-pack material.
I think it may just be the stories she draws. The Vegas arc includes the introduction of Pip, who grinds my gears. And then she draws the arc about the three female assassins who hate J. Jonah Jameson, which (as I have also mentioned) I find wholly boring. When the story is one I love, Lupacchino shines, so I guess it is just her bad fortune to be the artist for the arcs I'm not so fond of. Then again, it's sort of a chicken and the egg situation, isn't it? Let's just say she's hardly my favorite, but just as hardly my least favorite, and leave it at that.
I've glossed over some people to get here. First of all, De Landro has a few stray issues in between before departing the book for good, and totally gets his groove back. Not so much in the issue he tackles for the Veags arc (#210), but afterwards, when he does Darwin's departure (#213) and most of all his last issue, #224.1. Though still perhaps a smidge less precise than his initial stuff, he largely returns to form before his curtain is closed, complex and realistic but with a strong superhero vibe.
Paul Davidson is actually the guy to do the opening chapter of the struggle for Rahne's baby (#220), and I sort of hate it. It has exceptional moments, most notably Feral's arrival on the final splash page, but he just can't get a handle on Rahne in her human form or Shatterstar at all. Rahne as a wolf and the demon she fights are appropriately disturbing, but just as inconsistent from one panel to the next as anything. Finally, Dennis Calero makes an unexpected return for issue #221, and does just what he used to do, just as well as always. See Part 13 for my take on that.
After the point one issue, Leonard Kirk shows up for the first time, and he is still the main artist today. Kirk has always felt like the medium between De Landro (at his best) and Lupacchino (at her normalest), which means I like him a lot but don't quite love him. Never unclear, and with a strong sense of who every member of the team is right away, he's done a lot of great stories very well. The fight against Bloodbath, the hilarious Scattershot two-parter, and recent highlight "Breaking Points" are all Kirk all the way, and he does the comedy just as comfortably as the extreme violence and the emotional fallout from it. Both he and Lupacchino have a smoothness to their lines, a softness that allows the jokes to land without the more gruesome stuff clashing. It's what this book wants, but it still doesn't thrill me, personally.
Lupacchino's last run is "They Keep Killing Madrox" which is a fun story that suits her style. After that, almost everything is Kirk, with two issues by Neil Edwards and another handful from Paul Davidson, the latter of whom never really improves from his debut. His people never look quite the same twice, their faces sometimes seeming flattened like they're pressed against glass, while at other time they're stretched to appear almost canine. Their lips blow up and shrink back down every few seconds, and their eyes sometimes do, too. I'm not a fan of his slipshod style, is all there is to it, and I'm glad he didn't last very long on this title.
Edwards' issues are both great: the road trip one (#237) and the one narrated by Layla (#240). They require some very detailed work, nuanced emotion and the displaying of multiple possible realties all on the same page. It never seems to daunt Edwards, who renders everything expertly. The conversation between Revered Maddox and Rahne is especially good work, all talking with a load of subtext that slowly yet surely is brought to the surface. He nails it all. A third example of a talent underutilized by this book. Cansino, Fiumara, Edwards---all names I'd be happy to see on another X-Factor cover.
Oh, yes, the covers. I neglected them completely last time, and I won't go into incredible detail here, but I have to say this name in a discussion of X-Factor's art or I am a total asshat: David Yardin. Beginning with #39 and continuing right to this past Wednesday's #253, I am fairly certain Yardin has done every single cover. And they're amazing. They vary, they always let you know what to expect inside without spoiling the story details, and they're remarkably detailed. He can make the as realistic as anything, but doesn't shy away from something sillier or broader when called for. And look at this 90's-style cover for #236. So different than anything Yardin has produced up to now, but not a bit less impressive.
The only person left to call out is Matt Milla, who became the lead colorist after Jeremy Cox. There was a bit of a transitional period at first, right around the same time Lupacchino was taking over from De Landro, during which Milla and Cox would each take issues here and there (I think it was mostly just that Cox colored De Landro), with a few others filling in as well. But Milla's colored every issue Lupacchino or Kirk has drawn (I believe...certainly the vast majority of them) with Rachelle Rosenberg taking over on the few done by Davidson or Edwards. Like all the colorists who came before them, Milla and Rosenberg do very sturdy work. Again, the coloring has never really drawn my attention, positive or negative, at any time. It's always really good, which is incredible on the whole, but issue to issue I don't find myself wowed by it.
One last bit of art business: I know I have been criminally neglectful of the inkers. A LOT of the pencilers ink themselves, and the changes in inker don't always line up with new pencilers, and so ultimately I thought the simplest thing would be not to discuss them. Or maybe it's not simple but merely lazy. Either way, please know that it comes not from a place of "inkers don't matter" so much as one of "if I talk about every inker this art discussion will need like a whole third part, which seems excessive just to avoid excluding anyone involved." I love you, inkers, and please know that any time I said something good about a penciler, it applied to whoever did the inks as well.
Ugh, shut up already, right? I definitely will, after one fiiiiiiiinal wrap-up post.
PenultimArt
The Artists of X-Factor #200-253
Bing Cansino draws the entire "Invisible Woman Has Vanished" arc, and they are a dark and moody three issues. It works for the story, especially since much of it is set in Latveria, and Cansino handles a large group of characters quite well. He has his weaker panels, but generally keeps everything moving right along, even with the Fantastic Four family of characters guest-starring in an already crowded series. A lot of really good, hard-hitting action, too. Cansino draws great debris, and seems to know it, finding many opportunities to break walls and windows and sidewalks and such. And it makes The Thing look great, very alive and detailed. A solid showing all around, which has me wondering why Cansino never returns to the book. Seems like he'd be a good fit (though, admittedly, I have no sense of what else he may have been doing at the time).
For the next arc, X-Factor's loose tie-in to the "Second Coming" crossover, Valentine De Landro comes back. It's...weaker than his work has ever been before, and I'm not sure why. Things feel amorphous in these issues, particularly people's facial features. It's a little less stable looking than usual, like it might dissolve into a mess of colorful, abstract liquid on the next page. That's not always how it comes across, but it certainly looks that way more frequently than did De Landro's beginnings on the series. Of course, it never actually does break down into something incomprehensible, because even when wobbly, De Landro is a very strong visual storyteller. He can do action on the largest scale, and emotion on the smallest, and he does. He just doesn't do it as impressively here.
Sebastian Fiumara's one and only issue is #207, and he's another artist I'd like to see come back some time. In a lot of ways it feels like a stylistic throwback to the very start of X-Factor, when everything was covered in shadow. Even when Baron Mordo is washing a room in the bright green light of his magic, it all looks dark and creepy. I miss that mood sometimes in this series, and Fiumara is an especially powerful example of why it feels right.
It is Emanuela Lupacchino who steps in as the next primary penciler for the book, though De Landro pops up for some issues in between. Lupacchino is the artist I feel the most lukewarm about. She always delivers incredibly clear work that finds a perfect balance between realism and cartoonism, especially for a series that switches so regularly from the severe to the humorous. And there is a strong sense of fun infused in her pencils, like she wants to make sure the reader knows how much she loves her job as comicbook artist. So what is it I don't like about her work? I wish I could tell you. I don't think there is anything I actively dislike, it's just that, somehow, very little of what she's drawn has left a lasting impression on me. It serves its purpose, it's reliable, and it never disappoints. But it rarely astounds, either.
The exception to this is the arc surrounding Tier's birth. I have already talked about how unforgettable and heartbreaking the image of Rahne rejecting her son is for me, as well as the pages leading up to it, and credit for that goes to Lupacchino. So mad props for the single greatest scene in the history of the series, even if the rest of her pencils are middle-of-the-pack material.
I think it may just be the stories she draws. The Vegas arc includes the introduction of Pip, who grinds my gears. And then she draws the arc about the three female assassins who hate J. Jonah Jameson, which (as I have also mentioned) I find wholly boring. When the story is one I love, Lupacchino shines, so I guess it is just her bad fortune to be the artist for the arcs I'm not so fond of. Then again, it's sort of a chicken and the egg situation, isn't it? Let's just say she's hardly my favorite, but just as hardly my least favorite, and leave it at that.
I've glossed over some people to get here. First of all, De Landro has a few stray issues in between before departing the book for good, and totally gets his groove back. Not so much in the issue he tackles for the Veags arc (#210), but afterwards, when he does Darwin's departure (#213) and most of all his last issue, #224.1. Though still perhaps a smidge less precise than his initial stuff, he largely returns to form before his curtain is closed, complex and realistic but with a strong superhero vibe.
Paul Davidson is actually the guy to do the opening chapter of the struggle for Rahne's baby (#220), and I sort of hate it. It has exceptional moments, most notably Feral's arrival on the final splash page, but he just can't get a handle on Rahne in her human form or Shatterstar at all. Rahne as a wolf and the demon she fights are appropriately disturbing, but just as inconsistent from one panel to the next as anything. Finally, Dennis Calero makes an unexpected return for issue #221, and does just what he used to do, just as well as always. See Part 13 for my take on that.
After the point one issue, Leonard Kirk shows up for the first time, and he is still the main artist today. Kirk has always felt like the medium between De Landro (at his best) and Lupacchino (at her normalest), which means I like him a lot but don't quite love him. Never unclear, and with a strong sense of who every member of the team is right away, he's done a lot of great stories very well. The fight against Bloodbath, the hilarious Scattershot two-parter, and recent highlight "Breaking Points" are all Kirk all the way, and he does the comedy just as comfortably as the extreme violence and the emotional fallout from it. Both he and Lupacchino have a smoothness to their lines, a softness that allows the jokes to land without the more gruesome stuff clashing. It's what this book wants, but it still doesn't thrill me, personally.
Lupacchino's last run is "They Keep Killing Madrox" which is a fun story that suits her style. After that, almost everything is Kirk, with two issues by Neil Edwards and another handful from Paul Davidson, the latter of whom never really improves from his debut. His people never look quite the same twice, their faces sometimes seeming flattened like they're pressed against glass, while at other time they're stretched to appear almost canine. Their lips blow up and shrink back down every few seconds, and their eyes sometimes do, too. I'm not a fan of his slipshod style, is all there is to it, and I'm glad he didn't last very long on this title.
Edwards' issues are both great: the road trip one (#237) and the one narrated by Layla (#240). They require some very detailed work, nuanced emotion and the displaying of multiple possible realties all on the same page. It never seems to daunt Edwards, who renders everything expertly. The conversation between Revered Maddox and Rahne is especially good work, all talking with a load of subtext that slowly yet surely is brought to the surface. He nails it all. A third example of a talent underutilized by this book. Cansino, Fiumara, Edwards---all names I'd be happy to see on another X-Factor cover.
Oh, yes, the covers. I neglected them completely last time, and I won't go into incredible detail here, but I have to say this name in a discussion of X-Factor's art or I am a total asshat: David Yardin. Beginning with #39 and continuing right to this past Wednesday's #253, I am fairly certain Yardin has done every single cover. And they're amazing. They vary, they always let you know what to expect inside without spoiling the story details, and they're remarkably detailed. He can make the as realistic as anything, but doesn't shy away from something sillier or broader when called for. And look at this 90's-style cover for #236. So different than anything Yardin has produced up to now, but not a bit less impressive.
The only person left to call out is Matt Milla, who became the lead colorist after Jeremy Cox. There was a bit of a transitional period at first, right around the same time Lupacchino was taking over from De Landro, during which Milla and Cox would each take issues here and there (I think it was mostly just that Cox colored De Landro), with a few others filling in as well. But Milla's colored every issue Lupacchino or Kirk has drawn (I believe...certainly the vast majority of them) with Rachelle Rosenberg taking over on the few done by Davidson or Edwards. Like all the colorists who came before them, Milla and Rosenberg do very sturdy work. Again, the coloring has never really drawn my attention, positive or negative, at any time. It's always really good, which is incredible on the whole, but issue to issue I don't find myself wowed by it.
One last bit of art business: I know I have been criminally neglectful of the inkers. A LOT of the pencilers ink themselves, and the changes in inker don't always line up with new pencilers, and so ultimately I thought the simplest thing would be not to discuss them. Or maybe it's not simple but merely lazy. Either way, please know that it comes not from a place of "inkers don't matter" so much as one of "if I talk about every inker this art discussion will need like a whole third part, which seems excessive just to avoid excluding anyone involved." I love you, inkers, and please know that any time I said something good about a penciler, it applied to whoever did the inks as well.
Ugh, shut up already, right? I definitely will, after one fiiiiiiiinal wrap-up post.
Friday, March 15, 2013
The Grand X-Factor Investigations Investigation Part 13
The thirteenth in a group of 15 posts on X-Factor volume 3.
Good and Bad With a Dash of Ugly
The Artists of X-Factor #1-50
Caveat(s): like many who write about comicbooks, I am aware of my tendency to put more weight on the writing than the art. This comes from several places, but the most glaringly obvious reason for me, personally, is that I majored in writing and literature at college. For four years I analyzed other people's prose pretty much non-stop in workshops, class discussions, lengthy papers, and my brain. I only shifted that critical focus to comics less than a year ago, so I am still learning how to talk about art in a consistently accurate, fair, and inclusive way. Also, a lot of times with art (as with all things), it comes down to individual taste, and taste is a tricky thing to try and explain or defend. So yeah, just keep that in mind for this and the next piece, where I'll be talking about artists exclusively. These are going to be fairly brief and direct, because there are a lot of artists to discuss and, more to the point, I know I am not the right guy to get too deep into any artist's work right now. Someday, fingers crossed, I will be, but for now I offer just my most basic impressions of the many, many collaborators Peter David has had on this title.
I guess I'll just come at this chronologically? That's how I talked about the stories so I may as well do it with the art.
The opening six-issue arc is penciled by Ryan Sook and Denis Calero (I'm not sure of the exact breakdown of their duties because I own the early issues in collected volumes), and Calero sticks around for X-Factor #8-9 as well, with #7 being Ariel Olivetti's only contribution to the title. Finally, #10-12 are drawn by Renato Arlem with Roy Allen Martinez. And all twelve of these chapters are colored by Jose Villarubia.
I mention all these names together because I think there's a clear commonality between their approaches to the title. All of these artists lean into the private eye/hard-boiled detective/noir elements. There's a lot of shadow and grit, a hyper-realism that makes the bad times seems worse and the good times a bit stifled. Sook and Calero are the clearest example, possibly just because they have the most pages between them and because they kick things off, and I think they're a good choice and a comfortable fit. X-Factor can feel hopeless at times and terrifying at others, and the realistic-yet-extra-dark nature of the art early on definitely helped solidify those feelings. A lot of these characters are broken inside, so even if nothing terrible is happening at any given moment, they're still dealing with a lot of sadness and pain. Sook and Calero put that pain on display.
Olivetti is a little brighter and lighter in his pencils, but when shit gets serious in-story he brings a nice edge to the visuals, where everyone seems a little harder and sharper in their features. And Renato Arlem and Roy Allen Martinez's work is somewhat less realistic than what comes before, but still shadowy and shifty. And, maybe even more than with Sook and Calero, their issues really underline the internal turmoil of many of the characters. There's no attempt by these initial artists to be cheerier than the narratives they're drawing. Instead, everyone points us directly to the sadness, preparing us right away for the long and difficult road ahead of this team.
Villarubia obviously also has a lot to do with the darkness as well. He is the one unchanging artistic element of these opening twelve issues, and much of the shading and underlying gloominess can be attributed to his coloring. And he does a good job of changing his style to fit that of whichever penciler he's working with, something that's true of pretty much all the colorists who have worked on this title for any decent stretch of time. And there haven't been very many. Brian Reber starts with X-Factor #13 and is similarly skilled, able to adjust to a few different pencilers without any awkwardness in the transition. His colors are brighter than Villarubia's, but that change goes hand-in-hand with a shift in the overall visual feel (see below).
Except for a stray few issues here and there by Chris Sotomayor and Frank D'Armata, Reber's pretty much it until Jeremy Cox becomes the main coloring guy with X-Factor #28. After that, there are a few others who pop up to lend a hand, but more often than not Cox is the colorist from the time he starts all the way to something like issue #213 (though, remember, it goes from #50 to #200 because Marvel hates numbers and/or logic). Like Villarubia and Reber, Cox has to color many different artists' work, but I haven't seen him slip or screw up in any significant way. Though the colors of X-Factor rarely dazzle me, they never disappoint, either. Cox is the most consistent creative force other than Peter David that X-Factor's had, and therefore deserves to be recognized as a big part of the title's success and reliability.
Pablo Raimondi is next artist to take the helm after Arlem and Martinez, with a few issues done by Pham in the midst of Raimondi's run. Both of these guys are more in the "pop superhero" vein, a little sunnier and broader than the artists they follow. And I also don't think they are quite as strong, though it's not because (or not just because) of this shift in tone. Raimondi and Pham are both just a little less detailed, and their characters look just a smidge less natural, which all adds up to X-Factor losing some of its realism and emotional oomph. Not like it takes a tremendous dip downward in artistic quality, I just prefer it when this series reminds me more of the real world.
Which happens again during "Messiah Complex" when Scott Eaton is the artist, but there are two problems: 1.The event as a whole spans several titles and becomes, therefore, a visually disjointed mess, and 2. The X-Factor chapters don't include many members of the titular team but DO feature any number of characters from the rest of the X-books. So Eaton does strong work, but only like half counts as an X-Factor artist anyway.
After that crossover, Raimondi begins to trade off art duties from one issue to another with Valentine De Landro, who has drawn more X-Factor than anyone else to date. Before I dig into De Landro, though, I want to talk Larry Stroman. Right before De Landro draws his longest continuous stretch of issues, Stroman comes in to do a handful, and he is easily my least favorite artist the title has ever had. His figures look like they are sculpted from silly putty, and no one looks quite the same from page to page. There is a definite lack of clarity in places, and a general lack of energy everywhere. And everyone looks downright ugly in the face, with misshapen skulls and noses and misplaced eyes. Stroman has a very unique, immediately recognizable style, and I think it would be a great choice for any number of books. But X-Factor had already established itself so firmly in the more-realistic-than-cartoony camp of comicbook art, and David's writing didn't change to accommodate the dramatic turn-around in visual tone that Stroman's arrival included. The wrongness of Stroman's work is made stunningly obvious at the end of his short time on the book, when De Landro draws one issue in the middle of two drawn by Stroman, all three of which are part of the same story arc. De Landro's issue feels so much more exciting and lively and important, it just highlights the fact that this series is at its best when it stays visually grounded.
Luckily, as soon as Stroman's last issue is past us, we get De Landro on point for all of X-Factor #39-50 (assisted by Marco Santucci at the start of the run).These issues are, if you'll recall, the sprawling epic that takes place in two time periods and includes the introduction of adult Layla Miller. It's arguably the biggest, boldest, most important storyline ever, and it is where De Landro fully cements himself as one of the best and most reliable artists for this book. He skillfully utilizes aspects of all the artists who precede him. His art tends toward realism---possibly even photo-referencing? It sure look that way in places but not at all in others so it's probably a bit of both---and he's quite adept at showing people wrestling with various levels of pain/guilt/depression. But he's not as regularly dark and dreary as Sook/Calero, able to swing more toward a mainstreem superhero house style when that is what the story calls for. Just at home drawing an army of Multiple Men climbing up a Sentinal as he is with a senile, delusional, wheelchair-bound Dr. Doom living in abject squalor. It is De Landro who establishes grown-up Layla, who shows Madrox absorbing his own son and all of the intense emotional fallout from that, and who gives us characters like Ruby Summers and elderly cyborg Cyclops. And this isn't even at all the end of his time on the title (though it is his longest uninterrupted run by far). He is, no question, my personal favorite artist, and must be a favorite of someone else involved, too, because he's got more issues under his belt than anyone.
De Landro (and Cox) will still be present after the jump in numbering, though he steps down for the arc immediately following his twelve-issue streak. Which is where I'll pick up next time, with the amazingly-named Bing Cansino.
Good and Bad With a Dash of Ugly
The Artists of X-Factor #1-50
Caveat(s): like many who write about comicbooks, I am aware of my tendency to put more weight on the writing than the art. This comes from several places, but the most glaringly obvious reason for me, personally, is that I majored in writing and literature at college. For four years I analyzed other people's prose pretty much non-stop in workshops, class discussions, lengthy papers, and my brain. I only shifted that critical focus to comics less than a year ago, so I am still learning how to talk about art in a consistently accurate, fair, and inclusive way. Also, a lot of times with art (as with all things), it comes down to individual taste, and taste is a tricky thing to try and explain or defend. So yeah, just keep that in mind for this and the next piece, where I'll be talking about artists exclusively. These are going to be fairly brief and direct, because there are a lot of artists to discuss and, more to the point, I know I am not the right guy to get too deep into any artist's work right now. Someday, fingers crossed, I will be, but for now I offer just my most basic impressions of the many, many collaborators Peter David has had on this title.
I guess I'll just come at this chronologically? That's how I talked about the stories so I may as well do it with the art.
The opening six-issue arc is penciled by Ryan Sook and Denis Calero (I'm not sure of the exact breakdown of their duties because I own the early issues in collected volumes), and Calero sticks around for X-Factor #8-9 as well, with #7 being Ariel Olivetti's only contribution to the title. Finally, #10-12 are drawn by Renato Arlem with Roy Allen Martinez. And all twelve of these chapters are colored by Jose Villarubia.
I mention all these names together because I think there's a clear commonality between their approaches to the title. All of these artists lean into the private eye/hard-boiled detective/noir elements. There's a lot of shadow and grit, a hyper-realism that makes the bad times seems worse and the good times a bit stifled. Sook and Calero are the clearest example, possibly just because they have the most pages between them and because they kick things off, and I think they're a good choice and a comfortable fit. X-Factor can feel hopeless at times and terrifying at others, and the realistic-yet-extra-dark nature of the art early on definitely helped solidify those feelings. A lot of these characters are broken inside, so even if nothing terrible is happening at any given moment, they're still dealing with a lot of sadness and pain. Sook and Calero put that pain on display.
Olivetti is a little brighter and lighter in his pencils, but when shit gets serious in-story he brings a nice edge to the visuals, where everyone seems a little harder and sharper in their features. And Renato Arlem and Roy Allen Martinez's work is somewhat less realistic than what comes before, but still shadowy and shifty. And, maybe even more than with Sook and Calero, their issues really underline the internal turmoil of many of the characters. There's no attempt by these initial artists to be cheerier than the narratives they're drawing. Instead, everyone points us directly to the sadness, preparing us right away for the long and difficult road ahead of this team.
Villarubia obviously also has a lot to do with the darkness as well. He is the one unchanging artistic element of these opening twelve issues, and much of the shading and underlying gloominess can be attributed to his coloring. And he does a good job of changing his style to fit that of whichever penciler he's working with, something that's true of pretty much all the colorists who have worked on this title for any decent stretch of time. And there haven't been very many. Brian Reber starts with X-Factor #13 and is similarly skilled, able to adjust to a few different pencilers without any awkwardness in the transition. His colors are brighter than Villarubia's, but that change goes hand-in-hand with a shift in the overall visual feel (see below).
Except for a stray few issues here and there by Chris Sotomayor and Frank D'Armata, Reber's pretty much it until Jeremy Cox becomes the main coloring guy with X-Factor #28. After that, there are a few others who pop up to lend a hand, but more often than not Cox is the colorist from the time he starts all the way to something like issue #213 (though, remember, it goes from #50 to #200 because Marvel hates numbers and/or logic). Like Villarubia and Reber, Cox has to color many different artists' work, but I haven't seen him slip or screw up in any significant way. Though the colors of X-Factor rarely dazzle me, they never disappoint, either. Cox is the most consistent creative force other than Peter David that X-Factor's had, and therefore deserves to be recognized as a big part of the title's success and reliability.
Pablo Raimondi is next artist to take the helm after Arlem and Martinez, with a few issues done by Pham in the midst of Raimondi's run. Both of these guys are more in the "pop superhero" vein, a little sunnier and broader than the artists they follow. And I also don't think they are quite as strong, though it's not because (or not just because) of this shift in tone. Raimondi and Pham are both just a little less detailed, and their characters look just a smidge less natural, which all adds up to X-Factor losing some of its realism and emotional oomph. Not like it takes a tremendous dip downward in artistic quality, I just prefer it when this series reminds me more of the real world.
Which happens again during "Messiah Complex" when Scott Eaton is the artist, but there are two problems: 1.The event as a whole spans several titles and becomes, therefore, a visually disjointed mess, and 2. The X-Factor chapters don't include many members of the titular team but DO feature any number of characters from the rest of the X-books. So Eaton does strong work, but only like half counts as an X-Factor artist anyway.
After that crossover, Raimondi begins to trade off art duties from one issue to another with Valentine De Landro, who has drawn more X-Factor than anyone else to date. Before I dig into De Landro, though, I want to talk Larry Stroman. Right before De Landro draws his longest continuous stretch of issues, Stroman comes in to do a handful, and he is easily my least favorite artist the title has ever had. His figures look like they are sculpted from silly putty, and no one looks quite the same from page to page. There is a definite lack of clarity in places, and a general lack of energy everywhere. And everyone looks downright ugly in the face, with misshapen skulls and noses and misplaced eyes. Stroman has a very unique, immediately recognizable style, and I think it would be a great choice for any number of books. But X-Factor had already established itself so firmly in the more-realistic-than-cartoony camp of comicbook art, and David's writing didn't change to accommodate the dramatic turn-around in visual tone that Stroman's arrival included. The wrongness of Stroman's work is made stunningly obvious at the end of his short time on the book, when De Landro draws one issue in the middle of two drawn by Stroman, all three of which are part of the same story arc. De Landro's issue feels so much more exciting and lively and important, it just highlights the fact that this series is at its best when it stays visually grounded.
Luckily, as soon as Stroman's last issue is past us, we get De Landro on point for all of X-Factor #39-50 (assisted by Marco Santucci at the start of the run).These issues are, if you'll recall, the sprawling epic that takes place in two time periods and includes the introduction of adult Layla Miller. It's arguably the biggest, boldest, most important storyline ever, and it is where De Landro fully cements himself as one of the best and most reliable artists for this book. He skillfully utilizes aspects of all the artists who precede him. His art tends toward realism---possibly even photo-referencing? It sure look that way in places but not at all in others so it's probably a bit of both---and he's quite adept at showing people wrestling with various levels of pain/guilt/depression. But he's not as regularly dark and dreary as Sook/Calero, able to swing more toward a mainstreem superhero house style when that is what the story calls for. Just at home drawing an army of Multiple Men climbing up a Sentinal as he is with a senile, delusional, wheelchair-bound Dr. Doom living in abject squalor. It is De Landro who establishes grown-up Layla, who shows Madrox absorbing his own son and all of the intense emotional fallout from that, and who gives us characters like Ruby Summers and elderly cyborg Cyclops. And this isn't even at all the end of his time on the title (though it is his longest uninterrupted run by far). He is, no question, my personal favorite artist, and must be a favorite of someone else involved, too, because he's got more issues under his belt than anyone.
De Landro (and Cox) will still be present after the jump in numbering, though he steps down for the arc immediately following his twelve-issue streak. Which is where I'll pick up next time, with the amazingly-named Bing Cansino.
Thursday, March 7, 2013
The Grand X-Factor Investigations Investigation Part 12
The twelfth in a group of 15 posts on X-Factor volume 3.
Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?
It could be about any number of other things, too
Been a long time since I tackled this project, but there's one last crack to be taken at figuring out the true heart of X-Factor as a series. It may in fact be Jamie and Layla's love, but broader, grander options exist that are probably equally viable.
It could be a sort of inevitable apocalypse narrative, wherein X-Factor are the inadvertent cause, unlikely saviors, or both. Lots of signs point in that direction, from the opening arc to the current one. Mr. Tryp accuses X-Factor of creating the dystopian future from which he hails, where humans are all but wiped out and mutants run wild in the streets, battling each other with their various powers. When Layla brings Jamie to a different but equally dismal future, he asks her what caused it and, in her typical cryptic manner, she says it was their own fault. Tier's birth involves all sorts of immortal/mystical beings coming out of the woodwork to claim him as their own, and though his exact importance isn't explained until later, we know that his life will be a significant, influential, and possibly destructive one before he is even born. And now that he is alive, his existence has sparked a war between the Marvel Universe's various Hell Lords, which certainly feels like a situation with the potential to destroy the world. Bloodbath warned X-Factor way back when that all their meddling in the world of souls and demons and such would only attract more of the same, and he was clearly not lying. Banshees and devils and wizards from alternate realities and death gods...X-Factor may be playing out of their league, and there's got to be another shoe up there somewhere that's been waiting to drop for years. Someday one threat or another is going to catch up with this mutant detective agency, and when it does, they may not be powerful or prepared enough to keep the world safe from desolation.
As much as Peter David continues to revisit this theme of the impending end of the world as we know it, from an out-of-story, larger context point of view, it seems pretty unlikely that X-Factor would ever get to be the kind of book where something so drastic goes down. It sits in its own corner of the Marvel U, very rarely interacting with characters or events from other books, especially lately. It actually makes the "Hell on Earth War" arc a bit less believable, insofar as no other heroes (or villains) seems to have noticed the massive gathering of immortal Hell Lords. But I like that X-Factor gets to do its own thing. Had it been folded into every single mutant-based crossover event in the last seven years I might not even still be reading it. However, if we assume that X-Factor's semi-isolated status means it'll never get to REALLY result in an apocalyptic scenario, then that's probably not the central theme of the title, either.
Of course, I hold out hope that David will get to end his impressive run with something truly, massively catastrophic taking place, I just doubt it'll happen.
There is a way in which X-Factor acts as a quiet meta-textual commentary on team superhero books in general, though it's mostly just through David leading by example. As a social group, X-Factor is rampantly dysfunctional, and it seems like someone is always pissed off at someone else over something. Members come and go regularly, giving the team a feeling of instability. There was a consistent "core" group for the longest time, but recently Strong Guy and Banshee both left, obliterating the notion that this team had any lifetime members. Sexual/romantic problems, arguments over leadership, keeping of major secrets and the subsequent lack of trust...this is a fucked up squad with a lot to overcome internally. But X-Factor never truly lets their personal nonsense muck up their superheroics. Sometimes their in-fighting causes a few bumps in the road, but ultimately they always get the job done, and more often than not they are able to set aside their pettier differences when the time comes to step up and be the good guys.
David's ability to find the right balance of emotional conflict and bombastic mutant superhero action is impressive, and that's what I mean when I say "leading by example." Far too often, team books either spend too much time in the thick of the action to fully develop their casts or, perhaps worse, are so focused on the characters' personal problems that too little happens in too big a space. X-Factor finds the happiest of mediums, usually infusing a little of both areas into its stories. And when it does take an issue or two to focus on the small-scale drama, it is always sure to follow up immediately with some large-scale adventure. There is enough out loud, in-story reference to this dynamic, this back-and-forth between a team at odds with itself and one working as an unified squad, that I have to believe part of it is David saying, "See, everyone? This is how you keep a team book interesting and rich without getting bogged down in the melodrama." I may just be reading that message where it doesn't exist because it is what I would say about the series, but it seems more likely that David is at least semi-aware of it. He knows that he knows what he's doing with a cast this size in a universe this crazy, and even when the details of a given narrative don't excite or interest me, David always walks the line between the huge conflicts and the tiny ones. It is arguably the most reliable aspects of the book.
But "being an exemplary team book" doesn't exactly qualify as the unifying theme of a series. It's true of X-Factor, but it is more of an external observation about one of the title's strengths, not an examination of what it's all about. There's probably not a one-word answer to that question, but if I had to pick one, it'd be "choice."
The first scene of the first issue establishes the theme of choice. Rictor is literally standing on a ledge, deciding whether or not losing his powers means he should end his own life. Madrox, unable to make a confident call about how to handle the situation and save his friend, sends a duplicate to do it for him instead. And in doing so, he has an internal monologue about how making choices is always hard for him because he can always see all the angles. He's the Multiple Man, and even with a team to lead, it's incredibly difficult for him to pick a path and stick to it. Rictor's choice is, naturally, to live, to join up with a team of his old friends in spite of his lack of metahuman abilities. But it is not something he resolves to do quickly or easily, and the reader feels the incredible heft of his decision as a result of his uncertainty. This scene is, arguably, the thesis statement for all the 100+ issues that have followed.
Layla's whole character is based on choice, and the idea of what happens if we make the wrong one in a given situation. She sees the future as it is "supposed" to be, and when she decides to bring Guido back to life, an act she knows is counter to this "correct" timeline, it has dire consequences that continue to matter today. But she does it to take some control of her own life, to make a call that she feels belongs to her and not the universe at large. It's a definitive moment for her, for Guido, and for the team as a whole, centered on this idea of choice.
Before her time with X-Factor, Monet St. Croix was mentally controlled and transformed by her brother into the being known as Penance. Because of that experience, free will and self-control are two of the most important things in the world to Monet, and we've seen how viciously angry she becomes if someone tries to take her mental wheel. So while it doesn't come up as often with her as it does with Layla, choice is still a thematically significant word for Monet.
Rahne and Darwin and Theresa all choose to leave the team, Rahne more than once, in an effort to learn about themselves and/or lead lives they might find more fulfilling. Guido chooses to leave the team and join the forces of evil after discovering he has no soul and then being shot down by Monet. Pip forces himself onto the team even when they say he's unwanted. And so on. My point is, in general, lineup changes to X-Factor are not a result of outside forces shaping the team. It is almost always the decision of the teammate in question to either sign on or walk away, and it is never made lightly. Even Havok, who is sort of inserted into the leadership role by Wolverine when Madrox appears to be dead, ultimately admits to himself that he is a poor fit and chooses to move on to other things. Nobody gets kicked off, and nobody dies (for good). They are all there, and they all leave, strictly by choice.
Yeah, ok, all narrative fiction is, to some degree, going to revolve around the choices made by the characters. But X-Factor pounds on that particular drum more often than most, from characters like Madrox and Layla whose very power sets affect their decision-making, to big arcs like "Breaking Points" where the only real throughline is watching team members choose to resign. At the very least, it is one of the major themes of this title, if not the single biggest and most important.
But X-Factor is an ongoing book, so trying to decide what it is truly about might be pointless at this stage. Until David's time at the helm ends, there will be new information and characters and problems introduced regularly, each one deepening and further complicating any discussion about the series' central theme. I've given it the old college try here, and I think any of the options I've presented could be argued more fully and convincingly if one cared to make the case. For me, Jamie and Layla's romance will always be the focus, but I know that everything I've discussed above is at least as important.
Peter David is the only creator I've mentioned by name thus far in The Grand X-Factor Investigations Investigation, because up to now I have been talking only about the story. And David has been a steady creative voice, whereas his collaborators have changed numerous times over the years. However, to ignore these collaborators entirely would be a pretty dick move on my part, so give me some time to back through all the issues and make absolutely certain nobody gets excluded, and there'll be two posts on the artists of X-Factor as soon as I can tap them out. It'll definitely be this month. I'm determined to lay this undertaking to rest by then.
Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?
It could be about any number of other things, too
Been a long time since I tackled this project, but there's one last crack to be taken at figuring out the true heart of X-Factor as a series. It may in fact be Jamie and Layla's love, but broader, grander options exist that are probably equally viable.
It could be a sort of inevitable apocalypse narrative, wherein X-Factor are the inadvertent cause, unlikely saviors, or both. Lots of signs point in that direction, from the opening arc to the current one. Mr. Tryp accuses X-Factor of creating the dystopian future from which he hails, where humans are all but wiped out and mutants run wild in the streets, battling each other with their various powers. When Layla brings Jamie to a different but equally dismal future, he asks her what caused it and, in her typical cryptic manner, she says it was their own fault. Tier's birth involves all sorts of immortal/mystical beings coming out of the woodwork to claim him as their own, and though his exact importance isn't explained until later, we know that his life will be a significant, influential, and possibly destructive one before he is even born. And now that he is alive, his existence has sparked a war between the Marvel Universe's various Hell Lords, which certainly feels like a situation with the potential to destroy the world. Bloodbath warned X-Factor way back when that all their meddling in the world of souls and demons and such would only attract more of the same, and he was clearly not lying. Banshees and devils and wizards from alternate realities and death gods...X-Factor may be playing out of their league, and there's got to be another shoe up there somewhere that's been waiting to drop for years. Someday one threat or another is going to catch up with this mutant detective agency, and when it does, they may not be powerful or prepared enough to keep the world safe from desolation.
As much as Peter David continues to revisit this theme of the impending end of the world as we know it, from an out-of-story, larger context point of view, it seems pretty unlikely that X-Factor would ever get to be the kind of book where something so drastic goes down. It sits in its own corner of the Marvel U, very rarely interacting with characters or events from other books, especially lately. It actually makes the "Hell on Earth War" arc a bit less believable, insofar as no other heroes (or villains) seems to have noticed the massive gathering of immortal Hell Lords. But I like that X-Factor gets to do its own thing. Had it been folded into every single mutant-based crossover event in the last seven years I might not even still be reading it. However, if we assume that X-Factor's semi-isolated status means it'll never get to REALLY result in an apocalyptic scenario, then that's probably not the central theme of the title, either.
Of course, I hold out hope that David will get to end his impressive run with something truly, massively catastrophic taking place, I just doubt it'll happen.
There is a way in which X-Factor acts as a quiet meta-textual commentary on team superhero books in general, though it's mostly just through David leading by example. As a social group, X-Factor is rampantly dysfunctional, and it seems like someone is always pissed off at someone else over something. Members come and go regularly, giving the team a feeling of instability. There was a consistent "core" group for the longest time, but recently Strong Guy and Banshee both left, obliterating the notion that this team had any lifetime members. Sexual/romantic problems, arguments over leadership, keeping of major secrets and the subsequent lack of trust...this is a fucked up squad with a lot to overcome internally. But X-Factor never truly lets their personal nonsense muck up their superheroics. Sometimes their in-fighting causes a few bumps in the road, but ultimately they always get the job done, and more often than not they are able to set aside their pettier differences when the time comes to step up and be the good guys.
David's ability to find the right balance of emotional conflict and bombastic mutant superhero action is impressive, and that's what I mean when I say "leading by example." Far too often, team books either spend too much time in the thick of the action to fully develop their casts or, perhaps worse, are so focused on the characters' personal problems that too little happens in too big a space. X-Factor finds the happiest of mediums, usually infusing a little of both areas into its stories. And when it does take an issue or two to focus on the small-scale drama, it is always sure to follow up immediately with some large-scale adventure. There is enough out loud, in-story reference to this dynamic, this back-and-forth between a team at odds with itself and one working as an unified squad, that I have to believe part of it is David saying, "See, everyone? This is how you keep a team book interesting and rich without getting bogged down in the melodrama." I may just be reading that message where it doesn't exist because it is what I would say about the series, but it seems more likely that David is at least semi-aware of it. He knows that he knows what he's doing with a cast this size in a universe this crazy, and even when the details of a given narrative don't excite or interest me, David always walks the line between the huge conflicts and the tiny ones. It is arguably the most reliable aspects of the book.
But "being an exemplary team book" doesn't exactly qualify as the unifying theme of a series. It's true of X-Factor, but it is more of an external observation about one of the title's strengths, not an examination of what it's all about. There's probably not a one-word answer to that question, but if I had to pick one, it'd be "choice."
The first scene of the first issue establishes the theme of choice. Rictor is literally standing on a ledge, deciding whether or not losing his powers means he should end his own life. Madrox, unable to make a confident call about how to handle the situation and save his friend, sends a duplicate to do it for him instead. And in doing so, he has an internal monologue about how making choices is always hard for him because he can always see all the angles. He's the Multiple Man, and even with a team to lead, it's incredibly difficult for him to pick a path and stick to it. Rictor's choice is, naturally, to live, to join up with a team of his old friends in spite of his lack of metahuman abilities. But it is not something he resolves to do quickly or easily, and the reader feels the incredible heft of his decision as a result of his uncertainty. This scene is, arguably, the thesis statement for all the 100+ issues that have followed.
Layla's whole character is based on choice, and the idea of what happens if we make the wrong one in a given situation. She sees the future as it is "supposed" to be, and when she decides to bring Guido back to life, an act she knows is counter to this "correct" timeline, it has dire consequences that continue to matter today. But she does it to take some control of her own life, to make a call that she feels belongs to her and not the universe at large. It's a definitive moment for her, for Guido, and for the team as a whole, centered on this idea of choice.
Before her time with X-Factor, Monet St. Croix was mentally controlled and transformed by her brother into the being known as Penance. Because of that experience, free will and self-control are two of the most important things in the world to Monet, and we've seen how viciously angry she becomes if someone tries to take her mental wheel. So while it doesn't come up as often with her as it does with Layla, choice is still a thematically significant word for Monet.
Rahne and Darwin and Theresa all choose to leave the team, Rahne more than once, in an effort to learn about themselves and/or lead lives they might find more fulfilling. Guido chooses to leave the team and join the forces of evil after discovering he has no soul and then being shot down by Monet. Pip forces himself onto the team even when they say he's unwanted. And so on. My point is, in general, lineup changes to X-Factor are not a result of outside forces shaping the team. It is almost always the decision of the teammate in question to either sign on or walk away, and it is never made lightly. Even Havok, who is sort of inserted into the leadership role by Wolverine when Madrox appears to be dead, ultimately admits to himself that he is a poor fit and chooses to move on to other things. Nobody gets kicked off, and nobody dies (for good). They are all there, and they all leave, strictly by choice.
Yeah, ok, all narrative fiction is, to some degree, going to revolve around the choices made by the characters. But X-Factor pounds on that particular drum more often than most, from characters like Madrox and Layla whose very power sets affect their decision-making, to big arcs like "Breaking Points" where the only real throughline is watching team members choose to resign. At the very least, it is one of the major themes of this title, if not the single biggest and most important.
But X-Factor is an ongoing book, so trying to decide what it is truly about might be pointless at this stage. Until David's time at the helm ends, there will be new information and characters and problems introduced regularly, each one deepening and further complicating any discussion about the series' central theme. I've given it the old college try here, and I think any of the options I've presented could be argued more fully and convincingly if one cared to make the case. For me, Jamie and Layla's romance will always be the focus, but I know that everything I've discussed above is at least as important.
Peter David is the only creator I've mentioned by name thus far in The Grand X-Factor Investigations Investigation, because up to now I have been talking only about the story. And David has been a steady creative voice, whereas his collaborators have changed numerous times over the years. However, to ignore these collaborators entirely would be a pretty dick move on my part, so give me some time to back through all the issues and make absolutely certain nobody gets excluded, and there'll be two posts on the artists of X-Factor as soon as I can tap them out. It'll definitely be this month. I'm determined to lay this undertaking to rest by then.
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
The Grand X-Factor Investigations Investigation Part 11
The eleventh in a group of 15 posts on X-Factor volume 3.
Meet the Madroxes
It's all about Jamie & Layla's love
There's something like 90 issues between child Layla telling Jamie she'll eventually marry him and adult Layla actually doing it. Peter David didn't have to make good on that promise. He wasn't required to find some means of aging her up quickly enough to be the writer who also handled the wedding (or lack thereof). Anyone could have done that any number of years from now. And it's impossible to say how much of their relationship David had planned out when Layla first mentioned marriage in X-Factor #9, but he's clearly had his sights set on making them a natural and likable couple from the beginning. Though Layla and Jamie are not central to every story---after all, she's absent from the book for a decent stretch---many of the biggest and most significant storylines act as definitive markers in the progression of their love.
Right away, he saves her from the orphanage where she lives, motivated by something he can never quite pin down. She tells him they'll be married during Civil War, and after some smaller adventures, he loses her in the future during Messiah Complex. Then, once again, things become a bit more boiler plate, until Madrox accidentally absorbs the son he was supposed to have with Theresa. This makes him nearly suicidal, an outlook that drives him straight to the site of his reunion with Layla. Her return leads to the longest-running arc to date, which is also where their dynamic becomes romantic for the first time (now that she's grown). She soon brings Guido back to life and it becomes a point of contention between her and Jamie briefly, until it indirectly leads to his own death. Then his return comes not long before they get hitched, which also more or less coincides with the beginnings of the "Hell on Earth War". When major bombs are dropping in the book, it tends to line up with an important moment in the ongoing saga of Jamie and Layla.
Plus there's no denying that Madrox, at least, is the star of the show. He narrates like 98% of the issues, leads the team, and has an old personal connection to their first and most commonly-recurring villain. Layla, meanwhile, is the resident scene-stealer. She loves to interrupt, pull focus, or just tell people how they ought to behave, and because she's always right, she gets away with it. Also she's got a great sense of humor, so that goes a long way. But the point is, even as individuals, these two characters tend to get a generous portion of the spotlight, so as a couple they constitute the core of the entire series.
And they're clearly made for each other. He's the Multiple Man, always able to see all the options and therefore never confident in selecting one. She's Layla Miller, she knows stuff. Already aware of what the outcome is "supposed" to be, she can point Jamie to the best choice in any situation. Though neither are his creations, David must have seen right away how complementary their respective power sets, strengths, and even flaws were. So he stuck Layla right into the first issue of this series, I think already knowing what she would someday mean for Madrox.
Maybe I am giving him too much credit. Perhaps he just thought she was cool or interesting and then the romantic angle appeared to him later. Maybe it's ALL editorial mandates, and David secretly thinks they make an awful couple. But whatever the external reality, within X-Factor the slow-but-always-burning love between Layla and Jamie has been one of the most satisfying throughlines to follow.
Of course, they're married now, and yet X-Factor continues, so it could be that their romance is meant as just another of many long-spun narrative threads. But love doesn't end at marriage, relationships don't cease to grow because someone puts a ring on it. As the Layla-centric X-Factor #240 showed, her and Jamie's future still holds a great deal of promise, mystery, and perhaps even tragedy. Though we're no longer holding our breath for their long-anticipated wedding, the trajectory and destination of their marriage are question marks right now.
There have been other romances in the book, good and bad, failed and successful, all along the way. Some even included Jamie or Layla, though many didn't. And really, their relationship is one of the newest. But it's the oldest, too, because they've both known it would be real for a long, long time. For Layla it always has been, an inevitability she merely had to wait out. Because of that, it is the simplest and strongest love in the series, in spite of the complicated path traveled to get to it.
I've come to think of X-Factor as the Jamie and Layla story first and foremost, but I'm aware that this may be a skewed interpretation. I happen to adore both characters, adore comicbooks that reward their readers in the long term, and absolutely adore a good, natural, comfortable love story. But I can see how this view of the series might be a little too narrow. After all, this is a pretty enormous cast if David's ultimate focus is going to be on the love of two people. So, if I'm wrong, what is this series about? Is it just another monthly superhero funnybook, or is there a higher concept at play? And do we even need to ask these questions? The best answers I can think of, however unnecessary they may be, coming up next.
Meet the Madroxes
It's all about Jamie & Layla's love
There's something like 90 issues between child Layla telling Jamie she'll eventually marry him and adult Layla actually doing it. Peter David didn't have to make good on that promise. He wasn't required to find some means of aging her up quickly enough to be the writer who also handled the wedding (or lack thereof). Anyone could have done that any number of years from now. And it's impossible to say how much of their relationship David had planned out when Layla first mentioned marriage in X-Factor #9, but he's clearly had his sights set on making them a natural and likable couple from the beginning. Though Layla and Jamie are not central to every story---after all, she's absent from the book for a decent stretch---many of the biggest and most significant storylines act as definitive markers in the progression of their love.
Right away, he saves her from the orphanage where she lives, motivated by something he can never quite pin down. She tells him they'll be married during Civil War, and after some smaller adventures, he loses her in the future during Messiah Complex. Then, once again, things become a bit more boiler plate, until Madrox accidentally absorbs the son he was supposed to have with Theresa. This makes him nearly suicidal, an outlook that drives him straight to the site of his reunion with Layla. Her return leads to the longest-running arc to date, which is also where their dynamic becomes romantic for the first time (now that she's grown). She soon brings Guido back to life and it becomes a point of contention between her and Jamie briefly, until it indirectly leads to his own death. Then his return comes not long before they get hitched, which also more or less coincides with the beginnings of the "Hell on Earth War". When major bombs are dropping in the book, it tends to line up with an important moment in the ongoing saga of Jamie and Layla.
Plus there's no denying that Madrox, at least, is the star of the show. He narrates like 98% of the issues, leads the team, and has an old personal connection to their first and most commonly-recurring villain. Layla, meanwhile, is the resident scene-stealer. She loves to interrupt, pull focus, or just tell people how they ought to behave, and because she's always right, she gets away with it. Also she's got a great sense of humor, so that goes a long way. But the point is, even as individuals, these two characters tend to get a generous portion of the spotlight, so as a couple they constitute the core of the entire series.
And they're clearly made for each other. He's the Multiple Man, always able to see all the options and therefore never confident in selecting one. She's Layla Miller, she knows stuff. Already aware of what the outcome is "supposed" to be, she can point Jamie to the best choice in any situation. Though neither are his creations, David must have seen right away how complementary their respective power sets, strengths, and even flaws were. So he stuck Layla right into the first issue of this series, I think already knowing what she would someday mean for Madrox.
Maybe I am giving him too much credit. Perhaps he just thought she was cool or interesting and then the romantic angle appeared to him later. Maybe it's ALL editorial mandates, and David secretly thinks they make an awful couple. But whatever the external reality, within X-Factor the slow-but-always-burning love between Layla and Jamie has been one of the most satisfying throughlines to follow.
Of course, they're married now, and yet X-Factor continues, so it could be that their romance is meant as just another of many long-spun narrative threads. But love doesn't end at marriage, relationships don't cease to grow because someone puts a ring on it. As the Layla-centric X-Factor #240 showed, her and Jamie's future still holds a great deal of promise, mystery, and perhaps even tragedy. Though we're no longer holding our breath for their long-anticipated wedding, the trajectory and destination of their marriage are question marks right now.
There have been other romances in the book, good and bad, failed and successful, all along the way. Some even included Jamie or Layla, though many didn't. And really, their relationship is one of the newest. But it's the oldest, too, because they've both known it would be real for a long, long time. For Layla it always has been, an inevitability she merely had to wait out. Because of that, it is the simplest and strongest love in the series, in spite of the complicated path traveled to get to it.
I've come to think of X-Factor as the Jamie and Layla story first and foremost, but I'm aware that this may be a skewed interpretation. I happen to adore both characters, adore comicbooks that reward their readers in the long term, and absolutely adore a good, natural, comfortable love story. But I can see how this view of the series might be a little too narrow. After all, this is a pretty enormous cast if David's ultimate focus is going to be on the love of two people. So, if I'm wrong, what is this series about? Is it just another monthly superhero funnybook, or is there a higher concept at play? And do we even need to ask these questions? The best answers I can think of, however unnecessary they may be, coming up next.
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
The Grand X-Factor Investigations Investigation Part 10
The tenth in a group of like 12-15 posts on X-Factor volume 3.
Modern Life is Rubbish
X-Factor #241-251 [most recent issue as of this writing]
So here we are, all caught up. And what is the current state of affairs for this mutant detective agency? Well...things are looking pretty grim these days. It all starts with "Breaking Points," perhaps my all-time favorite arc. It's up there. Five days, five issues, five individual stories that come together to tell a tale of a team in disarray, dropping members left and right. By the end of the storyline, one-third of X-Factor is gone, and though the book was ready to shave down its cast (from twelve to eight, so...still sizable), that doesn't make the process any less painful for the team.
Guido, sick of being scorned by his love interest Monet just because he has no soul, storms off after a fight and never comes back. Rahne finds her son and they have a heartwarming reunion, and she decides to stay with him at a safehouse for a while. Polaris discovers that her own powers were responsible for the plane crash that killed her parents, and it disables her mentally. Well, it does until Banshee agrees to take the place of Morrigan (an actual banshee) and then uses her newfound powers to heal Polaris' pain. However, even once Polaris is feeling better, there is no saving her relationship with Havok, who decides he never belonged on X-Factor and quits, walking away all alone. It's an awful lot of change in a very short time, especially because Guido and Banshee have both been on the team since the debut issue with no pauses or breaks until now. To drop two of the oldest members and one of the newest (Havok) in the same arc is a brave decision on Peter David's part, but also a wise one. Guido's heel turn had been building up for a while, because his return to life as a soulless man had to have serious consequences for him eventually. And while less expected, Banshee's departure also feels inevitable when it arrives. It connects to her father's death, her damaged relationship with Madrox, and her recent encounter with Morrigan, and leaves her in a fascinating place. I have no doubt we'll see her again in this book, maybe even by the end of the "Hell on Earth War." She is a goddes now, more powerful than ever, and as sad as it is to lose her, I can't think of a team member more deserving of such a promotion.
As for Havok resigning...good riddance, says I. He was never happy on the team, never added much to the title, and always looked ridiculous. So let him be an Uncanny Avenger. It's better for everyone.
What I admire about "Breaking Points" is that every issue is its own whole narrative, but they're still very much connected to each other through this theme of X-Factor shrinking. And I like how David got a little inventive with the ways people left and their motivations for doing so. It's not just a bunch of different versions of people angrily stomping out, which would've been easy. Instead, some of them leave for better things, happier lives than they were living before. To send away some of the strongest characters without weakening the series overall or upsetting me as a reader is a pretty big task, but David was careful with his choices and found logical, powerful reasons for each of these people to go wherever they go.
Sadly, what follows is a four-issue lull. I'd guess that this is at least partly so "Hell on Earth War" could officially kick off in X-Factor #250 (landmark story, landmark issue), but it's still incredibly disappointing. Riding the high of "Breaking Points" straight into much duller, not-so-deliberately crafted issues is a drag, but at least they move quickly. And they're not terrible or anything, just kind of chaotic and a little boring.
I know that part of my feeling this way is connected to Pip getting his profile raised within these issues. I still can't get on board with Pip. He's always been deeply more obnoxious than humorous. X-Factor #246 is centered on and narrated by Pip, and does nothing but underline for me that he's a distasteful little shit. As an example, he hires a guy to pretend to mug a woman so he can then "save" that woman and ultimately sleep with her. That's despicable behavior that makes him a villain in my book, and when the same woman shot him at the end of the issue, I thought, "Great! One more needless member of the team eliminated." Then when he came back to life in Monet's head at the start of X-Factor #248, I was just as pissed as she was at the invasion. Innocent mistake or not, Monet has too many deep-seated scars when it comes to people mentally controlling her, and whatever comedy is derived from the idea of Pip in her brain is nothing compared to how serious a violation it is. I know that, as a troll, he has knowledge that is going to help the team now that they're fighting such powerful, mystical foes, but is it worth having to deal with his idiocy? I submit that it is not.
In the middle of all that noise, Jamie and Layla finally get married, only for their honeymoon to be interrupted by the murderous ghost of Robert E. Lee. It's a goofy bit of business, but I like it, because Jamie and Layla are married. The story could have been almost anything, I'm just glad to have their relationship solidified. Then, finally, there is a full-team battle against demonic hordes at a botanical garden. It's a big, exciting fight, but maybe too rushed in its execution because it primarily just acts as a kind of prologue to "Hell on Earth War."
It's hard for me to comment on "Hell on Earth War" right now because we're only two chapters deep. I know this is something David teased as long ago as when he was still the writer on Hulk, so expectations are high. But these first two issues have yet to wow me, still putting the pieces in place and explaining the situation. Basically, Rahne's son Tier, in addition to being a half-god, was also the seven billionth person born on Earth, and that makes him a key part of a bet between all the "Hell Lords" in the Marvel Universe (Mephisto, Hela, Pluto, etc.). Whichever Hell Lord can kill Tier first gets to be in charge of the rest of them, so they show up en masse when Tier arrives at X-Factor. And that's still where we are: X-Factor is trying to figure out how to defend its newest, youngest member from a gang of immortals with unthinkable power who are all hell-bent on killing him.
It's a powder keg, and now that we finally know what's so special about Tier and why everyone wants him dead, I'm anticipating a lot of no-holds-barred action and some last-minute hail Mary saves. Also Darwin is back, so I'm smiling about that if nothing else. And because David has proven time and time again on this title how damn good he is at providing payoff for stories in the long term, added to the fact that this is something he's been cooking up for fifteen years or more, well...I have absolute faith that "Hell on Earth War" is going to be a standout arc when all is said and done.
So that's it as far as talking about the issues chronologically. The finish line is in view, folks, but before I call it a day on The Grand X-Factor Investigations Investigation, I want to discuss the series as whole from a few different angles. Starting next time with the argument that, more than anything, X-Factor is a romance starring Jamie Madrox and Layla Miller.
Modern Life is Rubbish
X-Factor #241-251 [most recent issue as of this writing]
So here we are, all caught up. And what is the current state of affairs for this mutant detective agency? Well...things are looking pretty grim these days. It all starts with "Breaking Points," perhaps my all-time favorite arc. It's up there. Five days, five issues, five individual stories that come together to tell a tale of a team in disarray, dropping members left and right. By the end of the storyline, one-third of X-Factor is gone, and though the book was ready to shave down its cast (from twelve to eight, so...still sizable), that doesn't make the process any less painful for the team.
Guido, sick of being scorned by his love interest Monet just because he has no soul, storms off after a fight and never comes back. Rahne finds her son and they have a heartwarming reunion, and she decides to stay with him at a safehouse for a while. Polaris discovers that her own powers were responsible for the plane crash that killed her parents, and it disables her mentally. Well, it does until Banshee agrees to take the place of Morrigan (an actual banshee) and then uses her newfound powers to heal Polaris' pain. However, even once Polaris is feeling better, there is no saving her relationship with Havok, who decides he never belonged on X-Factor and quits, walking away all alone. It's an awful lot of change in a very short time, especially because Guido and Banshee have both been on the team since the debut issue with no pauses or breaks until now. To drop two of the oldest members and one of the newest (Havok) in the same arc is a brave decision on Peter David's part, but also a wise one. Guido's heel turn had been building up for a while, because his return to life as a soulless man had to have serious consequences for him eventually. And while less expected, Banshee's departure also feels inevitable when it arrives. It connects to her father's death, her damaged relationship with Madrox, and her recent encounter with Morrigan, and leaves her in a fascinating place. I have no doubt we'll see her again in this book, maybe even by the end of the "Hell on Earth War." She is a goddes now, more powerful than ever, and as sad as it is to lose her, I can't think of a team member more deserving of such a promotion.
As for Havok resigning...good riddance, says I. He was never happy on the team, never added much to the title, and always looked ridiculous. So let him be an Uncanny Avenger. It's better for everyone.
What I admire about "Breaking Points" is that every issue is its own whole narrative, but they're still very much connected to each other through this theme of X-Factor shrinking. And I like how David got a little inventive with the ways people left and their motivations for doing so. It's not just a bunch of different versions of people angrily stomping out, which would've been easy. Instead, some of them leave for better things, happier lives than they were living before. To send away some of the strongest characters without weakening the series overall or upsetting me as a reader is a pretty big task, but David was careful with his choices and found logical, powerful reasons for each of these people to go wherever they go.
Sadly, what follows is a four-issue lull. I'd guess that this is at least partly so "Hell on Earth War" could officially kick off in X-Factor #250 (landmark story, landmark issue), but it's still incredibly disappointing. Riding the high of "Breaking Points" straight into much duller, not-so-deliberately crafted issues is a drag, but at least they move quickly. And they're not terrible or anything, just kind of chaotic and a little boring.
I know that part of my feeling this way is connected to Pip getting his profile raised within these issues. I still can't get on board with Pip. He's always been deeply more obnoxious than humorous. X-Factor #246 is centered on and narrated by Pip, and does nothing but underline for me that he's a distasteful little shit. As an example, he hires a guy to pretend to mug a woman so he can then "save" that woman and ultimately sleep with her. That's despicable behavior that makes him a villain in my book, and when the same woman shot him at the end of the issue, I thought, "Great! One more needless member of the team eliminated." Then when he came back to life in Monet's head at the start of X-Factor #248, I was just as pissed as she was at the invasion. Innocent mistake or not, Monet has too many deep-seated scars when it comes to people mentally controlling her, and whatever comedy is derived from the idea of Pip in her brain is nothing compared to how serious a violation it is. I know that, as a troll, he has knowledge that is going to help the team now that they're fighting such powerful, mystical foes, but is it worth having to deal with his idiocy? I submit that it is not.
In the middle of all that noise, Jamie and Layla finally get married, only for their honeymoon to be interrupted by the murderous ghost of Robert E. Lee. It's a goofy bit of business, but I like it, because Jamie and Layla are married. The story could have been almost anything, I'm just glad to have their relationship solidified. Then, finally, there is a full-team battle against demonic hordes at a botanical garden. It's a big, exciting fight, but maybe too rushed in its execution because it primarily just acts as a kind of prologue to "Hell on Earth War."
It's hard for me to comment on "Hell on Earth War" right now because we're only two chapters deep. I know this is something David teased as long ago as when he was still the writer on Hulk, so expectations are high. But these first two issues have yet to wow me, still putting the pieces in place and explaining the situation. Basically, Rahne's son Tier, in addition to being a half-god, was also the seven billionth person born on Earth, and that makes him a key part of a bet between all the "Hell Lords" in the Marvel Universe (Mephisto, Hela, Pluto, etc.). Whichever Hell Lord can kill Tier first gets to be in charge of the rest of them, so they show up en masse when Tier arrives at X-Factor. And that's still where we are: X-Factor is trying to figure out how to defend its newest, youngest member from a gang of immortals with unthinkable power who are all hell-bent on killing him.
It's a powder keg, and now that we finally know what's so special about Tier and why everyone wants him dead, I'm anticipating a lot of no-holds-barred action and some last-minute hail Mary saves. Also Darwin is back, so I'm smiling about that if nothing else. And because David has proven time and time again on this title how damn good he is at providing payoff for stories in the long term, added to the fact that this is something he's been cooking up for fifteen years or more, well...I have absolute faith that "Hell on Earth War" is going to be a standout arc when all is said and done.
So that's it as far as talking about the issues chronologically. The finish line is in view, folks, but before I call it a day on The Grand X-Factor Investigations Investigation, I want to discuss the series as whole from a few different angles. Starting next time with the argument that, more than anything, X-Factor is a romance starring Jamie Madrox and Layla Miller.
Sunday, February 10, 2013
The Grand X-Factor Investigations Investigation Part 9
The ninth in a group of like 12-15 posts on X-Factor volume 3.
Those First Few Dominoes
X-Factor #233-240
This'll probably be a quick one, because these are quick little tales.
Even if you count X-Factor #233 & 234 as one story instead of two (the argument can be made strongly for either) these eight issues still comprise five distinct narrative arcs. That's a lot of story in a fairly small space, but Peter David utilizes it well, getting a ton of set-up work done for things that'll pay off in the future. It does mean some of the A-plots of these issues are fluffier fare so the background material can introduce more important things, but even the lightweight stuff has consequences and/or dangling threads that we know will be tied off eventually.
The first two issues focus on the team settling into their new enormous lineup now that Havok and Polaris have signed on and Madrox is back from the dead. It's not an easy adjustment for any of them to make, and so we watch them butt heads with each other instead of villains for a little while until they find a place of tenuous calm. Then there's a two-part story about a bad guy from Mojoworld named Scattershot that doesn't fully resolve. Shatterstar defeats him, but then lies to the team about some of the details, and we don't know yet why a new agent of Mojo's would be causing trouble on Earth in the first place. It's a fun ride, though, and Scattershot has a hilarious 90's throwback look, so fingers crossed that we'll see the real conclusion of that story someday soon.
I love X-Factor #237 because I'm always a fan of the Reverend John Maddox, and his conversation with Rahne is a powerful and necessary step in her personal arc. She's overdue for a bit of redemption, and who better than the Madrox-dupe-turned-priest to deliver it? Also Banshee and Polaris have a nice interplay, and it's the first time Polaris gets to be that big a part of an issue, which is all good to see. A simple story, but significant all the same. It's followed by another two-parter, this one centered on Banshee's struggle against Morrigan, a true mythological banshee who dislikes having her name misrepresented. Like the Scattershot tale, Morrigan's story only partially concludes here, but its final resolution comes very quickly (as in it'll be part of the next batch of issues discussed). What we get for now is a sudden and maybe overly simple temporary fix in the form of help from an unexpected third party, and though it works fine, overall I think these two issues are the weakest of the group. Morrigan needed to be established here, but the story around her introduction isn't all that meaty.
Lastly there is the Layla-narrated X-Factor #240, which sheds some light on how her future-seeing abilites work and what changed about them after she brought Guido back to life. It also shows us glimpses of her more distant future: a life and family with Madrox and the possibility of losing him too early. I quite like the idea that she is already working behind the scenes to save and secure their love. And even though she'd already explained a lot of it, however cryptically, I appreciated a chance to finally see the "stuff" she knows from her point of view and hear her internal take on it. She's been such an important force in this title since the very start, it was high time we peeked inside her head, even briefly.
These are a remarkably swift-paced bunch of issues. The amount of new information given and new seeds sown is impressive, and David fits in several complete smaller narratives, too. But I think that the most important purpose this era in the title's life serves is to get all the dominoes lined up so David can knock them over for the incredible five-part arc that follows, aptly titled "Breaking Points." That's where my next post will begin, and it'll end with the "Hell on Earth War" that's currently under way.
Those First Few Dominoes
X-Factor #233-240
This'll probably be a quick one, because these are quick little tales.
Even if you count X-Factor #233 & 234 as one story instead of two (the argument can be made strongly for either) these eight issues still comprise five distinct narrative arcs. That's a lot of story in a fairly small space, but Peter David utilizes it well, getting a ton of set-up work done for things that'll pay off in the future. It does mean some of the A-plots of these issues are fluffier fare so the background material can introduce more important things, but even the lightweight stuff has consequences and/or dangling threads that we know will be tied off eventually.
The first two issues focus on the team settling into their new enormous lineup now that Havok and Polaris have signed on and Madrox is back from the dead. It's not an easy adjustment for any of them to make, and so we watch them butt heads with each other instead of villains for a little while until they find a place of tenuous calm. Then there's a two-part story about a bad guy from Mojoworld named Scattershot that doesn't fully resolve. Shatterstar defeats him, but then lies to the team about some of the details, and we don't know yet why a new agent of Mojo's would be causing trouble on Earth in the first place. It's a fun ride, though, and Scattershot has a hilarious 90's throwback look, so fingers crossed that we'll see the real conclusion of that story someday soon.
I love X-Factor #237 because I'm always a fan of the Reverend John Maddox, and his conversation with Rahne is a powerful and necessary step in her personal arc. She's overdue for a bit of redemption, and who better than the Madrox-dupe-turned-priest to deliver it? Also Banshee and Polaris have a nice interplay, and it's the first time Polaris gets to be that big a part of an issue, which is all good to see. A simple story, but significant all the same. It's followed by another two-parter, this one centered on Banshee's struggle against Morrigan, a true mythological banshee who dislikes having her name misrepresented. Like the Scattershot tale, Morrigan's story only partially concludes here, but its final resolution comes very quickly (as in it'll be part of the next batch of issues discussed). What we get for now is a sudden and maybe overly simple temporary fix in the form of help from an unexpected third party, and though it works fine, overall I think these two issues are the weakest of the group. Morrigan needed to be established here, but the story around her introduction isn't all that meaty.
Lastly there is the Layla-narrated X-Factor #240, which sheds some light on how her future-seeing abilites work and what changed about them after she brought Guido back to life. It also shows us glimpses of her more distant future: a life and family with Madrox and the possibility of losing him too early. I quite like the idea that she is already working behind the scenes to save and secure their love. And even though she'd already explained a lot of it, however cryptically, I appreciated a chance to finally see the "stuff" she knows from her point of view and hear her internal take on it. She's been such an important force in this title since the very start, it was high time we peeked inside her head, even briefly.
These are a remarkably swift-paced bunch of issues. The amount of new information given and new seeds sown is impressive, and David fits in several complete smaller narratives, too. But I think that the most important purpose this era in the title's life serves is to get all the dominoes lined up so David can knock them over for the incredible five-part arc that follows, aptly titled "Breaking Points." That's where my next post will begin, and it'll end with the "Hell on Earth War" that's currently under way.
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
The Grand X-Factor Investigations Investigation Part 8
The eighth in a group of like 12-15 posts on X-Factor volume 3.
Dying Gets the Girl
X-Factor #224.1-232
Peter David is the only writer I've read who has actually used a ".1" issue to do what Marvel says they're supposed to do. Namely, introduce new readers to the book with a fresh story while still providing something for old fans to enjoy. Though a bit obvious in its execution, X-Factor #224.1 finds an in-story reason for Madrox to explain the names and powers of his entire team, includes a huge and hilarious fight scene, and ends on a cliffhanger that leads directly into the next arc. Everyone gets a minute in the spotlight, but Jamie and Layla are the real stars of the issue, which is fitting since they are basically the stars of the series as a whole. I admire David's skill in finding the balance between introductory exposition and beats of new plot advancement, and it's not a line I've seen other writers walk so well in these .1 issues. Far more commonplace to just have a disconnected one-shot story, which David also delivers, but with threads connecting it to the title's past and future both.
Then we get the arc about the team battling Bloodbath, a demon who drains people's souls and carries a big-ass sword. He's a weird villain, speaking in a lot of movie jargon at first but dropping that later in favor of more traditional trash talk. I don't have any major complaints about him as an antagonist, it's just that he's a bit off-kilter. His rage seems genuine, but he also appears to enjoy himself, reveling in the violence of a fight he feels he can't lose. That attitude isn't easy to get right and keep consistent, and I think David wavers a few times in his depiction of Bloodbath, making him either too nasty or too jolly for a panel here and there.
But that's not the point of this story, anyway. Bloodbath is a means to an end, or I guess a means to two different ends. Firstly, he puts it out in the open for all to hear that Layla brought Guido back from the dead without a soul. Madrox already had his suspicions, but he was the only member of the team who even knew Layla had that power. Even Guido himself discovers his lack of soul for the first time when Bloodbath brings it up, and the consequences of that are an ongoing problem even in the current issues. The rest of X-Factor have their own reactions to this astounding news, but all of that is overshadowed by the other major shake-up Bloodbath brings about: the death of Madrox Prime.
Jumping into the deceased body of one of Madrox's duplicates, Bloodbath stabs the real deal through the chest with his sword. It is so sudden and unexpected, not just for X-Factor, but for the reader, too. The details of Bloodbath's powers were unknown at that point, so there was no way to predict that a dupe's corpse could be weaponized against its creator. And Madrox has always been the central focus of this book, its most frequent narrator and star. Killing him off, even as temporarily as this, is a bold move, and the Bloodbath story arc is primarily about reaching that point. From there, all that's left is for Layla to somewhat over-simplistically exorcise the demonic murderer so the next storyline can begin.
"They Keep Killing Madrox" is also a narrative that's more about the destination than the journey for me. Don't get me wrong, the journey is a blast, but watching Madrox bounce from one alternate reality to another every time he dies can only hold my interest for so long before growing tired as a concept. David paces it well, though, never leaving Jamie in any one place for longer than an issue or two. This isn't an arc that wants to explore the ins and outs of the various elseworlds it visits. If anything, the exploration is that of Madrox as a character, watching him roll with the punches even when he has less than no idea how or why any of this is happening. As a man who's used to feeling like he is in over his head, he can sure handle himself when that's actually the case. So we see his humor and quick thinking in the face of several terrifying parallel worlds, and enjoyable as that is, it is mostly an exercise in patience for him, Layla, and the reader alike. We all know he'll get home eventually, and the anticipation is what pushes everything forward.
When he does return to his own reality, he and Layla finally sleep together, amplifying their slow-growing romance and making them a full-fledged couple. This is a long, long time coming, and an extremely enjoyable moment when it arrives. With this love connection as well as Wolverine adding Havok and Polaris to the team as Jamie's supposed replacements, it is the finale of this arc that contains all the best and most important stuff. Characters from the other worlds who were introduced along the way will pop up again later, but even that is not as interesting or good as what happens here. And while the solution to getting Madrox home is a bit easy/cheap (magic saves the day), the payoff of his return overshadows it right away. I'm not sure any means of getting him back to his own body would've been any more logical than having Dr. Strange cast a spell, and I appreciate how quickly that method works to bring us to the ending.
Both of these arcs are very brief and fast-moving, racing toward their snappy yet satisfying conclusions. This speed helps boost the action and comedy alike, neither of which are in short order in these issues. And the discovery about Guido, the death and return of Madrox, and the addition of two new teammates are all significant shifts that continue to shape and warp the team even now. So as quick and light a read as they are, the fallout from these stories lasts.
The same could be said about the next batch of issues, most of which focus on setting up things that won't be resolved until later. And it will be said, but not until Part 9.
Sunday, February 3, 2013
The Grand X-Factor Investigations Investigation Part 7
The seventh in a group of like 12-15 posts on X-Factor volume 3.
One of my least favorite storylines, followed promptly by one of the best. Well, before either of them begins, there are two one-issue stories first. There's the low-key one about some line-up changes, like Pip obnoxiously forcing himself onto the team, Rictor convincing Rahne to come back despite the half-god baby she's pregnant with, and Darwin quitting X-Factor to set off on his own and figure out what exactly happened to him when he suddenly evolved into a god. That transformation brings about changes in his personality and abilities that he wants to make sense of by himself. His departure rolls into an excellent issue that focuses on Darwin entirely, a sort of send off for the character (who isn't seen again for like 20 issues) that also places him on the path he's still trying to follow in the most recent issues. Wandering through the desert, he stumbles upon a bizarre Old-West-style town that seems to exist outside of time, and is run by an evil sheriff who goes by the name Tier. He and Darwin have a brusque and cryptic conversation, leading to a quick draw competition between them. There, Tier drops a bomb by revealing himself to be the grown-up version of Rahne's still-unborn baby. It binds Darwin to a major event we know is still in the title's future, and also adds to the anxiety and anticipation surrounding the birth itself since we now see what kind of wicked man this half-deity might become. It's a fun but also frightening issue, and a perfect way to say good-bye (for now) to one of the series' best characters.
After Darwin is tucked away, X-Factor focuses fully on a story arc that had been built up and hinted at in several preceding issues. I do not care for it. The long and short of it is that years ago, J. Jonah Jameson was involved in a sort of expansion of the Super Soldier project called SCARS (Strategic Capture and Retrieval) that resulted in the creation of three nigh unstoppable female assassins, two of whom began to get out of control with their killing. So General Ryan, the man who was in charge of SCARS, had false memories placed in the brains of all three women, and sent them out into the world to live mundane lives. In an earlier issue (#210), one of Ryan's victims comes to Monet for help with a recurring nightmare, and what happens instead is that her true memories are reawakened. She then reactivates her former partners, and the three of them set out to get murderous revenge.
This is not a bad story per se, but it does nothing for me. The plot feels sort of old, the villains are only slightly interesting at first and become pretty flat before long, and J. Jonah Jameson is always such an ass that it's hard to have him pop up in a book where he doesn't belong. There's enough bickering in X-Factor among the team itself without throwing him into the mix. Mostly I think it's just that the idea of people lashing out against those who took control of their lives and/or gave them powers is something I have seen too often. Not a lot happens that is unexpected or atypical of such a narrative, so this has never resonated with me. Also Black Cat is a second guest star who, aside from one funny moment where her and Longshot's luck powers interfere with each other, doesn't add a great deal. Not sure why she was included.
Guido does die in this story, which is a shocking moment and an important detail in terms of the series' future. Layla secretly uses her powers to bring him back with no soul, and the fallout from that decision has yet to be measured in full. But the creation of that thread does not improve the arc as a whole. It never does anything terrible, but ultimately I see it as a flop.
Rahne's baby's birth, on the other hand, is some truly gripping graphic fiction. From the lovely scene in the beginning of Rahne and Shatterstar walking through the rain to the devastating end where she abandons her child (Tier...see above) out of fear, Peter David puts a lot of heart into these scripts. There are innumerable minor characters involved in the hunt for the infant, but everyone is distinct: coy and playful ghost Feral, deliciously unsettling child Agamemnon, and Jack Russel/Werewolf by Night as the true and noble hero of the tale. None of these people, or any of the various deities and demons and such that show up, are characters with whom I am especially familiar, but David makes them immediately familiar with every new entrance. The core team does get pushed aside a bit here and there, but it is always Rahne's story first and foremost, and in the end everyone gets something to do.
Really, though, for me this arc is all about the scene of the birth itself. That moment, so hotly anticipated and carefully constructed, is a goddamn grand slam. Tier comes out of his mother's mouth, which is fitting and perfectly disgusting. He then viciously attacks Agamemnon, who has been asking for such treatment for pages, so it's nice to see that finally go down. And then, in a heart-wrenching panel, Rahne is so startled and terrified by this savage violence that she harshly rejects her son, turning away from him in disgust. You can see the understanding and deep, deep sadness on the baby wolf-boy's face, and it just chokes me up every single time. And that's how things end between them, too, making it all the more effective. Rahne and Tier's reconciliation will not be for a while, and having this arc land in a place where they are without one another---he ends up under Jack Russell's care---is as hard on the reader as it is on the characters. Her guilt is apparent, but not yet stronger than her fear and shame, so she walks away without even knowing where her baby has ended up. Rough stuff.
Tier's true importance has yet to be fully revealed, but the currently-running "Hell on Earth War" storyline is all about him and the people who want him dead, so answers should be coming soon. His introduction, though, has already made him a favorite of mine. That single panel when Rahne denounces him is forever burned in my memory. A high point of the entire series.
Whatever brutality Tier's birth contained is nothing compared to what comes next, though, when X-Factor throws down with a demon named Bloodbath.
I Can't Think of a Title For This One (or are these technically subtitles?)
X-Factor #213-224
After Darwin is tucked away, X-Factor focuses fully on a story arc that had been built up and hinted at in several preceding issues. I do not care for it. The long and short of it is that years ago, J. Jonah Jameson was involved in a sort of expansion of the Super Soldier project called SCARS (Strategic Capture and Retrieval) that resulted in the creation of three nigh unstoppable female assassins, two of whom began to get out of control with their killing. So General Ryan, the man who was in charge of SCARS, had false memories placed in the brains of all three women, and sent them out into the world to live mundane lives. In an earlier issue (#210), one of Ryan's victims comes to Monet for help with a recurring nightmare, and what happens instead is that her true memories are reawakened. She then reactivates her former partners, and the three of them set out to get murderous revenge.
This is not a bad story per se, but it does nothing for me. The plot feels sort of old, the villains are only slightly interesting at first and become pretty flat before long, and J. Jonah Jameson is always such an ass that it's hard to have him pop up in a book where he doesn't belong. There's enough bickering in X-Factor among the team itself without throwing him into the mix. Mostly I think it's just that the idea of people lashing out against those who took control of their lives and/or gave them powers is something I have seen too often. Not a lot happens that is unexpected or atypical of such a narrative, so this has never resonated with me. Also Black Cat is a second guest star who, aside from one funny moment where her and Longshot's luck powers interfere with each other, doesn't add a great deal. Not sure why she was included.
Guido does die in this story, which is a shocking moment and an important detail in terms of the series' future. Layla secretly uses her powers to bring him back with no soul, and the fallout from that decision has yet to be measured in full. But the creation of that thread does not improve the arc as a whole. It never does anything terrible, but ultimately I see it as a flop.
Rahne's baby's birth, on the other hand, is some truly gripping graphic fiction. From the lovely scene in the beginning of Rahne and Shatterstar walking through the rain to the devastating end where she abandons her child (Tier...see above) out of fear, Peter David puts a lot of heart into these scripts. There are innumerable minor characters involved in the hunt for the infant, but everyone is distinct: coy and playful ghost Feral, deliciously unsettling child Agamemnon, and Jack Russel/Werewolf by Night as the true and noble hero of the tale. None of these people, or any of the various deities and demons and such that show up, are characters with whom I am especially familiar, but David makes them immediately familiar with every new entrance. The core team does get pushed aside a bit here and there, but it is always Rahne's story first and foremost, and in the end everyone gets something to do.
Really, though, for me this arc is all about the scene of the birth itself. That moment, so hotly anticipated and carefully constructed, is a goddamn grand slam. Tier comes out of his mother's mouth, which is fitting and perfectly disgusting. He then viciously attacks Agamemnon, who has been asking for such treatment for pages, so it's nice to see that finally go down. And then, in a heart-wrenching panel, Rahne is so startled and terrified by this savage violence that she harshly rejects her son, turning away from him in disgust. You can see the understanding and deep, deep sadness on the baby wolf-boy's face, and it just chokes me up every single time. And that's how things end between them, too, making it all the more effective. Rahne and Tier's reconciliation will not be for a while, and having this arc land in a place where they are without one another---he ends up under Jack Russell's care---is as hard on the reader as it is on the characters. Her guilt is apparent, but not yet stronger than her fear and shame, so she walks away without even knowing where her baby has ended up. Rough stuff.
Tier's true importance has yet to be fully revealed, but the currently-running "Hell on Earth War" storyline is all about him and the people who want him dead, so answers should be coming soon. His introduction, though, has already made him a favorite of mine. That single panel when Rahne denounces him is forever burned in my memory. A high point of the entire series.
Whatever brutality Tier's birth contained is nothing compared to what comes next, though, when X-Factor throws down with a demon named Bloodbath.
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