X-Factor, v. 5: The Only Game in Town

Collects: X-Factor #28-32 and X-Factor: The Quick and the Dead (2008)

Released: February 2009 (Marvel)

Format: 144 pages / color / $15.99 / ISBN: 9780785128632

What is this?: X-Factor deals with losing Layla and Rahne as Mutant Town becomes the Middle East Side.

The culprits: Writer Peter David and pencilers Pablo Raimondi and Valentine de Landro

See, this is more like it.

I said in the previous review I generally like writer Peter David’s work, and then I proceeded to point to more negative than positive reviews. But X-Factor, v. 5: The Only Game in Town shows the form I enjoyed from David.

Despite David’s conflicts with editorial in his first X-Factor run, he plays well with continuity. When Marvel gives him a lemon of a storyline like M-Day — the number of mutants is reduced to 198, and no more are being born — David takes the idea and does something with it while other writers decide, you know, that’s not a very interesting idea.

But there is an interesting idea there, and David, who set X-Factor in the heart of the mutant population explosion, is ideally positioned to explore it. As the team tries to figure out how to get Layla back and Rahne is sent to X-Force by editorial (she leaves without explaining, both because X-Force is supposed to be secret and her joining is probably not a logical idea), the characters are forced to accept that the Grant Morrison-era “mutants are everywhere” stories are over, and Mutant Town dissolves into the Middle East Side. As everything falls apart, the team pulls together and battles … um, Arcade, which shows David still has a subtle touch with the absurd.

There’s humor aplenty, even as things get serious; I particularly enjoyed M’s remark about Three’s Company as a way to defuse an obvious misunderstanding between Siryn and Madrox. It never gets too silly, even with Arcade as a villain; the danger feels real throughout — and even at the end. The characters are sharp, well defined, and never confused with each other. There’s little decompression, and there’s enough action to keep the story from being a five-minute dash through talking heads. The subplots move forward and are dealt with as necessary; no one is forgotten, not even the dead.

Really, it’s pretty much what you want from a superhero comic. No, you’re not going to forget Alan Moore, but it’s good enough to inspire touchiness when someone says the phrase “just a superhero story.”

Two minor quibbles: First, I don’t like the cover for this one at all; M is almost unrecognizable, and Strong Guy looks like Zombie Guy. And two, the Quick and the Dead issue feels … not inconsequential, not padded — well, maybe padded or maybe oddly paced. After I read it, it seemed like a ten-page backup story, but re-reading it and counting the pages, it’s clearly a full-length story. An important one, as well, as Quicksilver’s story comes full circle.

Pablo Raimondi and Valentine de Landro each provide about half the art: Raimondi pencils and inks #28, 31, and Quick and the Dead, while de Landro pencils the rest. I slightly prefer Raimondi, but both are good despite the occasional shortcomings. Raimondi has a bit of stiffness to his figures that hampers the action scenes, but that’s not a major problem, and de Landro has a few twisted limbs and overexaggerated features in his art as well. I have to give editors Aubrey Sitterson and Will Panzo credit for teaming two artists whose work, while not exact duplicates, are similar enough not to clash in the collection.

Game holds the excitement of continuity handled well. (Perhaps that’s the problem with his run on She-Hulk; it’s largely separated from most of the Marvel Universe.) At the end, David seems to have freed himself of the baggage Marvel editorial has saddled him with, and the decks are mainly clear. But even if they aren’t, I’m sure David will be able to make fun new X-Factor stories. And I look forward to them.

Rating: (4 of 5)

X-Factor, v. 4: Heart of Ice

Collects: X-Factor #18-24 (2007)

Released: March 2008 (Marvel)

Format: 168 pages / color / $17.99 / ISBN: 9780785123606

X-Factor gives me hope for the future of She-Hulk.

Peter David writes both titles, and although there’s a great deal of difference between the two — solo book vs. team, title that’s new to David vs. a return to an old critical triumph — X-Factor is yet another example of what David is capable of. X-Factor, v. 4: Heart of Ice shows off the wit, plotting, and long-term thought that made David’s decade-long run on Incredible Hulk so enjoyable.

The first part of Heart of Ice is top-notch stuff. Spinning out of the virtually ignored consequences of House of M / Decimation, a group of depowered mutants called X-Cell are using terrorism to get answers, revenge, and power. Jamie Madrox’s X-Factor, self-proclaimed guardians of New York’s Mutant Town, set out to stop X-Cell. Not only does David shape a plot that logically flows from ideas other Marvel writers created but were unwilling to touch, but he manages to further his own plots and characterizations with it. The banter is sharp, especially between arch teammates M and Siryn. The reaction of Layla Miller, whose only power is to “know stuff,” upon discovering something she doesn’t know is hilarious, and it makes the year and a half suffering through the smug character worthwhile. Rahne wars with her instinctual wolfen side, and Richter deals with another beating he could have prevented if he had his powers and a romantic subplot that is almost 20 years old (just after X-Tinction Agenda, although if you don’t know about that loose end, it won’t affect your enjoyment of the scene).

The main plot for #21-4 is less successful, revolving around Huber, a man who can hear the thoughts of all mutants and has all their powers. When there were thousands, the cacophany of thoughts in his head drove him mad. Now that there are fewer than 200 mutants, his plan is to draw them all together and eliminate them all, ending his torment. Although his plan is interesting, I never warmed to the character — it seems like a cheat for a character as afflicted and powerful as Huber to pop up out of nowhere, and his design is somewhat lackluster. In the end, Huber seems like a distraction for more interesting things: the essential wrap up of Quicksilver’s and Layla’s stories, a pregnancy scare, a pair of anti-mutant child vocalists called the Purity Singers, and a child-custody investigation. The dialogue is good, the action keeps the story moving, and the revelations keep coming, but in the end, Huber seems too much deus ex machina and too little personality or wit to carry the story.

I’m not sure what to make of Siryn getting shot, making this at least the third time she’s been severely injured since X-Factor’s relaunch (and the second time in this volume). I don’t know what David has against her, although if you were to pick a target to hurt repeatedly, you’d have to choose between her and Wolfsbane (Richter is human and thus too fragile, Madrox’s duplicates do get killed frequently, Layla’s a child, and M and Guido are too resistant to small-arms fire).

Art duties are split between Koi Pham, who pencils #18-20, and Pablo Raimondi, who draws #19-23. (It’s unclear who’s responsible for #24; it looks like Raimondi but the credits say “art assists” were given by Valentine de Landro and Drew Hennessy.) Both do good work, and although their styles are distinct, they mesh well enough Heart of Ice avoids the usual penciller-switch whiplash. Pham’s style is rougher and not as detailed, but his flabby, depowered Blob is especially memorable. Raimondi has a smoother style that takes advantage of shadow with excellent effect, although at times the shadow seems a little too pronounced. As I mentioned above, I think he could have established a more striking visual for Huber; Colossus with a cloak and one of Cyclops’s eyes doesn’t seem as quite as interesting as it could be.

I enjoyed this volume, and though I’m looking forward to more X-Factor, I know it won’t be this team; Messiah CompleX put an end to that. But I’m sure it will still be entertaining.

Rating: (3 of 5)