This! This is what I’ve been talking about! X-Factor #237 is writer Peter David at his finest, writing his characters as people first and superheroes second. Forget the interdimensional super-villains, the Mojoverse and whatever other crazy plots PAD has in store for X-Factor. This is what I want from this comic. The issue starts with a few of his female characters going on a character-building road trip together, and ends with one of them having a huge personal break through. This issue is comic gold.

X-Factor #237

X-Factor doesn’t need costumes, super-villains or an Avengers vs. X-Men tie-in to make for an amazing comic book.

Comic rating: 5/5: Great!

I wish more of PAD’s issues were like this one. But instead he seems to sprinkle these character-based issues throughout his run. They have always been a highlight of X-Factor. And I suppose they’re made all the better because of how rare they are. Plus, having issues like this makes the action issues better, because we come to care more about the characters. Polaris has been a ghost in this series since she joined, so she desperately needed a story like this.

Unfortunately, this issue is far from the best character-based story that PAD has written for X-Factor. After nearly 100 issues writing this volume, his grip on the characters and their personalities is slipping. I chalk this up to having just too many characters and plots to contend with. Back at the beginning he had everything under control. But that’s not to say this issue isn’t great. The dialogue and humor are fun, the characters are written very well and the art is absolutely gorgeous.

And thank the heavens, Polaris has finally changed out of that stupid green costume Thank you for that, PAD!

As you can tell by the cover, this issue is going to star Polaris, Banshee and Wolfsbane, three characters who have only existed in the periphery for a long time now. I can’t even remember the last time Banshee did something memorable, and Wolfsbane has just be sulking since her demon son was born (and subsequently abandoned) all those issues ago. And as I said in the opening, Polaris is a nobody. Each of these characters is in desperate need of fleshing out. So much so, that I don’t even mind that Multiple Man doesn’t appear in this issue – technically speaking.

We open with a one page teaser of someone telling Rahne (Wolfsbane) to beat herself bloody with a cat-o-nine-tails whip. The only hints we have that something else might be going on are the picture of Jesus and the cross in the background. Self-flagellation, possibly? Did everybody see The Da Vinci Code, where the evil monk whipped himself as part of a religious repentance thing? That’s what this might be. Rahne has always been very churchy.

But we don’t stick around, instead jumping to X-Factor headquarters several hours earlier where Theresa (Banshee) and Lorna (Polaris) are trying to get Rahne to open up her bedroom door and talk to them. Something is obviously bugging her, and they just want to talk and help. Rahne won’t even respond. Havok comes down the hall to check on them, noting that Rahne has seemed OK on missions. There’s a funny little bit where Theresa keeps cutting off everything Havok tries to say. Not necessarily on purpose, she’s just barely bothering to consider him a presence. It’s kind of a funny look at Havok’s place on the team.

Then Lorna uses her magnetic powers to simply snap her fingers and unlock Rahne’s door. Havok tries, and fails, to make a joke.

In your face, Havok!

Rahne is inside kneeling at a makeshift alter and burning incense. Terry reaches out to her, telling Rahne that she understands that the girl is praying for guidance and salvation. But Rahne says that is not the case. She knows there is no salvation for her soul. She’s praying for a bit of mercy on whatever level of Hell she ends up. Rahne has completely given in to despair and asks them to close the door.

Havok wonders what they can do, and Terry and Lorna have the perfect answer!

“Road Tri—oh, OK, just a two person thing…”

This is a great place to praise the art of guest artist Neil Edwards. His women look like actual people and not just superhero pin-up models. He may not draw the most expressive faces, but they are still good. And the freckles on Terry are just adorable.

So the ladies hit the open road, taking Lorna’s red convertible. They change out of their superhero costumes (Thank God!) and just dress like regular people. Terry and Lorna told Rahne that they’re on a secret mission. They’re cruising down a dirt road, and Lorna makes a joke about Wolfsbane sticking her head out the window. But Rahne no longer seems to have a sense of humor. Not that it’s stopping Lorna and Terry from cracking more jokes, and Lorna tells Terry that Rahne used to have the biggest crush on Havok back during the old X-Factor series from the 90s. Awesome call back, and very humorous scene.

In an odd little moment, the ladies come upon a bunch of police officers trying to clear a tree that has fallen across the road. They’re told to turn around, since the clean up is expected to take several hours. But that’s not a problem for a team of mutants! Banshee stands up and just uses her sonic scream to tear the tree in half and knock it off the road. The cops freak out and draw their weapons, which prompts Polaris to use her magnetic powers to pull a Thelma & Louise – with a little twist.

Or maybe this is exactly how Thelma & Louise ended

This scene was tons of fun, and the character growth continues. Terry gives a quick explanation as to why Layla Miller and Monet didn’t want to come. Layla said she gets car sick easily, and Monet didn’t want to be trapped in a car with the mopey Wolfsbane. This is OK. Three is a perfectly fine number for exploring the characters, and Layla and Monet have had a lot to do recently. The issue doesn’t miss them.

While the girls are flying through the air, Terry spills the beans that the ‘secret mission’ is actually about Rahne. Angry at the lie, Rahne goes all werewolf and jumps out of the car – only for Lorna to use her powers to just pull the young woman back into her seat. Then Polaris gets her first bit of real characterization since joining X-Factor.

A mean personality is better than no personality

Awesome stuff. Polaris needs a unique personality. She needs to stand out. And having her be a tough-as-nails authority figure, albeit with a friendly heart of gold, sounds good to me.

So the girls finally arrive at their destination: a church in Vermont. They take a tour inside, and Terry says that she brought Rahne here so that she can talk to a priest. This particular priest helped Terry in the past, and she thinks he can do Rahne some good. The wolf-girl is a bit skeptical, until she meets the priest.

Say hello to the Reverend John Maddox! Otherwise known as a long lost duplicate of Jamie Madrox, the Multiple Man!

Prepare for the ride!

John Maddox is awesome. And his issues have been some of the best in the history of X-Factor.

Allow me to explain. Back at the very beginning of this series, back when it was just the MadroX mini-series, the basic premise was that Jamie Madrox had sent several dozen duplicates out into the world to follow different life paths. He had a detective, a monk, a magician’s assistant, and more. Then the duplicates all started making their way back to Madrox so that he could absorb them and gain all of their knowledge. Well way back in X-Factor #16, Madrox was on a quest to gather up all of the duplicates who hadn’t yet returned.

He found John Maddox in Vermont, preaching at this church. He’d sent the dupe out to learn about religion, but instead Maddox became a believer, became a priest and became a husband and father. Maddox married, settled down and raised a son. Madrox was going to simply reabsorb John and take him away from all of that, but a tense stand-off between the two ended with Jamie deciding that the freedom he felt in letting John Maddox live  was worth a small part of his soul.

Maddox has made a few appearances in the series, always showing up to lend a hand to someone having a spiritual crisis. And this time, he’s there for Rahne.

Meanwhile, Terry and Lorna need to figure out what they’re supposed to do to keep busy in Vermont…

Chicks dig ice cream!

So in Maddox’s office, he and Rahne settle in to a chat about what’s troubling Rahne. To make a long story short, there was a period where she was pulled out of the X-Factor book and used in the violent X-Force series. During that time, she fell in love with an Asgardian wolf-god named Hrimhari, and became pregnant with his child. Rahne was eventually written out of X-Force, and PAD decided to pick up that football and run it into the end zone. Rahne gave birth to the baby several issues ago – much to her dismay. Rahne’s son was a demonic child, and it immediately started killing people. She rejected the little beast and fled, while a third party took the child under his care.

Rahne now blames herself for abandoning the child, which no proper mother should have done. PAD writes some great dialogue for this scene.

How many comics talk about Hell as something other than where they’ll dine tonight?

As the talk continues, Maddox tells Rahne to put the self-pity and despair behind her. She has to confront the dark things from her past and be rid of them. She can’t dwell on these negative feelings. At his urging, Rahne finally reveals what else she went through while part of X-Force. Rahne was kidnapped by some religious anti-mutant nuts. She was doped up with drugs and was brainwashed to kill one of her teammates. And while in this wild state, in her wolf form, Rahne was made to kill and then eat her father, the vile Reverend Craig, who had treated Rahne like an abomination since she was born.

X-Force was a screwed up book back then. Peter David is a saint for putting up with their crap. Not only did they steal Rahne from his book, but then put her through hell and subsequently dropped her. PAD picked Rahne back up and is finally dusting off that darkness.

Maddox is pretty freaked out by what Rahne has told him, and so he goes to his supply closet – to get the cat-o-nine-tails from earlier.

It was Maddox in the opening page telling Rahne to whip herself bloody. And here he tells Rahne to beat herself raw so that she may be forgiven. Rahne is at a whole new level of wicked. They must beat the sin out of her!

Wuss

But she can’t do it. And that was Maddox’s plan all along. He wasn’t going to let her whip herself, but he needed to push Rahne to that extreme to see that she didn’t really want to punish herself. She had to reach her limit before she’d be willing to accept his help and start moving forward.

Hooray, character moment!

Rahne’s plan for moving forward is to go out and find her son.

Which is fine. PAD obviously always planned on returning to that demon baby. So it’ll be great for Rahne to have a storyline of her own.

This was a great issue. We start out having fun with the girls, all of whom desperately needed this kind of attention. They were fun, funny and had a few great moments to shine. Anything PAD can do to bring out their personalities is good work in my book. And then the issue ends with a fantastic one-on-one discussion between Rahne and the Reverend Maddox about faith, forgiveness and self-confidence. This is the kind of religion I can get behind. No prayers, no expecting Jesus to solve everything. The Reverend talks to Rahne plainly and personally, using the Church’s positive teachings to help her get over her desperation.

Once again an issue featuring the Reverend John Maddox proves to be one of X-Factor’s best. Please give us more of these character-based issues, Mr. David!