X-Factor is my favorite comic book on the stands, mostly because it stars my favorite character: Jamie Madrox, the Multiple Man. But it’s also a very fun comic, with great characters, great stories and occasionally great art. So I want to dedicate my blog to giving X-Factor as much love as possible. Writer Peter David has penned nearly 80 issues (!!!) starring the same group of B and C-list mutants from the X-Men franchise. X-Factor doesn’t get a lot of press, rarely does anything to draw attention to itself, but maintains enough fans to keep publishing.

X-Factor #225

X-Factor is the little series that could.

So I’m going to start reviews with the latest issue, X-Factor #225. I should have started with the last issue, X-Factor #224.1, but I couldn’t get around to it that weekend. Such are the distractions of a wealthy, studly, millionaire cowboy/astronaut such as myself. In this issue, the team is still recovering from the last big storyline, which involved the birth of Rahne’s demon baby, as well as the events of the separate series Avengers: Children’s Crusade. X-Factory had a brief but very meaningful cameo in that series, which I’ll get to in a moment. The crux of this new issue is that Madrox and his team are pulled into a murder investigation in Kansas, one that occurred on the farm where Jamie Madrox grew up.

But the victim isn’t as dead as she seems.

There are two kinds of X-Factor issues: simple, sometimes done-in-one character-focused issues and complex, deep-into-a-larger-story issues. Writer Peter David has a habit of drawing out his stories into long arcs that seem to just drag on, especially when you’re at the fifth or sixth issue in a storyline. The adventure with Rahne’s baby was one of those. And the time-traveling story from a year or two ago really dragged on. Considering comics come out once a month, we spent nearly a whole year reading this complexly woven time-traveling story. David’s best X-Factor issues at the done-in-one, character-focused issues. He’s a pro when it comes to witty, entertaining banter and characterization.

You’ll find deeper, more interesting and fleshed-out characters in one issue of X-Factor than you’ll find in a year’s worth of X-Men.

Such is the nature of the beast. X-Factor can take time to focus on its characters and build a good ensemble, while X-Men has to focus on the spectacle and telling awesome X-Men stories. But we all know that writing is about the characters. That’s why X-Factor excels. The most famous issue of the original run of X-Factor back in the 90s was the done-in-one comic where all the team members sat on a psychiatrists couch and spent a few pages each diagnosing their quirks and deep histories. At the time, Madrox was worried about being alone, and his powers helped him cope. We also finally learned why Quicksilver, the mutant with super speed, had been such a dick for 30+ years!

Have you ever gotten frustrated waiting in line behind a slow poke at the ATM? With his super speed, every single person in the world is like that slow poke at the ATM. Brilliant characterization!

Anyway, this current run of X-Factor has had plenty of character-focused issues. Their first trip to Las Vegas was particularly awesome.

Super powers are awesome when it comes to gambling

And I’m happy to say that the most recent issue, #225, is another one of these issues. It’s the second part of this murder mystery, but David takes plenty of time to show off character dynamics while weaving these mutants into this new murder mystery. There are a lot of team members to X-Factor, and those that get a spotlight in this issue really connect with one another. They talk to one another like friends and like real people with real emotions – albeit emotions that involve demon babies, werewolves and living corpses. It’s also a funny comic, with some nice jokes and one-liners. And the murder mystery kicks off nicely, throwing us a lot of twists, turns and a shocking ending.

And thank the comic gods that Leonard Kirk is on art! The man’s work is fantastic! He’s an A-list artist. X-Factor has always been plagued by crummy art, but when we do get a good artist the book looks fantastic! I hope Kirk sticks around.

We start off with a labor union strike in New York City. There’s a building that needs to be demolished, but the contractor doesn’t want to give in to the union’s wage demands. So he’s hired X-Factor. You see, X-Factor is not a superhero team, per se. They’re a detective agency in New York City. They’re hired to solve cases and help out on other problems, like this demolition/labor union problem. The contractor has hired X-Factor to demolish the building using mutant powers rather than have a whole team of union workers on the job. Though at least he gives the union workers the chance to negotiate their terms before having Rictor bring the building down.

Yep, Rictor. He’s got his earthquake-powers back!

Maybe they could call him 'Roxxy'

When did that happen you ask, faithful X-Factor reader? Why, in a whole separate comic book! On the other side of the Marvel Universe, a comic titled Avengers: Children’s Crusade is telling the story of the Young Avengers and the return of the Scarlet Witch. X-Factor made a very brief cameo in that book, just popping in for a single issue so that the Scarlet Witch could give Rictor back his mutant powers. She succeeded, then X-Factor promptly disappeared from the book. Marvel almost convinced me to buy the next issue to see more X-Factor, but I wisely flipped through the issue on the stands and saw that X-Factor appeared in only two or three panels.

Couldn’t trick me, Marvel!

((Geek Note #1: Non-comic fans should know that several years ago, the Scarlet Witch went crazy and used her reality-warping powers to take away the super-powers of all other mutants. The event was known as M-Day. Most of the famous mutant characters, like the X-Men, retained their powers. But millions of non-important mutants across the world lost their powers. They’ve been stuck without their powers ever since. X-Factor debuted in the wake of M-Day, and featured a de-powered and suicidal Rictor in its very first issue. He’s since been a member of the team, albeit powerless, until the Scarlet Witch gave him back his powers this month.))

Rictor is ecstatic that he’s got his powers back, and he uses them to demolish the building in a matter of minutes. Madrox is a little worried about control, but Rictor has it covered. He hasn’t felt this great in a very long time. Rictor’s boyfriend Shatterstar, however, seems to have some reservations. It’s a brief scene, but it was important to show off the change in Rictor’s character. We get some nice dialogue between Madrox, Rictor and Shatterstar at least. I just wish they could have given him back his powers in an actual issue of X-Factor. But such are the whims of Marvel.

New word! New word!

We cut to Rahne, the mutant werewolf known as Wolfsbane, in X-Factory’s New York City headquarters. She’s pigging out on ice cream at X-Factor headquaters to help cope with the loss of her demon baby. The last story arc was a multi-parter in which Rahne gave birth to a demon child. The father was an Asgardian wolf prince, so Rahne’s baby was magickal. Many feral and animal-based gods and deities tried to get their hands on the baby, with X-Factor doing whatever they could to protect Rahne. In the end, the very religious Rahne rejected her demon baby after it was born. The child started killing people as soon as it was born.

Very evil baby.

How many people did you kill within minutes of being born? I thought not

Now Rahne feels bad that she abandoned the child so quickly. Teammate Banshee tries to comfort her, considering Banshee too lost a baby, but Rahne insists its different. Banshee loved her son, and it couldn’t be helped that she lost her baby. But Rahne immediately disowned and abandoned her child. Rahne gets a little shouty and a little werewolfy, but Banshee forgives her.

Rahne’s just on edge because they’re out of ice cream.

She needs her Chunky Monkey!

The enigmatic Layla Miller shows up at the end of the scene. One of Layla’s ‘powers’ is the fact that she knows what’s going to happen in the future. I won’t get into the complex details, but Layla uses this knowledge to plan certain events or take certain actions. She rarely tells people what she knows, preferring instead to make little moves here and there behind the scenes. Rahne gets mad at Layla because Layla could have told her about the demon baby, but Layla shoots her down. Layla has been a little depressed lately, because every time she tells someone what’s going to happen, it comes back to bite her in the ass.

She gives Rahne the ice cream she went and bought (because she knew they’d be out) and then she leaves.

((Geek Note #2: Layla also has the mutant power to bring living things back from the dead. The catch is that they come back without a soul, without a moral compass. This isn’t a problem for plants or butterflies, but is a big problem when she does it to people. It’s been hinted that when teammate Strong Guy was recently shot and dying, Layla used her powers on him. Guido has been acting rather strange lately…))

Madrox, Rictor and Shatterstar return to the office just in time to get a phone call from a cop. Madrox answers and is told about a murder in Leonardsville, Kansas, where the team just was last issue. They went there to investigate this weird alien lady. But while the rest of the team dealt with her, Madrox and Layla went to visit the farm where he grew up. They met a nice young mother and her son who are living there now, and Madrox and Layla stayed to chat. They had a nice conversation and left on good terms.

Though there was one moment where the boy asked Layla to explain her ‘I know things’ power. He wanted her to tell him what she knows. Layla looked him right in the eye and told him, “You should have hid better.”

Creepy.

Anyway, the nice young mother ended up dead at the end of that issue.

Very creepy

The cops found Madrox’s business card in her home and have given him a call. Madrox, Layla, Longshot and Shatterstar teleport to Kansas to help the police officer, who takes them to the woman’s body in the morgue. Longshot has the ability to read the immediate past of any inanimate object…but he can’t seem to get a reading off the woman’s inanimate dead body. Madrox whispers to Layla that maybe she should bring the woman back to life, but Layla tells Madrox that she doesn’t do that anymore. Madrox confronts Layla with his suspicions about Strong Guy.

Women! Am I right, fellas?

They’re not making any headway with the dead woman, so Madrox asks the officer for some more background. Turns out the woman has a long criminal record. Not only that, but she was squatting in Madrox’s old farm in the previous issue. She didn’t really live there. The officer’s also don’t mention her son. But when Madrox says the boy’s name, the corpse suddenly springs to life!

In a crazy attempt to find her son, the woman suddenly starts knocking everything over and throwing all the heroes around. She’s stronger than she looks and is making a mess of the morgue. Madrox tries to get her under control in a spectacularly drawn panel.

Monkey pile on the crazy dead lady!

Then the woman sets her eyes on Layla across the room. Suddenly her eyes glow red and she calls Layla ‘an acolyte’. She tells Layla to stay out of her affairs, calling herself ‘B.B.’ She says that this is a matter of ‘mine and Jason’s’. We as the reader have no idea what this is about. The woman tries to attack Layla, but Shatterstar cuts off her head! The woman then just picks the head back up and puts it back on. She tells X-Factor that this was a warning, and that they should stay out of her way. But then she tells Layla that Layla is now B.B.’s best friend. She gives Layla a big, sloppy kiss before disappearing in a burst of flame.

Now that things are quiet, Madrox asks Layla if she’s OK.

Layla says she’d be better if B.B. hadn’t used tongue.

Fantastic issue! It’s full of character and humor, with energetic fight scenes and a curious mystery. The art is beautiful from Leonard Kirk. Not his best work, but it’s still very good. He draws nicely realistic characters, which suits X-Factor. This isn’t a superhero book about tights, capes and masks. It’s about people who happen to have super powers. Hopefully Peter David keeps control over his story and we don’t get a big, long dragged-out event like some of the previous tales. Keep it nice, fun and full of character and he’ll have another winner.