The story of the ‘dead’ Jamie Madrox picks back up this issue, and it’s a doozy! We’re into a full-on science fiction story, as Madrox seems to be on some strange, interdimensional adventure. A far cry from the noir roots of this series, but I’ll gladly read any tale starring my favorite superhero. He’s not quite dead just yet, and learning his final fate as this story progresses has got me on the edge of my seat. Writer Peter David is promising new revelations about the nature of Madrox’s duplication powers. And while I’m lukewarm to that idea, I’m excited for a good story.

X-Factor #229

And this one is pretty damn good one so far.

Comic rating: 4/5: Good!

What we have here is an alternate reality tale to introduce us to the idea of Madrox’s interdimensional adventure. Familiar characters appear, but everything is just so slightly different because it’s an alternate reality. Madrox is lost and confused, but he’s adapting and figuring it out. One great thing about this issue is that writer Peter David is able to focus on just one character, and the narrative really benefits. There are a lot of questions raised, and a lot of strangeness. Somehow Layla might even be involved. Nothing is spelled out clearly quite yet. But I’m confident we’re going to get answers in this story. It’s just going to be a nail-biter going from issue to issue until the end.

I hope Madrox is still alive by the end, and that he hasn’t been changed into an unrecognizable character. Is it so wrong for me to want to keep my favorite comic book character around?

Spoilers after the jump.

We open where we’ve left off in the last two issues, with Madrox standing over the dead bodies of himself and Layla Miller. Somehow he has been transported to another dimension following his death at the hands of Bloodbath. In this new reality, Layla and Madrox just got married, and our Madrox shows up just in time for his counterpart to tell him that Rahne Sinclair was the killer. Somehow, our Madrox is also suddenly wearing a tuxedo.

Talking about being beside yourself

A bell-hop comes in, snapping Madrox out of his confused funk. Madrox has no idea what’s going on or what happened, so he seizes on what he knows: Rahne killed this world’s Madrox and Layla. So Madrox runs out of the hotel room and follows a bloody trail down the hall to the stairwell. Madrox comes out into the reception hall at the hotel, where he begins to put the pieces together. In this dimension, his counterpart and Layla Miller just got married and then went up to their honeymoon suite. Meanwhile, all of the guests, most of whom are other X-Men, are still down at the reception partying and getting drunk.

So when Madrox comes downstairs, he finds Rictor, Terry and Rahne drinking at the bar! I guess Rahne didn’t try to escape very hard. They’re making small talk about how Val Cooper had too much to drink, and basically just enjoying the party. Madrox interrupts.

Not polite cocktail etiquette

Everybody pulls Madrox off of Rahne, including Wolverine and the original Banshee, Sean Cassidy, who is alive in this dimension. Madrox starts to realize he’s in some other dimension as he explains to everyone about the murders upstairs. Everyone just assumes that our Madrox is just a duplicate of the Madrox they know, and he repeatedly has to tell them that he’s not a dupe. Running gags are fun. Also important to note is that our Madrox still has his big ‘M’ tattoo over his right eye. The Madrox of this dimension does not have the tattoo.

Quicksilver shows up and speeds to the honeymoon suite to find out if our Madrox is telling the truth – he is. It’s fun seeing all the cameos for the wedding reception, from Wolverine to Quicksilver and Banshee, as well as the shout out to Val Cooper. Quicksilver and Val are definite call-backs to Madrox’s past. As with most alternate reality stories, it’s just really neat to see what these new counterparts are like. Most everybody is the same, but just seeing them is fun. Quicksilver finds the bodies and everyone goes upstairs.

Then we get a visit from classic Shatterstar!

Pay close attention to that 'brother' comment, it will be important some day

That’s how Shatterstar used to look back in the 90s. Hilarious. Anyway, everyone’s pissed off about the murder of their Madrox and Layla. Our Madrox has accepted that he’s in an alternate reality and tells everyone. They all know the score when it comes to that sort of thing. A lot of superheroes know about the Multiverse. Nobody is really bothered by this, so whatever. Rahne is devastated, but Wolverine confirms that she didn’t do the killing. It was her daughter, Vanora, who is able to turn into her mother’s wolf form.

Vanora is this universe’s equivalent of the demon child that Rahne abandoned only a few issues ago in X-Factor. In our Madrox’s world, Rahne had a son, and she immediately abandoned the demonic child. In this world, Rahne had a daughter, and took the girl to Asgard to raise. The child was half-Asgardian, after all. But in this world, she grew quickly and grew out of control. But nobody thought she’d go this far as to murder Madrox and Layla.

Comic books can't get enough Wolverine

But they don’t have much time to discuss it because the cops arrive. The X-Men start to flee, to Madrox’s confusion, because in this world, mutants are very persecuted. Just being mutants around a crime scene is enough to get busted by the police. A whole SWAT team has arrived at the hotel and puts it into lockdown, prompting Wolverine and the gang to prepare for a fight. They make some throwaway line about one of the cops being named ‘Parker’, so maybe he’s this world’s Peter Parker. Who knows. Doesn’t matter. As they prepare to fight, the X-Men realize that they’ve lost track of our Madrox.

And that’s because he slipped away in the confusion and fled the hotel. He decides that he needs to find Reed Richards or Doctor Strange, someone who might know something about interdimensional travel. Hopefully they can send him back. Madrox has figured out that both he and this world’s Madrox were killed at the same time, and somehow that transferred our Madrox into this world. Freaky. Madrox doesn’t get far though before he gets jumped by Vanora.

White Wolf is a reference that not many people outside of Poland will get

She’s noticeably surprised that the man she just murdered is still alive. Vanora attacks and knocks Madrox backwards into a wall, creating a duplicate. Madrox wasn’t sure if he could still do that in this world, but now that he knows he can he punches the wall to create a few more. With Vanora outnumbered, he gets her talking. Vanora reveals that this world’s Layla told her to kill the newlyweds, that it’s what Madrox wanted. Madrox doesn’t believe that any Layla in any reality would want such a thing, but Vanora insists. She says that Layla begged her, even paid her. “That’s how the story ends,” Layla told her. So basically this world’s Layla wanted herself and her new husband Jamie Madrox to be killed on their wedding night. Mysteries abound!

Vanora is done talking and attacks, but one of the duplicates blasts her with green energy!

Vote Madrox for the Green Lantern Corps!

Wait, where did that come from? Madrox is confused, but the duplicate explains that all duplicates in this reality have different super-powers. Well of course they do. The duplicates that Madrox created all start showing off new powers as they attack Vanora. If you notice the art, none of the duplicates have the ‘M’ tattoo over their eye. So somehow, our Madrox was tapping into the duplication powers of this world’s Madrox. That’s pretty insane.

Madrox makes a break for it, figuring out a bit more of this alternate dimension thing. Then he sees the old Mr. Tryp, a villain from the very start of X-Factor who had some pretty interesting revelations about Madrox’s powers back then too. Madrox doesn’t have too much time to worry about Tryp, however, before he’s hit by a car.

Despite this being yet another death of my favorite comic book character, I love all those flying dupe bodies!

Madrox’s body is slammed against a brick wall, and he slumps against the hood, dying. The driver is revealed to be Val Cooper, who you may recall was the topic of conversation for Rictor and Terry at the bar are the reception. Val had too much to drink, and now she’s run down Madrox!

Once again, Madrox’s life fades away…

And he immediately wakes up in a new body! He’s dressed in different clothes again, this time one of his costumes from a few years ago. Beside him is a burned corpse of another Madrox. He stands up and looks around, and it doesn’t look good.

Madrox is pretty much screwed

So yeah, weirdness everywhere. Peter David has put more thought into Multiple Man’s powers than anyone ever! He’d already thrown a few awesome ideas at us fans over the past few years, now he’s outdoing himself. I don’t even know how to begin to understand what’s happening. Madrox, upon death, is jumping into the worlds of other Madrox’s, who have also just died. And he’s somehow able to use their version of the duplication powers, not to mention that it’s weird to begin with that they’d have different versions of the duplication powers.

This issue was a fun read. The focus on Madrox alone instead of the entire cast of X-Factor was a relief. Peter David is a great writer, but I think his huge X-Factor cast is costing him greatly. Here, our Madrox is a fully-formed character, and we’re behind him every step of the way. Yes, other characters appear, but they aren’t fighting Madrox for panel-time like in the normal X-Factor series. We only worry about Madrox, and that’s a boon. Plus we’re just as confused as Madrox in as he tries to figure out what’s going on. It helps that he’s able to logically put together the fact that he’s in an alternate reality. After that, it’s just a matter of figuring out how to get back home. I look forward to that adventure.

Artist Emanuela Lupacchino really brings his A-game. I’ve loved him on the series so far, and wish he could be more permanent. X-Factor has always been plagued by inconsistent art. But the series has really been stellar for awhile now, in a large part of Lupacchino. The characters look great, the action is fantastic and the facial expression are really good.  I’m a big fan of realistic-looking art, and Lupacchino nails it.

I can’t wait for the next issue. As I said up above, I’m nervous about the ultimate fate of Multiple Man. Will he somehow be returned to the normal Marvel Universe right as rain? Or is he going to stay dead at the end of this tale? Is this just a big send-off for the character that Peter David revolutionized? I sure hope not. I want to be reading Multiple Man stories when I’m old and gray.

What did you all think of the issue? Enjoying Madrox’s adventure so far? Are you worried about him as much as I am?