Madrox the Multiple Man is alive again and all is right with the world – except for this far from spectacular issue of X-Factor. Don’t get me wrong, it was a fun read, but it did not accomplish anything particularly noteworthy or interesting. This is mostly just a solid story with a few funny gags, some nice characterization, but a pretty bland conflict. And then the teasers for the next big storyline leave me in a big pile of yawns.

X-Factor #233

Still, Multiple Man is back from the dead! I’m definitely more excited than Pip the Troll…I’ll explain in a bit.

Comic rating: 4/5: Good.

X-Factor #233 basically features a straight forward and simple tale of the good guys vs. some generic bad guys, while supporting two subplots that move along certain storylines while setting up others. From a purely storytelling standpoint, writer Peter David probably should have held off for longer before bringing Multiple Man back (blasphemy, I know!). But the primary conflict that arises in this book, the idea that Havok and Polaris took over as leaders of the team in Madrox’s absence, has not had any time to play out. The last time we saw the entire team of X-Factor in this book, they were introduced to Havok and Polaris becoming the new team leaders. This issue features one superhero adventure with Havok and Polaris as leaders. But next issue, most likely, is going to be about who gets the Matrix of Leadership, Madrox or Havok/Polaris?

Yet we haven’t gotten to know Havok and Polaris as leaders. This issue indicates that some time has passed since Madrox died, but we, as readers, have not experience this time. This conflict of leadership isn’t really the kind of conflict David wants it to be if we have no reason to support Havok and Polaris’ claims to the title.

They have no legitimate claim to leadership now that Madrox is back. But something tells me they’re not just going to step aside. I guess we’ll find out next issue. For now, let’s check out this issue after the jump!

We open in the snowy wastes of the Arctic, where a solitary figure rides across the blanket of white on a dog sled – pulled by dogs with glowing red eyes. This figure, a woman with red skin and horns, has come seeking Josef Huber, the Isolationist. He’s an old X-Factor foe, who last appeared roughly 60 issues ago. So it’s been a long time since we’ve seen the Isolationist. I didn’t care for him back then, and his reappearance does nothing for me now.

Oh, you're a supremely powerful super-villain sitting on a giant throne made of ice? Yawn.

The Isolationist is a villain who possesses the powers of every single living mutant on Earth. All of the X-Men, all of the evil mutants, all of X-Factor; everybody. But having all of these powers is pretty damn hard to control, especially the intense telepathy that he can’t turn off. He hears every single person’s thoughts on the entire planet every second of every day. So he fled to the Arctic and made himself an ice fortress to get away from it all.

But who cares about him, Madrox and Layla had sex!

Hot morgue sex!

On a slab in a morgue, no less.

The alive and well Madrox lies naked under a sheet with Layla, having just done the nasty within seconds of waking back up in his normal body after his adventure through the Multiverse. There are a million things buzzing through his head. Layla wakes up and quickly sets one of those things straight: she did indeed use her powers of resurrection to bring Strong Guy back to life without a soul. She did it because she knew it wasn’t the pre-ordained order of things. Layla Miller ‘knows stuff’, she knows what the future holds and she has always stuck by that knowledge. But she was tired of being fate’s chew toy, so she changed this one little thing – bringing Strong Guy back to life after he was shot – and Madrox paid the eventual price by getting killed.

But now he’s back and Layla doesn’t want anymore secrets between them. Madrox seems cool with that, and he wonders how everyone else will react now that their fearless leader is back.

About that…

Just like old times

X-Factor have a new pair of fearless leaders: Havok and Polaris. For those who don’t know, Havok was leader of X-Factor back in the 1990s. The current comic is kind of a spiritual successor of that old series. Many team members, such as Multiple Man, Strong Guy, Wolfsbane and Polaris are former members of that 90s team. In fact, that’s where they all met, became friends and later led to them forming this new X-Factor. So it was kind of a big deal that Havok and Polaris have come back after they spent several years as space pirates (long story). Now they are back in this much more grounded X-Factor title.

And I, for one, am pleased. I like potential that Havok and Polaris have for shaking up the team. I’ve complained in the past that X-Factor has far too many members – and they still do – but characters as prominent as Havok and Polaris might really change some dynamics. Though I still want Madrox in charge.

Anyway, government agent Val Cooper (another throwback to the 90s X-Factor) has hired Havok, Polaris and X-Factor to raid a camp of anti-mutant bigots. There are children in that camp, with all their guns and bigotry, and the government wants X-Factor’s help in safely removing the children. Some of the team want to charge in, super-powers blazing. But Havok, in a sign of good leadership, decides to send in Banshee so that she can use her powers of persuasion to just get everybody to surrender. This is a funny scene, showcasing what it’s like for a new leader to take over an established crew.

Good teamwork is all about trust

Banshee grabs a mega-phone and uses her powers to reach the entire camp of bigots, convincing them all to drop their guns and surrender. It works for the most part – it even effects the government troops that Val brought along – but there seems to be one guy in the camp who isn’t effected. Havok is watching the scene with binoculars and sees that the guy is using sign language – which means he’s deaf and can’t hear Banshee’s voice!

The deaf guy picks up his gun and charges at Banshee and Rictor, but then Rictor uses his recently returned mutant powers to create an earthquake underneath the guy, shaking him up. But that also seems to snap everybody out of their hypnotised funk, and they all pick up their weapons. Havok orders everybody to move in for a direct attack, and warns everyone to be careful of the children.

These children, Longshot asks?

Kids these days

Guido says that he blames society – a call back to a joke Guido made in the 90s X-Factor. Peter David must have been as giddy as a school girl writing this issue.

Anyway, X-Factor charge at the bigots and the bigots charge at X-Factor. The bigots raise their weapons and open fire – giving Polaris a moment to shine as she pulls a Neo and simply stops the bullets. For those who don’t know, Polaris has magnetic powers, like Magneto.

I hate that big green costume with every fiber of my being

She needed a moment to do something, at least. Gotta justify her appearing in this book.

With their guns destroyed, X-Factor start cleaning house with the bigots. But one of them runs back into the camp, into a hidden tent where he seems to have stashed a bomb!

We then cut away and rejoin Madrox and Layla putting their clothes back on. Madrox is still a bit shocked by the idea that Havok and Polaris showed up and took over while he was gone. Though Layla does point out that they all rightly thought he was dead, so they weren’t trying to push him out. Madrox is also surprised that Havok has the team working for not only Val Cooper, but also Wolverine.

Too soon

That…that joke fell very, very flat. I don’t know why Madrox would be so freaked out by the idea of X-Factor working with/for Wolverine. That face – drawn by the very impressive Leonard Kirk – is just way, way too cartoony for this joke. Not to mention the fact that I have no idea why Madrox is so shocked. I’ve followed this volume of X-Factor since issue #1, and it is not often that X-Factor interacts with the X-Men in anyway. We knew that Madrox has had some dust-ups with Cyclops and his leadership style a few times, but never with Wolverine.

So who knows why Madrox is so upset. Though we don’t know when/how Madrox’s death matches up to the Schism and Regensis. Not that it particularly matters. Still, the joke sucked.

We’re then treated to another tease at the Isolationist storyline and I’ll show you why it bores me. This horned, red-skinned, demonic female approaches Huber with an offer to wipe out all the mutants and bring about apocalypse on Earth.

Color me bored

When it comes to X-Factor, I prefer grounded, street-level, character-based stories. Save the magical apocalyptic battles for the fate of the Earth for the likes of the Avengers or the Fantastic Four. We all know that the world’s mutants aren’t going to be wiped out in the pages of X-Factor. So already the story stumbles out of the gate. I would have hoped David would have learned this about his own series by now. The best issues are the ones that focus on the team being people. When he goes off on some weird mystical shenanigan trip, the book suffers.

Ah well, what do I know.

Back at the bigots’ camp, Wolfsbane attacks the guy who ran for the bomb. She had been lying in wait while the rest of the team launched their frontal assault, and she followed the guy into the tent. Still, the bomb is voice activated and Wolfsbane can’t stop the bigot from uttering the password: ‘Mutants must die’. The bomb is triggered and set to go off.

So we get a little action as Monet flies in and grabs the bomb, hurling it into the sky. Then Havok uses his powers to blow the damn thing up at a safe distance.

I think this calls for a 'boom shaka laka'!

It’s a nice bit of team synergy. That’s what I meant about this issue being ‘solid’. The bigots themselves are a dull, generic villain. They’re just a big group of anti-mutant nobodies with guns. Hardly a memorable threat. But the point, of course, is just to show X-Factor being a kickass team. Several members all get a moment to shine – though some members barely get any panel time. Another sign that this book has too many damn characters! Peter David doesn’t have room to give them all something to do. Still, the ones he does use show an X-Factor that works well together, have their skills and abilities at the top of their game and make a pretty damn good unit. And Havok makes a damn fine leader.

But, of course, what’s going to happen when everybody finds out that Madrox is back from the dead?

He'll be here all weekend, folks

I told you I was definitely more excited about it than Pip.